If you receive a bid from Sewermaster, take it. Their pricing is competitive, their customer service is excellent, and they actually communicate throughout the process. They clearly care about making sure customers have the best possible experience, which makes a stressful situation much easier to navigate. read more

I recently used this company to service a 2"drain line that just kept backing up over the years and it recently got a lot worse. We had a plumbing company come out with a camera but their camera got stuck in the pipe because it wasn't long enough and couldn't tell us exactly what the problem was. We called Sewer Master and Vincent was very knowledgeable about our the problem we were having. He scheduled his team to check out line with a long camera. He definitely took more steps to locate the problem than the other company did. I was able to see clearly from camera the pipe was broken underground! Lucas, the foreman on the project was great to work with! He answered all my questions. His team got the job done in 2 days! They really know what they are doing and doing it right! There was no mess at all! The cost was reasonable for the amount of work that needed to be done. I would definitely recommend them! read more

I recently had an emergency sewage issue when my outgoing line broke in two places directly under the concrete walkway in front of my home. I called Sewer Master late on Friday. Vincent, the owner, answered the call, and had a technician, Lucas, at my house first thing Saturday morning to assess and stabilize the situation. I was particularly concerned because the sewage line not only ran beneath the walkway but also under a bed of vintage roses and ornamentals that have been nurtured for decades. The crew returned on Sunday and completed the repairs, including installing a clean-out valve to make any future maintenance much easier. To my amazement and relief, they accomplished all of this without disturbing my concrete or my landscaping -- you would never know they had even been there Their workmanship, professionalism, and care were outstanding. Sewer Master turned what could have been a nightmare into a seamless and stress-free experience. I highly recommend them! read more

Hired Sewer Master to help get our PSL into compliance as part of EBMUD requirements. We were on a mild time crunch as our extension was going to expire in about a month. They were quick, responsive, and of the companies we spoke to about the issue they were the best informed about the permitting/paperwork side. The work was done well, and the repair to the concrete that had to be cut is clean and professional looking. The paperwork was done without any labor from our side and we passed the pressure test without issue. Would highly recommend Sewer Master to others who are trying to figure out their own PSL issues. read more

Vincent is very knowledgeable. Great customer service. Highly recommend. He came out to the job site and provided an assessment. He also has a good working relationship with City Planning. read more

We contracted with Sewer Master to complete the sewer lateral work required by the City of Oakland. The team was fast, efficient, and did excellent work. The bid was reasonable too! They handled the required inspections. And the new cleanout valve was installed perfectly level on our patio and the slate replacement was expertly finished. No complaints here. There may be a scheduling delay due to how busy they are, but Vincent will get back to you and the quality of the work is worth the wait. read more

Great service, on time and as promised. Very honest and competitive. They worked through all the challenges of city scheduling, road closure, difficult terrain and other logistics and got things done in time and with quality work. read more

Vincent took the time to carefully show me via his line camera, the upper and lower sewer laterals... He explained only the lower lateral needed replacement. This was different than three others that provided quotes much higher without looking and properly assessing. His crew showed up when scheduled and did the work. And work hard they did. City of Oakland inspectors arrived about two weeks later and passed the work. Highly recommend. read more

I highly recommend Sewer Master. They provided a fair quote, and performed the work on time and for the cost provided in their proposal. The staff was extremely friendly and professional. All inspections with the city and EBMUD were passed on the first try. After the job was completed, they left my house in pristine condition. I will use them again in the future. read more

Need to replace a sewer line? Need it cleaned out and need the job done right? Need it done at a great price? Need the company to be professional, effective, and efficient? Do scroll any further, Sewer Master is the company you're looking for. read more

TLDR: Vincent is my kinda guy to work with, I'd recommend working with him if something comes up. We had just bought a place out in Berkeley and was getting quotes for sewer lateral replacement since it was assumed we needed it. Had scheduled for a couple people to come out and give me their opinion where I had gotten quotes of 6k+ to address. Out of all of them, Vincent was the only one that had the insight and the detailed oriented thinking to realize we may be exempt. Vincent started conversations with the city and eventually got me the certificate based on the exemption he argued for. Never met this guy in person since I just instructed him to swing by the house while I was at work but I owe him a beer since he literally saved me thousands of dollars after what paying him for his services for obtaining the cert. read more

Vincent was prompt and forthcoming when I requested him to provide an estimate for a sewer lateral replacement. He was able to come within 2 days of my initial call, and scoped the line while I was at work. Vincent sent a detailed and competitive quote and offered to answer any further questions via email/phone. We had a bit of back and forth via email, and ultimately my husband and I decided to go with another competitive quote with a (more) local company. Based on our initial experience with Sewer Master we would highly recommend you obtain a quote from this company. Vincent's price was nominally different from the company we went with. Thank you for your time. read more

Thank you, Vincent, for making 2 trips to my home to do a quick camera inspection of the sewer lateral. To be clear, Vincent came out before the appointment and did the inspection. I wasn't notified initially, so I was skeptical/uncertain as to what happened. No offense, but when do service providers provide a service without telling you that it was done and you had no idea that it was happening before the appointment time? Needless to say, he rolled up over again after listening to my concerns. He was transparent and allowed me to record the camera inspection. Also, he gave some very helpful insight on a drain pipe that we did have issues with months ago. OK, let's be clear... Sewer Master only works with sewers... not any other type of pipe, so I really appreciate his patience in dealing with our inexperience. read more

I highly recommend "The Sewer Master" -owner Vincent Gaines. He inspected a home we are going to list for our client. He was the only company that inspected the sewer for Free. Everyone else was charging my clients. Vincent scheduled an appointment with me and was able to inspect the sewer without me being present. He video the sewer and it was clean. He did some research for us and found out the existing sewer exemption certificate was already in the EBMUD system. Thank you so much for being so honest and helpful Vincent. My client really appreciated it and so do I! I highly recommend using Sewer Master read more

Short & Skinny: If you want to deal with someone that follows unethical and dubious business practices, feel free to go with Vincent/Sewer Master. Vincent quoted me 3x+ the estimate for the SAME EXACT work, which he/his company provided an estimate for 4 months prior. See attached photos. Save your $ and get your work done with someone who'll be honest and transparent. I'm in the process of purchasing my first home, which needs sidewalk repair work. Since city requires homeowners to repair the sidewalk, I was looking for folks who can help to fix along with certification. As part of the seller's disclosures, one of the documents was the sidewalk repair estimate from Vincent/Sewer Master from March 2020, which the seller's agent at the time had requested. So, I looked up Sewer Master and saw good reviews, and decided to reach out for a quote. Mind you, I did not mention about his estimate from March intentionally to see what Vincent will come back with. To my disbelief, Vincent's estimate for the SAME EXACT WORK with the same exact pictures from the previous estimate was 3X+ more! See attached photos. Thanks to having the old estimate, I was able to call Vincent out on his bluff. I sent Vincent the old estimate asking why such a huge discrepancy and he claimed the old estimate from March was a "mistake," which he'd just caught yesterday. Really?! For a business that's been around since 2012 and does this type of work day-in-day-out as listed on his Yelp profile, how can someone make such a mistake? He then offers to "rebid the job" as if that's going to miraculously change the estimate, right? Purchasing a home in itself is a tedious, stressful, and expensive process. As buyers, you'd hope to come across folks who'd be honest and transparent yet when you encounter such experiences, it's disheartening, frustrating, and infuriating. My hope for Vincent is to not cheat his potential customers and be honest and forthcoming. My hope for future customers is to decide what type of businesses you choose to deal with in the future. Get multiple quotes! Vincent/Sewer Master will certainly NOT be getting my business. read more

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Vincent and his team did a great job on our private sewer lateral. He provided a reasonable quote and stayed true to the estimate despite some challenges when dealing with the city that complicated the work significantly. We appreciate his integrity and following through on the estimate. The work was efficient and the crew did a great job. We wouldn't hesitate recommending Sewar Master. read more

Sewer Master has a masterful individual as its leader. Vincent may appear a bit rough on the edges but make no mistake in doubting his work ethics and commitment to executing your job. He gave me an estimate to perform sewer lateral but mind you, the work that was predicted by him was less than what his crew ended up doing. Work scope became bigger but there was only $100 increase from the original estimate. Not only this, but he executed the work in a very short notice including getting the certificate of compliance from the city, all within 2 days! He was also very accommodating in getting paid late, directly from Escrow which was closed a week later. Look no further for your sewer needs. read more

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We had a sewer plug left in our sewer lateral and concreted over by the plumbers that built it. The plug was periodically wedging and occluding the whole sewer lateral backing up all of the drains in our house and resulting in multiple wastewater overflows into our back and side yard. I communicated once with Vincent on the phone, sent him a few details and pictures via text and Sewer Master (SM) gave me easily the most competitive quote for what was a straightforward, if bizarre problem. SM was able to get a team out earlier than expected and fixed the problem in an afternoon. If we have future issues I will reach out to Vincent again and I would definitely recommend Sewer Master to others. read more

Sewer Master, A Private Sewer Lateral Contractor - Plumbing Near Me - Oakland, California

Bought a house in the Oakland hills (1st house) and had a lot of other work to do and Sewer Master was a very simple process with minimal lift on our end to get what was needed done. The site survey and doing the actual work was so fast if kind of felt like we missed something or needed to do more. They only issue was that there was some lapse/miscommunication about schedule the survey and work so we weren't fully prepared the day of. read more

In short: Sewer Master is a fantastic, local contractor that specializes in the EBMUD private sewer lateral certification process. Vincent and his crew do great work, are responsive and easy to communicate with, and provide competitive pricing. My project included the repair of a clean-out on my property, the repair of my private sewer lateral's connection to the City mainline, and a pressure test for EBMUD. I got six quotes from different contractors and ended up choosing Sewer Master because they demonstrated the best understanding of the scope with their detailed written proposal and reasonable bid. I paid the deposit online via credit card, without additional fee, and Vincent had a crew out at my house doing work within a few days. The crew did a great job minimizing damage to the surrounding vegetation and left the work area spotless after every shift. The line passed the pressure test with no issues and they did a great job replacing all of the concrete pavement afterwards. Sewer Master coordinated all payments and inspections with EBMUD and I received my certificate a few days later. I would definitely recommend Sewer Master to anyone who's home is in need of any type of sewer work. It can be a stressful and confusing process and having a reliable and transparent contractor is a life saver. read more

When Vincent's team replaced my sewer lateral they blocked off the pipes where my bath and sink connected to the sewer. For 9 months the water from all of our showers was going into my foundation and under my house. This caused massive basement floods and terrible foundation damage. The ground stayed so wet that a huge tomato plant grew out of my foundation. I contacted Vincent saying that something seemed wrong and he said, someone must be watering the tomatoes. And he told me he'd stop by the next day. The next day the tomato plant was gone and he stopped responding to my texts. After he didn't reply it got far worse, my basement started flooding over and over. I got a handyman to dig up the spot that was always wet and we found that my bath and sink had never been reconnected to the sewer lateral and had been draining water under my house for 9 months. My foundation is a mess. I had to throw away most of our belongings in the basement. He should have been helping to figure out what went wrong, but instead he disappeared and I had to pay the handyman $1000 to pump all the water out from under my house and reconnect disconnected pipes. It took weeks for it to get dry and I still can't get reasonable humidity levels. Even with a dehumidifier running constantly. I could not be more disappointed with his service. When things went wrong he disappeared. Oh gosh, I forgot another thing. He also disconnected the sinks in the basement and was surprised I expected everything to be hooked back up again after he finished. He tried to charge me extra for reconnecting pipes *his team* had disconnected. Beware, the work they do will be broken in ways you can see and ways you can't. read more

Sewer Master, A Private Sewer Lateral Contractor - The drain pipe from my shower that they blocked off when they replaced my sewer lateral. 9 months of shower water went under my house. - Plumbing Near Me - Oakland, California

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I got an email from this company that they are offering a free sewer lateral inspection and estimate repairs for listings. We scheduled an inspection that was supposedly conducted the next morning. Day later we emailed them to ask if the inspection is ready and they told us "they are not bidding on the project". We lost time and now need to find and schedule someone new. VERY unprofessional. read more

If you need a sewer lateral certificate and don't think your old pipes will pass the test Vincent at Sewer Masters is the guy to call. Last year the City of Berkeley notified me that I needed a lateral certificate on a small commercial building that was built in the 1930s. I had four companies come by and send their cameras down the sewer. All 4 companies instantly spotted clay pipes and said the only way to pass the lateral test would be to replace them. With the sewer line entirely under concrete pipe bursting was the recommended replacement method. Price estimates varied widely with the big name companies coming in very high. Sewer Masters and another smaller company were fairly close in price but after meeting Vincent when he came out for his inspection I felt most comfortable going with him. Vincent's crew was great. They showed up on time and worked quickly. They blocked off the area they were working in to keep passers by safe but kept paths open for people to get by both on the sidewalk and in and out of the building. The crew ended up having to do more digging than they expected but they stayed late and finished the job in one day. They also did an excellent job of matching the concrete finish in the areas where they had to cut holes in it to pull the new pipe through. Recently, we've been having sewer backup issues at another Berkeley building. After clearing a blockage one of the big rooter companies videoed the sewer and found collapsing clay pipes out in the street. They came back with an expensive estimate to replace the pipes so I called Vincent in again. Vincent came out the next day, videoed the pipes and found the failing area but said that the lateral in the street was most likely the City's responsibility. He immediately emailed his contact in public works who confirmed that the "lower lateral" was Berkeley's responsibility. Vincent's honesty saved us a lot of money. read more

We needed to have our sewer lateral replaced before moving. We shopped around and found good reviews for Sewer Master. Vincent's timely responses and professionalism in conducting the assessment were impressive. After he left, I texted my partner, "Vincent really knows his stuff!" and he eventually won our business. He took care of everything behind the scenes, and within a few weeks, everything was done, including obtaining the required certificate, completely free of friction. Our property looked great after the work was completed. The cost was very reasonable (exactly what Vincent estimated), and the crew left very few traces of the substantial work they did on our property while we were away. We won't have to do this again, but if we did, we would go to Sewer Master. read more

Blessed to be a first-time homebuyer of a cute California bungalow, which of course, meant a very old sewer lateral that needed to be replaced. Got 4 bids, Sewer Master's came up the best so decided to go with them. Paid the $500 deposit, work was scheduled in ~2 weeks, with work completed in one day. Very straightforward, received the EBMUD compliance, everything seems A-OK. No hidden fees from the estimate, paid online by credit card, and happy to have one less homeowner project to worry about. Thanks Sewer Master! read more

We had a tricky sewer lateral certification with EBMUD disagreeing on where it was located vs in practice. Vincent was immensely helpful dealing with the city and helping to resolve everything in a timely fashion without additional work on our part. read more

Vincent was the cheapest bid we received for replacing our old clay pipe sewer lateral. His crew was quick and professional. Highly recommend. read more

If you need an honest sewer guy to arrange your sewer test with EBMUD, hire Vincent at Sewer Master. He is totally honest and very knowledgeable. We are so grateful for the job he did obtaining our certificate from EBMUD. Unfortunately, many sewer companies are treating the pressure test requirement as a way to pad costs and inflate the price to the homeowner. We wanted to sell our house with the certificate in place, not leave it for the new owner. We got 4 bids. The scope of work and price were vastly different. We chose Vincent at Sewer Master and are so grateful that we did. read more

We contacted Sewer Master to conduct an assessment of our Sewer Lateral. Vincent was responsive to our inquiry and scheduled an appointment to come to our home. He arrived promptly at our appointment time, completed a thorough assessment and outlined our options. We are very satisfied with the work completed and the ease in which Sewer Master assisted us with obtaining our Sewer Lateral Certification. I highly recommend Sewer Master! read more

Vincent is clearly an Oakland veteran who deeply understands the intricacies of Oakland's sewer system. He was prompt, reliable, straightforward and a clear expert. Look no further! read more

Thank you Sewer Master!, Vincent is a expert in his field and saved me from wasting my time and money!

Vincent and his team were super responsive and came out to do a sewer lateral inspection for me. He could always be reached and responded to all of my questions. He's fast, reliable and professional. He even helped me contact the city of Berkeley for the certificate! Thank you Vincent! read more

Mr Gaines investigated my sewer/plumbing issues recently. I was prepared to spend as much as $10,000 for services rendered. I was pleasantly surprised that his focus was on solving my problem not so interested in providing estimate or quote. In fact the solution may not involve me using his services and cost me less the $10,000 I had budgeted. That is what I call customer service with integrity!!! I would recommend Mr Gaines to anyone and will call again if I have similar issues. Lawrence read more

Vincent and his crew did an amazing job replacing our sewer lateral and broken sidewalk, bringing our new house in compliance with Oakland regulations. Highly recommend! read more

VINCENT and the team at Sewer Master Bay Area are THE ONE to call! We needed estimates to obtain an EBMUD PSL certification up against the deadline. Where other companies simply eyeballed the job and tossed out an estimate for full replacement (w/o even properly identifying the location of the existing lateral), Vincent conducted a thorough TV inspection and locate on the existing line, concluding it was not likely to need full replacement. He provided an accurate estimate for the needed work. Vincent is straightforward, honest, an expert at his trade, and Sewer Master delivered on time exactly as promised - PSL certificate obtained in less than a week! He went above and beyond for us in several ways, including adjusting the price proactively when slightly less work than initially anticipated was required. We'll happily go right to Sewer Master for any future needs without messing around with other companies. Thanks to Vincent for the great service! read more

So I call this company and they say they can come out on a Saturday between 11-1. I had plans to go out of town, but I needed this done. I specifically asked the person on the phone to have whomever was coming to call, text or email to confirm firm they were coming or to re-schedule so I wouldn't waste my weekend. So I rearrange my weekend and wait. Go figure, no show, no call. Thanks Sewer Master for wasting my day. read more

Have used Sewer Master on both the listing side and buyer rep side - 5 stars to Vincent and his team. Extremely responsive, reasonable quotes, and quick inspection turnarounds. If you need a sewer or sidewalk inspection, look no further than Sewer Master! read more

I hired Vincent and his crew to update my x2 sewer laterals (as dictated by the city of Oakland). Unlike Pipe Spy, who charged $450 for an estimate and consultation (!!??), Vincent gave me a free consultation and was both knowledgeable and communicative. His crew of guys replaced both our pipes in a single day for a very reasonable price. Thanks Vincent & Crew! read more

I needed someone to come check out my sewer line yesterday, with a camera, to see where it went under my property. He was efficient, professional, personable, and quickly satisfied my need to know if planned demolition would endanger my sewer line. He found that there was no issue for worry, and didn't even charge me for this initial check, since it didn't need any official report or attention. I will definitely call him in the future for any and all sewer issues and happily pay his fair rate. And, I'd like to recommend him for any of your sewer needs now! You won't be sorry...give him a call. read more

Over 5 years ago Vincent's crew replaced my sewer lateral quickly and neatly, and I got my certificate taken care of without a single worry. The cost was the most reasonable of ALL my estimates, and my confidence in Vincent was fully earned. Fast forward to now. Our house is for sale and an issue with a permit threatens to create a real problem for potential buyers. The permit had been originally pulled prior to lateral replacement in case it was needed (but it wasn't in the end). You can imagine my concern... I had paid these guys five years ago now. Why would they lift a finger for me, right? Wrong! Vincent reminded once again why I instantly felt at ease with him. He found our records, and told me he would need to go to city hall himself to straighten things out. I work with contractors all day every day, and in my experience if one of them says they'll do something on your behalf that doesn't earn them money... well, you know how that usually goes. Well Vincent is not those guys. His integrity and good nature are exactly what every one like me is hoping to find when you're in over your head. Vincent will get the job done right and he will stand behind his word. Outstanding! read more