Acme Leak Detection Inc

"Dear [member name removed], In January when we performed a slab leak repair under your vanity, we discovered when removing your bathroom vanity that the walls and floor were wet and that there was water damage to the vanity. After we fixed your leak, we reinstalled the damaged vanity to the best that it could be reinstalled. We installed the water lines, drain lines etc., and told you that we would be more than happy to come back and reinstall everything for free once you have purchased a new vanity. Even though 6 months have passed, we honor our words and are still more than happy to install the plumbing to a new vanity. If you have any questions, please call (951) 660-0445"

"We are sorry that you feel that Acme Leak Detection, Inc. has overcharged you. When we arrived at your home we performed a leak detection and pressure test and pinpointed the leaking pipe. The price that we charged you for that service has been an industry standard since the 1990's. When we were determining the most economical solution to your water leak, we not only needed to determine which procedure would be the least expensive not only in our plumbing cost, but also the cost involved in repairing the damage it would take to fix the leak. In your particular case the most economical route was cutting out the bottom shelf of your kitchen cabinet to access the leak and performing a slab leak. The other option would have been a re-route, but that option would have cost more in plumbing fees and would have created extensive damage to the interior of your home. Slab leaks repairs are cheaper than re-routes. The easiest slab leak is one where the location of the leaking pipe is in the middle of the floor and nothing sitting on top of it, that repair runs about $650. The most expensive slab leak would be one in the footing, where it is covered by 2 feet of cement and objects, such as furniture etc. sitting on top of area that would need to be removed, that would run about $1,400. The estimate that we gave you was to cut out the bottom of your kitchen cabinet, jackhammer the cement and fix the leak, patch back concrete and was priced in between the two. When we arrived at your home to perform the slab leak, we found that Service Master had torn out the kitchen cabinet that was above the leaking pipe, along with the kitchen cabinets that were water damaged. Once the other kitchen cabinets were removed there was drywall damage to the wall that would need to be repaired. That made doing a reroute and running lines before the drywall was fixed and new cabinets installed cost effective. We could have still performed the slab leak repair, we could have jack hammered the cement, excavated the dirt and debris, exposing the leak, fixing the pipe with either a $12 repair coupler or small section of new pipe. Then we could have filled the area back up with dirt and patched back the concrete, but we chose the better plumbing option for you. Selecting to do a reroute over a slab leak not only would take more of our time, it would also cost more in parts. We had to find the manifold for the leaking line, cut and cap it off the line, find out what fixtures were effected and were no longer receiving water to them. After discovering that both of your bathrooms adjacent to the kitchen were not receiving water we needed to plan a path for the new pipe and run 2 water lines. We then had to drill holes through all of the wood frames in the wall so we could thread the pipe through to get it to the bathroom water feeds. Instead of purchasing a repair coupler for $12, we now needed to purchase enough copper pipe and fittings to reroute 2 water lines. Since, we quoted you the least expensive option, a slab leak repair, we still honored the price we quoted for you, even though it took longer and we made less on the job. We wanted you to have the best option. When given that option of either going through the cement and having a slab leak repair or bypassing any potential bad piping and choosing a reroute, the reroute is by far the superior choice. Of the two options you did received the better one. A slab leak just repairs the area of pipe that is leaking, it doesn't guarantee that in a few months that the same line won't have a leak a few feet away in a few months. A re-route does, it bypasses the line that was causing problems and guarantees that it will not be an issue further down the line. If you have any questions please all us (951) 660-0445"