David Burling & Son Excavating Inc

Overwhelming but their professionalism and friendliness made it easier

unknown

Our sewer backed up into our basement. We have a city sewer. The back up was not disastrous (minor clean up with the wet/dry vac) but did need to be cleared to avoid further problems. He made no attempt to at keeping the stairs down to the basement or the work area clean. Before he even started using his sewer snake he had already decided that we were going to have to dig to fix the problem.
He spent a few hours trying clearing the clog in the basement but because his sewer snake only reached 100' and another clog was farther out than that he convinced us that we would have to dig. He gave us the name of another guy who would have to come out and run a camera through the drain to figure out where he would have to dig. We paid the guy to come out to video the drain but when he gave us a map of where the clog was the measurements didn't add up to 100'. I called another sewer cleaning company out for a second opinion. The second guy cleared the clog very thoroughly and we have not had any more problems.
Bottom line is:
• He was dirty
• His equipment was not very good
• He wants to dig up your yard (his main business is excavation)
• We spent a lot of money and were no closer to a usable sewer

I had my 37 year old concrete septic tank pumped out ( every third year) and the workman called me to warn me that the baffles were lying on the bottom of the tank. He told me this was common in tanks installed more than 20 years ago. He suggested it would be a very good idea to have them fixed as floating much would get into the septic drain field and ruin it to the tune of 5 to 7,000 dollars to fix.
Mr. Burling came out and estimated 500, which is what his bill totaled. His guys arrived on time and dug out the top of the septic tank, Kind of difficult as it was partly under my deck which I had to cut open, They then installed baffles on the inlet and outlet sides of the tank, installed a clean-out pipe into the house and a check pipe on the outlet side. After that they followed the tank outlet pipe to the concrete distribution box to make sure all parts of the system were in good order. Luckily for me they still were.
Warning to others, If you live in an older home with a septic tank make sure you have them check that the baffles are in good order.
The guys then put all the dirt back in place mounding it over to allow for subsidence.
I called competitors and could not get a better price or speedier service.

the guy did a great job...........he was so careful of my flower bed (where the clean out traps were) and had to dig dirt and mulch to get to the traps.......... He also got right to the bottom of the tank, hosed everything down then vacuumed it all up, including all the waste/sludge on the bottom. ..when he was finished, he put everything back exactly the way it was. Before he left, he checked the chlorinater to make sure it was clear and clean.