The Drainworks

Outstanding customer service. They are now my go to drain company.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!! We had water backing up onto our laundry room floor due to a clogged drain line that runs from under our basement floor out to the city's main sewer line in front of our home. We called Drain Works based on its Angie's List rating. The first thing the serviceman did upon arrival was wheel his heavy rotor rooter machine downstairs over our carpeted steps without putting down a drop cloth or other sort of protection. He left dirt and grease stains on our carpeting. He then attempted to clear the line for about 45 minutes and could not do so. He proceeded to run a camera through the line (for an additional charge). Based on this process, he told us that our drainage line had collapsed in the area where the line exits our basement---i.e., under the foundation of our home in the front yard. The Drain Works serviceman said that "you are out of time," and that we would need to address the situation immediately by having the line repaired or replaced. He gave us the name of an excavation contractor and suggested that we call the contractor as soon as possible. The Drain Works repairman even marked the spot of the purported collapse by spray painting the area of our yard. The excavating contractor recommended by Drain Works was not very helpful and couldn't commit to a time frame when it could do the excavation/repair work. As a result, my wife and I spent a substantial amount of time (I missed a day of work) and effort attempting to find other excavating/sewer line repair contractors that would be available to do the work promptly. We found a contractor and had even gone so far as to call the state's "Call Before You Dig" line. However, before we proceeded with the excavation work, a friend and neighbor who works in the construction industry called one of his contacts in the industry. He suggested that we try another drain cleaning contractor - CPR Drain Cleaning - before undertaking the expense of a major sewer repair (our lowest estimate for the excavation work was $3,500, which did not include the extensive landscape repair services that would have been necessary after the excavation work was completed). CPR arrived the next day (on a Saturday morning) with two servicemen and a more heavy-duty rotor rooter machine. They covered the wheels on their equipment so as not to soil or stain our carpeting and, in less than an hour, cleared our drain line completely. CPR obviously had better machinery and more experienced servicemen than Drain Works. CPR charged us $175 for their work---$100 less than Drain Works . The bottom line is that Drain Works stained our carpeting, didn't clear our drain line, and recommended that we incur a very expensive and unnecessary excavating/repair expense for a drain line that in fact was not damaged. I will be contacting Drain Works and seeking a refund and reimbursement for the cost of carpet cleaning. Based on the lack of competency and professionalism that Drain Works exhibited, we would strongly suggest that you avoid this company like the plague. How Drain Works earned an A rating from Angie's List is beyond our comprehension.

They were great at working me in to their schedule - I called that morning and had an appointment for the afternoon. I had to leave work to let the plumber in, but the plumber called about 40 min before he was to arrive, which gave me plenty of time to get home, without having to spend all day waiting. The service took about 30 to 35 minutes and cost $155 (after getting a $10 Angie's List discount). Note: some sewage had come up as part of the drain blockage, but the plumber did nothing to clean that up; he only cleaned up the mess he made getting at the root ball.

I called the company to have tub drain snaked and to have two leaky sink pipes replaced/repaired. I was informed their technicians carry most pipes in their cars and could take care of it. The guy who showed up the next day, while super-nice and professional, told us the company could only snake pipes and take care of the "easier stuff" and referred us to another local company to fix the leaky pipes. I appreciate the honesty from the technician but wish we were told this on the phone so as not to have to take a morning off of work and not have the work completed.

Response to phone calls not the best until I used the cell number. Otherwise, the service was excellent.

Great experience from calling to schedule the estimate to completion of the job.

I would never use, or recommend, this company again. On 3-9-2012 we had the main sewer line videotaped to locate where our main sewer line hits the city tap. They recommended cleaning the drain of roots. (Charge:$169.00) On 5-23-2012 we had the drain cleaned "to the city main". (Charge: $170) On 7-5-2012, the drain backed up ; the company came back and again reamed the pipe. The previous worker had not gone all the way to the tap on 5-23. (Charge: n/c) We had also had the trees located near this sewer line (which roots had been clogging the pipe) completely removed. The drain cleaning work was guaranteed for 6 months. On 1-12-2013--just 7 days out of Drainworks' warranty--the drain backed up AGAIN. Drainworks was closed over the weekend (they do not make emergency calls) so we had to call, and pay for, a different company. We had the drain reamed out by another company, who discovered that there were tree roots just before the drain meets the city tap. It is not likely that roots (especially from a removed tree) would have grown so fast as to block this sewer line in 6 months time. We believe either Drainworks did not ream out the full line or, more likely, used a 4 inch blade instead of a 6 inch blade for their July effort.

We were doing this in preparation for construction of a new garage, because the city could not tell us exactly where our sewer line hooked up and thus the path is followed beneath our yard. The technician arrived on time and performed the work very quickly. He explained his findings clearly. As it turned out, the Drainworks camera showed that the sewer pipe was located directly underneath the proposed garage. Luckily the video also showed that the pipe was in sound condition.

It went well. They had the right equipment to spot the points where the drain was blocked without having to dig up my lawn except at the right spots. Their experience and thoroughness was apparent. They took care of the pressing concerns and also detected and fixed an additional problem. Jeff, the owner, explained the problem at a level I could understand. He answered all my questions and then some.

They were fantastic. They had to dig a ditch from the house to the curb. With the equipment they had they didn't have to tear up the sidewalk. And they covered the area they dug up with the original lawn. So after they left you couldn't easily tell that it was all dug up at all.

The Drainworks was responsive when we inquired about a video inspection and came out and performed the service as described.

Service performed promptly, professionally, courteously and exactly as described.

Jason professionally performed the inspection that I had requested. He was thorough and offered additional information that proved helpful. I have no problem recommending Drainworks to other homeowners.

Great after initial delay. I thought the roots of a silver maple in my yard had started to clog my sewer pipe as in past causing the washing machine drain/standpipe to overflow. I had used Drainworks in past with good results. I called late afternoon and reached Rob, who gave me some 2-hr. arrival time slot options and set up my appointment for late afternoon a few days later. He offered to call me at work 30 minutes prior to arrival so I wouldn't lose much work time. I went ahead and left work and got home about 40 minutes after the start of my timeslot. Another hour passed without a call; I checked voice mail and they had just left a message for me to call them. I called and Rob explained their drain cable was stuck and they couldn't come out. He offered to reschedule for next day, but I couldn't take more time off that week. I rescheduled for the following week and Rob offered to give me a 4-5pm arrival time so I wouldn't miss much work. Jason arrived at 4:30. After seeing how the washer drained, he explained it was my standpipe that was clogged rather than my sewer. Jason had to try various eqpt. to snake out the drain due to the difficult conditions. It took about an hour. He used a towel I gave him to clean up. He cleaned up better than I expected; I only found a few stray splashes to clean up afterwards. The cost was less than the quote I received for the sewer drain and I received $10 off as Angie's List member. I'd use them again.

I was very happy with them and will use them again in the future.

Drainworks came to the house in early May and inspected the drainage system with a camera. The inspection showed many breaks and a blockage in the drain tile. A couple of days later they gave me an estimate to replace the damaged/blocked tile. I accepted the proposal but was told by Jeff (the company owner) that there were 40 jobs ahead of me and it would be at least one month before he could get to it. He made a temporary fix that worked until they were able to complete the job. On July 1 Drainworks completed the job. Both workers were courteous and knowledgeable. They were careful not to damage the yard or the landscaping. They hand dug next to the house, used a sod cutter in the yard and a trencher to bury the drain tile. They had all the necessary equipment to do the job. The new system works perfectly and the trenched area of the yard is recovering nicely. . I downgraded them slightly for responsiveness since it took almost 2 months to complete the job. However, due to the quality of their work it was worth the wait. I was pleasantly surprised that Drainworks did not request a deposit before starting the job. Also, I appreciated a follow-up call from the owner to make sure I was satisfied with the job before collecting the payment.

The technician (Jason) arrived within an hour after I called. He checked out the problem and cabled out a basement drain that was clogged with sludge. Also gave us some advice about keeping it clear in the future. The whole process took about thirty minutes. We'll definitely called this company the next time we have a drain problem.

I called the company and explained that i had an outside window well drain that was clogged and needed to be snaked. the service man was vey nice. he said he could not get his machine back into the spot because it was too heavy and usually goes inside the house. His service department was told that it was an outside drain. They charged me $65.00 anyway. I was never informed of a service charge.

A painter I hired let me know that there was standing water in a runoff drainage pipe. He told me I should get it looked at and that it might be roots from a nearby tree that are causing the problem. I called Drainworks and they came out and snaked the pipe. They said it was only pine needles and there were no roots in the pipe, but they didn't use a camera to actually check. Roughly 6 months later we had a backup in the same pipe and called them back. They said they would come back out for free and check it out. They came out and used a camera and noticed that there was damage to the pipe caused by the roots. They then charged me $100 for the checkup after telling me it was free, citing the camera use as the reason for the charge. Upon my husband talking to them, they said they would refund the $100 by discounting the price of the repair by the same amount. The estimate for the repair was $325 to replace the pipe, but it did not include the $100 discount. He said it was a break of $50 and just forgot to note it on the estimate. We have decided not to waste any more time or money with Drainworks. We feel they were in a rush initially which caused this continuous problem. We also feel they were not honest with their estimates/billing. We would advise against using them, but if you want to take a chance, make sure you get everything in writing.

Total job was done quickly and professionally. Would recommend to others

When initially calling Drainworks, they indicated that due to the wet weather they were not scheduling calls but were placing names on a list to be called when things improved. I decided to call a few weeks later and they were able to schedule a visit soon after my call since the weather improved.

They were very responsive and were on time. The workers were fine and would recommend them to others. I would rate them high overall. I would use them again in the future.

People from The Drainworks Company were punctual. They were in and out quickly. They finished the work in one day. There were no problems at all. I would use them again in the future if required.

He was very pleasant and helpful. Overall it was a good experience and I would us him again.

When Joseph arrived he told me that I should have called a "basement company" and charged $65... For what??? Since I had not been informed that there would be any charge and I was assured that Drainworks did this type of work, I asked for a return of this money. I discussed this three times with the owner and was assured that he would write a check "as soon as he returned to the office". I have never been reimbursed. I do not trust that this company will be forthcoming in telling me how much they will charge and I do not trust that this company will deliver on their commitments.