ROOT EXCAVATION

The sewer line on my mom's house was replaced November 2015 by Root Excavation. I am currently selling the house and the buyer's inspector discovered that the connection has root intrusion after less than 4 years- this is a new connection, not an old joint. A city engineer thinks it possible that a collar was not properly placed, if at all. I have tried repeatedly to contact this company to request information about and discuss a remedy and have been flatly ignored. Another sewer contractor who happens to know the owner has verified that there is a problem, called him to discuss on my behalf, has given him my phone number, and still nothing. It is completely unreasonable for a complete sewer replacement to need a remedy in excess of $4000.00 in such a short period of time.

The actual sewer repair was completed. Start time and project timeline was not followed (they started a day later than agreed and never called me). I was told this would be a 3-day project tops - I confirmed this many times prior to hiring Root Excavation - and it turned into a 3 week project. Partly because their equipment broke mid-way through the project. Attention to detail on sidewalk repair was of very poor quality. It had to be redone by an outside contractor they brought in. Crew had to come out and redo jobsite clean-up because it was also not up to company standards. Customer service and friendliness of office staff and project manager was great (which is why I hired them in the first place). Although timely communication throughout the project was a big problem. The owner, Tim, was unprofessional in his communication style and willingness to work with the customer through issues. I would not recommend this company primarily based on this. I asked for a reasonable and modest discount based on all of my inconveniences throughout the project and Root Excavation refused.

Good. We lost some plants that were in the way. The contract stated that they were not responsible for the plants. However, they could have been more careful of them.

Did a good job, cleaned up and planted grass for a reasonable price.

Root Excavation was my lowest bid for the work but was also the company that my trusted realtor recommended and had utilized for years. I really enjoyed Tim and his crew; they were easy-going and good-hearted but extremely hard workers. When there was a small conflict due to the interpretation of the quote (plumbing in the new ADU water line to the main house line), Tim quickly remediated this conflict by having a plumber in the following day. The team also did a great job cleaning up the job site and returning the earth back to its previous state. To have a balance review, I will say that Root Excavation is not going to baby you. You need to do your research before hand and make sure your request for quote is highly detailed. You will also want to follow up with the work crew each day. I believe this to be the result of doing most of their work though general contractors and realtors than homeowners. That being said, I saved SIGNIFICANT money by choosing Root Excavation and I'm very happy with the work they did. I would definitely recommend them to friends and family for similar work.

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The crew arrived promptly and got to work. They connected the sewer from inside the basement which required making a hole in the basement floor. They spread plastic to protect the basement floor and stairs and they patched the hole and left the area very neat and clean. Outside, the hole they had to dig to make the connections to the main sewer line is filled and re-seeded. Again, very little mess. In fact, they would have been done sooner but had to wait for the inspection before they could finish the job.

It was my first time commissioning a sewerscope, so I don't know how these things usually go, but I can't see how ours could have gone any better. When I called to book them, I was told the scheduler was out of the office with the appointment book and would call me back. She did--after hours that same evening. It turned out she had been dealing with a family medical situation--under those circumstances, I was amazed she took the time to call me back that evening! It was definitely something that could wait until the next day, but Patty didn't want to leave us hanging.
The inspector, Barry, arrived early, which was great for us--we had a general inspection going on at the same time. He was polite, professional, and got the job done with no fuss. He explained what we were seeing as the scope went on, which was more interesting that you might think. And then he packed up, gave us our report/receipt, and was gone. It was almost too brief an experience to really rate--except, if you don't have anything to complain about, then you have something to praise, right?

The work was all done in one day which was great. It looked like a terrible mess, but when I got home at the end of the day everything was clean and I could hardly tell there had been a big hole and piles of dirt!
When they couldn't complete the project when scheduled they called to let me know and reschedule. They arrived on time on the rescheduled day and let me know how long I could use the sewer before they needed my to stop so they could complete the work on the pipes.
I didn't get multiple bids for this project because I had just purchased the house and the previous owner (an investor) had the scope and bid done already, so I went with it.

• They showed up on time.
• They were professional and friendly.
• They re-evaluated the sew line to insure the pipe was placed in the correct location.
• The meet with the city inspector to insure that the work met need of the city.
• When the concrete finishing was done they even added an aesthetic lines to match the overall design of the drive way.

See above.

The job was perfectly straightforward! Barry and his crew arrived promptly at 8:30 on the appointed day, and walked me through the process of the job. They moved a number of items in our basement that had been blocking the area where they needed to break open the slab and feed the pipe through the basement window. They also used tape and heavy duty plastic sheeting to protect our carpeted stairs from getting dirty while coming and going into the basement.

Barry gave me a scare when he said he thought the water line would have to be replaced as well since it shared a trench with the sewer line, but it turned out that Root was able to avoid this and keep the water line protected, which was a great relief. The sellers of the house had credited us half the cost of the repair since we were unable to schedule the work before closing the sale.

The work took most of the day, and the crew was extremely polite and professional at all times. They worked steadily, and I enjoyed watching them do the work they were obviously trained and experienced at. At day's end, we had a big cement patch in the basement floor, a working sewer line, and a small dirt patch in the median between the sidewalk and the street. Root even scattered grass seeds on the disturbed earth. They charged us exactly what they said they would, and everyone was professional and polite.

In early June I contracted Root Excavations to scope my sewer line with TV camera. Was not having any problems, but house is 85+ years old and did not want to get caught by surprise with a break. Camera tech was very efficient and pleasant. Video showed some issues but no breaks. I decided to go ahead with replacement so that we would not have to dig up front lawn. Root showed up on time and staff was very friendly and efficient. A hold was opened in basement floor and at curb. Both ends were cut and 40' long section of black flexible pipe was fed in through basement window and into basement hole where it was pulled through to the curb. Both sides connected and holes filled after city inspection. Price included a crew coming out in advance to find utility lines and mark street and lawn. Job was completed in one day with part of second day for filling holes. Root even sent someone out a few days later to repair curb (an already damaged curb was further damaged in process). I did not expect that. All in all a very good experience.

Follow-up: On August 30th I noticed a wet spot on my lawn where the grass had died. This spot is directly over the new sewer line. I scraped off the dead grass and noticed the smell of and quot;sewageand quot; but I put some grass patch over the area and watered it by hand. I did notice a number of slugs (slimy critters) in the area. The next morning I checked the spot and there were at least a half dozen large slugs crawling from the area. Thinking there must be a connection between the new sewer line and this smelly mud spot, I called root excavation and spoke with Monica. I explained the situation to her and she told me she would call me back. She called and left a message that one of their people (Patty) lived int the area and would stop by to check spot. Patty called me from my house (I was at the gym) and told me that she didn't think it could be a problem with my sewer line and that it was more likely due to a leak in my irrigation system. I asked her why it smelled like sewage and why slugs were lounging in the area and she again was and quot;dismissiveand quot; my concerns. I told her I would have my irrigation person come look at the system. I called Monica again and asked that someone other than Patty come out and check the issue - Monica asked me if Patty had been rude to me, and I told her that it was more that she was dismissive and didn't seem concerned. I found out at that time that Patty was the owner of the business. Rather than have someone else come out and assess the situation, Patty called me and argued with me about her being dismissive - I told her I was having an irrigation person come look at it but she continued her argument that she was not dismissive of my concern - I told her she was indeed being dismissive and she hung up on me. Perhaps she doesn't understand what and quot;dismissiveand quot; means - but in the end she was both rude and dismissive. Whether or not this is an issue with their work, she has no clue about customer service. As it turns out, the current issue probably is not the fault of Root Excavation and, to her credit, Patty finally offered to have the new sewer line re-scoped with camera. Still argumentative, but she addressed the issue. Everyone else I dealt with was very professional - Patty could learn a lot from them.

They gave me an excellent price and he used his expertise to save me $1400.They explained everything to me and where everything was going on my property. I would highly recommend him to others.

It went well....

Root Excavation did the work on time and on budget. They were flexible with scheduling which was important because the closing date on the house we were buying (the one that needed the sewer repair) kept changing and they worked with us to find a time that worked with our changing schedule. They left the job site clean and even agreed to come back within a few months to re-fill an area under a paver patio where they had to dig one of the holes in case of settling.

We have used root excavation on several occassions in the past for performing sewer scopes on our investment properties. The work in the past has all been done satisfactorily, and we had been happy to continue using their services in the future, as well as recommending them to other investors to use. This past tuesday, I called Root Excavations to schedule a sewer scope for another investment property. They scheduled the work to be completed on wed. The property has a shared or party sewer line, and after discussing this work with another sewer contractor I have used, he suggested that I make sure that whoever scopes the line, to make sure they get all the info needed to address this issue (like specifically where the lines are joined, etc). I decided to call Root Excavations back to make sure that they were aware that it was a party sewer and that I needed all pertinent information to be gathered from the scope work. While on the phone with them, she asked who I was referring to as another sewer contractor. I mentioned who it was to her, and she said something about that he doesnt use them to scope the lines. The next day (the morning of the scheduled work) I had a voicmail from Root Excavations saying that they had a camera break down and they wouldnt be able to perform the work on my property. I was curious as to why she never mentioned about rescheduling in her voicemail, but nevertheless I called them back, and left them a message that I would like to reschedule. They did not even return my call. Apparently, they were not interested in having me use their services of scope work because previously I chose another sewer contractor to do the actual repair work -- this was because their bid was over $1900 more expensive than the other contractor's. We always get 3 bids for each job that needs to be done. This company seems unprofessional and almost unscrupilous as it seems they only do sewer scopes for people were are not seasoned enough to get multiple bids. Getting multiple bids keeps people honest. I guess they dont want to be kept honest. I wont be recommending them to other investors to use.

On July 2 and 3, 2009 Root Excavation replaced our sewer line to the street for $3,000. They left a portion of our retaining wall covered with excavated dirt and a large steel pipe protruding approximately 4 inches out of the ground. We phoned repeatedly over a period of three weeks to have the pipe fixed as we were concerned that it could cause an injury, particularly to our 6-year old daughter playing in the yard. They never repaired either problem. At approximately 5 a.m. on the morning of August 8 we awoke to water gushing from the ground adjacent to the new sewer pipe. We called Tim Ragland of Root Excavation at home immediately and he said he would try to get someone out to help us. When no one arrived we phoned again but could only get voice mail so we left messages asking for help. Finally, we had another plumber came out to shut off the main water supply until we could have the pipe repaired, costing $175. We tried phoning Root Excavation numerous times through Tuesday, August 11 and a live person never answered the telephone. We hired another company to do repairs, replacing the main water line to the house for $1,900.25. We also had the grounding for the main circuit panel repaired, costing another $475. It was this pipe that had been left partially protruding from the ground by Root Excavation. We are grateful that our daughter or another child was not injured. On August 14, when the City inspector, John Shelton, approved the water and electrical repair work he recalled that we had also just had sewer work done. We discussed it and he stated that there was no question but that the work done by Root Excavation caused our water line, and the electrical grounding for the house, to be broken. Unfortunately, Root Excavation stated very clearly in its contract with us that it would take no responsibility for any damage done to other underground services during its work and therefore we had no recourse. Also on August 14, Root Excavation finally returned our phone calls and asked if they could come out and repair the pipe that was protruding from the ground.

Tim came out to the house and gave me a bid on replacing my sewer line from the house to the street. I got another bid but Root's was much lower and Tim said they wouldn't have to tear up the yard as much as the other guys. I accepted the bid and scheduled the work for two weeks or so later. Turns out I was supposed to send in the signed bid and give half of the money down before they could get started. I guess I missed that note on the contract but also felt like they could have called me to see what was going on. We rescheduled the work for the following week. I asked one of the office gals for a bid on some additional concrete work once over email and once on the phone and they never got back to me. Regardless, they showed up on the scheduled day and performed the work with no glitches as far as I could tell. They were pretty good about cleaning up and left the yard looking pretty much like it was when they started. I would hire them again but try and be a little more persistent in communication.

Root Excavation's report indicated no problems and no party line (shared) sewer piping subsequent to our inspection. Two years later, they inspected our neighbor's sewer piping as part of their home sale and found that it was a party line with ours. In the city of Portland when party sewer lines are discovered they are required to be separated out. The job of separating in our situation was bid by several companies at $10,000. Had we known about this while purchasing the property that cost would have been negotiated out of our purchase price. As Root Excavation (like most inspectors) guarantees it's work, we contacted them regarding this problem. They have flatly denied any responsibility despite being shown their report which indicates that there is no party sewer line. The company owners have refused to work with us in fixing the problem and actively avoid our attempts to communicate with them. We have had to resort to taking them to small claims court to seek resolution in this matter.

Root excavation did a fine job. It was not an easy job. They originally thought it would take one to two days and it ended up taking a total of seven days scattered over a few months. The crew was very nice and always professional. The office staff was friendly and helpful. I was unhappy that it cost me so much money and that it took so long, but in the end it all worked out and other than the cost I am happy with the work they did. They said they would do an outstanding job to restore the landscape to its original form and they did. With as much work they did, right after they left you could barely tell they were here. Tim Raglands is quite unconventional, but he knows what he is doing and was personally involved in all that was done on my property.

They are a vary grate guys to work with. They finished on time. They cleaned up after themselves. They put in the water sale was put in with out going over the original quite for the line.

It went OK. They were referred to me by my real estate agent. I called and scheduled the work. I received a reminder call one week before the work began. They acquired permits for the process. Two days before the work was scheduled to began, our area was hit by a wind storm. The day before the work was scheduled to begin I called twice to confirm they would be there, and received a call back saying they would not be available the next day due to the storm. Then I made a call later in the day to confirm they would come the next day as indicated and received three phone calls - the first one saying they did not know, the second saying they would not and the third saying they would. Workmen arrived as scheduled (finally) and they were prompt and cleaned up the site. However, it took several calls to the company to confirm work was finished and to hear back about how it went, whether there were problems, etc, and to confirm exactly what was done (since I wasn't on site during the day.)

The clean-up was not as good as they said it would be. They told us our yard would look like it did before they did any work, but it's noticeably worse-looking than before. There is a large gash in our yard and they left a lot of dirt in the street and driveway.