Vietzke Trenchless Inc

I was flat-out told that I "could not micromanage" which I did not. But then, later in the very same conversation, I was essentially blamed for their own seeming lack of common sense which contributed to over $1500 of ridiculous waste, all of which the owner, himself, personally passed on to us. At the start, we were told that we had to pay T&M (time and material) door-to-door and were warned that there was no way of knowing what situations might be encountered on site. I fully accept that, but when excessive time was wasted for no other reason than poor, internal, quality control and fumbled supervision, I feel it was wrong that we were required to pay for that too. The junior-workers they sent out were great guys and did an expert job with the actual pipe bursting. It was the prep and finish that were a joke. Watching this happen, I felt helpless and at the company's mercy. One worker repeatedly apologized and even wanted to assure me that they were not trying to pad the bill. He said it should have been an easy, two-day job, not four. At the time these things were happening, I felt more and more uneasy and anxious about it, but I still trusted that these guys were experts and must somehow know things that I didn't. (After all, what does an average Joe like me know about their business, right?) If there ever is a next time, I will definitely follow my gut and micromanage! $1500 is a lot of money to us.

They were on time and saved us from additional flooding while the sewer itself was rooted.

I took time off work to video the complete procedure of pipe busting a new jointless 4" HDPE pipe from the rear of the house to the middle of the street. A huge effort that included closing the street and obtaining a large number of permits and inspections. Despite adverse weather and close quarters between structures the Vietzke crew met all challenges, the whole job flowing like a well led orchestra. Thanks to the experience of the crew led by Chris and the schedualing, oversight of Nathan project completion was 48 hours start to finish. My street and my yard show little effect afterward. I am cofident after veiwing the post repair video that my thirty year headache has been remedied. I actually feel good about paying the bill.

My 93-year-old grandmother who lives on a modest, fixed income experienced a sewer-line collapse, and so we turned to Vietzke Trenchless for a pipe-bursting replacement. Before the project started, we were informed that she had to pay T&M (time and material) door-to-door. We were then warned that there was no way of knowing what physical obstacles might be encountered on the property which could add to the total hours. This, of course, is something that we naturally, fully accept, but when hours upon hours were then totally WASTED for apparently no reason other than sloppy, inadequate preparation, inexperience, lax supervision and a seeming lack of common sense, we feel it was wrong that she was required to pay for that. Is it unreasonable to expect a company to know how to do its own job after over 40 years working in the Spokane area? While discussing this over the phone afterward, we were informed by the Account Manager that home owners are not allowed to micromanage the workers, which of course we respectfully did not. But then, later in the very same conversation, we were essentially blamed for their own lack of common sense which contributed to well over $2000 of ridiculous waste, all of which the owner, Paul Vietzke, himself, then personally passed on to my grandma despite the Account Manager's assurance that it would get worked out. The Account Manager later said, "It's my boss. What can I do?" (Well, isn't that a clever trick?) I found out five days later that the two guys my grandma had been sent were newer, less experienced workers. (The newly-promoted lead worker, himself, had less than two years experience.) It seems apparent now that, because she was paying time and material, her project was being used for unsupervised training purposes. Someone in the industry I later spoke with said, "That sounds just like something Paul Vietzke would do." I sure wish we had known that about him beforehand. The junior-workers they sent out were really nice guys who did a terrific job with the actual pipe bursting (a perfectly straight, 95-foot, 30 minute burst through orangeberg which went smooth as butter). It was the prep and finish that were a wasteful joke. The lead worker repeatedly apologized and even offered his assurance that they were not deliberately trying to "look like clowns" or "pad the bill". He said it should have been a simple, one or two day job, not four. Yet, they kept quitting early due to inadequate preparation and so my grandma was also stuck paying literally hundreds of dollars each day for their travel time door-to-door. If this had been a bid job rather than T&M, I have a strong feeling that Mr. Vietzke would have ensured it was done right and efficiently by experienced workers in just one or two days to guard his profits. At the beginning, I was enthusiastic. I even cooked lunch for the guys, but as the ridiculous fumbling around continued, I became more and more uneasy & anxious and finally depressed by the end of day three. Throughout it all, I had held on to the hope that this was a company of experts who must somehow know things that I didn't and so had good reason for their wasteful choices that seemed so lacking in common sense. (After all, what does the average person like me know about the sewer line replacement business, right?) Well, now I know, we were not in good hands. $2000 is a lot of money for my grandma to just give away with nothing at all to show for it.

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Our first leak was under a crawl space...cold and wet and dark.  They repaired the leak.  A few weeks later, another leak in the same crawl space.  They found a 2nd, different leak, repaired it.

I really appreciate the Vietzke team, but I have to be honest, it wasn't an initial, strait, smooth line to the finish, so let me pause to say that after leak #2 was fixed, the crew forgot to plug in the sump pump.  Several days later, after heavy rain, we noticed it was not running.  So under the house I went.  It was a muck mess of standing water and mud and many miserable hours on my hands and knees doing what needed to be done, vacuuming up the mud and water so that we did not have a mold issue down the road. MORE ON THAT, KEEP READING.

About 6 weeks later, a third leak, this time under our detached shop concrete floor...more galvanized pipe (and clay soil).  We called Vietzke again.  Even though the past crew had a brain fart, we knew their "can do" attitude would know what to do because we surely didn't.

Paul Vietzke reviewed our job site, many years of other peoples fixes (none of which were recorded, a well, a sprinkler system and pipes going every which way.  None of us had more than a general clue:  we needed to abandon all galvanized pipe lines and lay new poly pipe.  Paul gave us his bid and because of the past oopsie IMPORTANT TO NOTE:  he gave us a significant credit on the previous job.  He treated us very fairly!!!!

We agreed to a start date (immediately) and Paul arrived that morning with Ryan Patrick (his lead) and a few crew members (Kipp!)  Very professional, everybody was ready to review the job site, make sure communication and end result was clear. Husband and I left for work, leaving our home and shop open, in good, safe capable hands.

Having your landscaped yard pretty much destroyed in not easy to take in.  But Ryan did an AWESOME job!!!  He was a careful as he could be, taking things apart.  I had already pulled out all of the perennials that I wanted to save.  The few that I left, he gently pulled out with his backhoe and gently set them aside.  NOW I ASK YOU, WHAT KIND OF REGULAR RUN-OF-THE-MILL BACKHOE OPERATOR DOES THAT???  

We had a newly poured sidewalk that he had to dig through...he cut the concrete on the seam lines, only excavated the middle, leaving the 2 solid edges in tack so that when he back filled and replaced the concrete PERFECTLY, there was no sag later. WHAT NORMAL BACKHOE OPERATOR THINKS THAT FAR FORWARD AND TAKES THAT CARE???

Midstream of the job, we have a well issue.  I ask Ryan his opinion (not part of this job, but he is a willing spirit).  He diagnoses it as a coincidental check valve in our holding tank that has gone bad.  I ask him to please  contact who ever he is comfortable with to come fix / replace it, which he does that same day (or we wouldl  have been out of water for a day or two).  NOW WHAT NORMAL BACKHOE OPERATOR DOES THAT FOR HIS CUSTOMER???

When the plumbing aspect of the job was done and Ryan started on the backfill, we could not believe his tender touch on the machine. Where he had pile dirt on the lawn, you could hardly tell (were it not for the yellowed grass) that he had carefully picked up and scooted all of the dirt back into the offending ditch, not tearing up the rest of the yard at all!

Yes, it took a day longer than Vietzke had hoped.  The crew had a nasty day and 1/2 of blowing wind and rain, miserable work if you ask us.  But in the end Ryan was committed to doing the job right and taking extra care when needed.  He was patient, very communicative (he would send us texts / pictures throughout the day, if ever any question).  Clearly, he wanted to represent Vietzke and be mindful of the job at hand, but not to loose sight of the customer. 

Ryan is our hero!  We were in a mess, hadn't a clue of what to do or how to fix it.  Paul Vietzke is also hour hero.  Without his patience and allowing Ryan to do all of the many "right" things, it wouldn't have been teamwork and we wouldn't be as happy as we are.

Would we recommend them again?  Absolutely.  They are even welcome for dinner!

Scott & Colleen Carlson, Rockford, WA (Freeman)

I had sewer coming up in my basement floor drain. I called several different companies and Vietzke was the only company that answered when I called. Brett with Vietzke was at my door step with in 45 minutes. He explained to me how roots may have entered into my pipes. I like that Brett used shoe socks over his work boots, that really impressed me. From start to finish he completed the task in two hours. He showed me all the roots in the line and recommended that I get it cleaned every year or get the pipe replaced. I will be calling Brett with Vietzke back anytime I need work in the future.

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Process went very well. Crew was punctual, professional, and attentive to detail. Answered all questions I had, which were many. I would definitely recommend them for anyone having a sewer line replace. Cost was $2000 cheaper than a neighbor who recently had a sewer line replace by a different company, who caused major disturbance to her front yard due to trenching.