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<\/p>\nHere at In-House Plumbing we promise \u201cA\u201d work for a \u201cC\u201d price. As nice as it would be to offer the lowest price in town, it\u2019s just not realistic \u2014 especially when the lowest prices are usually a deceptive tactic used by many in the underslab plumbing industry.<\/p>\n
Today I want to go over a couple of the most common ways you could get ripped off. I\u2019m also going to tell you what you can ask to know if you\u2019re dealing with a reputable and knowledgeable plumber.<\/p>\n
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Almost every job in the underslab plumbing industry starts with some kind of test whether it be to determine if you have a leak or to locate leaks.<\/p>\n
We have a flat rate for all of our tests. Some of our competitors, however, quote an hourly rate and estimate their tests take about an hour. Typically many of the plumbers doing this will only run a sewer camera to find leaks.<\/p>\n
And if you\u2019ve read some of our blogs, you know that it\u2019s\u00a0impossible to find leaks using a sewer camera<\/a>.<\/p>\n So one of two things is happening here.<\/p>\n One, by running a camera to \u201cfind\u201d leaks, that plumber can\u2019t give you an accurate test result.<\/p>\n Or two, if that plumber is low on appointments that week or month or just feels like making more money that day, suddenly after that one hour they tell you the test is taking longer than expected and they need more time. And now that one hour turns into two or three or four and the $100 or $200 dollars you were prepared to spend is a lot more.<\/p>\n It is our policy to do\u00a0everything<\/em>\u00a0we can to find every leak when we perform a leak location test. I will admit, though, sometimes that\u2019s not possible. Until we get under the slab, it\u2019s hard to know\u00a0every<\/em>\u00a0time how many leaks there are. But our goal is to find every single leak to the best of our abilities.<\/p>\n However, there are some plumbing companies out there whose\u00a0entire<\/strong>\u00a0business model is to find ONE leak. They tell you you only have one leak and set up a time to come back for the repair knowing full well there might be more.<\/p>\n Why? Because once they are there and they\u2019ve dug a tunnel under your home or punched a hole through the slab, you\u2019re trapped. So when they tell you \u201cOh we found all these other leaks,\u201d they\u2019ve got you exactly where they want you.<\/p>\n What are your options? Tell them no and watch them drive away while you\u2019re stuck with a big hole in your floor or a long tunnel under your home\u2019s foundation? No, you\u2019re going to pay them whatever they ask to repair the leaks.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve even known companies to locate a leak, tunnel to where they said it was to find there is no leak there. Then they either backfill the tunnel and charge you for a leak that wasn\u2019t there leaving you with a leak still\u00a0somewhere<\/em>. Or they tell you they repaired the leak, go find the real leak, and charge you for both repairs.<\/p>\n While nobody, including us, can give an exact price with certainty for repairs, they should be able to give you a ballpark figure per leak area in a normal situation.<\/p>\n We do our best to let our customers know\u00a0about<\/em>\u00a0how much they should expect to pay for repairs. But some of our competitors give absolutely no repair estimate. The idea here is to give the customer an extremely low price on the testing because once the repairs are made, the price is much higher than other companies.<\/p>\n So instead of considering the price of just the testing, you should look at the price for the entire process from the initial testing, the leak location testing, and the repairs. But this doesn\u2019t mean you should use one company for testing and another for repairs.<\/p>\n I actually go into detail about why this is a bad idea in\u00a0this post<\/a>. Essentially it can turn into a he said\/she said situation and in the end nobody wins, including you \u2014 in fact, most likely, especially you.<\/p>\n We believe whoever does the excavation is responsible for the leak being there. So if we tunnel to a leak and it\u2019s not there, we won\u2019t charge the customer for any unnecessary work. And we won\u2019t make that guarantee if we weren\u2019t the ones to say where the leak is.<\/p>\n But you should be wary of a company that agrees to repair a leak they didn\u2019t locate. Oftentimes what ends up happening is they will dig to the leak, find nothing but tell you they did and charge you for a repair. Or tell you there was no leak but charge you for the work anyway. They didn\u2019t locate the leak so they don\u2019t feel responsible for it not being there.<\/p>\n Not to mention it would be stupid to use another company\u2019s test results \u2014 a company they know nothing about. They have no idea about the experience (or lack of) for the plumbers, the business owner\u2019s motives, the business model, etc. That is placing a lot of trust in a company they don\u2019t work for and a job they had no involvement in.<\/p>\n When you call around and talk to different plumbing companies always ask how they plan to locate leaks \u2014 what type of test they perform for both the initial test and the leak location test.<\/p>\n If they tell you they are going to use a sewer camera, do\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0go with that company. As I\u2019ve explained before, a leak is water escaping out of a pipe. So a sewer camera\u00a0inside<\/em>\u00a0the pipe won\u2019t be able to see that. Just because something looks like a leak inside a pipe that\u2019s been accumulating years of waste and other refuse doesn\u2019t mean it is.<\/p>\n If they can\u2019t answer the question at all, that\u2019s just really bad. Hang up and don\u2019t look back.<\/p>\n However, if they tell you for the initial test they perform a hydrostatic test and for the leak location a hydrostatic leak isolation test using test balls, we might have a winner. Remember, a hydrostatic leak isolation test aka using test balls to narrow down\/isolate the leak location or locations is the only way to find leaks in an underslab sewer system.<\/p>\n So then if you\u2019re comparison shopping our testing prices with another company\u2019s hydrostatic tests, you are comparing apples to apples and not apples to oranges.<\/p>\n However, don\u2019t forget about the repair estimates as well. If they can\u2019t give you a ballpark estimate per leak location like we can, you may not be getting as good a deal as you thought once they come to you with the final price.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you call three different companies.<\/p>\n Company A tells you it\u2019s $100 for the initial test, $300 for the leak location test, and $1,600 for a single leak repair.<\/p>\n Company B charges $200 for the initial test, $600 for the leak location test, and $1,200 for a single leak repair.<\/p>\n And company C quotes $0 for the initial test, $400 for the leak location test, and $1,600 for a single leak repair.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, your total cost is $2,000 no matter which company you go with.<\/p>\n So you may think you\u2019re getting a deal with that zero cost testing. But really nobody is getting a deal. You think you\u2019re getting a deal with \u201cfree\u201d testing but really nobody is giving you something for free. What you need to understand is that when someone in this industry says their tests are free, someone still ends up paying for it.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re lucky and are dealing with one of the more honest companies, the testing is still not \u201cfree\u201d because that cost gets passed on to other customers. When you consider\u00a0we find zero leaks in 60 out of 100 tests<\/a>, where do you think they make up for these \u201cfree\u201d tests? It\u2019s added onto the other services.<\/p>\n And if you\u2019re not lucky and are dealing with one of the more dishonest companies in this field, you\u2019re more than likely going to be paying for repairs on a nonexistent leak.<\/p>\n Nothing is free. It\u2019s sleight of hand, it\u2019s marketing, to get you to do what they want you to do. Everything that is \u201cfree\u201d costs somebody something.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an unfortunate truth that there are a lot of companies in this industry who are knowingly and unknowingly ripping people off. It\u2019s one of the reasons why my wife and I started In-House Plumbing Company.<\/p>\n We do NOT play games. There\u2019s no sleight of hand or sleazy marketing being done here.<\/p>\n Honesty and integrity are of the utmost importance to us. So we work everyday to make sure you get all the information you need to make an informed decision.<\/p>\nA Shady Business Model<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nNo Repair Estimate<\/h3>\n
What You Should Ask<\/h2>\n
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So here\u2019s what you can ask to help lessen the possibility of getting ripped off.<\/p>\nWhy Free Isn\u2019t Free<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nGive Us a Call<\/h2>\n