The plumber I brought out (Friday) spent the whole day trying to fix my issue. On top of it, they got their snake stuck and told us they could come out on Sat, but it would cost me time and a half even (We could only flush the toilet every couple hours and we showered at the gym). ON Saturday, I found Darrin from a friend of a friend. He came out that Saturday, took a look at it and told me that he will be here at 7:00 AM on Monday with his crew. They arrived before 7:00AM and finished the whole thing in less than an hour. Darrin has a TON of experience and one of his crew told me that the plumbers hit them up when they cannot figure out the problem. THEY ARE THE REAL DEAL!!!... read more

Our project was to replace the last 6' of sewer and the connection to the City main. It was scheduled to take 3 days. It took 9 days. Shields Sewer Contracting barricaded the main access stairs to our property and left on a Tuesday afternoon. It rained the next 2 days. We had to build temporary stairs ourselves around the barricade. When the crew returned the following Monday to finish the work, Darrin Shields gave us a Change Order for an additional $3000 because they had to remove and replace 2 concrete steps they had not anticipated to access the sewer line. I am an architect and deal with contractors and subcontractors every day with many good long term relationships. When I questioned Darrin about the cost of the Change Order his reply was "be a man". When I asked what that meant he said "don't complain and pay the bill". When I continued to question the cost, Darrin said "I don't get out of bed for less than $3000". He reduced the charge $250 to $2750. They get 2 stars because the crew doing the actual work was punctual and easy to work with. Shields did the job required, the finish concrete quality at the two steps they replaced was acceptable at best, the cost was excessive. I can't recommend Darrin Shields. read more

I had a great experience, they delivered exceptional service and expert knowledge at fair prices. Darrin and his team are the gold standard for sewer and drainage work! read more

Shields Sewer Contracting was awesome, honest, professional, timely and efficient! Can't say enough good words about this company! They came highly recommended to us from our long time plumber to identify and quote the necessary repairing of our main sewer clay pipes for our triplex in an alleyway which is shared with businesses. Shields were very accommodating of their repair time with not only our three tenants but also not impacting the adjacent businesses. All while not quoting an outrageous price - which they did not increase. This is tru professionalism and hard working company- we HIGHLY RECOMMEND Shields sewer contracting! read more

Just want to thank Darrin and his team for extremely professional work at our Torrance home. Special kudos to Leo and Luis for excellent work and cleanup and most of all not destroying the landscape. You guys are great! KVE & wife. read more

Our house was built in the 1950's, when clay pipes with joints every 3-4 feet were common. Over the years, various parts of our lateral (from our house to the city main in the street) had been replaced, including some by us. However, there was an issue with where the lateral connected with the city main line resulting in tree roots growing in and the plumber saying "the line will fail if you don't get it fixed." We decided that as long as we had to fix that connection, we would go ahead and do the entire lateral (about 40' to the front of the house). I got a short list of contractors from the city and began making calls. Darrin came out and was clearly very knowledgeable. I ask a ton of questions and do a lot of research, so if someone balks at that or tries to cut me off that's a no-go. Darrin answered all of my questions and gave me some bonus information. His price was the lowest of the estimates, and as another reviewer noted, the contract was simple. This company also has a long relationship with the city inspector, which is helpful. The other contracts we got were pages and pages long, filled with fine print some of which I did not like (e.g. if the contractor's camera gets stuck or damaged, we the homeowner have to pay for it!). They worked with the city to pull the permit even though the city employees are all working from home. Once we had a date, a crew member came out and put up "No Parking" signs several days in advance per the city rules. On start day, they showed up on time and got things done! The job just happened, with no effort by me (a welcome change!). I appreciated their coordination because there are a lot of moving parts to a job like this - concrete cutting, asphalt cutting, digging equipment, traffic control, concrete delivery, temporary street patch and many more. They were happy to answer questions and allow me to take pictures. They started on Tuesday and finished on Friday, including easily passing a city inspection which they (not me!) scheduled with the inspector. They cleaned up thoroughly, including having someone come back Saturday morning to remove the cones and caution tape from the new cement on the sidewalk (which set in less that 24 hours!). Our water was only off twice during the process, once for maybe 2 hours (while they removed the old pipe) and for about 20 minutes when the reconnected the new pipe. They made sure we had water for the overnight in between by making a temporary connection. All holes that would have been a safety risk were properly guarded or covered while open. Cleanup was perfect - they removed every scrap of material, swept and removed their parking signs. The crew was polite, professional and easy to talk to. I always knew who was in charge if I had questions. I would highly recommend this company! I was dreading this repair for several years, and it went way better than I could have imagined and took only 4 days. Thank you Shields! read more

Bonded contractors, these guys are the only ones who can cut into the city streets and connect you to the main sewer line.

My wife and I have a very old building in Venice Beach, which needed a new connection to the city main sewer. We obtained 4 bids from sewer contractors. Shields was the only fair bid that wasn't astronomically marked up to 'movie star' pricing. They were fast, efficient, professional, and easy to communicate with. The job was completed in the blink of an eye with zero inconvenience to the tenants in the building. Finding an honest plumbing contactor these days is very rare! We'd give more stars if there were more to give. We highly recommend Shields. read more

They are horrible at communicating and scopes are VERY expensive! $250 for easy to reach clean out and $400 for having to go through the pipe on the roof! We went with them to have pipes scoped while in the process of trying to buy a house. They were recommended by our realtor. HUGE mistake! Their "experienced" guy comes out and can't get the scope to go through the pipe so of course, they have to come out another day for the higher price to go on the roof. I had asked to be notified so I could be there to watch the video and be witness to them actually doing the scope. However, the day of the 2nd appt comes and they never notified me when they were coming out so I could meet them at the house. When I reached out to them when the office opened, they said their guys had already been out there and the scope was done. When we get the scope video, we can't tell what's going on - no commentary or nothing. When we reached out to find out what's going on with the video, it took their guy 9 days to get back to us and that was because we stayed proactive in trying to communicate with them! Because of their lack of professionalism we decided to get a second opinion. Wouldn't you know the 2nd company was able to get their scope to go through the easy to get to clean out! Plus, they charged less than 1/2 the cost as Shields as well! Save yourself money, time and stress and go with another company. read more

After my plumber could not unblock my external main sewer line, he highly recommended Darin Shields to put a camera down the line to ascertain the problem. Darin arrived promptly, was very professional, knowledgeable and quickly located the blockage. Unfortunately the obstruction was not on my property but was on the city property just beyond the sidewalk. I was aware that I am responsible for my line until it connects to the city main sewer in the street. Fortunately "Shields Sewer Contracting Co." is a Torrance city approved contractor. Within 1 business day Darin provided a very reasonable proposal to me which was straight forward & did not include the usual litany of qualifiers/conditions. By the 2nd business day, Darin obtained the required city permits. Within the 3 business day after Darin detected the problem, Joe & his 3 man crew arrived at the promised time with all the equipment, sewer repair materials & public safety signs. The sidewalk had to be removed & they had to go down approximately 7 feet to reach the line. Each of the crew members had a specific role & it was obvious they knew what they were doing. As I watched the whole process, they performed in a professional & proficient manner. Joe answered my many questions & kept me informed which alleviated my preconceived concerns. Darin communicated with me often. The root blockage was removed and line repair accomplished in 1 day. The sidewalk replacement & perfect cleanup the 2nd day. Post repair, at my request, they ran the camera down the line multiple times to assure me the line was now 100% clear. In summary, I was expecting a very painful & stressful experience which, thanks to them, didn't occur. I give this company an A+. Shields Sewer Contracting Co. will always be my sewer contractor. read more