I have almost all of my plumbing work done by another plumber who I really like. As a matter of fact, I just had my normal plumber do a sewerline inspection at a different house so it was nice to be able to compare the two services.
My normal plumber charged $600. It would have been another $100 to get a thumbdrive with the "before" and "after" video on it. When the "before" video showed that there were not many roots (almost zero), I was not given the choice of having them NOT do the hydrojetting and saving some money. So in summary... no permanent record (without spending $100) and then did a kind of unnecessary hydrojetting. It was not a rip-off... I will still use this plumber for most things and I understand that they had to bring the hydrojetter out which they would not have done if I only wanted a video inspection... but let me tell you how Williams Sewerline handled it at a different house two weeks later...
First of all, Nick and Greg made it like I was in a plumbing commercial... smiles, personable, presentable, super-friendly and explaining everything every step of the way. They know positive reviews on Yelp and other platforms are needed these days so, guess what, they do everything possible to get good reviews... good work done at a competitive price with a good attitude.
Secondly, here are the more-than-fair options they gave me:
Send a camera-only technician out... $275 Or...
Send the camera/hydrojet truck out and pay more for the camera-only inspection ($350 because they have to send the whole hydrojet package) but have the option for hydrojetting for another $200. (Camera "before", hydrojet, then camera "after"... $550.)
As it turns out there was one teeny root and they actually recommended that I don't hydrojet... that hydrojetting is always a little disruptive and it would not be worth it for getting rid of some grime and cobwebs and one tiny root. (So, I paid $350 but the extra $75 gave me the option of hydrojetting right then and there if needed.)
Also, they knew I was selling the house and that this sewerline inspection was something that prospective buyers might look at so when they did the "voiceover" (narration) for the video as they were using the camera, they would say things like "there's a little bit of root intrusion here but perfectly normal and better than I see in 98% of the inspections I do"... They were not lying for me just because I'm the one paying for the inspection, but putting it in context so that the buyer doesn't get freaked out unnecessarily. That video and narration, by the way, are then viewable on YouTube for many years.
Back to my normal plumber... some people are excellent and honest plumbers (my guy is and so is his whole team) but their sewerline inspection service, when compared to William's... well it doesn't compare. It costs $50 more, they don't do the YouTube thing and, in fact want $100 to put it on a thumbdrive.
William's Sewerline is probably not the cheapest... but they are reasonably-priced and the best I have worked with. Oh yeah... and it's great that they don't sell any other service (besides the hydrojetting) so it's really nice knowing they aren't trying to pitch work that isn't necessary. (Hell, they didn't even try to pitch the hydrojetting!) read more