[Alardo_Montano]

I live in a city with city sewage.

There are two bellies in the pipes currently.

Roto Rooter gave a $14,000 estimate to replace the sewer line.

They said the line was approximately 100 feet long, and 5 feet deep.

The house is in Central Ohio.


What is a fair cost estimate for this?

[massplumber2008]

Hi Alardo

I only wish that I had a magic ball and could tell you a reasonable cost for this... I really do! With that being said, you don't call roto-rooter for a job like this... you call them to snake the drain and to camera the drain line for you.

In fact, if someone was talking $14,000 dollars to me, I'd want the video/camera inspection of the drain line for free! They did at least do a camera inspection to show you where the "two bellies" in the pipe are... right? If not, I'd squeeze them a bit to show you why this was needed!

Otherwise, I would advise you to call your local city/town hall or local county administrators to see who it is that they can recommend. It may require you to speak to the local building inspector, "off the record" or to the manager over at the water/sewer department in town/city/county to see exactly who they see doing this kind of job every day in your area. I am sure they will be glad to recommend someone with experience, proper licenses, insurances, and a proper pricing structure for your area!

See if you can get at least 2-3 names, and talk to each contractor to see what/who fits best. Price and how you feel about the contractor combined decides what company gets the job, right?

Mark

[Milo Dolezal]

I echo Mark's comments and suggestions. In my area, people call us all the time after they got "scared" by Roto-Rooter, Rescue Rooter or Experess Rooter estimates. We pick up lots of work after them. If Roto-Rooter quoted you $14K than I am sure I am not going to be too far off by saying that the complete job can be done for $7K and less...

Let us know how you did. Back to you. Milo

[ma0641]

What caused the inspection? Who said there were bellies and is it affecting your drainage or are there just bellies.

[Alardo_Montano]

The sewage backed up through the basement. They came out to snake it on Sunday, and did break up a blockage. However, they couldn't get the snake through a section of pipe. They then came out here on Tuesday to cam the pipe. They said there were two bellies or bulges in the pipes, and that the entire line would need to be replaced. They said it would cost $14,000 to do this.

[speedball1]

What's wrong in measuring how far out they are and digging up the bells and bedding down the trench to insure proper slope? Just my two pence worth Tom