Roto Rooter - Is it a scam? (how much, washers, Home Depot)
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When I bought my house, I knew the drains would need to be done. I was told it would cost me maybe $100 to get them cleaned out by the guy who inspected the drains - he saw nothing to concern him overall. Well, I foolishly kept putting it off because of the other issues that came along with a 50-year-old house. There was a minor backup in the utility room after a shower that was easily cleaned up after Roto Rooter came out and snaked the drain. Gross, but handled.
They told me I should have the entire thing "jetted" out for $500 or so after about a year. Well, I gave them a call at 9 months and asked about it. The guy just came out and told me it would cost about $1200 to jet it out because I had no external access. The external access would cost up to $5000 to install if I just wanted to get that taken care of.
I'm not sure how this went from a $100 job to a $1200 job. Was it just because I put off taking care of it? And if that was the case, why is it currently working just fine?
It does take time for these things to surface, I was in my house for about a month before I had the main line back up in my down stairs bathroom.
I had to call Roto Rooter and have them snake my main sewer line and put a camera down it.
Prior to calling I read how they really try to up sell extra services like the jetting. When the guy got there he told me how my drain has a lot of grease and I should jet it at the cost of $700 - $1100.
My issue were roots blocking the line, so he snaked, cleaned and showed the camera image to the sewer. This cost me $440.
The house was new to me, so the camera helped me know where the problem was. Knowing that I would just rent the snake and camera from Home Depot at for about $200 if I ever need it again.
There are also attachments for power washers that are supposed to work good for jetting, but I have not personally tried this.
Home ownership, especially of an older home, involves learning a whole new vocabulary.
The inspector based his suggestion on the assessment of just what he saw with his inspection camera. You got lucky that it was a quick job to use the rotary tool to clean whatever clog there was.
The first Roto-Rooter guy assessed how much "sludge" there was and assumed that there was a "clean out wye" somewhere that would allow for access. Jetting the sewers of an older home is sometimes a BAD IDEA as older sewer lines might rupture / be breached.
The guy that came out to jet / wash down the sewer to deal with the sludge realized that won't be possible without a clean out wye. A less competent guy would have set up some temporary block, turned on the jet and then when the sewer ruptured say "Whoops we gotta dig the whole thing up. Do you have $10K..."
The solution offered, with a potentially messy internal connection for $1200 (which is high but I am assuming would involve a partial stack replacement) or digging a pit to access the sewer where it is clear of the house and then installing a more modern exterior connection, frankly not worth it UNLESS you know there are so many roots in the old pipe that it WILL clog every year...
Maybe just flush some "root killer" plumber-in-a-bottle stuff down the drain and call it good? Full disclosure - I have not had this problem, have not used that product, so don't know first hand how well it works, or what side effects one needs to look out for.
These chain plumbing outfits seem to me like chain garages - they are trained by HQ to try to "up-sell" services of high cost and questionable benefit to the customer in order to increase their profits.
Even if the system will plug every year, maybe better to just pay the couple of hundred as you go rather than spend thousands for "fixes" that might very well just turn into more trouble.
Scam? No, not in the least. They're a business who pushes services. Maybe the services aren't strictly needed, or are more expensive than from a competitor, but it's hardly a scam. And "you were told" means nothing unless it was in writing ~ even then, most quotes are only good for 30 days.
Read Chet's post above, lots of good solid (common, which isn't common these days) sense.
BTW, I live in a 1930's built home. My sewage is a mix of PVC, black iron and clay. I let someone scope the line for me when I was in the buying process, but I saw there were no roots and I have no drainage issues from what little buildup did exist. There is no way I'd let someone mess with the line. I've had to replace that once in another property and it was a nightmare for a years after the fact (trying to get the sidewalk replaced, trying to get grass re-established, having to deal with a tree that had a third of it's root system ripped out, etc...)
It does take time for these things to surface, I was in my house for about a month before I had the main line back up in my down stairs bathroom.
I had to call Roto Rooter and have them snake my main sewer line and put a camera down it.
Prior to calling I read how they really try to up sell extra services like the jetting. When the guy got there he told me how my drain has a lot of grease and I should jet it at the cost of $700 - $1100.
My issue were roots blocking the line, so he snaked, cleaned and showed the camera image to the sewer. This cost me $440.
The house was new to me, so the camera helped me know where the problem was. Knowing that I would just rent the snake and camera from Home Depot at for about $200 if I ever need it again.
There are also attachments for power washers that are supposed to work good for jetting, but I have not personally tried this.
Roto Rooter is a franchise and they charge at least 4-5 times the amount your local sewer and drain cleaning company would because you're paying for the name. The guys who work for Roto Rooter work on commission so the more work they do on your house, the more money they make and because the employees have to buy their own trucks they want to make as much as they can so they can pay off those trucks. Not only that but since they never know when or if they're going to get a job in, they want to make sure they're going to make enough doing whatever they do for you.
It doesn't mean you're getting any better qualified people. A lot of those guys don't have any long term experience. Some of them just get a crash course in drain cleaning by following one of the other drain cleaners on jobs.
You're better off sticking with some Joe Schmoe who's been cleaning out drains for years because he'll do the same job for a lot less.
You don't need a camera to find a clog. Our cables, just like Roto Rooter and Joe Schmoes cables are 100 ft long so it doesn't matter if the clog is 20 ft down or 99ft. Our cables will find it. If it's over 100 ft.. we add more cable. You don't need a camera for that, but I bet they charged you a pretty penny for doing that..
My husband worked for Roto Rooter before he started his own business almost 40 years ago.. and we use the same machines.
Last edited by elliedeee; 04-28-2016 at 06:33 PM..
All depends on the guy or guys in the truck... had a tenant that worked for them and he had some big paydays.
I bought my own commercial cable machine... spent around 3k and it has paid for itself with rentals.
Another example is I drive up to visit my parents in the home where I grew up and I see their neighbor has a roto-rooter truck in the driveway and looks perplexed.
He has lived their 30 years an never a problem... had the grandkids over for the weekend...
The rotor guy is telling him the line may need to be replaced but firs they need to camera and to do that they need a clean out... etc... so I walk over...
The neighbor said the camera and cleanout with senior discount is $1800 and the guy called his supervisor to come out...
Meantime, I go to my truck... go to the cleanout in the garage where the main stack drops... open it with a little heat... take the garden hose and ram it down the pipe... takes about 15 minutes with the hose...
Did the above in 2007 and never a problem since... the neighbor gave the guy $200 to go away...
When I bought my house, I knew the drains would need to be done. I was told it would cost me maybe $100 to get them cleaned out by the guy who inspected the drains - he saw nothing to concern him overall. Well, I foolishly kept putting it off because of the other issues that came along with a 50-year-old house.
Cast iron/steel sewer pipes? We've been replacing them as they block but they are easily accessed.
No idea what the sewer pipes are made of - I'll look up the report.
Thanks for this information. There inspection a few years ago found no roots blocking the pipes, just some sludge.
I'm guessing I should just get the pipes snaked out every couple years to keep them clear?
Thanks for the responses! Very informative.
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