Our Process
How a Tustin job runs, step by step: the call, the written quote, the work and the test — and the cheaper option named when there is one.
Four steps, start to finish
We ask how old the house is first, because in this city that changes the answer.
Tell us roughly when the house was built
It is the single most informative thing you can say about a drain in this city, and it is free.
Then what the other fixtures are doing
Which fixtures, and whether anything is backing up at the lowest point in the house. That settles branch or main in about thirty seconds.
The cheap answers first
If it is one slow fixture, we will tell you what to try before we come out — a plunger with the overflow blocked, or a hand snake past the trap.
Clear it, then say whether it will recur
On an old lateral a clearing is an interval and you are entitled to know roughly how long. On a modern one an object came out and the line is fine.
All of it, priced
Estimated ranges for Orange County homes. Your own written quote comes after we have seen it.
01Drain Cleaning - $100 - $350
$150 - $750 across drain types.
See the job
02Sewer Line Cleaning - $300 - $700+
Camera $150-350.
See the job
03Emergency Drain Cleaning - $150 - $500
Most of these can wait, honestly.
See the job
04Kitchen Drain Cleaning - $100 - $350
Grease is nearly always the cause.
See the job
05Laundry Drain Cleaning - $100 - $300
Often reporting somebody else's problem.
See the job
06Hydro Jetting - $350 - $600 basic
Right tool on old clay, pointless on new plastic.
See the jobThree free things that narrow down what you actually have
In a city holding 140 years of plumbing, these decide the answer more than the price list does.
Roughly when was the house built?
The single most informative thing you can say about a drain here.
Has this drain ever blocked before?
A first blockage is an event. A third is a condition.
What does the cleanout outside look…
A capped pipe at or just below ground level, usually near the house or out by the curb.
If those leave it unclear, buy the…
One camera run at $150 to $350 settles what the pipe is and what condition it is in, and it stays true for as long as you own the house.
The first real rain sorts the old laterals from the new ones
Worth knowing, because the busiest week of the year is entirely predictable — and it only affects half this city.
Roots grow through the warm months into any joint that has opened, and an old lateral can run at reduced capacity for a long time without anybody noticing. Then the first sustained rain arrives, groundwater raises the load on the line, and a drain that had merely been slow stops altogether. On modern plastic with sealed joints, almost none of that applies — which is the clearest demonstration of why this city does not have one answer.
So if you are on an older lot, the cheap version of this is a scheduled problem rather than an emergency. A drain that was slow last winter and slow again this spring is telling you what will happen in November, and dealing with it in standard hours in September costs a fraction of dealing with it at nine on a wet Sunday.
- Told on the phone whether this genuinely needs today
- Free methods explained before a visit is booked
- No repair decision pushed out of hours, on any pipe
- A camera offered where the age of the line actually justifies it
Want a figure on it?
The rate before we travel, and a fixed figure in writing before any work starts.