One thing I hear a lot is that somebody called a big company, got a quote, and the number blew their mind. When that happens, people often put the whole thing off because they assume they’re stuck with that price.
What I want people to understand is: there are usually a few other options in town.
The $15,000 number people see online
Every now and then, people read online that it costs $15,000 to replace a sewer line. And to be fair, sometimes it might. If you live on the wrong street, or in the wrong neighborhood, or the wrong side of town, it could get up there.
But most of the time, it’s not as much as people think it is. I’ve seen people delay simply because they assume the worst-case number is the only number.
Why my prices are often lower than the big guys
I’m not exactly sure of every reason big companies price the way they do, but I can tell you what I see.
A lot of those companies will bring a big crew to a sewer line job — sometimes 10 guys. I’m as small as the company gets. I’m basically a one-man show.
I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and I’m just really good at it. A lot of times I can get jobs done in less time. There are days where I do the work of a four-man crew just because I’ve been doing every aspect of sewer replacement so long.
And once I start digging, not much slows me down. I don’t stop until I get to the city main and put the new connection on the city main.
Why I don’t like partial repairs
Another part of this is that I don’t often offer “just repairs.” Most people only want to go through this once, and I don’t want to be the guy that fixes half your sewer line and then later you find out you should have replaced it all — and it costs you more in the long run.
There are exceptions. If your sewer line is already PVC and a cable company hits it and breaks it, then a repair is fine. Or if the sewer line breaks at the foundation, and the only broken section is going through the wall, I can replace that section and tie onto whatever pipe you have in the yard.
But if your line is Orangeburg — the paper pipe — I cannot and will not tie onto it. If it’s Orangeburg, repairs are out of the question. It has to be replaced.
If you’ve talked to one of the big companies and the quote is stressing you out, don’t assume that’s your only option. Get a couple opinions, ask what the line is made of, and ask why they believe it needs replacement. Even just getting clarity on those basics can help you make a decision without feeling trapped by the first number you heard.