Very quick, felt ripped off, wasted plastic
Friday, September 22, 2006
For timeliness, courtesy, capability and neatness, Southwest is on target; however, in hind sight I paid way too much for the job. I had Southwest repair a short collapsed section and the price I paid was exactly the same as I paid another company to re-dig the same hole, plus two more identical holes, pull a new pipe and connect it all up. Southwest did tell me I needed to replace my whole line, but only *after* they filled in the hole. I didn't even give them a chance to come back to do the job (especially since they didn't return my email and phone call).
Southwest Plumbing might be right for you if time is critical, while money and the environment is not. We had a convergence of six SW plumbing trucks on our street at one time. Southwest's technique of protecting plants is to lay down hundreds of square feet of 6 mil black plastic, then pile the dirt on top. When this was picked up the next day I had wilted half-dead plants and a whole bunch of plastic trash they had to haul away.
When a *different* company came out the next month to replace all my lines, they ended up piling dirt on the *same* plants, without plastic, and left it there for a week; however the plants looked good as new when they were uncovered: happy plants, happy consumer and no plastic trash!
Southwest for some reason obtained two permits for my job: one for the sewer repair and one to block the road. There was absolutely no need for the latter (even as a hedge bet), but it was probably part of some standard procedure, and I still ended up paying the extra $165 I'm sure. An email inquiry to SW about this was not answered. SW only charges by the job (not by the hour) so it's wrapped up in the price somewhere.
Speaking of price, don't expect to get an itemized list from SW (or from most large plumbers, I suspect). They give you one big number and don't tell you what the breakdown is for parts, labor and permit.