Melissa Paul, Sac & Co.:
When it comes to a poor performing plumbing system, it’s important to find the core root of the problem. The Trenchless Co. uses a comprehensive process to pinpoint issues and take out the unnecessary guess work. Here to talk more about their service is the owner of the company, Max Greenberg. I want to know more about video sewer inspections. Exactly how does this work and why is it so darn important?
Max Greenberg, The Trenchless Co.:
Video inspections are a way to diagnose your sewer or drain problems that have been backing up. Essentially what we do, is we have a fiber optic cable with a camera on the end of it. We run that through an access point like a clean out or wherever the drains are backing up. We can actually run the camera right through the drain, and with a monitor we are able to see exactly what is going on inside the pipe. It’s extremely important because we are able to get the depths of the line, we can accurately pinpoint roots in the pipe, where they are located, etc. So it’s the way we gather information on the front side and can show the customer what we are looking at here.
Melissa:
It makes complete sense. Unless you are superman with lazer vision, you can’t see inside a pipe, right? Unless you put the video camera in.
Max:
It’s truly the only way to diagnose a sewer problem properly. If anyone has had a sewer replacement recommended to them without having a video inspection done, it hasn’t been diagnosed properly. It’s really the only way to figure out exactly what is going on down there.
Melissa:
So some people try to do that, but that is a very dangerous thing to do, right?
Max:
There’s no real way to tell if you really need a full line replacement or maybe just a spot repair. Without running a video camera it’s impossible to know – definately something to do if you are having plumbing problems. Get a video inspection before making a sewer repair or replacement to your line. It gives the plumber and opportunity to see what is going on, but better yet the homeowner is able to see right there what exactly is going on, and it’s pretty clear when you see the camera, you can really see what is going on down there.
Melissa:
You have to see it to belive it, right? And I imagine you have some pretty good stories about people who may have made a decision to do something without putting the video camera in there right?
Max:
Yeah, that’s one of the first questions we ask when we get a phone call for replacement. A customer calls us and says that they have a replacement, we have trained our staff to ask as the very first question, “how do you know that you need a sewer line replaced or repaired?” With that information we find out if they’ve actually had the video inspection done. We’ve had customers call us out for a full line replacement – they’ve had multiple quotes from other companies. We ask if they’ve had the video inspection done beofre. They told us that none of the other companies had actually ran a camera. So we went ahead and ran our camera and found that they just needed a three foot section repaired within the 50-foot line. So they were getting quotes for $6000, $7000 … $8000. I think we ended up making the repair for around $1500 – we were in and out in a day. She was extremely happy.
Melissa:
You you saved somebody from having a horror story, because they would have paird for something they didn’t even know they didn’t have to do!
Max:
Exactly, and if they other companies had replaced it, they wouldn’t even have known that they didn’t need to replace it. When we slowed the process down and said hey, if you haven’t had [an inspection] done, let us do it at no charge and see what you are up against. The rest of the line was actually in good condition.
Melissa:
You are saving people a ton of money!
