Mr Rooter Plumbing

I’ve worked with David Abrams in Surrey and he’s knowledgeable, fair and very easy to get along with

Had these guys out a while ago to install a new toilet that I provided. I had called them because there were some clearance issues that I couldn’t deal with myself. I couldn’t be there personally and they charged my wife $ 400. I thought that was a little high but who knows what the solution was.
Called them again recently for a leaking water supply pipe just a few feet out of my water heater. Again only my wife could be there. They came out on a Friday morning, not an after hours or holiday callout. Everything was completely accessible, no digging, cutting or trenching required. They installed about 15 feet of clear plastic pipe, a simple water shut of valve and replaced the pressure reducing valve. Three hours of work and parts that wouldn’t total $ 200 and I was charged over $ 1000!!! The pipe work while functional looks pretty poor, certainly not worth the money that was paid.
I understand the concept of professional service at a professional cost but this is an outright raping. Their invoice listed only 3 items: a flat price for each of the 3 repairs. Their refusal to break things down into parts and labour reeks of outright deceit.
I won’t be calling them again.

It seems that people have either really like or really hate these guys. They are definitely more expensive than the competition (especially their initial visit), but the bottom line is we needed work done, and they delivered.
My woes started (on a statutory holiday, courtesy of Murphy) when the basement toilet suddenly didn’t want to flush properly, and sewage was backing up into the bathtub drain. After calling a (cheaper) plumber with a snake, he hit a blockage (turned out be a misalignment, more on this later) in our sewage line which stopped any further attempts to clear out the pipe, and told us to call in the pros. This is where Mr. Rooter came in.
The technician for the first visit was Gene Toppings. He was able to arrive within a few hours of our call. He was courteous, and more importantly, had the right tools for the job. He had a snake camera (special mention for this tool), where he was able to show me via a small TV screen that our pipes had a major misalignment about 13m downstream from the toilet. He was able to snake the camera past this misalignment and find another 3 misalignments farther downstream. At this point they used a sonar probe outside the house (another tool generally only the pros would have) to find where the pipes were located underground. The cost of this visit? $ 800 or so. Yikes.
They recommended a dig and replace of the sewer line across the entire front yard, for $ 7000. This had us a bit hesitant, but we didn’t exactly have an alternative. With that said, once they started digging, I saw for myself just how deep (2m or so) they had to go to reach the pipe. They were able to change out the pipe with only a 4h interruption, and also added cleanouts for future access and cleaning. They dug out our lawn into neat squares for future replacement, and used a backhoe for digging the trench. The guys mentioned shoring was required, but I didn’t see any being used at any point during the job. Other than this bit, everything looked like it was done according to safety standards. They also called the «call before you dig» hotline (another requirement before digging) to ensure they weren’t going to hit anything such as telecom or electrical lines.
The foreman for this job was Kevin Florkow. He was very professional and was able to answer all of my questions as the job progressed.
While they were down there, they discovered that the storm lines were completely clogged with roots, and wanted to replace a large section for another $ 3000. I was a bit skeptical as I couldn’t personally see too much sticking out of the pipes by personal inspection, but once they had the job going, the root that they pulled out was seriously impressive. It took up the entire pipe diameter, and was 6−8m long! I thought Rapunzel had somehow climbed in there. See picture.
The job even included the excavation and removal of an abandoned concrete underground sewage tank that I didn’t even know existed, as well as cutting up and replacing parts of a concrete pathway (this was done by one of their subcontractors). I also had them replace part of the lawn with gravel, which was negotiated into the final product. They accidentally chipped up part of the concrete walkway, but this was fixed without any issues. For concrete disposal, they used a giant container which was parked on the street. We also negotiated for part of the lawn to be replaced with gravel instead, which they threw in without charge.
After the job was finished, a technician came by with his camera snake and demonstrated that our sewage and storm lines were completely clear.
The final bill was $ 11,300 or so after taxes. The entire job took 13 work days from start to finish (not including the initial visit), though they didn’t work on site everyday. That really wasn’t an issue though, as the plumbing was working through this entire stretch, other than the 4h break mentioned earlier.
With the project scope completely defined, I asked some other plumbers how much they would’ve charged for the same job, and was quoted $ 9000 or so. So yes, these guys are more expensive, but their prices aren’t severely out of line. The initial visit was expensive for sure, but without it, there was no way I would’ve known exactly what the problem was, which would’ve most likely resulted in unnecessary repairs.
These guys aren’t the cheapest, but they provided peace of mind, and solved my plumbing problems. The system works beautifully now. I have no problem recommending Mr. Rooter in the future.

We’ve been using Mr. Rooter for about 16 years now. We got to know one particular plumber very well and ask for him every time we need to do work on either our house or our rental. Don’t want to post his name here as he’s already really busy. He does recommend other colleagues to us to do the job if it’s urgent and he can’t get to us in time. The prices may be pictured as a bit on the high side as noted by other users here but we’ve always received quality workmanship every time and piece of mind is all that is important to us. We’ve always recommended Mr Rooter to our friends whenever they are in need of a plumber.
D/​C

They showed up and quoted me $ 298 to unclog a pipe in the basement that had easy access. I asked him to call his dispatcher and that I’d be willing to pay $ 100.
He abruptly got in his truck and drove away. I found another plumber that did it in 15 minutes and charged me $ 60. Mr. Rooters deal is that they have «a book» that has their prices and they don’t waiver from that. Many people say the same thing so I would think twice before calling these guys.

A few weeks ago I woke up and my basement was flooded. I started calling different plumbing companies for quits and I found mr rooter, there price wasn’t the cheapest but I went with my gut feeling and decided to go with them.
A+ SERVICE, the technician that came to do the job was very well trained and professional. They did a very good job, on time, and they charged me exactly what they quoted me on the estimate. I will defiantly use them again and recommend them to family and friends.

Accidentally called these instead of the plumber of my choice for a clogged sink.
They arrived immediately at my place. Came in and gave a quote from their book to unclog a sink which was $ 300 and something. They start doing there thing and then start bad mouthing their competitors stating it was probably them that cause the problem and so on. The plumber asked us to call who we originally decided on calling and told us to lie to cancel the appointment. Very unprofessional and shady company, do no use

UPDATE September2014
It’s been 2 years, and now the faucet that I grossly over payed is leaking again. For the amount I paid for a faucet, it should’ve lasted 10−20yrs. Not 2 years.
From my renter: «It seems to have gotten worse and now I’ve shut off the water below the sink because its too leaky and unusable. it leaks from the top and the water makes its way below the sink. Not good. The tap is an American Standard.
When I called them to have them address the issue, first one person said they would be able to come at end of day that day (Sunday) for free since it was their work they are inspecting. I got off the phone to call my renter and confirm the time, which took 2−5mins. Then a different person answered and told me all appointments were booked and won’t be able to come and had to reschedule for Tuesday (yesterday). At end of work day yesterday, they called me and said the visit is another PAID visit. No way Am I paying them again.
I will also be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau once I have a different plumber assess the current problem and see if it’s related to Rooter’s installation 2yrs ago.
By the way, it should’ve been a red flag when they won’t give me a quote before the paid visit for paid assessment of the problem.
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In July 2012, there was a kitchen faucet leak in a condo I was renting out in Vancouver BC, the tenet was present when Mr. Rooter Plumbing came to assess and fix/​replace the unit as I was out of the country. They charged almost $ 500 for assessment, changing a $ 25 – 50 faucet and about 1hr of total work. Some other irks include: the replacement faucet did not have a hose spray, just a standard one from Home Depot; the dishwasher unit has less powerful spray and seems to leak after the visit from the company.
Mr. Rooter Plumbing will not give estimates over the phone and charges for assessment, so if you decide not to use them, they will still charge you the assessment fee.
First time I’ve used a plumbing service so I’m not sure if this is the industry standard. I know for sure will not use them again in the future.

very good company, they arrived on time and the plumber was very knowlegeable and they really seemed to care about my home, the price was cheaper than the quote I got over the phone from other companies I would recommend them for sure