Basement drain back-up in our Minneapolis home at 8 p.m. on a Sunday night. RR's plumber arrived 58 minutes after calling and the immediate problem was eliminated within half an hour. Roto-Rooter gets full marks for promptness and work conducted.
Mark also discussed further steps we could take since this is the second time we have had RR out here in less than a year due to tree roots in the line. Frankly, I want to call around at this stage and get cost estimates. RR charged $260 to do this job, and $254 last time. They have a single price for service 24/7. Still, I called a randomly selected plumbing service the next day and they told me they would charge $150 for clearing a drain (albeit probably not at 8 p.m. on a Sunday night), so clearly we're paying a premium for 24/7 and maybe for a national franchise. We were willing to accept that given the urgency (couldn't use any water in the house!) at the time, but if this turns out to develop into a bigger job (camera inspection, re-line pipes,...) then I'll definitely get other estimates too.
more