All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Tom Fidrych how much approximately will it cost to hire a plumber to run a camera all the way to the street? 

@Beck Joyner i think my bill is very high too. The total cost is $7,500

Thanks again or everyone's input and suggestions!

@Tom Fidrych @Scott M. @Beck Joyner thank you for your suggestions. Which one is better hiring a plumber of doing a general home inspection to scope it? @Matt M. thanks for your input, this plumber charged me $85/hr. The plumber said the beer bottles and cans got in because there was a broken clean out pipe in front of the house and the debris  from the street was falling into the line through the opening.

I own a rental property in Harrisburg, PA. I live an hour away. A month ago, there was a sewer backup in my basement. I called a local plumber and my bill came to $8,000. I asked for a detailed report of the work that was done, and here is a report from the plumber (attached). My concern is how do I know that the rocks and metal that the sewer auger could not clear were really cleared/removed from the pipe? I have doubts about this because,  all plumbing was useable after I got charged and paid $3,130. The plumber went on to suggest that in order to avoid problems in the future they needed to cut out the pipe remove the rocks the sewer auger could not break and replace the pipe and this was going to cost me $4,350. He said if that is not done its only a matter of time (months/a year) before the problem starts again. I agreed to all this because I was really worried that the problem may surface again in the near future and it will end up costing me more money according to the plumber. I feel like I was overcharged. I have not paid the $4,350 yet. Is there a way to verify the job was done? Was he not supposed to take pictures and send to me to show me the rocks were indeed removed? Not sure if this is even possible. I did question the hours and he did say the hours included on site and off site hours needed to pick up the materials also waste needed to hauled away and disposed of. Not sure if that's how plumbers charge for their services, I know nothing about plumbing. I have attached some of the pictures from the plumber and of the waste they removed and also the invoices for $1830, $880 and $510 which I have already paid. I would appreciate any help/suggestions that can help me deal with this situation. Thank you all in advance!

These are the pictures

I had a sewer line backup/clogged drain in my basement at my rental property in Harrisburg, PA. I live about 90mins away. I found a plumber online, he went in used a snake and it didnt get the job done. I paid him $350. Got the second plumber he removed a lot of wipes. He was there for about 5-6hours. He charged me $1,500. He said the issue was resolved after he took out a lot of wipes. The wipes were from the previous owner. As soon as he left my house, my tenant calls me saying the toilet was no longer flushing. The toilet was working ok before the plumber started working on my house. Plumber said that was a new issue he will go and check tomorrow. He went back the following day and he said the sewer line/drain had clogged again and he was going to get a cctv camera to troubleshoot and see where the problem was. He charged me $85 to get the toilet to flush again. I later got a call from him and he told me there was a lot of trash (beer bottles and soda cans etc), he sent me pictures of all this. According to him, it turns out all the trash was coming into my sewer line/pipe from the streets because the cap from the pipe had came off and he doesnt know how it came off but that’s how all the things on the streets were coming into the pipe causing the clogging. He said he was going to use a large enough auger (got charged $1300) this included renting the auger, digging around broken sewer cleanout, cut and repair sewer cleanout, pull debris out of the sewer that was falling into the main causing clogs.Everything was working fine afterwards according to him. He however did mention that they were still rocks (he sent me pics) that he couldnt remove with the auger and to remove the rocks he would need to cut another part of the pipe to remove them and replace the section of the pipe. His words, “even though everything was working well now, it was only a matter of time before the problem starts again because of the rocks that were still in there, it will clog again and it will cost me more money”. He said it could be a couple days, months or even a year before the sewer clogs again but the issue was not 100% resolved. I took his advice of cutting and replacing the pipe to remove the rocks and he quoted me $4,200 for the job. I think I was just desperate for the issue to be fixed. I was just fearing the worst. That was 2 weeks ago. So he got back to me a day or two later and he did say he was waiting for the part he ordered and once it arrives, he will be over at my house to finish the work. Last week on Wednesday 9/22 he told me he was going to go and get the job done the following day (Thursday 9/23) because the part had come in. I never heard from him on Thursday 9/23 and I got side tracked with work I forgot to check in and when I did ask him yesterday Tuesday 9/28 when they will be over at my house to finish up the work he mentioned they already went last week on Wed 9/22, Thursday 9/23 and Friday 9/24 and finished the work, all they needed to do today was to backfill the holes that were dug to fix plumbing and pour new concrete in plumbing trenches. It was a bit odd to me because I never got a call or anything last Thursday and he said his 2 techs were there and I dont think so. He said he will check his techs gps to confirm but he knows they were there because the work was done. I told him I was over there on Wednesday 9/24 he was adamant that his techs were there that Thursday and Friday instead to do the work. My concern is I dont think he did the job he is charging me for the $4,200. Something is not right. I seriously doubt that this was done. Its just not adding up when exactly he went to do the work because he never gave me an update, one minute he is saying the techs were there wed, thursday and Friday the next he is saying they were only there for 2days. I think before today they last time they went to my house was 2weeks ago when they used the large auger to remove all the debris minus the rocks and today when he called asking me for the code to get into my house that’s when it dawned on me that he probably had not been to my house since 2weeks ago because how did he get back into the house last last week if he didn’t remember the code? I think today is the day they came back since 9/13 to finish the rest of the work. They were there for 2hours today. He said they were there today just to backfill the holes and pour concrete in the plumbing trenches they had dug. I am sorry for the long story but I am not sure how to handle this situation because I feel like I am being lied to. $4,200 is a lot of money for me to pay for work that was not done. This is my first rental property and I am still learning not sure what I should have done differently. I have attached all the pictures he sent me.I would appreciate all your help or suggestions. Thank you all in advance!

Hi everyone.

I got my first property in Harrisburg, PA last year and I have been renting it by the room. I have someone who was helping me manage the properties. He also has his own properties in the area and he is also a handyman so he was also my maintenance guy. He has been so hard to deal with lately. For e.g He would take time to do repairs, collect the rent and take a very long time to transfer/send the money into my account upto 2weeks. I made a decision last weekend that I wanted to take over and do the management myself. I have met all the tenants in the house except for one lady because she just moved in last month. I would like to meet this new tenant and introduce myself, problem is I do not have the phone number of this new tenant and he is refusing (indirectly) to give me the tenants number until he talks to her first.

According to him the tenant does a live in job and he’s saying she’s not always home and he doesnt know when she will be home next. He says he had lied to the tenant that he owns the property and now he doesnt want to look stupid or look like a liar so he would like to tell the tenant in person and explain that he sold the house and the new owner will be taking over management of the house (something like that). He refuses to tell this to her over the phone.

When I ask him when that will happen he said he doesnt know when she will be off from work, when I ask for the tenant’s number he says he cannot give it to me until he talks to her first, which leaves me with a few options here.l. I do not have the phone nunber of this tenant and I am wondering what’s really going on here. Why cant he just tell her on the phone all this. We have been going back and forth about this for a few days now. All the tenants have paid rent for the month of July. Should I just leave it and wait until he gives me this new tenant’s number? I am not sure if there’s more to this. He sounded angry on the phone when we spoke today, he didnt say it but i know he is not happy about my decision to manage the properties.

I would like to change locks for the whole house but I cannot do this until I have been in touch with the new tenant so that she doesnt get any surprises coming to a house that has new locks. I live 75mins away from Harrisburg. Sorry to write a long story. I would appreciate everyone’s help on this issue. Thank you all in advance.

@Cher L. Thank you for the advice. I am still working on building my ‘tribe’. Any suggestions or ideas on how i can get on the wholesalers buyers list? Do you also know of any good lenders that you can recommend to me?

@Zack Kepes thank you. Trying to learn as much as I can. Very challenging with a full time job and also a mother of 2 little kids and another side business!

@Ola Dantis definitely interested in house hacking as well. Thanks for the advice. I have started putting offers on properties that I like. Greatly appreciated!

@Whitney Hutten thank you for the useful guide. Much appreciated! Will PM if I have any questions!