I am writing this letter as a public service, after my mother came close to being fleeced by a couple of local, high-profile businesses on a sewer-repair job.
The 60-year-old sewer pipes had finally become impassable and needed to be replaced. I would imagine many of your readers with older homes might soon find themselves in this same situation.
I called two of the largest plumbing repair advertisers in the yellow pages and received bids of $7,276 and $9,596. I told both companies that unless they had a Ph.D. in ditch digging, the prices they were quoting were outrageous.
I wised up quickly and called a couple of the smallest advertisers (one line) I could find in the same phone book. Within 10 minutes I found two contractors, both licensed and bonded, who would do the job for under $2,500. The final bill for digging up the pipes, replacing them, hauling the refuse away and covering the marred landscape with gravel came to $2,166! The city inspected the work before the new pipes were covered and this contractor guaranteed his work in writing. He even re-covered my mother’s driveway when he found he had brought along too much gravel for the job!
Your readers can save themselves a few thousand dollars when they need sewers repaired by doing what I did. Call a man with a backhoe – under sewer repair, not a high-priced plumber. Get a written, guaranteed bid from a licensed and bonded contractor. Have the city inspect the work for $30. Finally, ask yourself, “How do these people pay for those huge ads in the yellow pages?” The answer is: with your hard-earned money!
TED ANDERSON
Everett
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