Gallery

Our work and our people

Real jobs and the family that does them. No stock photography, no borrowed images from somebody else’s yard.

Call the shop · (909) 888-8736 Ask us what it takes

Three members of the Cortez family standing in front of a Big Mike's Rooter and Plumbing service truck in Yucaipa, California — The family, outside the shop in Yucaipa.

Who turns up

Big Mike founded this company in 1982 and handed it to his family. The people in this photograph are the ones running it now, and the person who answers the phone has a stake in how your job goes.

Sometimes the right recommendation is the cheap one. A shop that has been in one family for four decades cannot afford a reputation for anything else.

More about the family

The work itself

Every photograph here is one of our jobs, taken by our crew on site. Nothing is staged and nothing is borrowed.

Sewer digs

Laterals, cleanouts and the excavation that goes with them.

Backyard excavation along a block wall fence, dry soil piled, palms overhead — Backyard sewer dig along the fence.

White cleanout riser with orange couplings standing in a fresh trench beside a driveway — Cleanout riser going in by a driveway.

Black pipe riser standing in a saw-cut concrete opening with a level and tape measure — Riser set through cut concrete.

Saw-cut opening through a concrete slab exposing sewer pipe, pipe wrench and hose on deck — Saw-cut access to the sewer.

Deep square excavation beside a flowering hillside with a pipe standing in the pit — A deep one by the hillside.

Long sewer trench under excavation with a mini excavator digging at the head of the cut — Sewer trench with the mini excavator.

Night excavation at a street curb under work lights, water pooling in the cut — Night dig at the curb.

Rectangular pit cut through concrete exposing a cleanout fitting below grade — Cleanout pit cut through concrete.

Open excavation along a stucco house side yard, saturated dark soil, pipe and tools laid out — Side-yard sewer excavation.

Repipes and leaks

Copper going in, and what came out.

Fresh copper repipe risers in an opened stud bay, gas flex alongside — Copper risers in an open wall.

Plumber holding a cracked cast-iron UNIVCO closet wye packed with scale, bathroom rebuild behind — Cracked cast iron, full of scale.

Slab cut open inside a block-wall building exposing copper stubs, plastic sheeting laid — Slab opened for a repipe.

Copper repipe run above an open ceiling grid in a commercial building — Copper run above a ceiling grid.

Drywall access cut exposing copper supply lines and shutoff valves — Wall opened at the shutoffs.

Septic and grease

Pump-outs, a new tank going in, and a grease interceptor.

Suction hose lowered into a green-lined vault through a manhole, crew boots at the rim — Grease interceptor pump-out.

Corrugated suction hoses connected to a below-grade fitting during a pump-out — Hoses on for a pump-out.

New septic tank with green risers set in an open trench, track loader working behind it — New septic tank set in the trench.

Commercial buildings

Manifolds, backflow and occupied buildings kept clean while we work.

Overhead galvanized and copper manifold with backflow assembly against a louvered enclosure — Backflow on a commercial manifold.

Copper and galvanized manifold with gauges mounted on a block wall in a commercial space — Supply manifold on a block wall.

Finished trench patch across a commercial parking lot with palms and building behind — Parking lot trench, patched.

Interior corridor fully masked with floor protection paper and blue tape during work — Corridor masked before we cut.

Office corridor with floor paper, tape lines and safety cones during a commercial job — Office floors covered while we work.

Water heaters and water lines

Heaters in, mains laid, valves where they belong.

Blue poly water main laid in an open rocky trench with yellow fittings — New water main in a rocky trench.

Newly installed exterior water heater in a steel enclosure against a house wall — Outdoor water heater, installed.

Brass shutoff valves and supply line exposed in a rocky yard excavation — Shutoff valves at the water service.

The unglamorous end of the trade

Septic pump-outs, sewer laterals, leach fields and the excavation that goes with them. This is the work a lot of plumbing companies refer out, and it is the work this shop was built on.

One contractor covering plumbing, septic and excavation means one point of responsibility when a job crosses between them, which is most of the time on older properties.

Sewer and septic service

A septic tank being pumped out on a job site, with the suction hose lowered through the open tank lid into the ground — Septic pump-out, Inland Empire.

A Yucaipa residential street with the snow-capped San Bernardino Mountains rising behind the rooftops — Yucaipa, with the mountains behind it.

Where we work

Our coverage runs from the foothill communities near Yucaipa and Redlands, through the valley floor cities, out to the desert communities and west toward the county line. It is a large area and we staff for it.

A lot of the housing out here went up between the 1950s and the 1970s, which means cast-iron sewer laterals and galvanized supply lines that are well past their design life.

Every city we serve See our work

Are these your own photos?

Yes. Everything here is our own work and our own people. We do not use stock photography.

Can I see work similar to my job?

Call and ask. We can usually describe comparable jobs in your area and what they involved.

Do you work with contractors and property managers?

Regularly. We coordinate around construction schedules, tenant access and operating hours as a matter of course.

Do you clean up afterwards?

Yes. We haul off whatever we replaced and put the area back. You should not be able to tell we were there except that it works.

Are you licensed?

Yes. We hold plumbing, sanitation and general engineering contractor licensing, which lets one shop handle work that runs from inside the house out to the septic field.

What areas do you serve?

Yucaipa and out across San Bernardino County, Riverside County and the eastern edge of Los Angeles County. If you are not sure you are in range, call and ask.

Will you tell me if I do not need the work?

Yes, and we do regularly. A shop that has been in one family for four decades cannot afford a reputation for selling people work they did not need.

Want to talk about your job?

Describe what it is doing and we will tell you what it takes. No sales pitch.

(909) 888-8736 Talk to the shop

Yucaipa, California · Serving San Bernardino, Riverside and eastern Los Angeles counties · Open 24 hours