Plumbing Inspections
An inspection tells you the actual condition of a system rather than its age. That matters most when buying a property, or when a system has started producing problems and you want to know why.
Plumbing Inspections
When to call
What usually brings people to this
A lot of the 1980s-era tracts used materials that looked fine at the time and have not aged the way anyone hoped.
These are the symptoms that usually prompt the call. Any one of them is worth a conversation, and most of them get cheaper to deal with the earlier they are looked at.
Buying or selling a property
Recurring problems with no obvious cause
An older home with unknown plumbing history
Before a remodel, to know what you are building on
A property on septic with no records
Water finds its way into structure, insulation and flooring long before anybody sees it, which is what makes early diagnosis worth so much.
How we work it
We would rather spend an extra half hour locating the fault than an extra day undoing unnecessary work.
Camera the sewer lateral
The most expensive plumbing surprise in any property purchase is the line you cannot see.
Check supply condition and pressure
Material, condition, pressure and any signs of ongoing failure.
Water heater, fixtures and shutoffs
Age, condition, code items and whether the shutoffs actually work.
Write down what we found
A record of condition rather than a verbal impression.
Worth knowingWhat plumbing inspections actually involves
We would rather tell you the truth about a system that is near the end of its life than sell you a repair that buys six months.
If you are buying a property, the sewer lateral is the inspection worth insisting on. A standard home inspection does not include a camera down the sewer line, and the lateral is both expensive to replace and completely invisible without one. We have run cameras for buyers that turned up a collapsed line under a driveway, which is a negotiation the buyer would otherwise have had after closing, with their own money.
We would rather carry more equipment than we need on a given day than tell a customer we have to come back with the right tool.
We go where the work is, across San Bernardino, Riverside and eastern Los Angeles counties. If you are outside the usual radius, call and ask. We cover more ground than most shops our size.
We would rather spend an extra half hour locating the fault than an extra day undoing unnecessary work.
Keeping it from happening again
Water finds its way into structure, insulation and flooring long before anybody sees it, which is what makes early diagnosis worth so much.
Look behind and under appliances once in a while. Washing machine hoses, dishwasher connections and ice-maker lines are common leak sources and they are all hidden from normal view.
The cheapest plumbing is the kind that gets looked at before it fails. An annual walk of the visible plumbing, checking under sinks, around the water heater and at any exposed pipe, catches most problems while they are still small and dry.
If a drain has slowed, deal with it while it is slow. A slow drain is a partial blockage announcing itself, and it will finish the job eventually at a less convenient moment.
Exercise your shutoff valves once a year. A quarter turn and back keeps them from seizing, and a main shutoff that will not turn during an emergency is a much more expensive problem than one that gets used occasionally.
Who you are calling
We would rather come out and find it was nothing than have somebody wait on a problem that was getting worse.
When you call, a person answers, day or night. That has been true since Big Mike ran the phone himself, and it is one of the reasons people keep calling us.
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.
We are licensed for plumbing, for sanitation and septic systems, and as a general engineering contractor, so one shop can take the whole job.
Big Mike's · Yucaipa, California
Questions we get about plumbing inspections
If yours is not here, call and ask. We would rather talk it through than have you guess.
Is a sewer inspection worth it when buying?
It is the single most valuable plumbing inspection there is. A failed lateral is a major cost and it is invisible without a camera.
What does an inspection cover?
Sewer lateral by camera, supply condition and pressure, water heater, fixtures, shutoffs and visible drainage.
Do you inspect septic systems?
Yes, including tank condition and drain field indicators.
How long does it take?
Typically a couple of hours for a house, depending on size and access.
Do you charge for a quote?
No. Quotes are free and they come after we have looked at the actual problem, not over the phone from a description.
Do you work nights and weekends?
Yes. Nights, weekends and holidays are ordinary working hours in this trade, and emergency calls are answered around the clock.
Do you guarantee your work?
We stand behind what we do. If something we repaired is not right, call us and we will come back and deal with it.
Can you give a price over the phone?
For simple, well-defined jobs sometimes. For anything that needs diagnosis, a number quoted blind is a guess, and we would rather look first and give you a real figure.
How this fits the rest of the system
Most residential plumbing failures give warning before they become emergencies. Drains slow before they stop. Water heaters make noise before they leak. Pressure drifts before a pipe fails. The customers who spend the least on plumbing over the years are the ones who call when they notice something odd rather than when something has clearly broken.
Before we come out
If there is a water meter on the property and you can find it, knowing whether it is spinning with everything off is useful information.
Between San Bernardino County, Riverside County and the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, we cover most of what anyone means by the Inland Empire, plus the desert communities further out.
Related work and where we do it
Other work we do in homes
- New Construction Plumbing
Ground-up residential plumbing.
- Kitchen Plumbing
Sinks, disposals, supply and drain work.
- Whole House Water Filtration
Treating every tap in the house.
- Repiping
Replacing failing supply piping through a house.
- Emergency Plumbing
Burst pipes, backups and after-hours failures.
- Tankless Water Heater Repair
Error codes, scaling and flow faults.
Where we go
We run plumbing inspections out of Yucaipa across Corona, Duarte, Montclair, Cathedral City, Upland, Rialto and Rancho Cucamonga, and the rest of San Bernardino, Riverside and the eastern edge of Los Angeles County.
Call the shop. A person picks up.
Tell us what it is doing and we will tell you what it takes to fix it. Plain language, no sales pitch, and the number before we start.
Yucaipa, California · Serving San Bernardino, Riverside and eastern Los Angeles counties · Open 24 hours