Helen T. of Salt Lake City knew she needed to do something about her clay sewer line – it had gotten to the point that she had to have it cleaned out annually to clear it of roots.
“My sewer line is old and clay,” she said.
However, figuring out exactly how to approach the problem and which plumber to use proved to be a daunting task.
“It’s difficult to find a contractor. There are so many repair methods to consider – lining, bursting,” Helen said. “I had six bids.”
Helen wanted to be sure that she was making the right choice so she could enjoy many more years in her beloved home – a 100-year-old structure in a quiet residential neighbourhood popular with young families. The repair would be an investment of several thousand dollars, and she wanted to make the best, most cost efficient choice. It would have been a great help to have someone knowledgeable about plumbing repair assist her, she added.
“The bidding process was difficult,” she said, noting it required doing research on her own to better understand both what she needed and what was being offered to repair the clay sewer line.
After receiving a recommendation from a plumber with whom she had a long relationship, she chose Stott Plumbing, a network contractor with the HomeServe.
“They came out here, they gave me a fair estimate and they gave me space to make a decision,” Helen said.
Not only do Stott Plumbing managers Bryan and Mike Stott pride themselves on word-of-mouth advertising and their cordial relationship with Salt Lake City officials, but also on being able to do every part of a job from start to finish. Stott, which was started by Gerald Stott, Bryan and Mike’s father, in 1970, has the personnel and equipment to do everything from opening a cut in the street to running heavy machinery to backfilling.
“When you don’t have control over that, then you run the risk of delay when a [third-party vendor] isn’t available,” said Bryan. “This just makes sense.”
Helen is retired and on a fixed income, and this repair would be a significant financial hardship. So Stott suggested she apply for the HomeServe Cares program. HomeServe agreed to cover the clay sewer line repair for Helen.
“I didn’t believe it at first,” Helen said. “It sounded too good to be true, but it was true.”
Stott Plumbing replaced Helen’s entire sewer service line, from her home to the city sewer main. This required digging a trench through her front yard, cutting through the street and “bursting,” or pushing the new pipe through the old, to avoid disturbing the sidewalk and porch. Stott Plumbing accomplished this all in one day so Helen will enjoy her home and neighbourhood for many years to come.
“I want to thank HomeServe Cares and Stott Plumbing,” Helen said.
HomeServe is committed to serving its partners’ communities. To this end, HomeServe Cares is a program to aid disadvantaged homeowners in communities it serves who are faced with a service emergency and don’t have a service plan or the funds to cover an emergency repair. HomeServe Cares leverages the company’s existing service infrastructure and financial resources to aid homeowners in need.