Almost sent my landlord $1,200 for a plumbing fix I didn't need, glad I got a second look first

Logan Lee · 2026-09-23T01:35:05.547861+00:00

So two weeks ago my kitchen sink started backing up and draining crazy slow. I called the first plumber that popped up on my phone, he showed up in a van with no logo, poked around for 5 minutes and said the main line under the slab was cracked and it would run me about $1,200 minimum. Something about how fast he said it bugged me so I told him I needed to think. Then I called this older guy my neighbor uses, Sal from down on Carmine St, and he ran a camera down the cleanout for $80 and found nothing but grease and hair clogging the trap arm. He snaked it out in 20 minutes for $150 total and told me the slab was fine, the first guy never even opened the cleanout. The difference was night and day, one guy wanted to tear up my floor and the other one just did the boring obvious thing first. I almost handed over $1,200 for a repair that was never needed because I panicked and trusted the first person who showed up. Has anyone else gotten a wild quote like that and dodged it by getting someone else to look?

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Almost sent my landlord $1,200 for a plumbing fix I didn't need, glad I got a second look first | Ask Without Fear - Talk Freely