New-Pipe Plumbing & Rooter
About us
Welcome to NEW-PIPE Plumbing & Rooter, your professional neighborhood plumber serving Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley since 1992. We provide fast, reliable, and guaranteed service for all of your plumbing needs. A licensed master plumber, NEW-PIPE Plumbing is a fully licensed and insured company with 24-hour emergency service available. NEW-PIPE Plumbing offers a complete line of plumbing and drain services to the residential, commercial and industrial customers. We take pride in employing trusted, highly qualified technicians who have extensive training in their respective fields and assure quality workmanship and reliable service. What we Do NEW-PIPE Plumbing is experienced in repairing, replacing and installing all type of plumbing systems and fixtures in homes and businesses. If you think you might have a problem, want to upgrade or are planning an addition, we’re the service provider for you! As a family owned and operated company, we guarantee that you’ll be satisfied with the work we do. Set up your service call today. We look forward to working with you. Additional Contact - Peter Zamkochyan. Additional Email - [email protected], [email protected].
Business highlights
Services we offer
Bathtubs and Showers, Broken Water Pipes, Commercial plumbing, Complete Plumbing Inspection, Copper Re-piping, Drain Cleaning, Drains and Sewers, Faucets, Garbage Disposals, Hydro Jetting, New Construction, Remodeling, Residential plumbing, Rooter Service, Sinks, Trenchless Replacement, Video Inspection, Water Heaters, Water Line Repair
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 83% | ||
| 10% | ||
| 4% | ||
| 1% | ||
| 3% |
"I am the owner of New Pipe plumbing and rooter and I agree that is higher than our average price for that particular job. I would appreciate it if you would be willing to give me a chance to investigate why you were charged so much and resolve this matter. I am ready to refund you a portion of your spend. Please give my office a call (818) 765-2424 and ask for me Stephan or my son Peter so that we can take care of this as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks and have a great day."
Stephan came promptly for the evaluation. Within 20 minutes, he diagnosed the entire problem with our plumbing issues, offered us a reasonable solution and worked within our budget. Although offering to come the next day to begin repairs, we had him come two days later. When he was running a little behind, he called early, made sure his guys were here to start the work. With three on his crew, they carefully dug up the top layer of our lawn, replaced the pipe and restored the top layer of grass. They worked hard, tested everything and completed the job within about 5.5 hours.
We are very pleased and have used New Pipe for two major home projects and will continue to use them in the future for our plumbing needs.
There were several problems that they took in stride, without charging me an extra penny. The first was that the crawl space under the house was very small. No problem -- he brought a small guy, Milton, who did all the under the house work. While under there, Milton discovered a very wet area that was caused by a garden drain backing up. Stephan offered to hydro power it open, but when I told him I could get the job done for less money than his price, he graciously stepped aside and offered to come back to do it if my gardener was unsuccessful..
The second problem was that they encountered a filled-in swimming pool under the grass, which made it impossible to tunnel under the concrete from the house to the grass. So they cut through the concrete and carefully patched it when they were finished.
The third problem was that we had just re-sodded the lawn two days previously and I was worried that they would ruin the sod by peeling it back to lay pipes to the sprinkler valve, and by stepping on it to work. Stephan assured me that he would replace the sod if it died. No need -- the sod looked perfect when they finished and even the man who laid it thought so.
Stephan was right on top of the job, visiting several times to oversee it. Also, he went back to my residence that he had re-piped four years ago and tested and increased the house pressure, which became too low when we recently added an upstairs bathroom.
I would definitely hire Stephan again and would recommend him to my friends. About those bad reviews, I talked to Stephan about them. In the last instance, he fired the technician that was responsible. So don't be afraid to hire Stephan and be candid with him about anything that troubles you..
The plumber showed up on-time, looked at the sink drain and asked me what was on the other side of the wall (thinking he could open up the wall if he needed). Second red flag.
Then, he asked to see the kitchen sink (on the other side of the house), under the house in the crawl space (to check for leaks) and then asked if he could check the water pressure for the house. Still I didn't have a quote from the guy.After all the investigations, he finally pulled out his "book" and said "This is the book that we use to give our estimates and based on this it would cost $338" Third red flag. I was floored. I told him this was WAY too high for a bathroom drain. He asked "How much do you think it's worth?" I said no more than $150, but that I was already uncomfortable with this whole experience. He said that he'd call his office and see if they would accept that amount for service. In the end, we agreed on $130 (which felt reasonable).
In the end, the service was fine.
UPDATE: I had handyman come out, and while he was at my house he looked at this plumbing problem. The handyman said that it was probably a main line. I told him the story. He unscrewed the overflow and it was clogged with hair. This was a simple fix that the plumbing company was unable to find. They did not even bother to come out with equipment to fix the problem. I went with New Pipe because of the wonderful equipment they had to put in a main line and they couldn't even catch this simple problem. They repeatedly said that the water would not go down in the tub.
a number of companies bid on the job and New-Pipe came in with the most reasonable and cost efficient solution. George scheduled the repair on the very next day. he had coordinated a number of crews out to our home throughout the day to perform all of the separate aspects of the job. the repair was done in one day with some final clean up that the last crew came back to do the next morning.
overall, an excellent experience! I have already recommended George, Stephan and crew and will do so every time anyone I know needs to hire a great, professional and honest plumbing company.
Missed work, waited for inspector to arrive. The supervisor and service technician arrived, very polite and friendly. They inserted camera thru drain clean out pipe, as the camera was going in, they reached cast iron pipe and couldn't get thru because of build up. They said that they couldn't clean out that build up because it would damage the cast iron pipe, so they recommended to dig further to expose the rest of the drainage pipe, cut out one piece of the cast iron pipe and replace with new piece with clean out pipe. They mentioned that would be around $350 (I don't remember the exact cost, the supervisor kept the estimate paperwork). I decided that price seemed fair, so I accepted, and allowed them to come the next morning to start work.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 3
The supervisor arrived with two workers. The two workers started digging, found that the cast iron pipe was cracking from a tree root. They opened up the cast iron pipe under the house to continue letting the camera go thru to inspect the rest of the drain pipe that went under my backyard and into the city sewer system in the back alley. They found that the root from our backyard tree had clogged up a piece of the pipe in the back of the alley.
At this point, I got worried and I asked the supervisor how much will it cost to replace the entire drain pipe in my backyard. He said not to worry yet, and to let them inspect further into the pipe until it reaches city sewer line and hope that there's no further root damage in the drain pipe. Then he stated that he will have a better understanding of the cost of the entire pipe once he sees everything from start to finish.
I said alright. Then the two workers started to dig in my backyard to find the clogged part of the pipe that the tree had caused. By the late afternoon, they had found the part of the pipe that was clogged, unfortunately, that piece of the pipe was cut open during the digging process. The supervisor mentioned that it would cost $2,025 to fix the parts they had just dug up.
Then he mentioned it would make more sense to replace the entire drain pipe from house to yard (65ft 4" cast iron with trenchless pipe burst), and from yard to city sewer (20ft of 4-6" cast iron with epoxy lining) for $12,680.00!
I felt a huge knot in my stomach. It was already getting dark outside and they didn't have time to put a temporary tube to seal the gaps on the cast iron pipe. My family couldn't flush the toilet, use the shower or sinks!!
I felt like I was cornered. I had no advance warning earlier that day that I would be left overnight like this. I didn't know what to do. I don't have that kind of money.
My family needed to use the water, and I knew we didn't have a few days to shop around for estimates. It was so unfair. In a panic, I signed the contract for them to begin work the next day. The supervisor mentioned that the work should be done in about a day (which it wasn't, but more on that below). He also mentioned there was also a cancellation fee a little over $1k.
After they left, I realized what I had just done. I was seriously stressing out and I called the supervisor later that night and explained to him that the estimate he gave me was very high and I could just not afford it. I would have to borrow money and credit cards from family members, and risk losing my home (not having enough money for mortgage and bills). He said he would talk to his boss and would let me know what they come up with.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4
A crew of 5 arrived (3 of which I noticed were there temporarily to help with trenchless pipe burst and epoxy lining) to begin the work.
When I spoke with the supervisor, he mentioned that they were only able to lower the cost to $10k. Although I appreciated the cost adjustment, this was still way too high for me. I just had eye surgery about 3 weeks ago, and I told him I only have $6k, and the rest I would need to borrow from relatives and I would be putting my family and my home at risk losing this much money, I would go into financial ruin.
I asked the supervisor if I could speak to his manager about lowering the cost more, which I did, and I explained to his manager about my situation, and that if he could please understand and if there's anything that could be done to adjust the cost even lower (we could help dig, etc). He stated that $10k is as low as they will go (since they, as a company, have their expenses, and have to pay for workers comp and insurance), and that they would let me pay a portion now and the rest in monthly installments. I felt so defeated.
Once 3 of the workers left, only 2 remained and one of the workers realized there were some missing pieces they needed to finish the project so he headed out to North Hollywood and to Home Depot to find these items while the other worker stood in backyard waiting. He came back and said that they didn't have a connector piece and the supply store that carries it is closed on Sundays, so they would have to come back tomorrow to finish the job.
Only until very late in the evening did they put a temporary tube so we were finally able to use the water again. The trench hole still remained open.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 5
Missed work day. Two workers were running late (mentioned they had a meeting in the morning and traffic). Once they got there, they continued working on the project. Towards the end, one worker headed out once again (and was gone for quite some time) to Home Depot to find Lime to throw underneath the house for the moisture. The other worker was closing the hole from the trench, but finished rather quickly and stood around waiting for the other worker to come back. They seemed to be in a rush, they mentioned they had another job to head to right after mine.
Before they were about to leave, one worker mentioned that there was still a piece of OLD cast iron that was connected to the new piping they just put in. When I asked why, he said it was in 'OK' condition, so that's why he left it in there, which seemed very odd to me. I also noticed that there was still one long piece of trenchless pipe sitting in my yard, and wondered why I had 'paid' for this piece that was just sitting there if it wasn't going to be used. Before the two workers left, they cut it in two pieces and took off with it.
I didn't see the supervisor this day, and asked when he was coming. They said he was busy and would come the next day to collect payment (and would bring revised contract). I then asked them if they were going to run the camera thru the new piping so I could double check how it looks, and since they were in a hurry, they said it was not necessary since it was all new pipe, and to speak with the supervisor if I needed him to bring the camera to re-check the new pipe work the next day. I did.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6
ANOTHER missed work day. Sat home waiting. Supervisor mentioned he would be here around 11-12pm. He then called and said he was running late. He and the service technician arrived at 4pm.
They brought the camera, upon inspection, the supervisor noticed there was still OLD cast iron pipe under the house. The supervisor then apologized and mentioned it was a mistake on their end and that all old cast iron pipes should have been removed. He then said that they would come back the next day to remove the old cast iron pipe and replace with new pipe. I was shocked. (Remember how I mentioned that I noticed an extra pipe laying around in my yard that was taken away by the workers?)
The supervisor also mentioned that there was a wrong connection piece installed that connected to the drain clean out pipe, which caused the camera to go the opposite direction of where it needed to go. He mentioned that this would also n
Highlight (or lowlights):
- The price for the job ended up being competitive, but I had to grind to get the price down over $1500 (started way too high).
- 4 man crew was a mess from the beginning. The owner (Stephan) mentioned that they'd put paper down to protect the newer hardwood floors, but didn't bring any and just started working making a mess tracking and grinding plaster into the floor. I had to put my own paper down, and even after doing this had to continue to remind (yell) them to add my paper underneath each new plaster hole they were randomly creating.
- Broke one my shower valves in the wall, and tried to make it sound like they were doing me a huge favor by not charging me for the replacement they had to buy. The new one they put in was a different depth than the original, and had to have mickey mouse adapters added for the handles to work.
- The night before their final day of work, I found a leak within the wall coming from the pipes in the 2nd story they had just replaced. Fortunately they ran out of time on the 2nd to last day and hadn't yet sealed up the wall. Otherwise, I wouldn't have found it until it had done some serious wood warping/mold damage.
- Punctured a drain pipe in the wall through their carelessness to patch up exterior stucco on the 2nd floor. They reapplied stucco to a thin piece of paneling that they nailed in place in the wall. One of those nails went through the pipe. This unfortunately wasn't found until 10 months later.
Bottom line, there are plenty of other companies out there. I've seen this one handle jobs unacceptably twice, so unless you're a betting man and used to losing, be sure to think twice.
Licensing
State Contractor License Requirements
All statements concerning insurance, licenses, and bonds are informational only, and are self-reported. Since insurance, licenses and bonds can expire and can be cancelled, homeowners should always check such information for themselves. To find more licensing information for your state, visit our Find Licensing Requirements page.
*Contact business to see additional licenses.