Alki Sewer

Brandon H.

Phil from Alki Sewer came out to unclog my toilet after hours the night before Thanksgiving and was at my home in a matter of minutes. He was fast, friendly, and solved my problem in no time. I recommend him wholeheartedly.

Chadwick M.

I unexpectedly found myself with some sewer problems resulting in water and sewage backing up into my basement after a shower and brushing my teeth one morning. I had a sewer snake performed by Raymark and subsequent video inspection showed that my 70 year old cement pipes were full of well-established tree roots and crumbling. Based on the condition of my pipes, I decided to have them replaced.

I obtained quotes from five different sewer repair shops including Raymark and Metropolitan Sewer. When I called Phil for a quote, I was looking for some general numbers based on previous quotes provided by competitors, but he was adamant about coming out to review the property in person and talking me through what the repairs would involve. During his visit to my property Phil walked me through everything that needed to be done and even discovered some additional items that other competitors had missed - for example my gutters were running into a PVC pipe that dumped underground a few feet from my house.

Phil's quote came in several thousand dollars cheaper than the other sewer companies and he was the only person who guaranteed the quoted price would not increase. My joint sewer line was unfortunately located under my neighbor's beautifully landscaped brick wall and to help diffuse the concern of having to take the wall apart, Phil guaranteed the wall would look exactly the same after as before, including a warranty for future problems with the section of the wall that was impacted. Again, he was the only person to guarantee this. I ended up selecting Alki Sewer to replace my sewer line with the pipe bursting method as well as stub a pipe underneath my foundation for a future bathroom in my basement.

Work lasted around a week and Phil and his guys were very communicative about the times that my sewer would be unavailable. Typically the sewer was only off from 9AM-1PM each day which was convenient because it allowed me the use of it in the morning and after work. When I had concerns or feedback for Phil, he immediately addressed the items with his team. During the course of work, there were two key examples of the type of hard work and honestly that Alki Sewer brings that I'd like to highlight:

1. I had originally asked for a pipe to be stubbed underneath my basement slab for a future bathroom next to where the sewer pipe comes out of my house. After digging the hole to fix the sewer line, Phil discovered that a future bathroom could connect to my original sewer line without the need to stub an extra pipe. This ended up saving me a good chunk of money and the key take away is that Phil was honest about not trying to take my money for a service that I didn't need. He could have put the pipe in and charged me for the work and I would never have known the difference.

2. During the pipe bursting, Phil discovered that my tree roots were so bad that it almost broke their equipment. To successfully pull a new sewer line, the team had to dig an additional, unanticipated hole about 5 feet x 12 feet x 9 feet deep. This surprise ended up adding an extra day of work to the job, but true to his word, the quoted price that I paid did not increase, despite Phil having to pay for extra day of work for his guys. Once again, Phil demonstrated his integrity by keeping his word.

When the job was all done, the guys spent a day getting the yard back to normal, restoring the wall and cleaning up. I had some friends over for dinner about a week after the work and they commented that ""you can't even tell that any work was done."" I consider this a high compliment for the work that Phil and his team have done. Thanks again to Alki Sewer for the quality work they put in and I'd recommend them to anyone looking for sewer repair.

Becca T.

Fantastic! He just came by to inspect my sewer and gave me an honest opinion. He was knowledgable about potential problems and educated me on the best way to fix them. More importantly, he wasn't trying to sell me services to fix my sewer like another company did. The other company wanted to charge me $17,000 for something he thought looked fine. I appreciate his honesty and his no-nonsense approach. I would definitely recommend Alki Sewer and I intend to use them if we decide to do any work.

Moma J.

Phil is phenomenal! He gave me free, good advice, saved me over 5k.

I had a backed up sewer line. A major pluming company came out and wanted 369 to snake it, did a bad job and told me I had a collapsed sewer line and wanted $6700 on the spot to dig it up and fix it. Yea yelp!!! I saw SWP had bad reviews and Alki Sewer had good reviews so I got a second opinion from Phil. He looked at it for free and recommended I have it power jetted because of some special situations (the line runs under a stream and it looked like dirt in the line) he recommended a company that would do it right for a fair price, he had them call him after they were done and he came back out to review and confirm everything worked. He never charged me a dime and saved me from needlessly having to replace the line. Phil is honest, smart, knows plumbing and likes helping people.

Mary S.

If you want someone PASSIONATE about sewers, Phil is your guy! We live in a 100 year old house and as our neighbors started replacing their sewers one by one, we knew we were living on borrowed time with our old clay sewer that from one DVD I saw had roots growing inside. I got 4 bids from different companies, but after walking around with Phil, I knew he would be our sewer guy. Quite a character, he was the most thorough in assessing the drainage system from the side sewers on, even removing an upstairs toilet just to make sure it was not tied into the gutter/sewer system. Only until he was satisfied with understanding the way the whole sewer system worked (seemingly for his own edification), was he comfortable drawing up a proposed solution. He explained to me what he found (I now know far more about sewers than I ever thought I would!). He gave us a detailed outline of our options from the most expensive and complete fix, to the least expensive solution of what absolutely should be done to avoid a sewage backup, and what could get by with a maintenance program of regular clean outs.

He told me that he because he spends so much time with the diagnosis aspect, he never goes over his proposed $amount. I believe him! The other companies spent less than half the time and the proposed cost even had vagueness worked into the proposal. A bad sign!

We chose almost a complete fix. This was a big job, but our sewer was repaired within the allotted time (5 days) with several people working during the day. We were able to use the sewer every night. We're a family of 6, so this was much appreciated! A rival company even told on Phil, so a city inspector showed up during that time (the nerve!), but Alki Sewer came up shining! Phil even threw in 2 Toto Drakes (""plumbers toilets"") for free to replace the leaky toilet he had checked out during the diagnostic phase (also, our master toilet was not great either). They work great!

I would highly recommend Phil with Alki Sewer in a heartbeat. He gave us a lifetime warranty on his sewer work for as long as we live in this house to boot!

Stephen M.

This is what a contract home maintenance job should be! Done as promised for the price quoted, in a timely manner and when complete your place looks a little better than before it was started. Honestly, I have no idea how Phil and his folks left my yard looking untouched after digging a trench to clear and reconnect a downspout to the drainage and sewer line.

I had been putting off this nagging project for years anticipating and fearing the worst - major sewer job, yard torn up, thousands of dollars, etc. Finally I could ignore the soggy, ""soft"" spot in my yard by the corner of the house (by a downspout) no more. After reading Alki Sewer's other Yelp reviews I decided to give them a call. Boy am I glad I did.After leaving Phil a voice mail, he returned my call the same day, came out on the weekend as agreed upon, quoted me a fair price, did the work the work the following day while my wife and I were at work. We came home and, other than the clean new PVC where the old, corroded metal ""connector"" used to be I could barely tell they were here. Problem solved.

Thanks Phil!

Ed S.

This is a long review, which I recommend that you read all the way through, but I will summarize in one word: Outstanding!!!!

Now read on.

I'm a little late in getting to this review, but I can't let service this good go without a comment.

OK Here is the story:

I walked out to my basement shop to find a massive amount of water on the floor and worse it was rapidly heading toward the recently carpeted and renovated Media Room.

Having no idea what to do or who to call I did some fast searches and came across Alki Sewers reviews on Yelp. The great reviews and positive comments helped me to make up my mind and I gave them a call.

Phil answered the phone after a couple of rings and after listening to my description of what was going on said he would be right over. Right over was right!, Phil and one of his guys arrived just 10 minutes after our conversation.

------This is where it starts to get good------

Upon seeing the state of my basement, Phil and his guy lost no time in quickly building a barrier around the expanding water and with shop-vac and broom headed off the water before it could get get beyond my shop and in to the house. This all happened with such a sense of urgency that you would have thought it was his own house.

Once the immediate emergency had been dealt with, Phil walked around the basement, the shop and the outside of the house. He inspected my already existing sump basin and pump and asked me a lot of questions about prior issues with flooding and so forth. He also asked about how long I had been in the house and my plans for how long we would be there. I wasn't certain what all the questions had been for until Phil started to talk about what he suggested as a plan.

Phil explained to me in great detail what he saw as the cause of the flooding and further explained how it could be dealt with. He offered me a number of approaches and gave corresponding pricing to each approach. I was really impressed by Phil's obvious knowledge and experience. He was able to accurately size up the situation and quickly get to a solution. I opted for the higher end solution, which offered the greater piece of mind. Phil started work on the spot.

A couple of things to keep in mind - This was during Thanksgiving week when we had record rainfall and every contractor in town was working at capacity. From what I had been told there was even a certain amount of price gouging going on. Well not from Alki Sewer. The price I was quoted was not only fair, but outstanding given the circumstances.

So, work began. This was an extensive plan and involved opening up a large trench in my basement as well as a big hole in my side yard and another trench in my back yard.

Looking at all of the work that was going on gave me a sinking feeling. We had only been in the house for a couple of months and I was proud already of how great my yard and shop looked. As with everything else, I was impressed by how Phil and his crew paid close attention to leaving things not just as they found them but in a few cases, Better!! I could not believe how great everything looked when Phil and his crew finished the job. The shop was cleaned to a shine and the yard looked as if it has never been touched.

During the course of the job, Phil discovered that a couple of the pipes for my underground sprinkler system had been plumbed in incorrectly and that a drain in front of my garage had not been installed properly. Guess what. Phil fixed both of these issues for me without charge.

The moral of the story is that I have not had a drop of water in the basement since Phil completed the job. The work was done quickly and did not cost me a fortune.

I have always appreciated true professionals and I will always call out when someone goes above and beyond.

Phil and Alki Sewer do amazing work and act with honesty, integrity and true professionalism. I recommend Alki Sewer without hesitation and with the highest praise I know how to give.

Traci A.

We have been totally impressed by Phil. He reminds me of my brother-in-law, totally trust worthy and able to back his word with professional work. Our sewer had backed up back in November (as part of a long-standing pattern) and we ""freaked"" and called that huge company that tells you to call them instead. They told us we'd need a full sewer replacement and we'd need it fast.... We didn't act fast, and we're glad we waited. After their quote on a sewer replacement (on top of the ridiculous rate they charged us for the snake to clear the back-up) we decided to look around on the web to find other reputable companies. After several weeks of calling around to different companies and not receiving terribly satisfactory responses, I found Alki Sewer on-line and called them, based upon their YELP reviews. I second all the high rated reviews!
Phil came out the same day we called him, and not only provided a free video scope of the sewer as part of the free estimate, but gave us different options and admitted to us that our sewer problem was not as urgent as we'd been led to believe and probably could wait. Regardless, we went with the plan to replace our sewer now, while we have the funds. Phil provided a guaranteed quote that was considerably more reasonable than the first company's. He and his team were meticulous and fast. They completed the job in a day and a half, without a huge mess and with all the paperwork and permits completed by the city.They included extras such as additional drains and a clean-out of the laundry line. He even guaranteed the work for life, with a stipulation that the guarantee transfers to the next owners of the house if/when we decide to move. We would recommend him to anyone and have already told a family friend about his work.

Grant E.

a nice guy...... but not nice when he is short cutting the job and doing awful work. Totally clueless on how to do any plumbing jobs or drainage sewer jobs to code or proper for that matter. Phil damaged my house and damaged my pocket book. 100% of the work I had Phil do had to have redone by a professional contractor. Alki sewer lost me a ton of money and a ton of time. I hate that I am writing this right now but i cant let anyone else get screwed like it did. this is the first time i have ever publicly complained about someone. at this very moment I have Dave ""the fix it Guy"" redoing all of Phil and Alki sewers mistakes. DO NOT HIRE ALKI!!!!! if its a small tiny tiny job maybe....but be warned he will short cut the project and NOT DO IT RIGHT.

Mark H.

Yes, I would say Alki Sewer is as good as it gets. I called Phil at Alki to get a second estimate on a sewer repair/replacement job. He came the next day and gave me a thorough description and estimate with a few options.

The pipe ""bursting"" method he recommended sounded much better than the liner our first estimator was suggesting. Bursting is an odd name for the process but look it up.

The estimate was less than our first one. Phil guaranteed it would not go up if he ran into problems. They started the job a few days later, when we requested.

Phil works with a very capable crew. My wife and I were impressed. The job took longer than anticipated. It was very complex and heavy rain made it rough. But the job got done at the quoted price. The cleanup was great too.

Midway through the job we decided to involve 2 of our neighbors because our 3 houses connect before going to the street. We all negotiated with Phil and the neighbors agreed to replace their part of the line as well.

I highly recommend Alki Sewer.

Mark Hall