United Drain & Sewer Service

Lawrence S.

Nick has been excellent with all the projects/maintenance we've had done. We've replaced toilets, had an automatic earthquake gas shutoff installed, fire pit...from layout to connection, water heater re-install after lousy prior install by others. He goes the extra mile to satisfy his clients...punctual and there's always a smile on his face. In addition, Rachel in the office is equally outstanding...so pleased that we've found the best plumber in Santa Barbara!

David B.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
Slow lav drain and leaky shower faucet. Rachel picked up immediately and gave us an appointment and Nick was here in less than an hour. He knew just what to do and did it quickly, efficiently and sooo well. He's cheerful, enthusiastic and full of good advice to avoid future problems. After dealing with plumbing problems for over 37 years in our 1962 house, and numerous plumbers, some ok, some just plain bad, Nick was a breath of fresh air and a reminder that there are some really fine people out there who do great work at a reasonable cost!

Margie N.

Fast, kind and effective. Nick came right over to our home and whipped our drain back into shape pronto. He's a good guy, local family. You can't beat his service. Thank you Rachel and Nick. You saved us!

Janet S.

Nick at United Drain is terrific. I've been using him for 20 years and the service is always excellent.

Diane D.

I had a bad sink drain. Called them and they came and fixed it very quick. Water runs very smooth now, way better than before the clog.

Daniel G.

I read a lot of reviews as I'm always a bit cautious when it comes to getting a plumber. I was very impressed with Nick at United. Gave great service as advertised!

Daniel
Santa Barbra Ca

Anton H.

Need plumbing? GO NO FURTHER!
A stopped up kitchen sink is an experience to bypass. Unfortunately ""s**t"" happens. The first plumber I called was so exorbitant the techie had the grace to look embarrassed. A friend recommended United Drain. Rachel was efficient and scheduled the appointment, and called when Nick left the premises. He is cheerful and expert. I had not asked for a quote because I was desperate. Living in an unplumbed kitchen will do that to you. He charged half what the first company wanted!
Then he advised me how to prevent it from happening again with an echo friendly product called Cloroben PT-BIO1, available on-line. If he were selling it and had it on his truck I would gladly have bought it.

Michael G.

The world we live in, cannot exist without plumbers. Unfortunately, it seems to function, with plenty of bad, mediocre, and inexperienced plumbers who only halfway know what they're doing. And it's often when we call one of those, that we really appreciate a place like United Drain and my new local hero, Nick Shalhoob.

I don't really even know where to begin, but my journey began with an over $500 bill to a plumber who spent upwards of 3 hours trying to clear one blocked toilet (yes, just one) in a sewer line with no root obstructions. Just ""sludge,"" as he called it. When he finally cleared that, I asked him to do some maintenance root clearing at the street (even though the sewer was running fine). He attempted that for less than 10 minutes and then quit because he was afraid he was hitting a gas line INSIDE the sewer line (he wasn't). He still billed me for the job even though he didn't do the job.

It was just a knee-jerk reaction that I posted on FaceBook the next day about the huge bill and my frustration with being over a barrel with this mediocre plumber. One of my Facebook pals, Rachel Shalhoob said, ""Hey we own a plumbing company and would be happy to come out and do a quick assessment."" There was no pressure, but the whole job had left me completely uncertain about the possibility that this toilet and the line was going to backup again.

Nick came out to the house, was warm, no-nonsense and extremely knowledgeable without being arrogant. He never once said, ""I've been in the business for 30 years."" The previous plumber had said that 4-5 times as his work on site eventually grew to 4 hours(!) in total. Nick was a gentleman, and was tactful about how he spoke about the other guy's work (he actually knew him). By the end of that conversation, I was able to understand what that guy had done ""well enough,"" and what he could have done differently. Bottom line, I was so impressed with Nick's expertise that I showed him all of the cleanouts in the front of the house and he discovered a clog in one that the previous plumber had missed. In addition, he found that the city back flow stopper was broken. We'd been told shortly after buying the house that we probably needed to replace this to make it easier to snake, but now it was broken. I decided in the moment we needed to do it now. Nick quoted a reasonable range for parts and labor, said we needed to get the line dug up, and then he'd return and repair.

It's sounds funny to say this about a sewer line, but watching Nick work measuring, cutting pipe, designing this stretch of our sewer line with maximum accessibility (2 way cleanouts) was like watching a master craftsman. Yeah, I know that sounds over the top, but it was built so cleanly, so well in such a short amount of time that I was really impressed. I took photos of it so future owners of our home will know exactly whats under 4' of dirt and whether they're ever aware of it or not, they'll own a home that finally has a well designed sewer line that's very easy to clear.

Rachel was in constant communication with me all through this job and was fun, funny, pleasant and delightful. When I finally got the bill it was well within the range Nick had quoted. It was easy to pay with a CC over the phone. Nick also recommended a couple of maintenance products to use for the toilet in question (an enzyme based product) and another to keep roots out of the line (RootX).

Nobody loves having to hire a plumber. It's not like getting your house painted, or landscaped, or cleaned. It's not glamorous or sexy. But it's NECESSARY and when it's necessary, it's great to have some to call that you can trust so completely to take care of it and not overcharge.

I will never call anyone else. This is a FIVE STAR business and you shouldn't either. :-)

Lois K.

Had an urgent problem with water leaking in the wall. Looked at Yelp reviews of plumbers and called United Drain, based on their solid-five-star reviews. What a fortunate choice!! Rachel in United's office got Nick out to my house promptly. He was professional, efficient, and good-natured! Besides fixing the leak (which entailed replacing corroded pipes), he cleared some slow drains and noticed that the water pressure regulator was not functioning properly and took care of that as well. Nick is now my go-to plumber. I recommend him unreservedly!

Gail P.

I just had a huge & nasty plumbing job done by Robert Summers at the Roto-rooter. Robert & the staff at Roto-rooter were fantastic. They were prompt, communicated well & succinctly & stayed on the job until it was done. My job was an emergency & Robert Summers showed up quickly & stayed after hours until the job was done. I would gladly hire them again!