I am not one to normally write in these public forums, but on this occasion, I will make the exception because the professional workmanship of this company cannot pass without comment.
We had the unfortunate experience of having blocked drains overflow on New Year's Eve and called a drain un-blocker off the web. The man turned up and after a bit of a struggle manage to clear the drain or as we thought. Sadly, the drains re-blocked a few days later. Rang the same company different Guy turned up and managed to release the blockage and we paid extra to have a camera put down to reveal the blockage is tree roots 22m down at the Council sewer connection 2m deep??. This company a few days later gave us a price to dig, repair and reinstate, which was not cheap.
However, in the meantime it blocked again and every time it blocked over the holidays we had to use public toilets.
After a very frustrating experience in trying to get hold of Water Care through their automated telephone system, pushing this button for this and that button for that, it was clear that they were all on holiday. When challenged later by Water Care I politely asked the team leader, have you ever tried to call WaterCare using the public 09 4422222 number? He said no! So, I said try it.
The upshot was I rang Moshe from Metro Drainage and he arrived within two hours and tried to clear the drain and yes it was blocked near the sewer. Partner Drainlayer Allen arrived to assist with using the cameras and yes tree roots were the problem. They then did a camera view down the sewer only to find the sewer was blocked at or near my connection. Bugger!. Fortunately, there are only two properties upstream and they were not affected.
Could I ring Water Care asked Allen and once again the message runaround. Allen the certified drainlayer tried his inside secret numbers to supervisors to no avail. So, at my request they exposed the manhole buried in my front lawn and with their hydro blaster cleared the sewer blockage so the neighbours were OK, only to reveal a heap of tree roots coming out of my sewer connection. In the absence of being able to contact WaterCare these Guys were working in the spirit of keeping WaterCares clients and ratepayers happy - amazing.
Back to my pipes and try as they might they could not shift the roots causing the problem but manage to get rid of the back log so we could use our toilets over the weekend.
With rain threatening Monday they arrived with digger to dig a hole in our front garden - a deep hole, over 2m deep and under the edge of the drive and paths. Hard work. The last thing I wanted was for them to break up the exposed South Island pebble driveway. You just cannot get this pebble mix anymore so matching was not going to work.
First the storm water pipe was revealed and then the sewer pipes and branch were finally found hiding under the stormwater along with the sewer connection. They cut into my riser - clear - only to reveal a cluster mat of roots that had entered through the Council sewer rubber ring asbestos connection, which did not have concrete around it to prevent tree root entry. Metro then repaired and reinstated the drains in keeping with best trade practice and reinstated the ground. Allen then went and got us a metre of bark nuggets to reinstate the gardens. These two tradesmen worked in harmony with no breaks or leaning on the shovels to beat the rain and they did. Just as they were cleaning up the drive areas with the water blaster the rain came in. The final cost included everything, two men, digger, plus the drain unblocking, camera work and water blasting. It was not cheap but for the time and effort more that fair and still cheaper that the other quotes, one of which for a pensioner, was quite scary.
This drainage team who can do everything on the shitty side of your pipes. They have all the gear, so its a one stop shop. They must be rated as Highly Recommended.
My thanks to Moshe and Allen for a professional job well done. Keith Ingram. MNZM. JP
Bravo Zulu
