About LA Drain Works

LA Drain Works helps homeowners, landlords and tenants in Los Angeles get a blocked or slow drain dealt with, and get the price in writing before any work begins. We cover sinks, tubs, showers, toilets, main lines, root problems, camera inspections and the repair questions that follow. This page tells you how we work and where the limits are, so you know what to expect before you send a request.

What is LA Drain Works?

LA Drain Works is a mobile drain cleaning service across Los Angeles and nearby cities. A local drain cleaner comes to your home, looks at the problem, and gives you a written quote. We have no showroom or walk-in office, and the visit happens at your place. The site is operated by LA Drain Works.

The service is built around the way drain problems actually arrive. Most people call because something has stopped working: a shower holding water, a toilet that gurgles, a smell near a floor drain. They want to know what is wrong, what it costs, and who can come. So this site gives plain answers first, in guides such as what drain cleaning costs in Los Angeles, and then a direct route to a visit.

What the service covers:

• Fixture drains: sinks, tubs, showers and toilets
• Main line and sewer drain clearing, including through a cleanout
• Hydro jetting for grease, scale and roots
• Camera inspection, with a locator where the line has to be traced
• Questions about repair, lining and replacement when cleaning will not hold
• Commercial drains, such as restaurant grease lines

The full picture of services sits on the home page, and the whole set of articles is under guides.

How does a job run, from enquiry to finished work?

You send a request describing the job. We arrange a local drain cleaner who covers your area. They contact you, book a visit, assess the problem at your home and give you a quote in writing. Nothing starts until you say yes. After the work, you are told what was found and what, if anything, is worth doing next.

In more detail, a typical job goes like this.

1. The request. You use the quote form and tell us the city, which fixtures are affected, how long it has been happening and what you have tried. Pictures help but are optional. The more you tell us, the closer the first price will be.

2. The visit is booked. The drain cleaner calls or emails you to agree a time that suits you. Enquiries are handled Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. For urgent backups, say so in your request, and read our guide to emergency sewer backups for what to do while you wait.

3. The look and the quote. On site, the drain cleaner finds where the blockage is. For a main line that can mean a camera run. The quote is written, names the method and says where the work stops. If the clog turns out to be somewhere else, the quote is changed in writing, with your agreement.

4. The work and the follow up. Once you accept, the drain is cleared and tested with running water. If the camera shows something worth knowing, such as roots at a joint or a cracked section, that is explained with the footage. The plain description of the steps is on the how it works page.

What do the regulations say?

California requires a contractor license for most contracting work valued at $1,000 or more in labor and materials, and for any job that needs a building permit. The Contractors State License Board (CSLB) issues the licenses and lets anyone check one online. Work on the sewer lateral can also need a permit from the city or county, and the owner is responsible for the lateral.

These are the points that matter to you as a customer:

• Contractor license. The CSLB runs a public license check on its website. Before any significant job, ask for the license number and check it there. Bigger jobs, such as sewer line repair or replacement, fall under the license classifications for plumbing, sanitation system, pipeline or general engineering work, and the CSLB site lists what each classification covers.
• Permits. Digging up or replacing a lateral, or connecting to the public sewer, generally needs a permit from the city or county that runs the sewer. Your drain cleaner or contractor should say who pulls the permit. Ask before work starts.
• Who owns what. Los Angeles County Public Works states that laterals are entirely owned by the private property owner they serve, and that includes the stretch under the street. The public mainline belongs to the city or county. This decides who pays and who to call, and our guide to main line drain cleaning goes into it.
• What not to put in sewers. The LA County Sanitation Districts ask residents to keep fats, oils and grease and wipes out of the system, because they are a leading cause of blockages. That is why many of our guides, such as how to prevent a sewer backup, start with habits.

Rules change, and each city has its own permit office. We point you to the right official source and do not give legal advice. For anything that depends on your address, check with the city or the CSLB.

What will this site never do?

We will not invent anything. There are no made-up reviews, ratings, staff names, license numbers, awards or years in business on this site, and no pictures of jobs that did not happen. The photos and drawings here illustrate the topic, and are never presented as a real job or a real customer's home.

A few more things we hold to:

• No walk-in premises. The visit comes to you.
• No price for your job before a visit beyond the published guide ranges. Real prices are written down by the person who looks at the drain.
• No pressure. Nothing starts until you agree to the quote.
• No claims we cannot back up. When a number comes from a published Los Angeles price list, we say so and give the month we checked it.
• No promises about how fast anyone replies that nobody has agreed to. Enquiries are handled during business hours, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Where a guide says something is a job for a contractor, such as a break in a cast iron stack or a collapsed clay lateral, we say it plainly. Where it says you can do something yourself, such as clearing hair from a shower drain, we say that too, and we link the step by step page.

Where are quotes available?

We arrange visits across Los Angeles and fifteen nearby cities, from Long Beach and Santa Monica to Lancaster and Palmdale. Each has its own page, covering the housing, the sewer arrangements and the questions homeowners there tend to ask. Start on the areas page, or go straight to your city.

Cities we have pages for are Long Beach, Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Torrance, Santa Monica, Inglewood, Downey, Compton, Whittier, Norwalk, West Covina, Santa Clarita, Lancaster and Palmdale. If your address is elsewhere in the Los Angeles area, send a request and we will tell you whether a local drain cleaner can reach you.

Questions people ask

Do you come to my home in Los Angeles?

Yes. This is a mobile service, so a local drain cleaner comes to your home across Los Angeles and the cities listed on our areas page. There is no office to visit. Send a request with your city and the problem, and a visit is arranged for a time that suits you.

How do I get a written quote?

Fill in the quote form with your city, the fixtures affected and anything you have tried. A local drain cleaner then contacts you to book a visit. After they have looked at the drain, you receive the quote in writing. You decide whether to go ahead, and nothing begins until you do.

Who does the work?

A local drain cleaning business we work with quotes the job and does the work at your home. Each visit is arranged for your area, and the price is agreed with you in writing first. How it works sets out the steps and who is responsible for what.

Can I contact you before sending a request?

Yes. The contact page has the email address and the hours, which are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Use it for a question about whether a job is worth doing, or what a guide means. For a price, the quote form is quickest.