Smart Rooter & Plumbing

Jim of Smart Rooter 510−384−2593 came out within an hour of my phone call and inspected my reported leaking tub. In fact he found that the plumbing on the tub was just fine, the source of the leak was simply warn out caulking around the top of the tub. What a relief! A tub seal strip kit latter and some dry time all was clear. & because Jim was already in the area he charged me what equalled pennies for his great service and knowledge. Jim spent most of the time answering my questions about future remodel work I am interested in and gave some fantastic quotes on bathroom remodeling. This of course was all prompted by me and he was kind enough to show me pictures of past job’s and prices. Thanks again Jim for being there when I needed you!

It was late on a Saturday night around 8 pm and I had called in an emergency repair due to a clogged sewer line. The sewage was coming up in the downstairs bathtub and we could not use the toilet. Gross! AHS had failed to respond by getting me a 24 hr plumbing service to come out and unblock my line. I started to call around looking for someone to come to the rescue. After I made a few calls I reached Jimmy from Smart Rooter. He and his partner Oliver had knocked off for the day, but with a little pleading explaining my dire situation, Jimmy agreed to come out and even took $ 100 off his standard rate for a late night weekend emergency repair. Since we did not have a working cleanout outside the house, they had to remove the toilet and use their industrial snake to clear the line of tree root blockage etc. They had my line clear in less than an hour, took great care in wheeling the snake through my house, using little booties on the wheels and mopped up and cleaned all the water and dirt after the job was done. I couldn’t have asked for more. They did an outstanding job in all aspects of the job. I would refer them to anyone and use them again in a heartbeat. Thank you for your compassion in my moment of need. Well done Jimmy and Oliver!!!
Best regards,
Pat S.

This is a REAL Unilocal reviewer. See my actual reviews to confirm. I only say this because as I was searching for a plumber, there are lots of plumbing companies on Unilocal with five star reviews from Unilocalers who only have a couple of other reviews. Those are fake reviews and you should be careful of using those businesses.
That said, I was really lucky in find a real, honest, and responsive plumber. I requested an estimate from Smart Rooter yesterday evening around 7pm. Jim called me within 30 minutes and was at my parent’s house in Alameda by 8pm unclogging their sewer system. He promptly finished clearing the line and found an old piece of plumbing stuck in the sewer left by my dad trying to fix a clog many years ago. Jim came back the next day and was able to remove the blockage without having to tear up the concrete foundation or remove any existing plumbing. My parents are super happy with his work. My mom was raving about Jim.
I highly recommend Smart Rooter & Plumbing!!!

Yes!!! I had a disaster– the plumbing backed up and sewage overflowed from a toilet. Double yuck. I called, and he was here in less than an hour. It took several to find the clog, but it was finally unplugged. Yippee for my savior!

I echo the earlier reviews. Jim responded to my voicemail in minutes, arrived when he said he would, and fixed our kitchen sink and toilet quickly. What puts him on the list of plumbers I’d call again, though, is his incremental approach to addressing an issue and his ability to explain and show his processes. Case in point: what started out as augering a toilet became a root intrusion matter. He located and removed 6+ feet of tangled roots and, more importantly, identified the root and its entry point into the line. Much bigger problem, but he explained a way to fix it and a likely timeline for when it would be needed (esseential for budgeting purposes!). Jim is honest, skilled, and an excellent business person. Thumbs up!

Some days ago, my washer head was leaking like nobody’s buisness and I needed help pronto! Enter Smart Rooter and Plumbing.
I was recommended by my good friend since she just got a job done from them. They came out fast and gave me a very competitive estimate that I couldn’t turn down, especially having looked at other places already.
Our plumber Jim was very throurough in what he was going to do exactly, and once the time came for him to do it, he did it, and with haste. The job was quick, and he cleaned up afterwards where nobody could tell a job was done, i was and am very impressed.
Overall; the rate that was given was outstanding and the job they did was amazing. If the time comes I need a plumber again, I’ll be giving them a call without hesitstion.

I found this company through a long time friend. My mom needed someone to fix our bathroom there was a large leak from our guest bathroom toilet. It’s just me and mom living at home so we don’t know anything about plumbing. I called a few companies to get prices and it was a bit out of our price range. So I made a Facebook post about if anyone knew someone who can fix it within a reasonable price. I was then referred to a this company called Smart Rooter by my friend from many moons ago.
The person I talked to on the phone was Jim he was super nice. He gave us a really affordable price. So my mom and I decided to go with it. Jim was so friendly and a great plumber. Our toilet leak has been fixed and we haven’t had any other issues since.
I def recommend this company to anyone who has a plumbing issue.

During this last big storm we had, our tub was leaking (and so I thought), I called a big plumbing company (not listing name) out to take a look. They told me they would have to come back with some equipment to open up our shower and replace some pipes, but we would have to replace the wall behind the tub and reinstall the tub as well after pipe is fix. I didn’t feel comfortable with what they said but ended up having to pay them $ 80 for their «diagnosis/​estimate» time. I decided to get a second opinion and called Jim based on a recommendation. Thank god I did. After a long consultation he saw that our pipes was cracked and had burst, water was coming up from under house! Much bigger problem, but most importantly he found source of water damage. Fortunately he was able to fix problem before more damage was done to our house. One thing I have to admit about Alameda, we have the best small town honest local business owners. Jim is a local plumber, sooo reliable and honest. I can’t thank him enough for all the hours put into our house. He saved my house and saved me from having to remodel the bathroom for no reason.

Can I tell you how hard it is to find a reliable plumber on a Sunday afternoon during all of the wonderful professional games – VERY. I was able to immediately get assistance from Smart Rooter & Plumbing! He arrived super quick and got right to work! A job that was supposed to take 10min actually turned into almost 2hrs and in the rain! Jim was not only professional – but very personable and maintained a good sense of humor the whole way through! He showed me the issue using his state of the art equipment with a camera. I can’t say enough good things about him and the work he does. He saved me from having to pay $ 800+ to have my system jutted and gave me helpful advice to pass on down to my HOA and possibly EBMUD for future problems that may occur as something of this magnitude should occur in a 6yr old home. Thanks sooooo much Jim – you are AWESOME!

I cannot say enough good things about Jim and his company Smart Rooter & Plumbing. Our tenants from our rental property in Alameda called saying that all the toilets in the house are not working. Oh man, all I could hear was ‘$$$$$’. I called a few different companies to see what the issue could possibly be, and who could address the issue that same day. When I called Smart Rooter and spoke with Jim, he seemed the most knowledgeable, explaining the different possible scenarios and about how much each one would cost. I really appreciated how thorough he was, as I have no idea about such things! He also was available that day and came over within 1.5 hours! He ended up being able to fix the issue much quicker than I anticipated and the cost was super reasonable. Our tenants were happy, and so was I! I highly recommend Jim and will definitely be using him in the future! When I asked if he ever goes to the South Bay (where we actually live), he told me he goes all over the Bay Area. A good, honest plumber is hard to come by!

I called on a holiday evening when our washing machine started overflowing into our house and my kitchen sink backed up. I was expecting someone the following morning, but Jim called and took care of everything right away! He was polite, efficient and very reasonably priced. We’ve had bad experiences with plumbers and are thrilled to find someone we can trust!

My co-​worker had her bathroom remodeled a while back and was talking about all the work she had done to her bathroom and how happy she was with the work that was done. So when I needed a plumber I recalled her mentioning the work she had done so I called her for the contact info. I am so glad I called Smart Rooter. I talked to Jim and explained to him my plumbing problem, and he was able to come over the very same day. He was very professional, came on time and able to fix my water heater.