TrenchFree

We had a water main break (3 days after SJ Water replaced the meter! Thanks a lot!), and were referred by Done Right Plumbing (a very class move by them). And that set me up with Ernie Villalobos — he was extremely considerate of your situation (No water), and came by before he went into work. Ernie is such a great guy to talk with during all of this, and was responsive to phone calls when we had questions.
Despite a late start with the actual replacement, his team was able to replace the line and get us water (it is amazing how we that that for granted, until you don’t have it) by evening.
I don’t plan on needing them to replace the water main (lifetime warranty), but I do highly recommend them if you need one.

TrenchFree came out to install a new lateral back in September 2014. The lateral replaced was only from the house to curb since we couldn’t afford to do the entire way to main sewer line. It involved going into the city streets.
Fast forward a year later, we are having back up problems again. We called TrenchFree yesterday 8÷21÷15 to have them come check out what the heck was going on and they came right away! The two young gentlemen (wish I got their names) that came were very profession, polite and patient. They checked and ruled out nothing was wrong with their line, but the problem was coming from the unreplaced old clay pipes (curb to main sewer line). Roots are growing and causing blockage. They didn’t have their actual work truck because they came in a hurry in their boss’s nice truck from a different job site, so they drove to Home Depot to rent a snake machine! They cleared the line for us and didn’t even charge. Wow… that’s what I call customer service. I work in the service industry and that’s the type of things we talk about constantly… going the extra mile.
Thanks to them we have a little extra time to figure out next steps. We definitely will be calling them for an estimate ASAP. The first time Ernie came out to give us an estimate (camera the lines for free too) and he was awesome and explained everything in a way we understood, a huge reason why we chose TrenchFree in the first place!

I had a great time yesterday dealing with Ernie VillaLobos about getting my sewer line replaced! Now it seems a little strange considering the subject to talk about a great experience but I must say Ernie is an absolutely great guy.
After carefully explaining his video inspection of my sewer lateral he recommended that I not hire his company to fix it! He told me I could get another five or 10 years of use from the line before paying thousands of dollars to have it replaced.
I find that honesty refreshing and only wish that all the service people I deal with were as straightforward and helpful as Ernie.
I almost never give five stars on Unilocal but TrenchFree deserves it. You will not be disappointed.
Easy John

We found out at 1pm that we had a leak in the main water line running under the ground (and under huge redwood trees) from street to house. Researched options and found Trenchfree on the web, called them at 1:30, Juan shows up at 2:30, gives me a verbal quote followed couple of hours later by a written quote via email. The quote was the at least $ 1000-​$ 2000 cheaper than the other quotes that we got, and it also had no ifs and buts like the others. Authorized immediately. Two-​member crew shows up at 8:15am next morning, finishes the job by 4pm with very little noise or other inconvenience to us. The tree roots were tricky but they were able to get through them fine (Other plumbers were not so confident when they gave us the quote). Trenchfree also cleaned up the site as if it were never touched in the first place. We are so happy that we replaced our 40-​yr old PVC pipe with HDPE, and we are so glad we went with Trenchfree for the job.

We live in San Francisco and our home was built in 1928. I am from NYC and know nothing about sewer lines, although now I have a good education. We had a serious issue of old, deteriorated pipes. My plumber who does excellent conventional work told me it would take a month to do the repair, there would be extensive damage to my basement floor and garden patio that would have to be repaired and there would be a tremendous mess.
Luckily, someone mentioned relining the pipes with epoxy as opposed to replacing them and I was fortunate to find TrenchFree. There are not many companies doing this type of work in San Francisco so I could not get multiple estimates. It was not cheap but there was no destruction to any of my floors and they said the work could be done in four days.
The company did what they promised. It was a complicated job. The final day the crew did not leave until close to 10:00 PM but my sewer lines were functioning properly when they left.

After having our sewer line cleaned out three times in the past year, I thought we definitely needed to have our lateral replaced. I called another highly recommended company to get an estimate for having it replaced and they gave me an estimate of $ 5890 without looking through the line with a camera as far as I know (they didn’t say they looked at it with a camera or show me any footage).
I looked for another highly recommended company to get a second bid from and found Trenchfree, called and set up a time to get the estimate. Ernest arrived on time and seemed very surprised any company would bid on a sewer lateral replacement without looking at the line with a camera to make sure it actually needed to be replaced. He set up his camera to look at the line and said it does not need to be replaced and that the likely reason it had to be cleaned out repeatedly was because whoever did it didn’t do a thorough enough job initially. That made sense because the second guy that came to clean it out did seem to do a much more thorough job of grinding out roots growing in (neither of these guys were from Trenchfree). Anyway, he said the line looked really good and would most likely need to get cleaned out about once a year.

Just finished a complicated sewer and water combo install for my neighbor underneath our shared driveway. Friendly, professional, high quality work all the way with minimal traffic and noise. On time, no leaks, and the city inspector was happy on the first visit. Highly recommended!
My French drain failed to work in April, hired Trenchfree to evaluate and repair. Needed a total rebuild including new pipes, new drainrock, and greater depth for faster water flow. Work included traditional open trenching in a restricted area and directional drilling to increase the exit depth. Materials and placement were first rate everywhere, with engineering far better than the original drain. Excellent company!

After having several backups, I decided it was time to see what was going on in the main lateral line. TrenchFree came out and sent a camera down and showed me where pipe damage and root incursions were. The trench-​free replacement went very smoothly. The crew showed up on time the day of the scheduled work and had the job completed very quickly. I was surprised when I got a call from them just after lunch. I was sure they were calling to tell me they had a problem, but they were calling to tell me that they were done and packing up! They were back the next day for the inspection and to fill in the holes. When they were done, the front yard looked as if no work had been done. Extremely good experience with this company.

I hired them based on the reviews here and they did not disappoint… they’re real professionals… everyone from the person who gave the estimate to each crew member were very courteous, prompt and professional. They took their time to get the job done correctly. Very impressed!!! **Ernie, the one who came out to give me the estimate, is not a salesperson… He is genuine. He gave me a very fair price without trying oversell… Really nice guy.
Update — I believe a true measure of company’s commitment to quality and service is how they treat you after they’ve been paid. I had a couple of issues about a month after the job was done. I really appreciated the fact that they promptly sent someone to fix the problem both time.

Always suspicious when a company has nothing but 5-​star reviews. These guys deserve the entire constellation. Very professional, prompt, courteous, get the job done attitude with minimal intrusion, and leave as though they were never there.
This technology doesn’t come cheap but given the option of tearing up asphalt, pavers or concrete patios, the job gets done in ¹⁄₁₀^th the time with ¹⁄₁₀₀^th the chaos of trenching up the outdoors. Given the overall expense and inconvenience of trenching and replacing the landscape and hardscape, it’s a no-​brainer. 6-​stars if it was an option!
* * * * * *

Called Trench Free at 7:00am about a visible leak in our water line running to the main line in our 1960’s era track home. By 9:00am they had come out to see the issue and do an estimate, at 10:00am we signed the estimate, and by 12:30 guys were at our house getting right to work. It’s now 5:45pm and they’ve been gone for an hour, the job finished and no trace of them even being here. I think my lawn actually looks nicer than it did before they dug one small area for access.
The guys doing the work were efficient, honest and 100% professional. The price was fair. And I cannot say enough about how quick and painless the entire process was.
If you live in a 50-​year old house, have been pretending the galvanized pipes under your front lawn are just fine, and you’ve grown accustomed to having running water, maybe you should call these guys.

I’ve worked with Trenchfree in business to business relations. I can say they are great to work with, always each to reach, responsive, responsible, etc…
As I look at all the great reviews for them, I am not a bit surprised.

Our main water line broke the day after Thanksgiving. I was a little panicked given it was a holiday weekend, the kids and I had no water AND I was headed out of the country the next day. TrenchFree was recommended by our realtor. I called and got Ernie on the third ring. Despite being over an hour away visiting family, Ernie promised he would come and help us. True to his word Ernie and his team arrived and fixed the main line. They were cordial, professional, timely and kind to inquisitive children. They saved us!

These guys were professional, knowledgable and fair. We had previous people out to find and fix a leak in our water main, under the driveway. Needless to say, it was a long frustrating road until Juan and team showed up. No problem. We were scheduled within a few days. They ran a new 2″ main line almost 150 feet, all underground. Their equipment is amazing. When they left, I couldn’t even tell they were there! They even back filled a hole the other guys left behind. Couldn’t be happier with the results and process. I would highly recommend Trench Free for any work you have like this. Never dig another hole or trench to run pipe.

We have a circa 1960s house, and the iron drainwork was clearly starting to go. We experienced frequent backups, and drain water was starting to seep from underground.
Not having tens of thousands of dollars to fix it, we looked toward TrenchFree. When I called them, Juan was very friendly, and ran a complimentary camera inspection of the kitchen and laundry drain, and found the likely cause. Their quote was very reasonable, and using their method, it would only take one to two days with minimal disruption to the landscape.
After really worrying about jackhammering my kitchen for several weeks, we finally decided to do it. The guys showed up on time, and delivered as promised. They prepped the site and protected the rest of the house against dust as best they could, and were able to excavate a pit in our kitchen and the sink drain without removing any countertops. They used the machine to push a steel rod right under the side of our house, and into the kitchen, then used it to pull a new drainpipe as a single piece back out to the main in the front yard, through a dining room window. They spent a second day jackhammering to the sink drain (our concrete slab foundation is thick!) and connecting the sink and the laundry.
They backfilled, and reset the concrete floor, including embedding rebar. They were very professional and even stayed overtime (~8pm) to ensure everything was set for the weekend. They cleaned and even mopped our floors as they left. Couldn’t be happier with the work. Thank you TrenchFree! ¹⁰⁄₅ stars if I could.

I am so impressed with Trench Free, I can barely find the words! Was getting ready to do some concrete work, but I kept looking at my water main line, old and rusted thinking how dumb it would be to pour concrete only to have to tear it up if my water main broke. Decided to get an estimate to have it replaced. Discovered Trench Free and made the phone call, adorable Carlos came out and was ON TIME (actually early but sat in his truck) and gave me an estimate. The price was good and he said they could come out the following day (wow) and could be done in one day. I decided to go for it.
My daughter called me at work the following day and told me they showed up and were working. When I came home at lunch to inspect the job, I discovered they were DONE and gone. I inspected their job, couldn’t even tell anyone was at my house besides the brand new pipe coming out of the ground to my house. My yard was immaculate… I am so impressed, they nailed it. You don’t get service like this very often.
I would have had to tear up my driveway and patch back, which would have cost more, taken longer, and looked ugly!
Definitely would highly recommend them, and would use them again in a heartbeat.
Thanks again guys!
SJ Happy homeowner

Water pipes in our neighborhood are flexible plastic, originally installed in 1975. They’d failed already at many of our neighbor’s houses, and we guessed that ours was on borrowed time.
Our water pipe is about 55′ in length, running under a lot of concrete. Having seen others replacing via trenching gave me a feeling of dread; multi-​day jobs with a lot of jackhammering.
Several neighbors had used Trenchfree, so we gave them a call.
Ernie arrived within an hour of our call to provide a very reasonable verbal estimate; a formal estimate followed via email with all the details. The crew arrived early the next morning and the job was completed within 4 hours. The crew was polite, professional, obviously very experienced, clearly took extreme pride in their work, and made the job look easy. Our yard was completely undamaged and left in an immaculate state. You’d never have known they were there, but for the very attractive connection at the house end, which frankly looked a lot better than what was there before they arrived.
Extremely pleased with this firm. I just don’t see how you could possibly do better than this.

Our sewer line was backed up 2 months ago and we called Mr Rooter, they came and opened the clutch, they put a camera and told us lines are offset and recommended changing the entire main sewer line costing us roughly $ 18,000 if they want to dig in…
After a few estimate from different plumbing companies Ernest from Trench Free company came and spent easy 40 minutes checking whole 93 feet sewer line with his camera.
Ernest Villalobos was very hones, friendly and very knowledgeable,
He didn’t charge us for his camera work and suggested we don’t need to replace line, he said the only problem is a little root interfering inside pipe which can be fixed very cheap
Strongly recommended …

Amazing job! My main water line had a leak. These guys came within hours and gave me an estimate for the job. The price was very reasonable so I signed on. After the utilities marked up the property, the repipe started. They did all the work within 4 hours! Best of all only a couple of small holes were dug in my lawn which were easily just filled backup! No need to dig a trench and ruin your property, go with trench free!
You got 99 problems but a trench shouldnt be one!

Unfortunately we discovered a small leak in our main water line underneath the driveway. Our water bill was nearly triple! I called several plumbers and everyone seemed to have the same two answers: either dig up the concrete or move the main water line so it is parallel to the driveway. So I went on Unilocal and did some research and called JD Plumbing and spoke with Freddy. He came out within an hour and gave me an estimate. I mentioned that I found him on Unilocal and he instantly gave me 10% off. We both agreed on the price and he said that his crew would come by the following day at 8 AM.
The following day Nicolas and Audel arrived on time. They were friendly, knowledgeable, professional, and meticulous. The first thing they did when they arrived was put down two large pieces of plywood so the driveway would not get muddy during the pipeline replacement. They used the pipe bursting method to remove and install the new main water line. After putting in the line, Nicolas then carefully assembled all the plumbing hardware, checking all of his welds 2 – 3 times for fit and finish. Afterwards they cleaned up and it was almost as if they never came to the house. The warranty on the parts and labor is lifetime.
I highly recommend TrenchFree to anyone for their excellent work.