Shield's Sewer Contracting 24325 Crenshaw Boulevard, Torrance, CA 90505

"(Copied from the review I posted at Yelp) Our house was built in the 1950's, when clay pipes with joints every 3-4 feet were common. Over the years, various parts of our lateral (from our house to the city main in the street) had been replaced, including some by us. However, there was an issue with where the lateral connected with the city main line resulting in tree roots growing in and the plumber saying "the line will fail if you don't get it fixed." We decided that as long as we had to fix that connection, we would go ahead and do the entire lateral (about 40' to the front of the house). I got a short list of contractors from the city and began making calls. Darrin came out and was clearly very knowledgeable. I ask a ton of questions and do a lot of research, so if someone balks at that or tries to cut me off that's a no-go. Darrin answered all of my questions and gave me some bonus information. His price was the lowest of the estimates, and as another reviewer noted, the contract was simple. This company also has a long relationship with the city inspector, which is helpful. The other contracts we got were pages and pages long, filled with fine print some of which I did not like (e.g. if the contractor's camera gets stuck or damaged, we the homeowner have to pay for it!). They worked with the city to pull the permit even though the city employees are all working from home. Once we had a date, a crew member came out and put up "No Parking" signs several days in advance per the city rules. On start day, they showed up on time and got things done! The job just happened, with no effort by me (a welcome change!). I appreciated their coordination because there are a lot of moving parts to a job like this - concrete cutting, asphalt cutting, digging equipment, traffic control, concrete delivery, temporary street patch and many more. They were happy to answer questions and allow me to take pictures. They started on Tuesday and finished on Friday, including easily passing a city inspection which they (not me!) scheduled with the inspector. They cleaned up thoroughly, including having someone come back Saturday morning to remove the cones and caution tape from the new cement on the sidewalk (which set in less that 24 hours!). Our water was only off twice during the process, once for maybe 2 hours (while they removed the old pipe) and for about 20 minutes when the reconnected the new pipe. They made sure we had water for the overnight in between by making a temporary connection. All holes that would have been a safety risk were properly guarded or covered while open. Cleanup was perfect - they removed every scrap of material, swept and removed their parking signs. The crew was polite, professional and easy to talk to. I always knew who was in charge if I had questions. I would highly recommend this company! I was dreading this repair for several years, and it went way better than I could have imagined and took only 4 days. Thank you Shields!"

"Shields Sewer Contracting was awesome, honest, professional, timely and efficient! Can’t say enough good words about this company! They came highly recommended to us from our long time plumber to identify and quote the necessary repairing of our main sewer clay pipes for our triplex in an alleyway which is shared with businesses. Shields were very accommodating of their repair time with not only our three tenants but also not impacting the adjacent businesses. All while not quoting an outrageous price - which they did not increase. This is tru professionalism and hard working company- we HIGHLY RECOMMEND Shields sewer contracting!"

"These guys are extremely fast and polite workers. They don’t disturb your routine much at all and no water shut off while they work, The company is always fair and won’t quote you some outrageous amount to get your repair done, they are honest and well worth the cost for the good fast work they do."

"They are really really horrible at communicating and scopes are VERY expensive! $250 for easy to reach clean out and $400 for having to go through the pipe on the roof! We went with them to have pipes scoped while in the process of trying to buy a house. They were recommended by our realtor, we didn’t know the going price so we trusted them. HUGE mistake! Their “experienced” guy comes out and can’t get the scope to go through the pipe so of course, they have to come out another day for the higher price to go on the roof. I had asked to be notified so I could be there to watch the video and be witness to them actually doing the scope. However, the day of the 2nd appt comes and they never notified me when they were coming out so I could meet them at the house. When I reached out to them when the office opened, they said their guys had already been out there and the scope was done. When we get the scope video, we can’t tell what’s going on - no commentary or nothing. When we inquire to find out what’s going on with the video, it took their guy 9 days to get back to us and that was because we stayed proactive in trying to communicate with them! Because of their lack of professionalism we decided to get a second opinion. Wouldn’t you know the 2nd company was able to get their scope to go through the easy to get to clean out! Plus, they charged less than 1/2 the cost as Shields as well! Save yourself money, time and stress and go with another company."