Residential plumbing & drains · Tampa, FL
There is no charming way to describe sewage in a shower pan, so we will skip the attempt. We answer the phone, quote the number before the machine comes off the truck, and put the cleanout cap back where we found it. Same-day slots on most Tampa calls, emergency crews after hours.
What people actually say on the phone
These are, close to word for word, the seven calls we take most often in Hillsborough and Pinellas. If one of them is your house, you already know which one.
Sewage comes up in the shower when the washer drains.Main line stoppage downstream of both fixtures. Cable first, camera second — no guessing.
The toilet gurgles every time the tub empties. Both bathrooms now.Air being pulled through the trap. Usually a partial blockage in the branch or the vent.
There's a warm wet spot on the tile and the bill doubled.Textbook slab leak. We locate it electronically before anyone touches concrete.
No hot water and the garage floor is soaked.Tank has let go. Same-day replacement including permit, pan and expansion tank.
Third snaking this year and the roots are back.Cabling cuts a hole through roots. Jetting and descaling take the wall back to pipe.
Rotten-egg smell in the yard, grass is soggy over the line.Break in the lateral. Camera and locate, then a spot repair or a lining quote.
We close in ten days and the inspector wants a sewer scope.1940s and 50s Tampa houses, mostly. Recorded video and a written report the same day.
Drain cleaning
A cable punches an opening through whatever is in the way. Water moves again, everyone feels better, and four months later you are calling somebody. That is not a scam — it is just what cabling does.
So after the line drains we put a camera down it and show you the inside on the monitor. Roots at a joint look different from grease, and both look different from a cracked cast iron invert with the bottom rusted out. What you see decides what happens next: nothing, a jetting and descale, or a repair quote with a number on it.
Hydro jetting runs the hose to the far end and scours the wall on the way back, which is how you get a six-inch line back to six inches instead of three. On cast iron we finish with a descaling head. Then we camera it again, because a before-and-after with no after is just a story.
“Tampa's cast iron problem is well documented.” Median housing age in the Bay area is over 40 years, and cast iron gets 50 to 75 years in ideal soil. Ours is a high water table near the bay.
Why Seminole Heights, Hyde Park and Tampa Heights call us mostBefore anything gets dug up
Four pieces of equipment ride on every truck. Between them they answer the only question that matters: where exactly is the problem, and how deep.
The rate card
Every job gets a flat price in writing before work starts. The $79 dispatch fee is credited to the repair. After-hours work carries a premium, which we will say out loud on the phone rather than at the bottom of the invoice.
Kitchen, lav, tub or laundry line through an accessible cleanout.
Sectional or drum machine from the cleanout. Camera add-on $195 with any clearing.
Includes pre- and post-camera footage, emailed to you the same day.
Recorded video plus a written report. Standard for pre-purchase on pre-1970 homes.
Permit, haul-away, drip pan, expansion tank and new supply lines included.
Gas units. Electric tankless typically lands $1,280 – $2,260 installed.
Rebuild, reset with a new wax ring and flange repair, or full swap.
3/4 HP unit, new mounting assembly, old one taken with us.
Electronic locate and a mark on the floor. Credited toward the repair or re-route.
Schedule 40 PVC on every replacement. Trenchless where the run allows it.
Financing available through third-party lenders, typically 0% for 12–18 months on approved credit. We do not mark up the permit.
How the visit goes
You describe the fixture, the noise and the smell. We tell you whether it waits until morning or it does not.
Floors get covered, the cleanout gets found, and the tech works out what is actually wrong before quoting anything.
Options where options exist — repair now, replace later, or the version that stops the bleeding tonight. You pick. Then we start.
We show you the line running clear, haul the old parts out, and email photos and the warranty terms the same afternoon.
Who shows up
Everyone who knocks on your door works for us. No day labor, no franchise dispatch center in another state routing your call to whoever bid lowest that morning. They wear a company shirt, carry a license number, and can tell you the year your house was likely re-drained by looking at the fittings.
Florida law says a plumbing contractor subcontracts work outside its scope, and we take that literally. If your problem turns out to be electrical, structural, or a job for a slab specialist, we will say so and hand you a name instead of improvising.
We are licensed, bonded and insured as a Florida State Certified Plumbing Contractor, with general liability and workers' comp on file. Ask to see the card. Techs are used to it.
Reviews
Sewage in the guest shower at 9pm on a Sunday. Tech was in the driveway by 10:40, had the main cleared before midnight, and came back Tuesday to camera it for free like he said he would. Roots at the clay joint, exactly where he guessed.
Two other companies quoted a full repipe over the phone without seeing anything. These guys found a failed angle stop behind the vanity, replaced it for $190, and told me the rest of the house looked fine for now.
Water heater died the week we listed the house. Quoted Thursday morning, installed Thursday afternoon, permit pulled and inspection passed before closing. Not a single surprise on the invoice.
Service area
Staying inside Hillsborough and Pinellas is what lets us hold same-day slots. It also means we know which streets still have clay tile, which subdivisions got Orangeburg, and which 1920s blocks have oak roots that will find any joint you leave them.
Answers
No. Nights, weekends and holidays carry a premium of roughly 30–40% on the labor portion, and we quote the after-hours number on the phone before dispatching anyone. If it can safely wait until 8 a.m., we will tell you that too — a stopped main cannot, a dripping hose bibb can.
If we cabled it and it stopped again inside 90 days on the same line, the return visit is on us. Past that, the honest answer is that repeat stoppages mean the pipe itself is the problem — roots at a joint, scale, or a belly. That is what the camera is for, and it is why we push jetting or a lining quote instead of selling you the same cable job four times.
Shut every fixture off and watch the meter's leak indicator for ten minutes. If it moves, water is going somewhere. Warm spots on tile, a foundation-side hiss with the house quiet, or mildew smell at the baseboards push it further. We locate electronically for $325–$550 and credit it toward the repair or the overhead re-route.
Tank if you want the lowest install cost and have a garage or closet already set up for it. Tankless if you are staying ten-plus years, have adequate gas supply, and are tired of a 50-gallon limit. In Tampa's 17-grain water, either one needs annual flushing — tankless especially, or the heat exchanger scales and you lose the efficiency you paid for.
We pull them. Water heater swaps, gas piping and sewer work go through the City of Tampa Construction Services Division inside the city, and Hillsborough County Development Services outside it. The permit fee is passed through at cost on the invoice, and we meet the inspector.
Yes, and on anything built before 1970 we would push you toward it. You get recorded video, a written summary of what the line is made of and where it is failing, and a locate marked on the ground. Turnaround is same-day in most of Tampa and St. Pete, which matters when the option period is running.
Still reading, so it is probably bad
Describing a drain problem over the phone is free and takes about four minutes. If it needs a truck, we will book the first slot that works. If it does not, we will say that instead.
813-555-0142 Email hello@mainstayplumbing.exampleTell us what's going on and we'll get right back to you.
Prefer to talk? Call 813-555-0142