Cardinal Services

Alex let me know ahead that it would be emergency rates and what they were. He was knowledgeable, observant (Made sure it wasn't a floor drain by checking the toilet water level first), and honest. He told me there was a clean out plug he might break and when I asked him how much it was and he said a better version would cost $30 after seeing him try to be gentle with the old one, I figured it'd be cheaper to just break the old one and move on at emergency rates. He hit tree roots at 90 feet and cleared it out. Alex was a very pleasant guy, cleaned off the tires of the drain auger before he brought it down stairs, and did the job efficiently.

Wanted to check and clean drain (access embedded in concrete floor) before installing new flooring. They found some gunk and cleaned sewer line to the street. Perfect. Simple. No drama. Very courteous, friendly and experienced technician.

I've used Cardinal services the last 4 times I've needed drain work and have been impressed each and every time; Lee cuts no corners and give it to you straight; I've always felt like I've gotten my moneys worth (which is hard to say at $125 an hour). These guys are pro's and get the job done right.

Technician was efficient and friendly. He cleared two drains and checked a third but determined it did not need clearing. They had quick turn around on the appointment and were easy to communicate with. I would use again.

Fantastic experience! Called at 8:45 am and Lee was here by 10:30. Took time to explain the drains and how they worked. Very courteous and professional. Very conscientious about keeping the house clean, including using shoe covers. Cleaned up after the repair. Will use Cardinal again if we have drain troubles.

It was our first time using them. We would recommend them because they were professional, knowledgeable, and experienced. They were great! We've had no issues since the service was provided.

Lee did an amazing job, from finding the main cleanout (which the first provider could not locate) and running the camera and showing me the exact locations of the tree roots. Lee then used the auger machine with first a four-inch blade/cutter, followed by the six-inch blade/cutter. Once Lee completed the cleaning, he ran the camera again and showed me exactly how the sewage pipe now looked --- and I must say, it looked pristine. The previous provider I had out had misinformed me by saying that I would need clay pipe repairs in two areas (at a cost of $3,000 - $7,000). Lee was pretty emphatic that I did NOT need to have the pipe repaired and further, that it was in excellent condition, considering the age of the house. Lee was extremely honest, knowledgeable and professional. He takes great pride in his work and I would use Cardinal again in a heartbeat. I also want to mention Lee's wife Jackie, who runs the business side of Cardinal. She was extremely helpful and knowledgeable as well. I have used many service providers on Angie's List, and for the most part, have had very good experiences. But this really was the best. Cardinal is definitely the "Rolls Royce" of service providers in the sewage pipe cleanout sector. I highly recommend them.

Worker persisted and labored hard to get the line cleared to the street. Also cleared blockage in tub drain. Maybe not the cheapest, but I have had Cardinal here on several occasions (once, when a national-brand competitor gave up on a situation), and Cardinal has always come through with high-quality service. They are my go-to drain cleaner.

It went great was charged the rate quoted the line was cleaned in one hour. He answered all my question as to if I had to go other route cost and effectiveness. I will definitely use there services again.

We had just had the line cleaned out 6 months ago. So when it backed up again I was worried. The service man was very polite and informative. He said it was probable that the last guy only ran a 4inch cutting head down our 6 inch main due to the fact that the clean out access was in a section of 4 inch pipe. After he ran a 6 inch cutter down the line I asked him if he could run a camera down to check things out. He felt that we didn't need to run the camera, but I told him I would like to just for piece of mind at this point. He understood my feelings and ran the camera, showing me the areas in our main line that he though where causing the issue. This company might be a little more expensive than others but they have knowledgeable staff and don't try to sell you on things you don't need. They are well worth the extra coin.

I contacted Cardinal (Lee Evans) to complete work on Tree Root overgrowth in the mainline drain of my house. While the work done was satisfactory, I felt it was over-priced and I had been referred to another company that would be more cost-effective. Additionally, my fiance had told me that she clearly smelled tobacco smoke in our basement after the day they worked, which is baffling and completely disrespectful. I ended up asking Lee to stop work on the house to go with the other company. I also talked to Lee and asked him to lower his price down from 275 an hour, and when I asked him to do so I felt he was very rude in his response. He said "absolutely not" in a very disrespectful tone and then muttered "buddy" very clearly under his breath. The response, coupled with the clear disrespect of our property by smoking inside our house, leads me to give them the "F" rating for professionalism. Cardinal did end up honoring the lower rate (albeit, not by much) once I made a complaint to their customer service, however, the damage done to their image with the rude and disrespectful customer service will make it so that I tell all my friends and family to steer clear of them.

Excellent, on time and came prepared with the big tools. He was professional, pleasant and came on a Sunday morning to get the water out of the basement.

I scheduled an appointment with Cardinal Services as a last ditch attempt to solve a sewer line problem I'd had for 2 years. Two other companies had tried and failed to completely clear the line and neither were able to get past 65 feet. I'd had a different company out a few weeks prior to my appointment with Cardinal and after they failed to get past that 65 foot mark, they sent out a guy with a camera who also was unable to get past that point or even see what was causing the problem. He determined that I must have damaged or destroyed pipes and gave me a quote for replacing a section of my sewer line that started at $4500. I called several other companies for competing quotes and one of them suggested I contact Cardinal and let them have one last try at clearing the line before we started talking about digging up my lawn and replacing pipe. Alex from Cardinal Services came to my house Wednesday morning, 2/27, got to work, and very quickly got through the 65 foot mark and all the way out to 105 feet. After running a camera down the line, we discovered that the "problem" was not a collapsed or disconnected pipe but rather a section of pipe that had been added years before to allow another toilet to access the sewer line. That joint was allowing roots into the sewer line and causing the problem. Other than that, my sewer line looked great. More importantly, he discovered that the problem area was actually at about 55 ft - under my porch as opposed to outside my foundation! Had I done the work that the other company recommended, it would not have solved the problem at all. SHORT VERSION: Cardinal succeeded where 2 other companies had failed and saved me from making a very expensive repair that would not have solved the problem. Big thumbs up! I highly recommend them.

My main line was TERRIBLY backed up. So bad, in fact, that just one toilet flush was enough to cause sewage to come up through the drain and onto my basement floor. "Company A" came out and worked on the line for close to three hours and removed many roots, but weren't able to release the pressure at all; the sewage was still backed up. At the recommendation of "Company A," I called Cardinal Services. While they weren't able to make it out quite as quickly as I would've liked (they couldn't make it out until about 20 hours after I spoke with them), they (specifically Alex) were able to "push through" and clear out what "Company A" wasn't able to ... in about half the time that "Company A" spent working on the line. I couldn't be more pleased and would highly recommend Cardinal Services to anyone!

I had a "slow" drain from the laundry tub to the main drain. It just clogs up every few years. I also wanted to have the main drain cleaned out. However, the service rep used a camera and found out that the main drain was clean except for the first ten or so feet. So I didn't have to pay for cleaning the entire drain.

Overall a good experience. Top quality equipment. Professional and courteous. Not much to add here. Keep in mind that they are always a little late which is pretty common for services of this type. I do not think that is a negative but you should realize that 10AM might be 11AM. In other words, 10AM will not be 9AM and you should plan your day accordingly.

Called on a Saturday morning. The woman who took the call was pleasant and said that one of the technicians would call me back. He did so in less than 30 minutes. He provided an estimated arrival window and said that he'd call again when he was on his way, which he did. I appreciated that he started with the less expensive part of the service (main drain clean out) to determine whether that was sufficient, but it's easier for me to have a single service call every couple of years to clean the drain and get the tree roots out the main line and get it over with. He explained which blade sizes he used and why, informed me of some settling of the waste line (not unusual in a house of this age). Further settling could eventually be an issue, but he did not try to sell me on any unnecessary services or repairs. Definitely happy with the work and the person who did it. I will use them again for periodic maintenance!

I got a call from home at 2:00 on a Friday afternoon that there was water all over the laundry room floor in the basement. Rushed home from work and figured out that water was coming up through the floor drain in the laundry room. Called Cardinal Services at about 3:00 based on recommendation from a friend. Technician called back at about 3:30 and was at our house by 4:00. Turned out it was the main drain that was almost completely clogged. Clean out took about an hour and a half. Alex the technician was pleasant and professional. He clearly explained what needed to be done and how much it would cost. I was very pleased with the experience and would definitely recommend them.

After calling a couple of other places, I received Zach's number from a plumbing company that doesn't handle drain cleaning. Zach answered promptly and said he could be at my house within 90 minutes (which also meant crossing from northern suburbs to the southern ones.) He called 10 minutes out to confirm his arrival and was very punctual. As stated, he did his job well. He was careful with everything, and very detail oriented and yet since I chose to watch the process, he was friendly and polite. He explained more than necessary everything I wanted to learn and was also good at making small talk. He reminded me that there was a coupon on Angie's list which I hadn't caught. Overall, he helped make a yucky situation a little better to deal with.

The reviews on line indicated that this company had a camera that they used to look into the sewer to diagnose problems. Plus the reviews were excellent. On a Friday evening our sewer plugged so we had to pay over time. The young man who came was able to get the sewer functional but not cleared. He did not have a camera to check out what was wrong. He told us it could be tree roots but it was so hard to get through that it might mean the pipes were out of alignment which could mean thousands to replace. He suggested we contact the city of Richfield because they could inspect the pipes with their camera. He did not mention the company camera. Richfield city workers came and with their camera could see that a clump of tree roots were blocking the pipe. But the integrety of the pipe looked fine. So we called Cardinal Services back and told them what we found. Another employee returned with the camera and cleared the pipe of the tree roots. We will need to keep the area clean but the next time it should not be as expensive. The City of Richfield employees were great and gave us the information we needed without costing us anything. So it was a good call by the first man from Cardinals. We plan to keep the drain open by doing every other year maintance with Cardinal Services.

My son was very satisfied on all accounts and would reuse him.

My management company sent a plumber to address the sewer drain backing up in the basement. He could only get it open 2" and said it was probably broken. For a 2nd opinion I called Cardinal, since they were highly recommended on the List as well as by 2 sewer line replacement companies. Zach was very polite and arranged to meet the mgt. co. at my property (since I live out of state). The day of the service I left Zack a message to hear what he found, but did not hear back (which is why I gave them a B in responsiveness). The mgt. co. said he only used a camera to look at the line, but did not clean it. When I left Zack a message again today (a month later) he called right back. He said the first time he was at my property he was told to just use the camera, but went back a week later to clean the line. He said he and another guy carried the machine down the narrow stairs, so they wouldn't damage the wall. They then used a 6" blade and cleared the line all the way to the street. It was NOT broken, so I'm VERY glad I invested in a 2nd opinion and that I chose Cardinal. Zack even told me there was a 6 month warranty on the work. I felt sort of helpless living out of state and having a not-so-great mgt. co. Thanks so much for doing a great job and putting my mind at ease!

Called Cardinal. Very pleasant. Scheduling went well. Plumber showed up on time, having called in advance to make sure I was home. Plumber was very polite, professional, and efficient. He discussed what he did and advised me about future frequency of need to clear sewer line.

Our main drain to the house started backing up, so we hired Rotor Rooter and after spending $520 they couldn't clear the drain and told us we probably had a broken drain pipe (after a guy with a camera couldn't see anything from the house drain side) which they could fix for $4900. Then we called in Alto who managed to get the drain barely open for $210 and they also told us that the drain was probably collapsed. We called in Cichy to provide a quote for drain removal and replacement. The guy from Cichy also stuck his camera in the drain from the house side and again was not able to see anything because there was water backing up into the drain. Cichy gave us a quote of $2900 for replacing the pipe which is a really good deal considering all the work involved. Fortunately for us, we gave one more company a try, Cardinal Services who stuck their camera into the drain from the sewer side and saw the giant root ball blocking the drain. Cardinal Services had the tools required to remove the root ball, unlike Rotor Rooter or Alto. My wife gave me a hard time for hiring Cardinal Services before they came ('What?! Another plumber!?'), but they saved us thousands of dollars and my driveway from getting all ripped up by looking at the drain from the sewer side (14 feet down from the manhole) and having the proper tools for removing tree roots. These guys were not afraid to go into the sewer to diagnose and fix the problem, unlike everyone else we called. Roto-Rooter didn't even know they were allowed to go into the sewer. They knew exactly what to do to fix the problem and there were no delays or any problems. Everything went according to plan. I cannot recommend any company more highly for cleaning out drains in your home than Cardinal Services.

Wow! BEST SERVICE EVER! Zach came out this morning and snaked out my main drain (roots from tree out front). He was on time, very professional, and extremely knowledgable about his profession. He explained exactly what he was doing, and why. He snaked it out twice, until there was no resistance, but before satisfying himself that the job was truly complete, he took the time to actually listen to the water flowing through my main drain to ensure he could hear that the line was running clear and flowing unimpeded to the drain in the street (it sounded like an elongated "kerplunk" followed by a flushing sound). What also impressed me was the fact that I initially called on a Saturday, and Zach called me back in less than 10 minutes to address my concerns. After speaking with me, he agreed that I did not need emergency service, but if I changed my mind, or the situation got worse, he would be out over the weekend if I needed him ... all I had to do was call. Finally, after finishing the job, Zach cleaned up around the drain and work area (first time that ever happened). On his way out, I asked Zach to leave me his card as I will only be using Cardinal from now on!