Terms

These terms set the rules for using this website and for the introductions it arranges. They are brief by design and worth reading first.

What this site does

Owners and managers of property in and around Syracuse, across Onondaga County, use this site to ask for drain cleaning, sewer line cleaning and root removal, sewer backup work, and sewer line inspection and repair. We make the introduction. We do not do the work and we do not set the price. An independent contractor carries out the job, quotes and invoices you directly, and holds their own trade credentials and insurance. Your agreement for the work is with that contractor, not with this site.

The license belongs to the contractor

Under Onondaga County Local Law No. 9 of 1988, as amended in 2004, a permit to install plumbing in the county can be obtained only by people the Onondaga County Examining Board for Plumbers has found competent and whom the Department of Water Environment Protection then licenses as Master Plumbers or as Plumbing Contractors Class B or Class C. That license is held by the contractor doing the work and never by this site, and nothing here claims otherwise. Section 3.2 of the Examining Board's requirements also obliges each licensed plumbing contractor in the county to file certificates of insurance with WEP Plumbing Control, which is the paper to ask a contractor to show you.

Which piece of pipe is whose

Section 5.3 A.3 of the Onondaga County Examining Board for Plumbers requirements says sewer lateral repairs must be rebuilt as far as the curb line. It adds that when a licensed plumbing contractor finds an obstruction in the service lateral that cannot be cleared and that lies under the street bed, the contractor must contact the City sewer department and show it. We publish this because it affects who pays. It says nothing certain about your address: village and town codes in the county vary, the Consolidated Sanitary District does not reach every property inside its member municipalities, and only an inspection of your own line shows where the fault is.

Quotes and prices

The cost of a drain or sewer job depends on where the blockage sits and what the pipe is made of, and nobody knows either until the line has been opened and looked down. A figure offered before then is an estimate against a description rather than a price, and pricing an excavation before the fault is found means pricing a guess. A request through this site carries no obligation, and neither we nor any contractor we introduce will hold you to a number given before the line has been surveyed.

If sewage is inside the building

Wastewater in the house is a health matter as well as a plumbing one. The EPA says that where basements flood with sewage the affected area must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and that rugs, curtains, flooring, wallboard and upholstered furniture touched by sewage usually have to be replaced. This site arranges the plumbing side only. It does not do cleaning, disinfection or insurance restoration, and nothing on it is medical, legal or insurance advice.

About the information on these pages

Each local, regulatory or code statement here shows its source and the date we checked it. It is general information meant to help you pick your next step, not a replacement for an inspection of your own line, for legal advice, or for your insurer's word on what a policy pays. Code sections, county requirements, village ordinances and published guidance all change over time. If a statement bears on a decision you are about to make, open the link and confirm it yourself.

Permits and inspections

Plumbing work in this county needs a permit before it starts, and getting it is part of the contractor's job under your contract with them, not part of our introduction. A new lateral connection to an existing main, or the re-use of an existing lateral, calls first for an Onondaga County Capacity Assurance review. The county gives feedback or approval within 45 days, and an inflow and infiltration offset plan may be set as a condition. Build that wait into your plans instead of meeting it halfway through. If you cannot tell which office covers your address, ask before work is scheduled.

Limits

We take reasonable care over whom we introduce and what this site says. We do not control how a contractor does the work, what they charge or how long they take, and we are not a party to the contract you sign with them. Nothing on this site creates a warranty on the work. Any dispute about the work, its price or its timing is between you and the contractor.

Using this site

Please do not send a request for a property you have no connection to, and do not use the form for automated or commercial messages. The wording, sourced material and layout of these pages belong to us. You may quote them with a link but may not republish them in bulk.

Text messages

Ticking the box on the request form means you agree to texts from Drain Cleaning Syracuse about that request. Carriers may bill for messages and data, and replying STOP ends them. You do not have to tick the box to send a request or to book a job.

Changes

These terms can change as the service does. The version shown here is the one in force, and any change to what the site collects is made to the privacy policy in the same update.