LIHUE — A plumbing and drain service company with over three decades of work in the state is setting its roots on Kauai and is looking to hire local workers.
Roto-Rooter is a full service plumbing company, specializing in 24-hour, last-minute service capable of handling plumbing needs — from fixing leaky pipes to replacing water heaters to sewer and drain cleaning.
“We just thought it was the right time to come over here and get things going,” said Troy Goodall, production and sales manager for Roto-Rooter. “Eventually, we’re going to open up a branch here. What we’d like to do is hire locally and do the work here, where we don’t have to send people from Oahu to come here and work.”
The company started services on the Garden Isle in mid-March and is hoping to grow its company with an additional five to six employees.
“We want to offer value for the service for our customers,” Goodall said. “We want to let them know that we’re going to be here forever and to let people know we’re going to hire local people and we want them to embrace our business.”
The company has franchises on Maui and the Big Island, and would like to open a branch on Kauai.
“On Oahu we have 27 plumbers. We’re going to put technicians out on the North Shore, in Lihue and Kapaa, and some out over in the Poipu-Waimea side,” Goodall said. “When a call comes in, we can address that situation quickly.”
Video camera inspection is a service offered by the company.
“A lot of the people, especially in the hotel industry and property managers, say only a few companies offer video camera,” he said. “We can steer a camera down a drain, down the pipe and see the condition of the pipe. We can also record onto that and upload it to a cloud system.”
Another is high pressure water jetting that allows the sewer line to be cleaned forwards and backwards, clearing debris and minimizing future clogs.
John Dyer, a journeyman plumber for Roto-Rooter, said pipe maintenance, especially for restaurants, shouldn’t be overlooked.
“Some people love to pour grease down their lines,” he said. “You have foodstuff, fats, natural stuff off of foods that’s greasy, gets in the lines and builds up. If you end up shutting your restaurant down for a day because you have problems with your plumbing, you’re going to spend a whole lot more money on shutting down your restaurant than maintaining it.”
Dyer added that only toilet paper should be flushed down the toilet, especially for homes with a septic system.
“Maintaining your drain is vital. It’s all about not treating your toilet and drains like a trashcan,” Goodall said. “Most people overlook preventative maintenance. That makes sure your drains are nice and clear and kept in good condition before they start to clog.”
After spending a month on the island, Dyer said he sees more septic and cesspool systems here than Oahu.
“Plumbing is similar wherever you go, but you run into something different,” he said.
The Department of Health estimates there were over 13,000 cesspools on Kauai in 2016.
The company offers a six-month warranty for residential customers.
“We guarantee that we’ll come out within the same day, if not the next, to come out and fix the problem we didn’t resolve in the first place,” Goodall said. “Our overall goal is to resolve the problem you may have. Once we determine what’s going on, we want to resolve it so you don’t have to keep paying companies to come back over and over again for the same problem.”
Roto-Rooter will give free estimates and free proposals.
“We’re just so happy to be here on Kauai, doing business with the growth and the need for additional plumbing service and drain service,” Goodall said.
