Price in writing before the wrench comes out.

1. The price is written before the wall is opened.

   We look first. Then you get a fixed price for the job on paper, and it lists what's in it: the parts by name and size, the labour, hauling the old tank or the cut-out pipe away, and the permit fee where the job needs one. If we can't see enough to price it, we tell you what we'd need to open to find out and what that opening costs on its own.

   The number on the paper is the number. If we open a wall and find a second problem, we stop, show you, and write a second price. You decide whether we carry on. Nobody gets a bill at the door that's twice what they were told.

2. A camera goes down before a fourth cable run.

   Cabling a drain is the right first move most of the time. A kitchen line full of grease or a bath line choked with hair usually clears on the first run. Clear it, run water, done. But if the same line clogs twice in a month, cabling it a third and fourth time just bills you for the same symptom.

   That's when we stop and put a camera down it. In older Seattle houses the answer is usually roots through a clay joint. Less often it's a belly in a cast-iron run that holds water and collects whatever floats down it. The sewer line camera inspection is priced separately and you hear that price before the camera leaves the van. You also get to watch the screen.

3. Permits get pulled when the job needs one.

   A water heater replacement in Seattle needs a plumbing permit. So does new gas piping, and so does most work that moves a drain. We pull it, we put the fee on the written price as its own line, and we book the inspection. The expansion tank and the seismic strapping go on because code asks for them, and because a 50-gallon tank weighs over 400 pounds full and earthquakes happen here.

   We won't skip the permit to shave the price. If you'd rather a contractor who will, we're not the right call.

4. We show you the pipe, and you choose.

   Half the leak repair calls in pre-1960 houses end at the same place: galvanized steel that's rusted from the inside, wall thickness gone, threads like wet cardboard. You can put a coupling on that. It will hold for a while and then the next foot over will let go.

   We don't do that and call it fixed. We cut a section, hand it to you, and price two options: the spot repair with a plain note that it's temporary, and the run replaced in copper or PEX back to sound pipe. Same goes for a 14-year-old tank with a dead element. We'll tell you the tank isn't worth the part.

5. The house is left cleaner than the work found it.

   Drop cloths go down from the door to the work area, and shoe covers go on indoors. Drywall gets cut as a clean square at the size we told you, never hacked to see what's there, and the dust is vacuumed before we leave. Old tanks, cut pipe, spent fittings and packaging leave in the van.

   Finish patching and painting the drywall is not on our price unless we agreed it in writing. We'd rather say so now than have you expect it.

6. Night calls are dispatched on an agreed basis.

   When you call at 2 a.m., the first job is stopping the water, and that often happens over the phone. We'll walk you to the main shut-off, which in most Seattle houses is on the front foundation wall or where the line comes into the basement, and to the gas or power for the water heater.

   Before anyone drives, you hear the dispatch basis for the call-out and you agree to it. On site, the repair is priced in writing before work starts, same as daytime. We don't quote arrival times in minutes, because a crawlspace job across the city can run long and we'd be lying. We'll give you a straight estimate and call if it slips.

Swipe the table sideways if it runs past the edge.