Questions we get on the phone every day

It depends on the job, not a price list. Access, pipe material, whether parts or labor carries the job, and permits all move the number. The plumber looks at the problem, explains the fix and what it costs before starting, and if something new turns up partway through, you hear about it before that work begins.

Yes. The plumber explains what's wrong and what the fix costs, and work starts once you've said go ahead. If something new turns up once a wall, floor or crawlspace is open, the plumber stops and tells you what it adds, and you decide again before any more work is done.

Because a number given sight unseen is either a guess or padded to cover the guess. A plumber has to see the fixture, the crawlspace, or the pipe before a price means anything. Whoever answers can tell you what usually drives a job like yours, but the real number comes at the house.

It depends on where the plumbers are and what's already scheduled that day. Whoever answers gives you an arrival window on the phone, based on your address and how urgent the problem is. Matthews, Mint Hill and Indian Trail are the closest towns to the shop; Weddington, Waxhaw and Pineville are a longer drive.

Water you can't stop, sewage backing up into the house, and the smell of gas are emergencies, call now. A slow drain or a toilet that runs can usually wait for a scheduled visit. See the full guide on this site for the complete list.

Ask on the phone and you'll get a straight answer before anyone heads your way. Whoever answers can tell you how a night, weekend or holiday visit is priced. The bigger question at 2am is usually whether the problem can safely wait until morning, and they'll help you sort that out too.

Yes. The phone is answered around the clock, every day. At night, whoever is on call takes your address and what the water is doing, tells you what to shut off while you wait, and gets a plumber headed your way if it can't wait until morning.

Yes, before any digging or replacement gets recommended. A camera goes down the line first, and the footage gets shown to you on the plumber's phone so you can see exactly what's causing the backup, whether that's roots, a bellied clay tile section, or something simpler.

Roots finding their way into aging clay tile sewer lines are the most common cause we see, especially on older Matthews and Pineville lots with mature trees. Grease buildup in kitchen lines and disposal misuse are the other regulars. A cable machine clears most of it; a jetter handles the rest.

The camera tells you. If the line is cracked, bellied, or collapsed rather than just blocked, cleaning it out will only buy a few months. That's a conversation we have on site with the footage in front of you, not a guess made over the phone.

Depends on your household's hot water use and what's already run to the spot, gas or electric. A tank is usually the simpler swap; tankless needs more up front but keeps running as long as you need hot water. Either way, Union Plumbing Co. pulls the permit as part of the job, same as it does for repiping and gas work.

Age, how it's failing, and the condition of the tank matter more than any one symptom. A bad element, thermostat or valve is usually a repair. A tank leaking from the body, or one well past ten years old, usually points to replacement. The plumber explains which applies before anything gets swapped.

Listening gear first, usually a thermal camera too. Both can pinpoint a leak behind a wall, under a slab, or in a crawlspace before anyone opens anything up. Cutting in only happens once we know where to cut. That usually means one small opening instead of several exploratory ones.

Possibly, especially with a hot water line. A warm spot on an otherwise cool slab floor is one of the more reliable early signs of a slab leak, and it's worth a listening-gear visit before it turns into standing water or a mold issue.

Not always immediately, but both materials are past their expected service life in most houses still running them. Polybutylene is prone to failing at the fittings; galvanized corrodes from the inside and slowly loses pressure. We'll look at the specific condition before recommending a full repipe.

Most repipes in this area go PEX, since it handles Charlotte's red clay ground movement better and installs faster with fewer joints. Copper is still the right call in some situations, and we'll tell you which one fits your house rather than defaulting to whichever is easier for us.

Matthews, Mint Hill, Indian Trail, Weddington, Waxhaw, and Pineville, the south and east side of Charlotte. The shop is in Matthews, and those are the towns within a reasonable drive of it. If you're near the edge of that area, call and ask; whoever answers will tell you whether a plumber can get there and when.

Yes. Union Plumbing Co. holds a North Carolina plumbing contractor license and carries insurance, with the license number listed in the footer of this site. Permitted work like water heaters, repipes and gas lines gets inspected by the town or county after it's done. On this sample site, the license number is a placeholder.