Contractor Spotlight: Rooter Hero
Rooter Hero, a plumbing and drain cleaning company based out of California, has a history dating back to the Great Gatsby era.
In 1922, president Mike West’s grandfather, James, borrowed on his insurance policy; bought a plumbing truck and opened a modest store. Eight years later, amid the Great Depression, James bought a store in L.A. to display appliance and plumbing fixtures, and business continued to thrive over the next three decades.
“My father bought my grandfather out in the early 50s,” West recalls. “I bought my dad out in the 80s and ran the family plumbing company until about 10 years ago, when I decided I didn’t like being retired.”
In 2010, West founded Rooter Hero, perpetuating the family legacy of reliable plumbing service.
Embracing the Latest Technology
With a number of locations throughout Southern California, Rooter Hero also serves Northern California and Arizona. “We do all kinds of plumbing, but our main focus is on residential drain cleaning, and drain and sewer replacements – that’s our niche that we do very well,” West says.
The company offers 24-hour emergency plumbing, in addition to preventative maintenance, water heater repair, and the increasingly popular tankless water heaters. Although Rooter Hero has a legacy nearly a century-long, the company has remained up-to-date on the latest technological advances. “We try to use all the latest technology to reach our clients and provide better service – which, in turn, helps save money,” West said.
Long-Term Solutions for Immediate Problems
Committed to helping its customers conserve water as well as their hard-earned cash, Rooter Hero partnered with Ygrene Energy Fund to offer an innovative financing option called PACE (property assessed clean energy) financing.
The program enables property owners to finance up to 100 percent of all costs associated with the design and installation of water conservation, energy efficiency, storm preparedness and renewable energy upgrades. Homeowners then pay for their project(s) as a line item on their property tax bills, with terms up to 20 and even 30 years.
“Some people want to have a long-term solution to their plumbing problems, but they can’t afford it, so they end up putting a Band-Aid on it, and then the problem continues to reappear,” West said. “Basically, Ygrene helps us help our customers access long-term solutions, so their problems don’t keep coming back.”
For example, if a homeowner’s experiences a plugged sewer line, drain cleaning offers a temporary but cheaper fix than replacing old pipes. Often caused by tree roots, a clogged sewer line will become backed repeatedly as the roots grow back. “It’s not a question of if their sewer backs up again, it’s a question of when,” West says. “So Ygrene's PACE financing gives them the opportunity to replace their plumbing. For a lot of homes, the plumbing is 60 or 70 years old – it wears out, like our cars.”
Discover how you can become a Ygrene Authorized Contractor and expand your business with PACE financing.
