Hear from Our Customers
When a plumbing problem gets fixed correctly, you stop thinking about it. No water stain slowly spreading across the ceiling. No drain that backs up every few weeks. No water heater that’s been “almost working” since last winter. You just turn on the tap and it works — and that’s the point.
For Colfax homeowners, the stakes are a little higher than they are down in the valley. Many homes here were built decades ago, and some still have galvanized steel or cast iron pipes that have been in the ground long enough to start showing their age. When those fail — and they do — the damage moves fast, especially in a home where you’ve left for a Sacramento or Roseville commute and won’t be back until evening.
The elevation matters too. When temperatures in Colfax drop below freezing in January or February, pipes in crawl spaces and exterior walls are genuinely at risk in a way that doesn’t apply to homes sitting at 200 feet in the valley. Getting those vulnerabilities addressed before a cold snap — or getting them repaired fast after one — is the difference between a manageable repair and a serious water damage situation. Our same-day repair commitment exists precisely for moments like that.
Murray Plumbing was founded in 2009 by Ryan Murray, who started the company from scratch in the Sierra foothills after the housing downturn — one truck, a contractor’s license, and a straightforward approach to doing the work right. That hasn’t changed. We now serve El Dorado, Sacramento, and Placer Counties, and Colfax sits squarely in that territory.
What that means for you is a licensed plumbing repair contractor who already understands Colfax and foothill conditions — the rocky and clay-heavy soil that stresses sewer laterals, the aging housing stock common in this community, and the specific requirements under Colfax’s Sewer Lateral Program that any homeowner preparing to sell needs to navigate. We hold a full C-36 California Plumbing Contractor License, verifiable directly on the CSLB website.
The 4.7-star Google rating across 93+ reviews isn’t a marketing number — it’s the result of showing up on time, quoting honestly, and fixing things right the first time. In a town as connected as Colfax, that kind of reputation travels.
It starts with a call. You describe what’s happening, and we work to get someone out the same day in most cases. For urgent situations — a burst pipe, a sewer backup, a water heater that stopped working — that response time matters. You’re not sitting on hold with a national dispatch center hoping someone can fit you in next week.
When our technician arrives, the first thing that happens is a proper diagnosis. Not a guess, not an upsell pitch — a real assessment of what’s actually going on. From there, you get the exact cost before any work begins. That’s a flat-rate quote, not an hourly estimate that can balloon once the job is underway. Real customers have noted that the final invoice came in under the original estimate. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to.
For jobs that require a permit — and in Colfax, that includes plumbing work that falls under the city’s building department oversight, as well as sewer lateral inspections required under Ordinance 499 — we handle that process as a fully licensed C-36 contractor. You don’t have to figure out the paperwork or wonder whether the work was done to code. It is.
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We handle the complete range of residential plumbing repair services that come up in a Sierra foothill community like Colfax. Drain cleaning and hydro jetting for lines dealing with tree root intrusion — a real and recurring issue when dry Sierra summers push roots toward any available moisture source. Trenchless sewer repair for homes where excavating through a pine-forested yard or rocky hillside soil would turn a repair into a landscaping project. Sewer camera inspection, which is also the starting point for any sewer lateral certification under Colfax’s Ordinance 499.
Water line repair and waterline replacement are common needs in older Colfax homes, particularly those with galvanized steel supply lines that have been corroding from the inside for decades. Leak detection — both traditional and trenchless — finds the problem without unnecessary digging. Water heater repair, replacement, and maintenance cover everything from standard tank units to tankless and energy-efficient systems. For homes and rural properties in areas like Shady Glen, Heather Glen, and Weimar that draw from private wells, we offer water filtration, water softening, and reverse osmosis systems to address the quality side of what’s coming out of the tap.
The Placer County Water Agency is currently replacing Colfax’s 1958 water treatment plant with a new $36 million facility. As that transition happens, it’s worth knowing the condition of the pipes on your side of the meter — we can assess that too.
Yes — and this is something every Colfax homeowner planning to sell should know about before they list. The City of Colfax adopted Ordinance 499 in 2007, which created the Sewer Lateral Program. Under this ordinance, a valid sewer lateral certificate must be in place before any property can change hands. The certificate is generally valid for ten years, so if you’ve owned your home for a while, it’s worth checking when yours was last issued.
The process requires you to obtain a permit, hire a licensed California plumber to conduct the inspection in the presence of City staff, and complete any required repairs before the certificate is issued. An unlicensed contractor cannot satisfy this requirement — the city specifically requires a licensed plumber. If the lateral fails inspection, repairs must be completed before the sale can close. Murray Plumbing holds a full C-36 California Plumbing Contractor License and is familiar with what Colfax’s inspection process involves, which makes the whole thing considerably less stressful than trying to navigate it with a contractor who’s never heard of Ordinance 499.
The most common warning signs are discolored water coming from the tap, noticeably reduced water pressure across multiple fixtures, slow drains that don’t respond to basic clearing, water stains on ceilings or walls with no obvious source, and unusually high water bills that don’t match your usage. Any one of these can point to a pipe problem that’s already in progress.
In Colfax specifically, older homes are more likely to have galvanized steel supply lines — the standard material used through the 1960s and 1970s — that corrode from the inside over time. As that corrosion builds up, water pressure drops, water quality degrades, and eventually the pipe fails. Cast iron drain lines in older structures go through a similar process. Homes built during the railroad era or mid-20th-century development in Colfax are exactly the age range where these issues start showing up. A camera inspection can tell you what’s actually inside those pipes before a failure makes the decision for you.
It’s a real concern in Colfax. The town sits at approximately 2,400 feet in the Sierra Nevada foothills, and winter temperatures regularly drop to or below freezing — which is genuinely different from the climate on the Sacramento Valley floor. Homes with plumbing in crawl spaces, pipes running along exterior walls, or older construction with inadequate insulation are the most vulnerable.
The freeze-thaw cycle is what does the damage. A pipe that freezes overnight and then thaws in the afternoon expands and contracts in a way that stresses joints and fittings, and eventually causes a crack or a full burst. When that happens in a home where the owners have left for a commute to Roseville or Sacramento, the water runs for hours before anyone finds it. The resulting damage goes well beyond the pipe itself. We handle burst pipe repair as an emergency service, and can also assess vulnerable areas of your plumbing before winter arrives so you’re not dealing with a crisis in January.
Flat-rate pricing means the cost is determined and agreed upon before any work begins — not after the technician has spent three hours on the job and you’re looking at a bill that’s double what you expected. We give you the exact number upfront. That’s the price. There’s no hourly clock running in the background, and there are no surprise line items added at the end.
In practice, customers have documented that the final invoice came in under the original estimate on certain jobs — which is the opposite of what most people fear when they hire a plumber. The flat-rate model works because it puts the incentive in the right place: the plumber is motivated to do the job efficiently rather than stretch it out. For Colfax homeowners who are already managing a commute schedule and don’t have time to babysit a job or dispute a bill, knowing the number upfront removes a significant source of stress. Our pricing is transparent from the first conversation.
For most standard repairs — a clogged drain, a leaking pipe, a water heater that needs replacement — we aim to complete the job the same day you call. That same-day commitment is built around the reality that most plumbing problems are urgent, not convenient. You’re not scheduling a repair for next Thursday when water is actively going somewhere it shouldn’t.
The actual time on-site depends on what the job involves. A drain cleaning or simple pipe repair might take an hour or two. A water heater replacement or a sewer lateral inspection with repairs could take most of a day. For jobs that require a permit through the Colfax Building Department — which includes sewer lateral work under Ordinance 499 — there’s a permit process involved, and we handle that as a licensed contractor so it doesn’t fall on you to coordinate. If you’re on a timeline because of a pending home sale, that’s worth mentioning when you call so the scheduling can be prioritized accordingly.
Many properties in the unincorporated areas surrounding Colfax — including communities like Shady Glen, Heather Glen, Weimar, and Applegate — rely on private well water and septic systems rather than the municipal water and sewer infrastructure inside the city limits. The plumbing needs on those properties are real and often more complex than a standard city-connected home.
We serve Placer County and are familiar with the rural property profile common in the Colfax area. Water filtration, water softening, and reverse osmosis systems are all services we offer, and they’re particularly relevant for properties drawing from private wells where water quality can vary depending on the source and the surrounding geology. If you’re dealing with hard water, sediment, or water that doesn’t taste or smell right, those are solvable problems — not just something to live with. Reach out and describe what you’re seeing, and we can walk you through what’s likely going on and what it would take to address it.
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