Hear from Our Customers
When a plumbing problem gets diagnosed correctly and repaired with quality materials, you stop dealing with the same issue on repeat. No more watching a slow drain turn into a full backup. No more wondering if that low water pressure is something small or something that’s been quietly getting worse inside your walls for years. You just have working plumbing — and the peace of mind that comes with knowing it was done right.
For Placerville homeowners specifically, that matters more than most people realize. At 1,860 feet elevation, your pipes face freeze conditions that Sacramento-area plumbers rarely encounter. When January temperatures drop and an exposed crawl space line bursts at 2 a.m., you need someone who already understands your home’s vulnerability — not someone driving 45 minutes from a valley dispatch center while the water runs.
And if your Placerville home was built before 1980, there’s a real chance your sewer lateral is clay. Placerville’s mature tree canopy and dry summers push roots aggressively toward moisture in those aging lines. When that problem gets addressed properly — camera inspection, hydro jetting, trenchless repair if needed — you’re not just fixing a clog. You’re getting ahead of the backup that would have happened anyway, just at a much worse time.
We started Murray Plumbing in Placerville in 2009 after earning our contractor’s license and building the business one job at a time from the ground up. This isn’t a Sacramento company that added Placerville to a service area list. Our trucks are based here. Our team knows El Dorado County. And our reputation has been built over 15 years of showing up on time, quoting honestly, and fixing things correctly.
Our 4.7-star Google rating across 93 reviews isn’t a number we chase — it’s what happens when customers in Placerville and surrounding communities consistently get the service they were promised. Reviews from El Dorado County homeowners specifically call out same-day response, final invoices that came in at or under the original estimate, and technicians who knew what they were looking at from the moment they walked in.
From the historic homes near downtown Placerville to the foothill subdivisions branching out toward Camino and Diamond Springs, we’ve seen the full range of what’s behind the walls here — and that local knowledge is not something you can replicate from a regional call center.
It starts with a call or a booking, and from that point, the process is straightforward. We confirm a same-day appointment for most repairs — because the majority of plumbing problems don’t give you the luxury of waiting around for a three-day booking window. A technician arrives on time, in a marked vehicle, ready to assess the issue.
Before anything gets touched, you get the price. That’s not a formality — it’s how we operate. The exact cost is confirmed upfront using flat-rate pricing, so there’s no hourly clock running in the background while the job takes longer than expected. What you’re quoted is what you pay. In several documented cases, the final invoice came in under the original estimate.
From there, the repair gets done using quality parts built to last. For Placerville homes with older infrastructure — galvanized supply lines, clay sewer laterals, mixed-era systems where a modern fixture is sitting on a 1960s connection — the diagnostic step matters as much as the repair itself. We use camera inspection to see what’s actually happening before recommending a course of action. If your job requires a permit through the City of Placerville’s Building Department, we handle that properly, not skip it. The work is done, cleaned up, and backed by our commitment to stand behind it.
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We handle the full range of residential plumbing repair services — from a clogged drain or a dripping faucet to a full sewer line replacement or a burst pipe in a crawl space. There’s no job that requires you to call a different company when the problem turns out to be bigger than expected.
In Placerville, a few specific issues come up more often than in other parts of El Dorado County. Water line repair and pipe repair in older homes near downtown frequently involve galvanized steel lines that have corroded from the inside out — the pressure drop is gradual, so homeowners often don’t realize the supply line itself is the problem until it’s diagnosed properly. Hard water from local sources accelerates that corrosion and also causes mineral buildup inside water heaters, cutting efficiency and shortening the unit’s life faster than most people expect. We offer water softening and filtration services that address that underlying condition, not just the symptom.
For sewer-related issues, the combination of aging clay laterals and Placerville’s tree canopy creates a predictable pattern: roots find the cracks, slow drains become full backups, and the homeowner is left choosing between trenchless repair and traditional excavation. Our camera inspection identifies exactly what’s happening before any recommendation is made, and trenchless sewer repair — when it’s the right call — avoids tearing up your yard or driveway to get the job done. We’re available for emergency plumbing repair when timing isn’t on your side, and the same upfront pricing applies regardless of when you call.
Yes, and it’s a more serious risk than most people moving to Placerville from lower elevations expect. At 1,860 feet, winter temperatures in Placerville regularly approach freezing and occasionally drop below it. That’s enough to freeze pipes that are exposed or poorly insulated — particularly lines running through crawl spaces, exterior walls on the north-facing side of a home, unheated garages, attic supply lines, and outdoor hose bibs that weren’t shut off before the cold hit.
When a pipe freezes and then thaws, the expansion and contraction can split the pipe at a joint or along a weak section. That’s when you get a burst pipe — and in a crawl space or inside a wall, the water can run for a while before anyone notices. The most vulnerable homes in Placerville tend to be older ones with original insulation and pipes routed through areas that weren’t designed with freeze prevention in mind. If you’ve had a cold snap and you’re suddenly seeing low pressure or wet spots, don’t wait to call. That’s not a problem that fixes itself.
Galvanized steel pipes were the standard material for residential water supply lines from roughly the 1930s through the 1970s. If your Placerville home was built before 1980 — and many in the older parts of the city and the historic district were — there’s a real chance your supply lines are galvanized. You can check exposed pipes in your basement, crawl space, or under sinks: galvanized pipe has a dull gray color and a slightly rough texture, and it often shows rust or white mineral deposits at the joints.
The reason it matters is that galvanized pipe corrodes from the inside out. As the zinc coating deteriorates, rust and mineral deposits build up on the interior walls of the pipe, gradually narrowing the flow. The first sign is usually reduced water pressure — often dismissed as a fixture issue — followed eventually by discolored water and, in advanced cases, pinhole leaks. Placerville’s hard water from local sources accelerates this process because the elevated mineral content adds to the buildup. If your home has galvanized supply lines, we can inspect the system and tell you how far along the corrosion is and whether spot repairs or full repiping makes more sense given the condition of your pipes.
Recurring drain clogs in older Placerville homes are rarely just about what’s going down the drain. In homes built before 1980, the sewer lateral connecting your house to the main line is often clay — and clay pipes crack over time from ground movement, root intrusion, and simple age. Once a crack forms, tree roots find it. Placerville’s mature tree canopy means root systems are everywhere, and during the hot, dry summers when the ground dries out, those roots push aggressively toward the moisture inside your sewer line.
The result is a partial blockage that a standard snake can clear temporarily — but the root keeps growing back through the same crack, and the problem returns every few months. If you’re snaking the same drain repeatedly and it keeps coming back, that’s the pattern to watch for. A camera inspection is the only way to know for certain what’s happening inside the line. If root intrusion is confirmed, hydro jetting can clear the line more completely than snaking, and trenchless repair can seal or replace the compromised section without excavating your yard. Getting ahead of it now is significantly less disruptive than dealing with a full sewer backup later.
Yes. Any significant plumbing repair, replacement, or new installation in Placerville requires a permit through the City of Placerville Building Department, and we handle that process as part of the job. California requires licensed contractors to pull permits for work that goes beyond minor repairs — this includes sewer line replacements, water heater replacements, repiping, and water line repairs. Skipping the permit process isn’t just a code violation; it can create real problems when you sell the home or file an insurance claim, because unpermitted work may not be covered and can affect your ability to close a sale.
For homes in Placerville’s historic district, there’s an additional layer to be aware of. The city’s Zoning Ordinance and the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Rehabilitation apply to properties in that area, which means renovation and repair work — including plumbing that affects the structure — needs to be consistent with those standards. A contractor who doesn’t know the local regulatory environment can create compliance headaches that are expensive to unwind. We’re familiar with Placerville’s permitting process, so the paperwork gets handled correctly from the start, not after the fact.
Hard water is a chronic issue in El Dorado County, including Placerville, because the local water sources carry elevated mineral content — primarily calcium and magnesium. Those minerals don’t cause immediate, visible damage, but they accumulate steadily inside pipes, water heaters, and fixtures over months and years. Inside a water heater, sediment builds up at the bottom of the tank, forcing the unit to work harder to heat the same amount of water. That cuts efficiency, raises your energy bill, and shortens the lifespan of the heater — sometimes significantly.
Inside pipes, mineral scale narrows the interior diameter over time, gradually reducing water pressure in a way that’s easy to attribute to other causes. On fixtures and appliances, hard water leaves deposits that are cosmetic at first but eventually affect function. If you’re noticing white buildup around faucets, reduced pressure across multiple fixtures, or a water heater that’s running constantly but not delivering the hot water it used to, hard water is a likely contributor. We offer water softening systems and filtration services that address the root cause by treating the water before it enters your plumbing.
You can verify any contractor’s license directly through the California State License Board at cslb.ca.gov. The CSLB’s online license check is free, takes about 30 seconds, and shows you the contractor’s license classification, expiration date, and whether any disciplinary actions have been filed. For plumbing work in California, the required license is a C-36 Plumbing Contractor License — that’s the classification that confirms the contractor has met the state’s experience, examination, and background check requirements.
This matters in Placerville for a practical reason: the market includes a mix of licensed contractors, regional franchises, and unlicensed handymen who compete for the same jobs. Unlicensed plumbing work isn’t just a legal issue — if something goes wrong and the work wasn’t done by a licensed contractor, your homeowner’s insurance may not cover the resulting damage. That’s a significant exposure on a home worth $500,000 or more. Murray Plumbing holds a valid CSLB C-36 license, carries full insurance, and is transparent about both. If you want to verify before you call, the CSLB website is the right place to start — and any legitimate plumbing repair contractor in El Dorado County should welcome that check without hesitation.
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