A burst supply pipe spraying water across a laundry room floor

Independent review

Updated 25 September 2026 · 16 sources · not paid by Roto-Rooter

Roto-Rooter in Florida: what it costs, what the record shows, and when to call someone else

A fair look at the biggest name in emergency plumbing, written for the moment water is on the floor and you are deciding who to call.

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Call Roto-Rooter if

Water is running now, at night or on a weekend.
You want one company to stop the leak and dry the floor.
You want a written flat price before anyone starts.

Compare first if

The job can wait a day or two.
You were told to dig, repipe, open a slab or replace a sewer line.
The quote feels high. A second licensed plumber costs you one phone call.

Compare with a licensed local company

Pick your area and see three local plumbers next to Roto-Rooter. None of them pay us to be here.

Your area

Our verdict. Roto-Rooter is a sensible first call for an after-hours leak. Most locations quote a flat price in writing before work starts and say they add no night or weekend surcharge. It is rarely the cheapest, and its public review scores are low, mostly over upselling and bills. For anything that is not an emergency, and for any recommendation to dig, repipe or open a slab, get a second written quote from a licensed local plumber.

At a glance

24/7No night surcharge in most markets

WrittenFlat price before work, most locations

$140 to $600Drain cleaning, by source

782BBB complaints in 3 years

Where it is strong

Open 24/7, and its own site says the standard rate applies nights, weekends and holidays in most markets.
A free, written, flat-rate estimate before work in most locations, with nothing owed if you decline.
Plumbing, leak detection and water extraction from one company, so one call can cover a burst pipe and the wet floor.
The Florida offices we traced (Tampa, Miami) are company-owned, hold state plumbing licences and have been BBB accredited for years.

Where to be careful

Reported prices sit at or above typical plumber rates, and the three main cost guides disagree by about 2x.
Low public review averages: 1.5 of 5 on ConsumerAffairs and 1.81 of 5 on its main BBB profile.
The guarantee is described on its site but we found no written length or exclusions.
Some cities are served by franchises, and the website does not tell you which kind of location you are calling.

How we reviewed Roto-Rooter: research only, nobody here has hired them, 16 public sources. Read the method

We have not hired Roto-Rooter, and nobody at BestHonestPro has. This review is research: its own website and pricing page, its parent company's annual report, Better Business Bureau files for the corporate profile and two Florida offices, three consumer review sites, three published cost guides and the public court record. We read patterns across complaints rather than quoting single angry customers, and we left out anything we could not trace to a source.

We have not called Roto-Rooter for a test quote yet. When we do, what we asked and what they said will be added here with the date.

Last checked 25 September 2026. Roto-Rooter is not affiliated with BestHonestPro, has not paid us, and did not see this page before it went up. Roto-Rooter is a trademark of its owner and is used here only to name the company.

What Roto-Rooter is

Roto-Rooter is owned by Chemed Corporation, a public company, and brought in $899.9 million in revenue in 2025. It works through a mix of company-owned branches and independent franchises, and the company's own counts do not match: Chemed describes 120 company-owned branches and contractors plus 345 franchisees, while rotorooter.com says more than 100 company-owned territories and about 400 franchises.

For you this matters because the name on the van does not tell you who owns the business. Pricing, hours and the guarantee may vary by location, in Roto-Rooter's own words. Ask on the phone.

Source: Chemed Q4 2025 results; Chemed, About us; Roto-Rooter, About us.

What Roto-Rooter charges

Roto-Rooter does not publish a price list. These are the figures published by the three main cost guides. Where they disagree we show every source.

Drain cleaning: what three cost guides report

Angi, 2026

$140 to $340

Forbes Home, 2025

$325 to $450

HomeGuide, 2025

$350 to $600

Drain cleaning	$140 to $340 (Angi, July 2026); $325 to $450 (Forbes Home, Feb 2025); $350 to $600 (HomeGuide, Dec 2025)
Leak repair	$250 to $850 (Angi)
Sewer camera inspection	$295 to $350 (HomeGuide)
Emergency or large jobs	About $1,000 (Angi); $1,000 to $3,500 (HomeGuide, Forbes Home)
Water cleanup	$500 to $6,000, up to $10,000 for floods (Angi)

Source: Angi, average Roto-Rooter prices (updated 8 July 2026); HomeGuide, Roto-Rooter prices (19 Dec 2025); Forbes Home, Roto-Rooter cost guide (10 Feb 2025).

How the quote works. Roto-Rooter says most locations send a technician at no charge, give a free written flat-rate estimate before any work, charge no trip fee in most markets, and charge nothing if you decline. That is a real advantage at 2am, as long as you get the number in writing before anyone starts.

Source: Roto-Rooter, how much does Roto-Rooter cost.

We found no reputable published figure for leak detection alone. For what independent leak detection costs, see our leak detection cost guide.

Roto-Rooter in Florida

Rotorooter.com lists more than 200 Florida cities, including Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Pensacola, but does not label which are company-owned. The Tampa and Miami offices are registered to Roto Rooter Services Company on their BBB files, which means company-owned. The Orlando and Jacksonville pages show the same plumbing licence number as Tampa. We have not yet checked these licence numbers with the Florida DBPR, so treat them as shown, not verified.

Source: Roto-Rooter Florida locations; BBB profiles for Roto-Rooter Tampa and Miami.

The complaint record, read fairly

Two numbers tell different stories, and both are true. The BBB grades Roto-Rooter A+ and it is accredited. That grade mostly reflects how complaints get answered. The same BBB file shows 782 complaints in three years (607 about service or repair, 146 about billing) and an average of 1.81 of 5 across 418 customer reviews.

BBB grade	A+, accredited
BBB complaints, 3 years	782
BBB customer review average	1.81 of 5 (418 reviews)
ConsumerAffairs average	1.5 of 5 (1,258 reviews)
Trustpilot average	1.8 of 5 (216 reviews)

Source: BBB, Roto-Rooter (Cincinnati) complaints and customer reviews; ConsumerAffairs; Trustpilot. Checked 25 Sep 2026.

Review sites draw unhappy customers more than happy ones, so every brand this size scores low there. The pattern is still useful. The repeated complaints are about price and upselling, especially sewer or excavation work recommended after a camera inspection, final bills that differ from the quote, and callbacks. The repeated praise is about fast arrival in an emergency and individual technicians.

In court.

2012
A Minnesota lawsuit alleging unnecessary excavation driven by sales quotas is dismissed by agreement. The allegations were never proven.
2014
A New York technician wage class action settles for $14.2 million (final approval).
2012 to 2021
Smaller technician wage settlements in California.
2026
No Florida Attorney General action found as of this review.

Source: Getman Sweeney, Morangelli v. Roto-Rooter; US District Court for Minnesota, Mills v. Roto-Rooter Services, order of 23 May 2012.

Who it suits, and who should compare

A good fit: water running at night or on a weekend, when you need one company that can stop the leak and extract the water, and you want a written price before anything starts.

Get a second quote: any non-urgent job, and any recommendation for sewer replacement, excavation, slab work or repiping. Those are the jobs where the complaints cluster and where a second licensed plumber costs you one phone call. See what repiping costs and slab leaks.

What to ask before you say yes

Ask these on the phone, in this order, and ask the same questions of whoever you compare them with. The spread in the answers tells you more than the spread in the prices.

Is this location company-owned or a franchise?
Is there a trip fee, a diagnostic fee or an after-hours charge tonight?
Will I get a written flat price before any work starts, and what do I owe if I say no?
What is your Florida plumbing licence number (it starts with CFC)? Check it free on the DBPR site.
How long is the guarantee, what does it cover, and can I have it in writing?
If you recommend digging or replacing a line, can I see the camera footage first?
For water on the floor: do you bill my insurer directly, and will I get a daily drying and equipment log?

Local alternatives in Florida

We list local plumbers and leak specialists for eight Florida metros, each checked against the state licence register where a number was available. Call one of them alongside Roto-Rooter and ask both the same questions.

No company pays to be listed on those pages or to rank higher. Each listing links to its own licence check and sources.

Right of reply

Roto-Rooter, or the owner of any Roto-Rooter location, can correct a fact on this page. Email [email protected] with the fact and a source. We check it and publish the correction here with its date.

Where this comes from

Every figure above is published by the organisation named beside it. Nothing on this page is our own estimate, and where sources disagree we show both.

Show all 16 sources