[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome back to real estate and more show. Thank you for listening in. Leapfrog. What in the world is leapfrog and what does it have to do with one's home? Well, the answer to this could be it might have a whole bunch to do with your home. If it has to do with a sewer lateral, several Bay Area cities require an inspection and proof of the satisfactory condition of the sewer lateral prior to sale of a home. If it needs replacement, it is costly usually. What if the old clay pipe is cracked and oak tree roots have intruded and blocked the flow just before your new home is about to close escrow? What about high water usage? Today we have the opportunity to discuss these conditions with Mister Leapfrog plumbing himself, Mister Maurice Williams. Maurice is a good friend and an amazing man who has built his plumbing company into a community asset. We have a great time planned. Learning how certain plumbing conditions of a home sale might be solved along with the necessity of ensuring the home you live in, plumbing wise, is froggy. Good. Let's welcome this gentleman to the show. Welcome, Mister Maurice Williams.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you so much, Mike.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Did you grow up in the Bay Area, Maurice?
[00:01:24] Speaker B: I did, actually. I was born in Oakland and raised in Berkeley at the age of two until graduation from high school.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: Yes, I heard you're quite a gymnast back in the day. Is that true?
[00:01:38] Speaker B: Oh, gosh.
I was very much involved in gymnastics. And at Berkeley High School where I attended, I had a very good mentor, Don Allen, who had inspired me and had taken me to a certain level and provided a scholarship from several universities throughout the country. So, yeah, he was my inspiration at that point. And I did.
Yeah. And yeah, I was a social moron after that point. Gymnastics was my life during my high school and collegiate years. So, yeah.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: So do you ever have to use those skills when you work on plumbing systems at all?
[00:02:20] Speaker B: Well, I did. When you do crawl unders and you get under sinks and so on, in my younger years, yes, those skills did come in handy, particularly the flexibility part of it.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: I can imagine. Now, you've been a family owned business since 1993. What made you change from something as fun as gymnastics to something as fun as plumbing?
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Well, Mike, I've been involved in a number of different occupations and after I had graduated from college, I got involved with the city of Vancouver up in Canada. So I was going to grad school there at the time. And since gymnastics was my forte, I started a gymnastics club and we called the Bugs Burnaby Unified Gymnastics Society. So I did that for a number of years and I worked for the city of Vancouver as well as a parks and recreation director and incomes operations. And so I bounced around quite a bit and did that for maybe eight years or so.
And then when we moved back to California, we found that the type of occupation I had in Canada, they didn't really have those opportunities here.
So speaking with my older brother, he, who was a plumber, he inspired me and said, hey, listen, you should probably start a plumbing business. I'm going. Well, what's that? So he encouraged me, taught me, went through the whole spill. And yes, I got involved in that and loved it. I loved the hands on part of plumbing and just thoroughly enjoyed it. So, yeah, that was the beginning.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: Well, I see your trucks around the Bay area all the time. They're always brilliantly painted and they say leapfrog plumbing all over them and it has a big phone number. This is old style, really cool marketing, and I have to applaud you for that. How many of those trucks do you have now?
[00:04:19] Speaker B: Nine or, excuse me, eleven trucks and nine that are fully functional at this point. Yeah, sorry.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: To keep them all going, you mean?
[00:04:27] Speaker B: Oh, well, you know, it's really hard to find young men these days to get involved in the trades, you know, and, yeah, so we're still looking and we're still fishing right now.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: I understand a lot of the trades are having difficulty with that, finding workers that actually want to work and know how to do something.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely. Kids are pretty much involved in digital components and so on, so they get involved in that.
And when it comes to, like, home repairs or learning the hands on type skills, they have a very difficult time.
So as a result, it's really hard to find people that can get inspired to do those type of works.
[00:05:17] Speaker A: Well, you're an inspirational kind of guy, so I imagine you're going to have all of those trucks running here before we know it.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: Oh, I'm hoping so.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: In Oakland.
An Oakland is one of those cities that has sewer lateral inspection with satisfactory conditioning inspections to do. And your company does these, correct?
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Correct. We do. Actually, in the Oakland and Berkeley area, we do sub that out, but we work intricately with two other companies.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: The way it works, folks, is in these certain municipalities, that sewer lateral needs to be installed and come up with a certificate of satisfactory condition in order for the home to sell. And so in real estate, we run across that all the time and it's great to have a good guy like Maurice to help us out. We call him up and say, hey, we need this sewer lateral inspected at this address. And he gets out there with one of his nine trucks and gets it all done. And how is that done? How do they do this?
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Well, it's complicated to explain it, but it's. We normally use what we call the trenchless method, which is less intrusive to any type of landscaping or what have you. So what it does, it has a boom in the front, which is this giant, huge type of bullet type of item. And what it does, it breaks out the old pipe. Generally, it's clay, and at the same time, it's pulling new poly pipe right through, which is far more flexible. It has a 50 year warranty on it. And. Yeah, so we drill two potholes, one at the origin .1 at the termination point, pull it through, and there it goes. Generally, it takes about a full day with a crew of four to five.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Wow. We've seen a few of those actually happen. And generally speaking, when you do an inspection, don't you run a camera through that?
[00:07:19] Speaker B: We do the, what we call the local authority, and in Contra Costa county, it would be the Contra Costa county sanitation District. They'll come in and do a pre inspection, ensure that the grade is proper before they will even allow us to do a trenchless application. So, yeah, they'll do the inspection, we'll do the camera, they'll give us the go, and then we're on our way.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: Wow. It's happened a few times when we've been ready to get on with our sale, that the inspection comes back and the sewer lateral is broken. It gets a little crack in the old clay pipe or wherever, and then roots intrude into the actual pipe, and now you have a blockage. And that not only needs to be cleared, but it needs to result in as well, too.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Yeah, we've clay pipe, as you probably know, in older homes, that was the application they used for sewers. Sewer laterals. It would be either clay.
There was this other. During the World War Two, they had this composite type of pipe that was almost like. How can you put it?
It's like an adobe type of piping that they used because they didn't want to use the metals, because the metals was used primarily for the war. So, yeah, that was an application. We find that clay pipes, they're very rigid, so if there's any earth movement, whatever it does cause cracks and intrusion of roots and so on, and it can really, really cause havoc, that could.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Be a real problem for us, because here we are with 400 shakers a year in the glorious state of California. I mean, things move around. They certainly do foundations and labs and this kind of things, and also those clay pipes. So it's great to know that the trenchless method is used wherever municipalities will allow you to and go from there. How long is a sewer lateral line? And that's the connection line, right?
[00:09:19] Speaker B: Right. The sewer lateral can vary depending on the size of the home and the distance between where the municipality has their main line and the. What we call the service entry of the home. So it can range anywhere from 25ft to 300ft.
[00:09:35] Speaker A: You know. Wow. So I see. And now you would think with all of the money that we spend on our sewer bills that the municipality would take care of the sewer laterals bill? Oh, no.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: I mean, some people would like to see that happen, but no, they're notorious for just having the homeowner to be totally responsible for. They own that line.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.
[00:10:06] Speaker C: Welcome to the real estate minute with re Max expert Michael Hatfield. Michael, what traits should we look for in selecting an agent?
[00:10:13] Speaker D: Look for a deal maker with a positive attitude who will work tirelessly for you. An agent who is adept in multiple offer situations, drafting contracts, marketing and advertising. A client's home is familiar with multiple cultures, experienced in mortgage financing, inspections and escrow is a huge asset to his client.
[00:10:33] Speaker C: What can you do as a plus for clients?
[00:10:35] Speaker D: Your agent is your eyes in your ears, one who works behind the scenes on your behalf. A great attitude, working well with others and keeping clients priorities. Number one is a given for us.
[00:10:46] Speaker C: Call 925-32-2775 now to schedule an appointment or complimentary home analysis. For excellence in real estate, call the Michael Hatfield remax team at 925-32-2775 or go to michaelhatfieldhomes.com dot.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: Now back to our show.
[00:11:07] Speaker B: And they can dictate, the municipality can dictate what you can and can't do, but the homeowner owns that line, is responsible for the function of that line, for its repair?
[00:11:18] Speaker A: Absolutely. And it connects to the sewer main. And where is the main normally located? In most people's homes, the main, if.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: You'Re speaking of the municipality, theirs is running right down the middle of the street. Yes. Okay. In most cases.
And the depths can be. I mean, we had one that was 24ft down.
You know, we had to put a lot of shoring and so on. And even they go down in a hole that deep. But, yeah, it varies considerably. I've seen them 4ft deep up to, as I said, 24ft deep. So it all depends.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: And, of course, the line is angled from the home normally to the main so that gravity helps it move.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it has to have the proper grade.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: Absolutely. Ladies and gentlemen, we're having a really nice time today with Mister Maurice Williams. He's the head frog guy of leapfrog plumbing, and he's done so for a long time. He's a great friend, and we're very fortunate to have him here today. What do you normally do with water conserving fixtures?
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Well, water conserving fixtures, as you may be aware, in California particularly, they're very, very. I've been ensuring that toilets, for instance, toilets are 1.28 gallons per flush. Now, before, it used to be three to five gallons, but that is the requirement that California has imposed, which is a real positive thing. And they're far more efficient. A lot of people say, well, I want to keep my old five gallon toilet, but they don't understand that that toilet may not have, even though it has the capacity of water, it may not have the function that's required in order to evacuate the waste and so on.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: That's when the law came in. I guess it was like 2017. And that's when they start saying, okay, before you can sell your home, the homeowner has to attest that either the fixtures are water conserving or they're not.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: That they have to have that.
Not only the toilets, but as you mentioned, the fixtures. The faucets have to have a maximum gpm or gallons per minute extrusion the sea. There'll be toilets and faucets and. Yeah, shower fixtures, too. I mean, it was stated earlier in the, I guess the early two thousands, that they had these water conservative shower heads that would only admit two gallons per minute, as I recall. But what that did is they caused a problem, particularly with women with long hair and with, you know, with soap in their hair. They were staying in the water, excuse me, staying in the shower much longer than they, they needed to.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: Well, they still do, but now they've.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: Upped the capacity and they're far more efficient at admitting that four gallons, excuse me, three gallons per minute. And, and it works well now. So they pretty well balanced it out, realizing that water conservation is not just dependent on, on the gpms, but depends on how long the people were staying in the showers, too. So they took a lot of that into consideration.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: You know, a good friend of mine told me one time, he says, as we gain vintage, our ladies take longer in the bathroom. And I said, I can blame water conserving fixtures I think for that, can I not?
[00:14:43] Speaker B: You absolutely can for sure. And that's a fact.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: I notice leapfrog has 24 hours service who answer. Now, if we call at 02:00 in the morning, are we going to get Maurice Williams?
[00:14:56] Speaker B: Absolutely not.
If you call at 02:00 in the morning, you will get a recording and we will, depending on the nature of the emergency, we'll either try to dispatch a person within a couple hours or we'll wait till the next morning and then get someone out and to contact the individual making the emergency call.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: So if we as a real estate team sell a, like an apartment building, now, do you actually do sewer laterals on those? And you do inspections on a building like that for plumbing?
[00:15:32] Speaker B: In some cases, yeah, it depends on, I mean, if it's like the keys, for instance, which is a huge apartment complex in Walnut Creek.
In most cases we stay away from those. Either that or we'll hook up with a different, another plumbing company because the, the nature of that is just so involved that we as a small company cannot handle that type of situation. So yeah, we'll partner up with different companies in order to take care of the problem that they need to have taken care of.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: You know, one day my dad said to me, he says, son, in some countries they tell how wealthy you are by the number of dogs that you have to keep around you and keep you warm. I think here in the Bay area, by the number of trucks that you have in your company is going to determine how large of a business you are. The nine trucks. You're not all that small, Mister Williams.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: Well, I kind of consider myself small. I like to have that mentality of being a small, you know, single homeowner owner, you know. So yeah, when I say large, I'm thinking of companies such as Roto Rooter, you know, where they have umpteen number of trucks and different municipalities and it's a franchise. We're just family owned and we're just like homegrown.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: I hear you. Well, you know, just this morning we took a walk through of a home that we just put into contract and the lady said, she says, you know, we really appreciate the fact that you always have our back in these deals and you've done it.
You know, if we're not there, we know that you're watching out for us. And I would say that in a business such as yours, a family owned business since 1993, you have all of these five star reviews for your company. I think it's much the same with you. I would much rather hire you to do my job than to have a big national company come in and do it. But you're not that small, Maurice. And I think that you've resources behind you to where you can get the job done and do a great job. And I know for one, I trust you, so.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: Okay, well, I really appreciate that. I do sense that we're small, but we think big, and we try to act big in order to take care of problems that may arise with various customers and so on. But we, you know, it's really different way we think, too. I found that over the years and having this company, we've developed friendships with many of our customers. And it's not just a contractual type of agreement that we work with, but I look forward to meeting them and seeing them and working with them and the sincerity of wanting to help them. That's what's really key. And I think that's why we've had a fair amount of success.
[00:18:27] Speaker A: So I would say you do great. Now let's talk about real estate. Somebody wants to sell their home. Now, it's important before you actually get to the home inspection, because those fellas don't really do the plumbing inspections the way your company would. It could be useful to have you come through, do an inspection of the plumbing ahead of time before we bring in a home inspector that says, oh, well, that looks like it's an older pipe kind of a thing. But would it not be an advantage to a homeowner if they're looking to sell their home to bring you in?
[00:19:05] Speaker B: I think, and I'm not downplaying any of these home inspection companies, but oftentimes you'll find that the individuals they send out are not licensed or really not that skilled. This is what we found. And, I mean, there may be some out there that are, but usually you want to get a real certified plumber to research and investigate to see if there are any leaks or if there's any problems with their fixtures, their plumbing fixtures throughout the house. And I think that's important. And the cost savings in the long run would be to their advantage, the customer's advantage.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: I would most certainly think so. Recently, we sold a home in Hayward, and during the process of selling the home, another agent accessed the home to show to her clients. We were the listing side, and she brought through her clients. They used the toilet, and the toilet flapper continued in the up position, and the water ran and ran and ran and ran. And subsequently, she ended up with a $1000 bill for that, which I think was mitigated because of the circumstances. But, you know, you have to plead your case to the municipality in order to get some kind of credit for it. But it would have been totally avoided if there would have been an inspection of the property and really took a look at those toilets because, you know, toilet are hanging open and just putting water and water and water into the sewage system is just not a real great way to go.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: We see that often where the chain on the flapper gets hung up and it continually allows the water to flow from the tank to the bowl. And oftentimes if there's a blockage, I mean, I've seen many, many times cases where flapper was defective, the water kept running, there was a blockage, the water spills onto the floor, particularly if there's a wooden floor, and then the homeowner is left with this warped wooden floor. So subsequently they end up with a, you know, thousands of dollars worth of damage that they need to deal with. So it's important to have an inspection done on a regular basis, regardless of a sale or not. So, yeah, you want to make sure that your, your plumbing fixtures are working properly.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: Yeah. You definitely want to take care of it before you actually develop a big problem and waste a bunch of water or cause a lot of headaches. And, you know, when we get into a deal to sell a home, we represent the buyer or the seller. We want things to go smooth as possible. So I'm going to keep this in mind. To have you come into an inspection, it can't cost that much to, I don't think, to come in and to take a look at all of the plumbing and give us some kind of an idea if anything needs to be upgraded or whatever. You know, another question is some people try to repair their own plumbing. What do you think about that?
[00:21:57] Speaker B: Well, I think that.
I think that's a good thing. If people are aware that they have a problem, they have to understand what their limits are as far as being skilled in dealing with that problem.
If you recognize that some things may be over your head, I would suggest that they call a plumber to come in and do the inspection. And oftentimes there's no cost in doing that. We can give them an idea of what the extent of their problem is and the cost that would be involved, and then they can make the decision.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: I can see you're into relationship building.
[00:22:30] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. That's what it's about. Yeah.
[00:22:33] Speaker A: You know, you might come in and you might do something nice for a homeowner, and when they do have a problem. They say, well you know, I'm comfortable with Mister Williams and I want to call the hed frog which is always a really great name because you never forget it. Leapfrog plumbing, you just never forget that name. But they'll call you then when they need service and you know that might be at the time that you can best help them and do good.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Right? You're absolutely right there. Now let's go ahead.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: Go ahead. I'm sorry sir.
[00:22:58] Speaker B: No, we try to establish that type of relationship with our customers too oftentimes, you know, we'll walk away with not even having a contract and that's not what's important. What's important is that they'll remember us and if something does arise in the future that we'll be available to help them. And yeah, I don't know if you call that intentional marketing, but it happens.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: It does. Yeah. A couple of other questions. Do you install the earthquake shut off valves on the gas lines?
[00:23:25] Speaker B: We do.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: So you do that, which is requirement for sale in a lot of different homes nowadays.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: Absolutely. That is a requirement in a lot of different municipalities too. We're also vendors for PG and E and we have been for the last twelve years or so. So we're very familiar with gas as well as water and sewer and so on. And it is a requirement on every job that we do for PG and E directly having to do with their meter and their gas line. We will install as required a seismic valve.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: I see. Now what about water heaters? I know as part of the sale requirements, all water heaters, if they're standard tank water heaters, have to be strapped for issues that might happen with an earthquake, right?
[00:24:07] Speaker B: Yeah, and that's pretty standard. I think a lot of people may not be aware of the fact that in California, I mean let's back up a little bit. Water heaters are probably the most neglected plumbing appliance in any given home. People take hot water for granted.
So when and it doesn't, they don't want to remediate a problem until it's obvious that there is a problem. So if there's leakage or whatever then they jump on it. But water heaters, and we put out advertisements to our customers that water heaters are just like changing oil in a car. It has to be flush regularly every three years. You should have your water heater inspected to ensure that it's not building up calcium and particulates inside because they do deteriorate from inside out and you don't know it until a leak occurs, you know.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: So one last question. Are you finding a lot of people going to the tankless water heater?
[00:25:02] Speaker B: We do. I think in the last 15 years in the plumbing industry that that is probably the most exciting thing that's happened.
We find that tankless water heaters are far more efficient. They have like incredible warranty as 15 years compared to a standard water heater, which is generally six years. And then. Yeah. And that gives you not instant hot water, but endless hot water. They do have internal pumps which will hasten the delivery of hot water to any given plumbing appliance. They're just wonderful. But when you consider the warranty, you consider the efficiency. In the long run, it does pay.
[00:25:41] Speaker A: All good information this morning I would like to thank you for taking the time to come on the show to enlighten our listeners and as to how plumbing gets into the home sale and the importance of dealing with it. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you've enjoyed our show leapfrog and your plumbing. They hop to it for you. Should you have any plumbing issue, you can contact us at 925-32-2775 we'll connect you with leapfrog Plumbing. Thanks for being on the show, Mister Williams.
[00:26:11] Speaker B: It's been a pleasure. It's good seeing you.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: You bet. Same here.
You've been listening to a real estate and more show. I'm your host, Michael Hatfield. Important topics like Bay Area real estate and interesting people like the hed frog himself this morning, listen to archive real estate and more
[email protected] radio or you can listen on the podcast. Our show, the real estate and more show is on most major directories. I'm Michael Hatfield. I hope you'll tune in next week and in the meantime, have a blessed week.
[00:26:45] Speaker E: The views and opinions expressed are based on current economic and market conditions and are subject to change. Information on the show provided for illustrator purposes only and does not constitute professional or legal advice. Information from sources deemed reliable, but accuracy and completeness not guaranteed. Michael Hatfield and the Michael Hatfield Remax team have no liability for information discussed on the show. Consult with qualified professionals prior to taking action.
[00:27:14] Speaker F: We at the Michael Hatfield re Max team enjoy representing our valued clients. If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling and wishes to schedule a complimentary appointment with the Michael Hatfield remax team, call us at 925-32-2775 that's 925-32-2775 or go to our website michael hatfieldhomes.com dot.
[00:27:38] Speaker A: I'm Michael Hatfield. Thank you for listening today. Join us next Saturday for the next.
[00:27:43] Speaker D: Real estate and more when we again.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: Sharpen our focus on how's the market.
[00:27:48] Speaker F: Join us next Saturday and have a wonderful week. Best wishes and blessings to you.
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