Gustafson Plumbers, Inc.

Gustafson Plumbers, Inc. is a Worcester plumbing and drain-cleaning company at 1035 Millbury St, best known for the heavy end of the trade: sewer and water-line replacement, drain jetting and vacuum-truck work that smaller outfits sub out. Its master plumber licence (11543-PL-M) is verified active with the Massachusetts registry under holder Bruce Gustafson, the owner named on both the company's own site and its BBB file. The company describes itself as fifth-generation and established in 1896, with a drain division trading as Rottex Sewer & Drain Cleaning; the BBB file records the corporation as started and incorporated in 1972. Either way the depth is real: 63 permitted projects show up in BuildZoom's permit record, and municipal drain-layer registers in Worcester, Shrewsbury and Auburn list the company. Google reviewers, 4.6 stars across 32 ratings, come back repeatedly to big underground jobs — a 12-foot-deep broken wastewater and groundwater pipe run out into the street cleared with a vacuum truck and water jet rather than an excavator (2024), a water line replaced from the street to a reviewer's mother's home (2026), a sewer-line repair scheduled quickly and explained step by step (2025). Named crew recur across years — Derek, Drew, Ben Lombardi, Shayna, Chris — and several reviewers describe emergency and same-day call-outs, including one on a Sunday. On r/WorcesterMA in April 2026 a resident called Gustafson their favourite plumber, writing that the company is 'fair and honest' and once saved them $2k by clearing a clogged pipe another company wanted to replace outright. What to ask about before booking is money and paperwork, not workmanship. A 2025 reviewer who accepted a detailed quote for a water-line replacement reported a final bill $2,350 (61%) above it; a 2026 reviewer said a pump problem took three visits and that every follow-up visit to fix the earlier misdiagnoses was billed, and described the office response as defensive; another 2025 reviewer said a promised quote never arrived. Getting the quote, the change-order terms and who pays for repeat visits in writing is the sensible precaution. Directory licence data on this row is unreliable and should not be read as a credential: BuildZoom prints an unverified Massachusetts "Plumbing Business" licence #2603 as Active while the same page says no active licence is on file. The registry-verified master plumber licence above is the one to rely on.