Does Sheltons Construction do commercial plumbing or only residential?

Both. Sheltons Construction is a licensed Oregon plumbing contractor doing residential and light-commercial work across the Portland metro — restaurants, offices, retail and medical spaces, along with houses. It's repair and maintenance work, not new large-scale commercial construction.

Can you work around our business hours?

Yes. Most commercial visits are scheduled before opening, after close, or during a slow window so the plumbing work doesn't interrupt customers or patients. Emergencies — active leaks, no hot water, a backed-up restroom — get handled as soon as possible regardless of the hour.

Do you handle grease trap and grease line issues?

Yes, through drain cleaning and hydro jetting for lines carrying grease. Repeated backups in an older restaurant space are often a sign the interceptor itself is undersized or overdue for service rather than just a clogged line, and that gets flagged during the visit.

Do commercial plumbing repairs need a permit?

It depends on the scope. Like-for-like fixture repair typically doesn't. Anything involving new plumbing runs, a remodel, a water heater replacement, or work tied to a tenant improvement usually does, and that gets pulled and scheduled with inspection in mind before work starts.

Do you set up ongoing service for multiple locations?

Yes. Property managers and multi-location businesses can set up a standing account so a call goes straight to scheduling rather than starting from a cold call each time.

Commercial Plumbing Portland, OR | Sheltons Construction

What counts as commercial plumbing here

Light-commercial plumbing covers the systems behind a business's doors: water heaters sized for a kitchen or a waiting room, floor and area drains, grease interceptors, backflow assemblies, mop sinks, restroom fixtures for public use, and the supply and drain lines tying it together. Sheltons Construction works this scope for restaurants, offices, retail storefronts and medical or dental suites around Portland — the same plumbing board license that covers residential work covers commercial repair and maintenance, not new high-rise construction.

Most calls are one of three things: something broke and the business needs it fixed before or around open hours, something is aging out (a water heater, old galvanized supply lines, a cast-iron drain) and needs replacing on a schedule, or a tenant improvement or remodel needs rough-in and fixture trim to pass inspection.

When does a business need to call

A restroom or floor drain backs up during service — see drain cleaning and hydro jetting for grease-related lines
No hot water in a kitchen, salon, or medical sterilization area — see water heater repair & installation
A slow leak behind a wall or under a slab is running up the water bill — see leak detection & pipe repair
Water pressure has dropped at a multi-fixture restroom or dish station — see water pressure problems
A tenant improvement needs new bathroom or break-room plumbing — see remodel plumbing, bathroom plumbing and kitchen plumbing
A sewer line under the building or parking lot is backing up repeatedly — see sewer camera inspection and sewer line repair & replacement
Pipes froze during a cold snap and a line split — see frozen & burst pipes
After hours, on a weekend, or right before opening — see emergency plumbing

If water is actively running where it shouldn't, shut off the fixture or the building main if you know where it is, and call. Everything else can usually wait for a scheduled visit.

How the visit goes

A commercial call starts with a phone conversation about what's happening and what hours work — most businesses don't want a plumber walking through a dining room at noon or a waiting room mid-appointment, so early morning, after close, or a slow window gets scheduled when it matters. On site, the plumber finds the problem, explains what's actually wrong in plain terms, and gives a price before starting repair work. Simple fixture and drain work is often done the same visit. Anything touching the building's sewer, gas line, or requiring a permit gets flagged up front, since permitted work means an inspection before it's signed off.

For ongoing accounts — property managers, restaurant groups, medical offices with more than one location — Sheltons can set up a standing relationship so a call goes straight to scheduling instead of starting from scratch each time.

What affects the cost

Access — a slab leak or a line run through a finished ceiling costs more to reach than an open crawlspace or basement
Age and material of the existing plumbing — older Portland buildings still running galvanized or cast iron cost more to tie into than newer copper or PEX
Whether it's after-hours or emergency work versus scheduled during the day
Permit and inspection requirements for anything beyond like-for-like repair
Fixture count and grade — a single restroom repair is a different job than a full kitchen or multi-stall restroom
Grease trap or interceptor condition, which affects how much of the backup is a symptom versus the real problem

No price is quoted sight unseen for anything beyond a simple fixture swap — the plumber looks at it first.

What's different about Portland's commercial buildings

A lot of Portland's commercial stock is old buildings put to new use — converted houses on inner-eastside commercial streets, early-1900s brick storefronts downtown and in Old Town, strip malls from the 1960s and '70s in Beaverton, Gresham and Hillsboro. That means a wide mix of pipe materials in the same building, sometimes literally spliced together over decades of tenant changes. Grease traps in older restaurant spaces are frequently undersized for current volume, which shows up as repeat drain calls rather than a single fix. And in newer build-outs across Tigard, Tualatin, Wilsonville and the suburbs, the plumbing is usually more standardized but still needs the same attention to backflow and fixture code compliance for public-use restrooms.

Portland's water is soft and low in mineral content, which is easy on fixtures and water heaters compared to harder-water cities, but the region's clay soils and heavy winter rain put real stress on exterior and under-slab lines — root intrusion and soil movement are common causes of recurring sewer backups in older commercial buildings, which is why a camera inspection often finds the real cause faster than repeated cleanings.

Why call Sheltons Construction

Sheltons Construction is a licensed Oregon plumbing and construction contractor working the Portland metro day to day, not a national chain dispatching whoever is closest. A business gets a plumber who explains what's wrong, quotes the repair plainly, and works around operating hours instead of shutting down a storefront mid-shift. The same crew handles the follow-up work — a repipe, a remodel rough-in, a new water heater — so there's one number to call instead of starting over with someone new each time.

What to do now

If something is actively leaking or a drain has backed up during business hours, call now — first-things-first is shutting off water where you can and getting someone on site. For a water heater replacement, a tenant improvement, or a maintenance relationship across multiple locations, request a quote and describe the space and the schedule you're working with. Questions about permits, scheduling or what a visit involves are answered on the FAQ page.

Sheltons Construction serves commercial and residential plumbing across Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Gresham, Tigard, Tualatin, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Oregon City, Milwaukie, Happy Valley, Clackamas, Wilsonville, Troutdale, Sherwood and Salem.

Commercial Plumbing Service & Repair in Portland, OR