Pipe cover stuck

[MichMich]

So plumber was able to find the obstacle in the laundry drain pipe. It's an old pipe cap. Somebody messed up put one too small and it dropped into the pipe. It's 1 foot deep into fundation. Paid $500 for them to try to take it out. They've tried vacuum it out. Then tried to melt it... No avail. Told me that need them to chip away some concrete fundation outside to get to that pipe piece then cut it out. Replace with new. $1100.
Any tips how to do it? My friend wants to weld a screw to a rod. Self tapped one. Then use drill with said rod and drill into that stuck cap. See pics, perhaps y'all have other ideas?

 

[havasu]

Holy crap!

 

[MichMich]

Holy crap!

That bad?

 

[havasu]

I've seen beer cans, insulation, and other crap. I'd be fishing that out with a rare earth magnet. It may take awhile, but it may work, provided the cap is metal.

 

[MichMich]

It was plastic cap.
We've created a "tool" to pull it out. Rod with welded screw. Issue resolved. Saved $1000 quoted by plumbers.

 

[havasu]

Great job with ingenuity!

 

[Terry61]

Would love to have been a fly on the wall when the idiot dropped the cap down the pipe. Great job getting it out (but you already know that .

 

[MichMich]

Would love to have been a fly on the wall when the idiot dropped the cap down the pipe. Great job getting it out (but you already know that .

Local plumbing company installed the outside drain with 2" cap. This one is 1 1/2" and I bet they've dropped it. Very bad craftsmanship.

 

[packardv8]

Local plumbing company installed the outside drain with 2" cap. This one is 1 1/2" and I bet they've dropped it. Very bad craftsmanship.

Or just sloppy restocking in the truck/van. They could have had leftovers from the last install, just tossed them into be back and the smaller plug rattled inside the larger. Just throwing sticks together, they might never have even noticed it was there. Of course, no flow test after the install was complete, or if they did one and noticed the slow flow, "Ohshit; give 'em the bill and run!"

jack vines