To my readers, if you ever think about buying a home, re-think that thought now. I swear, I have at least one major, annual plumbing issue and the costs have been steadily adding up.. so much so, I'm convinced my non-existent kid is going to trade school instead of college. Plus, I'm super frugal and love DIY options. Unfortunately, I have the skillset of a Neanderthal - would you trust one with a wrench, pipe cutter and a jab saw? I didn't think so, so my shoddy attempt at repairing a broken water valve wasn't going so well. To be fair though, the previous owners did a worst job than I did with DIY, and had a non-standard size pipe that left my Home Depot associates puzzled and stating they had no parts, and that my best bet would be a plumber (Thanks guys. Why else do you think I'd be lugging my lazy ass here?)
But hey, that means I'm like, a near expert in reviewing plumbers at this rate. Therefore, you can rely on my experience and judge for yourself. Mike, the owner, was one of the few plumbers that was able to reply promptly during the timely July 4th long weekend. I've probably sent out about 50 requests, between plumbing companies and handy-mans, and less than a handful was able to reply and schedule me in within the following few days (minus the outrageous $300/hr emergency plumbers - NEVER go with those options unless your main water valve literally breaks and you're with no option). Mike was the only one that we called who offered a flat rate, no matter the length it took or the materials. That was the first appeal - $175 flat rate, which depending on the job, could net you more or less than another plumber. However, I much appreciated the transparency, because it at least allows you to figure out which direction to go. My job wasn't standard, so I figured this would be the best path, and we scheduled him to come out the next day early in the morn.
The next morning came, and Mike arrived on the dot. Took a peek in, reaffirmed my diagnostic of the patient, and told me upfront he wouldn't have the time to do it. Well. I'll be honest, my frustration was at a near limit at that point - I had been 100% transparent with the problem, so how could he not have timed this service better? This was the one point in our whole interaction that dropped him from a five-star to a four. I had another plumbing company that was supposed to come in at a later date, but cancelled this appointment after speaking with Mike due to the flat rate and earlier appointment. I wish he had told me in advance that depending on the complexity, he may not have time to fix it. However, he didn't charge me anything for the visit, which I appreciated, and basically consulted me on what needed to happen based on what he saw - AKA, the worst case scenario of cutting the wall open and replacing the entire pipe (nipple actually was the name, teehee). That helped set me up on preparing the extraction spot (oh the fun times I had with that jab saw) and purchasing the tools at a local plumbing supply shop for the next plumber, who was able to complete it in less than half an hour (and charged me a hefty $100 cash just to unscrew the old pipe and rescrew the new one, which in hindsight was cheap for the peace of mind).
Overall, I had a fairly positive experience. I really liked the price transparency, although the availability transparency could be better. However, considering it was July 4th long weekend, and he was one of the few plumbers available to even personally return my message (showing just how busy everyone was), it wasn't the a big enough issue for me to not contact Mike again in the future if I have another plumbing issue (probably 2018 at this rate). He was also knowledgeable and was able to point me in the right direction, so you wouldn't go wrong calling Mike for your plumbing issues. Good luck to your home repairs all! read more
