We just bought a new house, and I had a problem with a sulfur smell in my hot water on one side of the house. Craftsman was the first company that I called and I found them through an online home repair referral company. My house is kind of confusing because the house was built in stages over many years, so there are some redundant systems, i.e. we have more than 1 water heater. Their first suggestion was to replace one of my water heaters that they said was old (they said it was over 8 years old), which would cost $1800. Then when I asked if we could just replace a heating rod, they said it would cost $800 and may not even fix the problem, so I was better off replacing the whole water heater. This estimate seemed suspicious to me, so I called around for 2 other opinions. I ended up using We Care plumbing. They were incredibly professional and honest. They ended up finding a small water heater in an attic space in which the heating element/anode rode needed to be replaced. On the initial visit they did not know exactly what the answer was, and they let me know, so they did not BS me. The plumber asked some questions of his colleagues, came back and fixed the problem. It only cost me approximately $270 dollars to replace the element and clean out the attic water heater. The smell is gone and everything seems normal with my water.
However the last thing that I cannot ignore is that the technician who came to my house was either dishonest and/or lacked effort (because they did not carefully look at the water heater they wanted to replace). The water heater that Craftsmen wanted to replace for $1800 as a first option, the one that they said was 8 years old, had a 2013 manufacture date written on the outside.
As a caveat, some of the reviews mention "Dan", who may be the owner. He may know what he is doing and/or is a reasonable and a honest person, but the technician/plumber who came out and represented his company was less than par. read more
