I called Kato Plumbing and spoke to Karma about a drainage problem at my house. He made an appointment to see me that day. He didn't show up, didn't call to explain, and didn't reply to my voicemail message. Big waste of time and I won't deal with them again. read more

Sonam and his son and the crew, they are the best, hands down. They were super-fast, started my sewer lateral work and finished on the same day, and got certificate on the same day! You simply cannot ask for anything better! Their price is good too! I am 100% happy with their outstanding service. read more

My wife and I have owned our 1912 Berkeley craftsman home for over 30 years and we're like a lot of homeowners with a great many plumber horror stories. But this story is about a real honest gem, Kate Plumbing. After a recent bad experience on an ejection sewer sump pump from a Concord chain we used before, we were referred to Kato Plumbing for a "this old house" mystery water leakage problem. Our friends had a great experience with them on a large bathroom remodel. A man by the name of Karma called me back right away and said he was in the area. He looked at the large water buildup, and started asking questions about the various plumbing and landscaping irrigation projects in our past. He then went to our water meter and together we started turning on and off water around the house. Very methodically he traced the problem to a drip irrigation system a contractor had installed which was leaking underground. Voila! Karma also spotted several things the Concord plumbing chain did wrong and suggested we contact them right away to fix it right - since the job was still recent. Karma didn't charge us a penny for all this but just asked to keep Kato in mind for the future. Will do! And Kato Plumbing has earned a customer for life. read more

Sonum and his son are top professionals yet affordable. I highly recommend them. They replaced our main sewer line with flex pvc and power flush toliets for a commercial building. read more

Highly recommend. They replaced out old water heater with a new tankless on the exterior of our house and did an excellent job. Fast, friendly, competitively priced, expert, and all around great to work with! read more

Kato Plumbing - New exterior tankless heater installed by kato plumbing - Plumbing Near Me - Albany, California

Very polite and professional staff, I had to hassle of taking permit and with the compliance certificate they did all work and helped me a lot in understanding all the procedures as well Karma is very punctual and smart read more

We had to replace our sewer lateral after moving to Oakland and it was a huge headache. After getting quotes from a bunch of plumbers, we decided to go with Karma because he was very fair and honest. There was some concern initially because we saw 1-2 negative reviews on Yelp about a forgotten balloon but decided to take the plunge anyway. Figured we'd trust our own judgement - Karma was very knowledgeable, offered the best price, fastest timeline (we spoke on Friday and he said he can start the following Monday), and we really wanted to support local family-owned business :) Fast forward to the end of the project, we are very pleased with the outcome. We have a very complicated sewer line that's over 120 ft with many weird turns. Karma and his crew took care of it with a lot of hard work in just a few days. He was very patient and communicative throughout, making sure all of our concerns were addressed. Unprompted, the EBMUD inspector also said these guys are great and very dependable. So yeah overall, I'm very happy and will definitely work with them again. If you need your sewer lateral replaced, look no further! read more

Nice guy. Great service. Karma put in a new sewer line for me last December. A few days ago the sewer backed up on a friday night. He came out saturday morning and unclogged it. Turned out it wasn't from the line he put in but he still didn't try to overcharge. Nice guy. Honest and trustworthy. read more

Karma has done a new sewer line for us for a reasonable price. When we had another problem later, he arrived and provided an excellent diagnostic service. He gave us advice against his economic interest and explained everything so well I could understand things I didn't think I would. He really has my respect. read more

Sonam is a real pro. He hooked an outdoor shower for me and I noticed the little touches. He did my job in a timely and professional manner and at a fair price. I enjoyed working with him to meet my plumbing needs. read more

Fair, honest, efficient, reliable! On time! Punctual! Also professional and patient with children ( my toddler who thought it was amazing to watch the toilet removed and reset ) This is the best plumber I've worked with. read more

It was terrible experience. I left three messages for the owner Sonam. He doesn't bother to call back after he took money $120 for 35 minutes inspection by his employee. His employee told us that the sewer line rusted, soil moist and took a video. I asked to check the waste line in the garage. The owner Sonam changed what his employee said and refused to check it. The owner Sonam said it was small leak on one of the pipe, not to use the master bathroom and sink. He promised he will send an estimate. I texted and left messages for him to send Video that his employee took on the inspection. Four days passed. No estimate. No inspection video. He doesn't bother to call back either. His employee took off suit and wasn't careful. Soil spread 4 spots to my wall. His employee doesn't get train how to take off the suit inside out to prevent soil all over the customer's house. The owner Sonum rubbed off the soil on the wall so hard and scrap the top wall paint. I have to get paint for touch up. I called other plumber for another inspection. I found out the sewer line busted and there was no small leak on one of the pipe that Sonam pointed out during his inspection. the second plumber said it doesn't matter what bathroom I used because the waste water connected to the same sewer line. It needed to be replace. It was a horrible experience. His employee said one thing. The owner Sonam said something else. He doesn't care for his business reputation. His cell phone shut off during his business hour many times. Never never recommend this company to anyone. He took money and run. I tried to tell him what is the issue. He doesn't listen instead tried to tell me what he thinks and not from the actual inspection by his employee. He said he has enough business on the other side. It is very scary these day to run into plumber just took inspection money and run. How can a plumber doesn't know sewer line is leaking from inspection? read more

Karma was very pleasant in my interactions with him when he came to bid on the job, which was to replace both the sewer lateral from the main house to the sidewalk & also to replace the outflow from the back shed to the sidewalk as well. There was a long delay getting the permits from the city, which I assume was not their fault, before they were able to start. They completed the sewer lateral from the house to the sidewalk, but then started wrapping up after only replacing a very short stretch of the shed outflow. I reminded them that the bid covered the entire length of the outflow from the shed, which they completed after a little bit of grumbling, but in the process left an inflated bag in the main line which resulted in raw sewage being dumped all over the floor of our shed (which my partner and I had to clean up). They declined to provide any discount off the total price of the job as a result of the error. I had also asked Karma to take a look at a dripping kitchen faucet which needed replacing; he said that the entire kitchen wall would need to be torn out as the pipe holes from the (original) existing faucet weren't standard and wouldn't quite fit the replacement faucet I had bought. Another general contractor who looked at it three days later replaced the faucet in about twenty minutes without any difficulty. I had also asked Karma to check out the shower valves as we were getting low pressure in the shower, and he didn't know how to get the taps off; he took photos and said he would have a distributor look at them to try and figure it out and get back to me, but never did. (The same GC who replaced the faucet easily removed the taps and cleaned out the valves in just a few minutes). Upshot: very pleasant to interact with, but I don't trust his professional judgement. read more

Prompt, courteous, professional and affordable. Will come back for future plumbing needs.

I had the opportunity to hire Kato plumbing just recently. The owner Mr. Sonam came out and did the job himself (change the water heater). He was very efficient and energetic. I was very impressed with his job on my water heater. Also he was very affordable. When he was done he checked all the connections and cleaned up. Very nice guy also helped me out on installing my dryer. Awesome guy. good luck to him. read more

The best!! I called Kato Plumbing at 4:30 pm with a backed up toilet and he was nice enough to come by 30 minutes later. We had a pretty bad clog to where the toilet needed to removed. He found the culprit, flush able wipes. Yeah they are not so flush able I guess. He pulled out a nice size bag full of them :( . They were very friendly,detailed,professional, courteous and CLEAN! I hope I do not have ANY more plumbing issues but if I did I would always call Kato Plumbing from now on. The price was very reasonable and we have a working toilet now! It is also nice to also support local Albany businesses. Thank you!!! read more

They gave me an excellent quote on a sewer lateral job in the east bay, and I'm happy I selected them. Karma (Sonam's son) and his crew were punctual, efficient, and thorough. The work was approved by the city with no problems. Their warranty is standard and though I don't recall the details off the top of my head, it was the same warranty that all the other area plumbers were offering when I was calling for bids. Although I don't anticipate having any more plumbing issues in the future, I have Karma's number saved in my contacts in case I do. I urge you to support this locally owned business--you'll be happy you did. read more

Professional, courteous, efficient, personable, and fixed my sewer drainage emergency on a Saturday morning. Called me back promptly. Arrived on time. Ran a snake through my sewer line, and cleaned out the gunk that was causing water to come up through the bathroom tub whenever a toilet was flushed. In and out in about 40 minutes. Very happy now. read more

Needed a water heater replaced as other had failed. Left VM in AM and call back response was within 1/2 hour. Came by later in day and put in new WH with minimum hassle and thorough job. Courteous and professional. Would use again. read more

I was on a very tight timeline to get a sewer lateral test done before closing. I called Kato on a Saturday to get an estimate, and he called me back the SAME day, on a weekend no less! A rare trait for a plumber contractor. He said that he would visit the property and give me an estimate on Monday. I texted and emailed him that I'd like to get his estimate before 1pm Monday since I'd need the test performed the next day, and he called me at 12:30pm with an estimate, taking the time to explain the nature of the work to me. His estimate was one of the lowest I got, and the best part is that he stayed in communication the whole time. I found him listed as one of the sewer lateral contractors on the Alameda government website and yelped every single company listed. Kato stood out because he was one of the few companies with excellent yelp reviews, and for good reason. I was very impressed with him. Thank you Kato for being incredibly responsive and quick. read more

Wow - I called Kato Plumbing at noon, a man named Sonam said he could get to my house between 3 and 4 pm that day so I left work early to be home during the time slot. He arrived at 3:55 (and apologized for being a bit late - even though he wasn't!). He was professional, clean, and courteous and my drain was cleared within 35 minutes. I was thrilled - and the price was great. I'm VERY happy with Kato Plumbing and will definitely call them if I ever need plumbing services again. I recommend without any hesitation! read more

Sonam is fast, efficient, and licensed. Unclogged the bathroom pipes in no time. Would use him again anytime!

Kato Plumbing is owned and run by Mr. Sonam Dupgyal. He is an amazing plumber. He has worked on our home on numerous occasions, everything from replacing our old water pipes with copper to other less complicated tasks. We have referred him to a number of our friends an all of them were pleased with his performance and fair price. Sonam received his initial training as a plumber in Japan. For you information Japan's standards are far greater than those of the US. Also, he is a licensed plumber, so you can be assured of his quality and standards. You can reach him at 1-510-684-2531. read more

Super nice and friendly team of real professionals. Everything they did was clean and well thought out. They did a crazy sewer lateral on the hillside for me, not your typical job either but something hard. All I can say is the quality as well as the attitude of the work crew was A+. Anyone leaving bad reviews for these guys has to be a total tool, because you don't know what bad is! These guys are great! read more

Private sewer lateral issues? Go no where but Kato Plumbing! At the recommentation of my realtor, two plumbers (don't want to name here), but they are from Pinole and El Sobrante. They inspected my sewer lateral only to jump into conlclusion to fix it, to get certified with an estimated cost close to 5 grand. Since the house was built in 1981 and relatively is a new house here in El Cerrito. I have every reason to try an another opinion. Thanks to Yelp! I found Kato Plumbing to inspect one more time and moment he snaked his camera through the line, quote "I am 99% sure your lateral will pass" 100% TRUE my sewer lateral passed rigorous water test infront of EBMUD inspector. Which not only saved me thousands of dollars but found a honest plumber for all my future plumbing jobs if I needed. Having said that I am safe to say Kato Plumbing is one of the few HONEST plumbers in EastBay. read more

Last year we needed a water heater installed and work on a gas line in Albany. Kato plumbing was punctual (actually ended up coming sooner than promised), efficient, and fairly priced. I'd use them again -- in fact, I plan to use them again which is why I realized I failed to write the review last year when I should have. read more

Kato Plumbing is a small family business run by Sonam and his son Karma. Sonam is a highly skilled plumber and very respected by the City of Oakland. As another reviewer mentioned, he was trained as a plumber in Japan. They just replaced my sewer lateral for a very reasonable price and the city signed off with no problem. I like these guys because you can ask any question and they are not condescending or dismissive. I got 3 bids before choosing them and they took more time than any of the other companies to really explain things to me and discuss alternative approaches. Two of my neighbors also used Kato Plumbing and had only great things to say. My advice is to have others bid, then finally Kato. See the difference yourself. read more

Fantastic company. They worked 12 hour days to fix our sewer before the big storm hit. They were hard working, friendly, neat, and careful workers. Fortunately for us, the break was in the city line so the city paid, but if I ever need work done I will call Kato. I highly recommend them for any plumbing you need done. read more

Awesome service! Quick to call back & came over on a Sunday (not a day he actually works) ... Snaked the block drain...reasonable fee.. Thanks! read more

EXCELLENT. OUTSTANDING. PROFICIENT. COURTEOUS. HONEST. I can not say enough good things about this family run company. We needed a sewer lateral inspection. First company we called could not find the ports for the lateral and said they would have to come back with 2 men, 8 days later. We needed an exam ASAP. Kato, Sonam's son, came the next day, did the inspection, and gave us a disc that showed the line is ok. Berkeley then wanted a stress test and Kato arranged for a Berkeley inspector to come to the house to view and participate in the testing the city requires. Kato then went to the city office to complete the paper work and secure the Compliance Certificate. We are very happy to recommend Kato for your plumbing needs!!!! read more

I have call Kato plumbing like 2week ago.The reason was my toilet water was coming out and it was difficult time for me to deal with that.The guy name Sonam show up and he finish the job when i came back from work.i am so happy for sonam works and price was way lower then any other company.in future i would to call him for any plumbing job. read more

I called Kato Plumbing after reading all of the good reviews on Yelp, and I wasn't disappointed! Sonam is a wonderful plumber: honest, smart, patient, and a pleasure to talk to. We needed the flange on our toilet replaced because it had rusted out, and he not only repaired it quickly and efficiently, but his price was extremely reasonable--much less than I expected. I plan to call him again the next time I need anything repaired--I'm delighted to have met a really good plumber! read more

We heard about Sonam, owner of Kato Plumbing through friends and neighbors who have been very pleased with his work over the years. Sonam came to our preschool to unblock a sewer line, a job we have to have done annually. His fee was half of what others had charged for the same job. Sonam and his assistant were pleasant, prompt, took care of the problem and left the job clean and tidy. I highly recommend Kato Plumbing! read more