I live in a very old house in a very rural area in the mountains, located a considerable distance…read morefrom the city of Frederick, where Murphy plumbing is headquartered. Based upon the recommendation of the original homeowner, who had been a faithful customer of this company since 1982, I have been using Charles F. Murphy plumbing for all of the indoor plumbing needs of my house since having moved into the house about 25 years ago.
I have always received excellent service from all of the staffers at this company, and have always been very pleased with their work. Having said that, I want to point out that this is an old-school family-run small company, and they seem to have no wish to grow much larger, and thus it can sometimes take a day or two for them to send a plumber for certain non-emergency tasks.
Now, what did I mean by the term "old-school" in the previous sentence? Well, what I mean is that they still do many things, including billing, the old-fashioned way. Their entire customer-tracking and billing system seems to be based upon paper records and perhaps a card file. Thus, I have noticed consistently across the years that I can take them many months to ever send a bill!
Do you remember that I mentioned above that I live in a very rural area in the mountains? My house is located on a steep mountain slope, with a very steep and long -- and very narrow -- driveway, and the "yard" does not consist of any paved paths or mowed lawns, and rather the entire 5 acre "yard" is nothing more or less than forested mountainside covered with hundreds of 50 to 70 foot tall trees, rocks, fallen logs, and snakes. So, getting from the driveway or the front door of the house to the basement that houses the water tank, the pump controls, and the hot water heater can be a real challenge, as it involves negotiating very rough forest terrain on a steep slope littered with forest debris and rocks.
Why am I telling you all of this? Well, for example, the task of replacing the hot water heater (which seems to happen about every 10 to 12 years) is not a simple job, as it means negotiating a rocky sloping route or "path" of over 120 feet across rough mountainside terrain. And yes, it means hauling the old water heater across that terrain from the basement to the truck, and it also means that the plumbers need to then transport the new hot water heater over 120 feet across the same rough terrain (and remember, it is all on a 28 degree slope...!) to get it to the basement.
Nonetheless, the plumbers from Murphy have always tackled this task, and other like it, with aplomb, and have always done masterful work despite the challenges.
By the way, speaking of my basement that houses the well pump controls, the water tank, and the hot water heater, I neglected, in my narrative above, to mention the fact that said basement has a dirt floor that is always muddy and wet (because the house is located in the mountains, and "because rain", and "because forest"), and the basement is occupied by several very large (and totally harmless) blacksnakes that eat the rodents (usually large rats) that are commonplace out here in the mountains. So, whenever a plumber from Murphy arrives at the house to do any work that may involve a visit to the basement, I always warn them up front that they may well encounter one or more of the large blacksnakes in the basement, and I reassure them that the snakes are harmless and will not bother them.
Well, all of the plumbers from Murphy whom I have met to date always take in this information about the presence of snakes in the basement very calmly, and, across a period of over 25 years, they have never complained when they have occasionally bumped into one of the large blacksnakes down in the damp basement, nor when they have encountered a copperhead snake (a mildly-venomous pit viper common to this area) lying across the rocky path to the basement! Rather, they handle all of these challenges, including occasional visits from my nosy hens and roosters who might at times wander into the basement to supervise their work, with great calmness and aplomb!
So, the bottom line is that I have been using this plumbing service for over 25 years, and have never had any problems with their work, and therefore, I feel that they deserve 5 stars!
