Most people wait to call a plumber until it's unavoidable, and then can't wait for the plumber to…read moreleave. By the time Wingman Plumbing & Mechanical finished their work, I was sad to see them go.
If your goal is to pay for all the plumbing work you need and none of the work you don't, stop playing footsie with the cheapo company with free estimates and no reviews and just call Wingman already.
Al and Chad did a big-boned project that spanned about 6 weeks. Our house is 100 years old, and was renovated about 4 years ago, so of course there was a little baggage. We've never had a plumbing emergency here, but we like to prevent FUBAR situations when we can. Also, enough performance issues bugged us for long enough that we wanted to blast through the whole list.
Wingman's work consisted of 3 rounds of work, on 3 different days:
Round 1: The guys replaced our Mesozoic Era outdoor spigot with a frost-free spigot I'd bought (a Prier, which turned out to be Wingman's recommended brand). That mini-project included replacing the leaky indoor gate valve with a nice ball valve. That had been a burr in my saddle. The other thing they did in Round 1 was replace the shutoff valve on our downstairs toilet. Hadn't been an issue, but in his initial walk-through / estimate Chad noticed some corrosion that I hadn't.
Round 2: We expected the showdown at the O.K. Corral, because it was the day Wingman had to work on the supply line entering the basement, AND replace the water heater.
Our pressure had been low, and the supply line stuck out a foot farther into our basement than it needed to, so initially I wanted them only to increase the size of the pipe and reroute it closer to the foundation. In the walkthrough Chad said I'd probably also need the supply-line nipple replaced (it was corroded), and during Round 1 Al confirmed that. So we added that to the list. Al had the North Attleborough Water Department on-site at the beginning of Round 2, in case the supply-line nipple replacement got hairy and required a shutoff at the street. Turned out we didn't need one, which was good. The boys replaced and rerouted the supply line as planned, which solved the low pressure. But our water volume was still low. Al narrowed the problem down to the gate valve at the street, which was the Town's responsibility to replace. (Between Round 2 and Round 3 the Town replaced the gate valve, which solved the volume issue. It's worth noting that Al coordinated that with the Town, which he didn't necessarily need to do. That was probably a PITA for him, but he didn't let on. He's that kind of guy.)
The water heater replacement was straightforward. Our old Whirlpool was corroding and had a pipe leak that I'd bodged shut 18 months before. They drained the sludge out of it and hauled it off.
We ended up getting the 50-gallon HTP electric water heater (stainless steel) with the maximum warranty. I had considered getting a hybrid or an 80-gallon, but Al said he didn't think we needed either. I'm glad I listened to him, because the new water heater is a beast. I had a forehead-slapper moment when Al and Chad recommended moving the new unit about 15 feet from its original spot. The new location is better.
Round 3: Major drainage surgery. What prompted Round 3 was a downstairs shower leak I hadn't been able to figure out. Turned out the cause was a loose strainer basket. In troubleshooting that, the guys also noticed that our laundry and kitchen drainpipes were pitched too steeply, and that the kitchen drainpipe wasn't vented correctly (which I'd suspected once we caught some bad whiffs in the downstairs bathroom every time we'd run the dishwasher). The kitchen drainpipe also wasn't wide enough. This final shootout wasn't as exciting as Round 2 was, but it was probably the most work. Al and Chad replaced and re-pitched several drainpipes, added cleanouts, replaced a trap, replaced the strainer basket under the shower, and re-puttied the strainer. The end result of Round 3 was we could use the downstairs shower again without leaks (which then allowed me to make some changes to the whole shower area), the pipes were vented properly, and the drainage was faster, didn't cause smells, and less likely to develop a clog.
Al and Chad do rock-solid work, are honest and reliable, and are fun and easygoing guys who clearly enjoy their trade. Every time they were over they didn't displace my wife, our baby, or our 3 cats.
I say pay to get it done once and get it done right. Our 3-part project cost a good chunk, but it was a ton of work, and included the new water heater (with the max warranty). Every line item was fair and reasonable. If anything, the whole burrito cost a little less than I expected.
They may be busy or hard-to-reach when you call or email, but they're worth any back-and-forth and a wait. I doubt we'll need more plumbing work for a while, but if and when we do I'll definitely call Wingman Plumbing.
