I find Professional Plumbing Services (PPS) most satisfying among various plumbers whose service I have used since I moved from the US mainland to Hawaii in 2008, the main reason being the head of the team, Louis, who follows through work requests to ensure that the work gets done in a transparent and responsible manner, and for a reasonable fee. The types of work that the PPS has done for me are bathroom remodeling, toilet installation, water heater installation, and clearing of drain clogs.
The latest episode of their work helps illustrate the superiority of the PPS to other plumbing companies in my experience.
I live in a low-rise condo in the Waikiki area, and I have had recurring clogs in the shower drain since last year (the cause of which, as I discovered just recently thanks to the PPS's advice, was metal debris gathered up at some 13 feet down the shower drain).
When I had the problem of clogging in the shower drain in August 2021, I first reached out to a local plumber (I shall refer to it as W.P.). A few guys came, snaked the drain for a few hours, concluded that they could neither resolve the clog nor determine the cause of it, told me to get a major plumbing company to help me (!), and charged me for the labor. I then reached out to Roto-Rooter (RR). The RR sent me a plumber the same day in the evening, who snaked the drain for hours, could not resolve the problem saying that there was something hard down the drain that prevented further snaking, and told me that a more experienced plumber would be dispatched the following day. The more experienced one arrived the following day, snaked the drain for hours, went into the shower room of the downstairs condo to check the p-trap, changed it with a new one, still could not determine what was causing the clog, but somehow broke through it, for which I was grateful. However, the RR's pricing system was such that the charge appeared to me to be an exhorbitant amount, although I paid the full amount as charged.
When a similar-type clog occurred in the shower drain in October 2022, I reached out to the PPS. They sent us a plumber, who snaked the drain for a few hours and told me that something hard was down the drain to prevent further snaking. While he could not resolve the clog for the time being, he assured me that the PPS would follow up on it until the problem would be resolved. This they did.
The PPS dispatched a team of three (including the one who came earlier to try snaking the drain) a few days later, and somehow managed to break through the clog in one hour. What was great about them was the further advice they gave me after completing the work. The lead plumber, Grady, called Louis on the spot, reporting that the work was completed but suggesting that the PPS recommend to me a further camera inspection of the drain to determine the cause of the clog (he suspected that there still was something in the drain -- a toy, a shampoo bottle cap, etc., which may cause the clog again) and to take preventative measures. The PPS gave me the contact information of the Pacific Drain Service so that I could schedule an appointment. The Pacific Drain Service snaked a camera two weeks later and did find metal debris down the drain. They broke that up, thereby helping resolving the clog problem on a longer-term basis.
The PPS's charge for the two-day work -- the invoice showing the total on-the-spot work time to be just 2.5 hours although I would think it was longer than that -- was $365 plus tax. The amount they charged me was only a fraction of the amount that the RR charged me a year ago.
I read reviews by other people on the PPS, some giving positive feedback while others not. As far as I am concerned, I have had the most satisfying experience with the PPS to date, and the PPS is the one I would recommend to neighbors and I would contact myself again for their service when I need plumbing work for my condo. read more