These reviews must be by friends or sympathy votes. There's probably a reason there are no recent reviews. He treats a job like a hobby, basically a casual affair with no cares, and you'll be the one holding the bag. Want proof? Water heater busted on Monday. Everyone is swamped, but Steve comes by in a couple of days and says he can start work that Friday to install a new tank. Can be done by the next Mon/Tue. We should have known something was up to take so many days with a helper (No helper showed up). Friday - worked 2 hours Saturday - worked 3 hours. Plus I helped him take the old heater out since his "help" was non existent. If he did this himself he probably would have taken 3 hours. Monday - worked 5.5 hours Tue - worked 5.5 hours...but had to turn off our heat (in winter) to do the gas hook up. His wife calls for a ride so he leaves. Then had to clean up his truck because his wife said it was a mess. Yes, he was doing chores instead of working. Rolls back 3 hours later. We're in the cold. Says he can't finish because it's too dark. Says he only has 4 hours of work left. Then 3. Then 2. Wed (job overdue) - 8 hrs by force. Doesn't show up until after 3pm... No response to any texts asking about being mia. Claims he was at the hardware store (again)... For 2 hours? Then says he's old and it's his hip. Leaves at 6pm and comes back an hour later because he needed to go home and get a new tool. It's 9 pm, work still not done and he was packed up ready to leave. After confronting him and basically firing him, he wanted an hour to complete... It's now midnight. Thu - 5 hours. You get the picture right? Still not done. Has to come back day of inspection to finish. Was going to leave all his trash until we caught him and told him to clean up. Excuses about his back, will come back later, etc. So my partner packed up his mess in a box so he could take it. This is maybe a 12 hour. We're at 24 hours. I know what you're saying..."well for taking twice as long you get twice the quality." The job was well done (per the inspector and another plumber), I'll give him that. Absolute doofus. If you need work done with any semblance of an 8 hour day, forget about it. If it's not his wife on his case, him eating oatmeal, or stretching all morning long, or some other excuse, it'll be something. Unprofessional, slob, slow. read more

I've never met a person more dysfunctional than Steve. Our water heater needed to be replaced during the coldest week of the year, one week before the Christmas holidays. We called several plumbers, Steve was free that day. That should have been a warning sign. He provided us a quote, told us that he could complete the job in 2-3 days. What ensued over the next 8+ days was this: he wouldn't show up until mid to late afternoon; he would sneak off in the middle of work (had to take his wife to drop off the car, his wife told him to clean out his truck), he barely returned calls or text messages. After 4 days with still no hot water, I asked him if I needed to make contingency plans. He said, "No I'll get you online tomorrow...I've got it covered." The next day, no hot water. He was about to sneak off when I confronted him in his truck. I told him I would be firing him from the job and had a back up plumber coming to finish the install the next day. He begged to complete it, said it would only take 2 hours...it ended up taking almost 5 hours, well past midnight. I had to provide him a punch list of all the things he needed to do to (tighten screws, install vent, etc). He left a mess in the basement and was about to sneak off again, but I told him he wasn't allowed to leave until he hauled all his trash away. This man works at a snail's pace for 4-3 hours a day, his truck is incredibly unorganized, and he overpromises and under-delivers. He does not show up when he tells you he will, he is completely unreliable. Save yourself the headache and go with a larger plumbing company. They were booked up when we called but it would have been worth the wait. read more

if you are looking for an honest and honorable plumber who knows old plumbing and new plumbing inside out look no further than Steve Lipton he is simply put the best. Let me explain why. Steve came to my house to snake a plugged up kitchen sink. Now the first time he snaked it he could have said well listen it's not opening up so the clog is either too big or too far down the pipe for the snake to flush it free. We'll have to open up the pipe from below and worse case scenario maybe replace some of the pipe. Which would have taken a great deal of time in my house and been very costly for me. Instead he said let's try snaking this pipe out again, which is a pain in the ass for the plumber to do, but he did. Why, because Steve put my needs first, not his need to make money. I then showed him a problem I was having with my fancy kitchen faucet, which is washer less. He explained that sometimes when you have water filters on your faucet rust gets built up and you need to remove the filter and flush the line out of debris by running the water full force. We did that and lots of rust came out and my handle stopped sticking. Another plumber would and has replaced the entire stem which costed about $35 a piece because either they did not know how the mechanism worked, which Steve did, and showed me, or they wanted to make money. I then had him take a look at my hot water faucet on my antique bathroom sink which had been out of use for ten years because another plumber did not know how to fix it, & it had continued to leak. Steve said this is an old fashioned stem and the whole piece has to be replaced I will have to go to Berkeley to pick up the piece and I'll come back when it is convenient for you. He came back and said since I didn't have the part in stock I am only going to charge you a half an hour rate as it would not have taken so long to fix if I had had the part in stock. Not only that but after the first hour he only charged me by the quarter hour. Talk about fair, and honest. Plus both sinks ended up being stopped up and making quite a mess on my floors and Steve took the trouble of cleaning up my floors to where they were cleaner than before he came.! All and all a wonderful experience. read more

My guest bathroom under-mount porcelain sink had a large hole in the porcelain and needed to be replaced with a new over-mount sink. The sink was mounted with silicon under a custom piece of polished granite that I couldn't have damaged. After receiving multiple price quotes from other plumbers I contacted Steve. He gave me a very reasonable quote and within 3 days arrived and completed my job in less than 3 hours which was record time compared to my other time quotes from other plumbers. When he replaced my drain pipes he mentioned the vanity drawers didn't close all the way. He used a jig saw and cut into my drawer and it is perfect now. He did a excellent job without damaging my counter top. I would highly recommend Steve for any plumbing job in the future. He is professional and honest. read more

Steve Lipton Plumbing - Plumbing Near Me - Oakland, California

My clawfoot tub was backed up with standing water and I couldn't even shower. After doing research on Yelp, the first five plumbers I called either couldn't come for another 1 or 2 days or didn't answer the phone, so I called Steve Lipton, even though he only had two reviews. Lucky for me, Steve came right away, before another appointment in North Oakland. He showed up promptly, and took the time to explain his rates to me twice ($95 for the first hour and $85/hour after that, in 15-min intervals) and finished the job in under an hour. Afterwards, he even went to his truck to see if he had a replacement screw for the tub strainer, which I had misplaced. After he left, I noticed he even cleaned out my tub! Overall, a very good experience, and $95 well spent. read more

Steve is a master plumber! He has done several jobs for me over the past 7 years, often emergencies. He responds quickly, has a tremendous ability to diagnose issues and figure out how to resolve them in the simplest, most effective way. Honestly, Steve's repairs are always an improvement over the original plumbing. Most recently, a tenant called to say the kitchen was flooding. Steve guided her over the phone how to shut off the water, and came right over to vacuum up the water and replace the faulty water heater. All while I was out of town. I trust Steve implicitly to do first class plumbing, neatly, promptly, politely, and for a reasonable cost. read more

Steve is a nice guy... Every time I've used him (3) he has been very late, even when he knew the work was time-sensitive (I live in a condo and had to turn off the water in the whole building so I had to put up a notice and Steve came after the notice time, which he had recommended). Also, he has this truck piled up with parts and brick a brack, not at all organized. It takes him about 1/2 an hour to find something in that truck. The final results were good but he isn't very efficient so if you don't mind being patient, he'll do a good job. read more

Our four-unit condo building's water main broke a couple of years ago, and Steve won the bid to replace the main line from our building to the city's water line. Steve's quote was lower than the others', and that was important to our association, so that's why we chose him. The job involved removing the old main line and installing a new one. This was complicated by the fact that part of the line extended under the sidewalk. Also, we needed to totally move where the line came to, and entered, the building. This involved Steve having to cut through concrete stairs and lay new concrete. He also had to crawl in a tight crawl space to install new piping. And all of this was in the middle of a really wet winter. Steve handled everything beautifully. He avoided having to cut through the sidewalk and re-concrete it by pounding the old pipe out 'sideways,' then pounding a new one in its place. That saved us time and money and permits. Everything Steve did passed inspections with flying colors. Two years later, and everything is just fine. The only thing that made this a four-star versus five-star review was that Steve could have been a bit faster in getting the work done. But his low bid made it worth the wait. Highly recommend. read more

My family has known Steve for over twenty years. It has been comforting to know whenever we have a plumbing emergency there's no need to troll through other reviews or search for references. What a relief to have someone who top-notch, knowledgable and professional. Highly recommendable, Steve is who you want to call for any plumbing needs - truly. read more

Great guy. Friendly. Knowledgeable. Conscientious. Would definitude how him again.

Superb plumber. Showed up quickly on a Friday night call. Kitchen sink was backed up and and he took care of it with ease. Very knowledgable and friendly with fair prices. read more

Sink blocked up - I plunged and plunged and plunged. Sink was still blocked up, so we called Steve Lipton Plumbing because I found it / him on yelp. Called on Monday, he came on Tuesday, let us know he was running late. Now sink works perfectly and I am going to call Steve Lipton next time I need a plumber, as I am very happy with Mr. Lipton. And it was actually Mr. Lipton who came to my house and it was actually him who did the work. AND he did not overcharge - & easy to talk to about plumbing issues in an old house. Note bene: I wanted to pay him to also fix what I thought was a "leak" in another sink and he explained to me how to fix it cheaply and on my own. read more

Steve Lipton walks on water-literally and figuratively. He shows up promptly, does emergency and more general repairs and is very reasonably priced. When I had a broken pipe, he showed up in about an hour and saved the day. He has my respect for his work and his integrity. Outstanding. read more

Perfect! He answered the phone promptly, made an appointment and was right on time the same day, fixed my problem quickly (leaking angle stop, stripped compression nut, numerous other small leaks in my DIY project!) and effectively, gave me a few pointers, and was out the door for a very reasonable price! Highly recommended! read more

I was very excited to have him over but he never showed up! According to the all great reviews, we just imagined he would be very sincere, quick, and even call us back right after we left a voice message. I kindly waited for his response for a week! He left a voice message so I called him back and left the message that we need his help right away. Never called back and I called him in two days later, then finally I got to talk to him. He said he would come between 5-6 on Thursday, and we were waiting until 6:30. I texted him if he is still coming but he just said he won't make it. No words for sorry at all! I was pretty upset already but still tried to be nice. I asked him to come today. The answer is 'maybe'! I made sure if he COULD come but 'I'm not sure about tomorrow' was his final answer! How ambiguous and rude. We ended up disappointing at him but also wasted a week! He just lost a business with a potential long-term patron. read more

Steve was great. Even though he tries not to work on Sunday, he came for an emergency clog for me. He was professional and very reasonably priced. read more

We live in Rockridge and have used Steve Lipton Plumbing for years. Steve offers great service and reasonable prices. He is totally reliable. He does the work himself and is careful to check back and make sure all is as it should be after his visit. He has done installations and repairs for us, and they have always been quality work. We highly recommend him. read more