Bellows Plumbing, Heating & Air

Stephanie K.

We recently had mini splits installed in our house. We looked at different vendors, but were impressed with our engagement with Bellow's and their professionalism, responsiveness and overall knowledge of their product and service.

I appreciated the communication throughout the process and how easy everything was. The on-site teams were incredibly professional, kind, clean and efficient. The office teams were also very helpful, responsiveness and courteous.

All in all, this was a seamless experience and I would highly recommend Bellows!\

Heather N.

We had the worst experience with Bellows from start to finish! It took them a month to do a job that was supposed to take a week. They were messy, damaged our property, unprofessional, rude, not equipped to do repiping, and added things to the bill at the end which was included in the contract. One example is an additional $450 for a permit which was already included in the contract($11,0000) when we signed it. I have included pictures as they speak louder than any words.

My husband is in construction and is very aware of how these things should be handled.

The details are below:

We had Bellows come to our house to replace the old galvanized water lines in our house including the main service from the meter at the street with new copper piping. It was an unfortunate and frustrating process from start to finish. We had a pre job walk through with the technician and called 811 that same day to get the underground survey done before the trenching for the new water service. We were told that once the 811 survey was complete it would take 2-3 days to get scheduled and start the job. With this in mind we sent a deposit and was told that now the job could not start for another 12 days.

Once the job started we were told that it would take a week to complete. Not only did it take 4 times that long, there were numerous issues that came up during the work.

Scheduling issues, and timeline for construction under estimated by a great deal.
Sloppy work, scrap pipe left in trench.
Worker lunch trash left in the yard.
Dirty fingerprints on walls inside and outside of the house.

Workers were leaving for the day on a Friday and as I was looking over what was done, I noticed that the angle stop valve at the toilet was leaking and no hot water coming out of the shower. Luckily I ran out of the house and stopped them from leaving or I would have had a leaky valve at my toilet and no hot water in the shower. We have a small house and only have one toilet and shower so we would have been without hot water in shower and a leak all weekend.

Then I looked in the crawl space and noticed scrap pipe laying around and no insulation on the hot water lines that were supposed to be there.
The blocking behind the bathroom sink was not fastened on both sides so the pipe was able to be pulled out of the wall several inches. I fixed this myself.

They were unable to properly strap the risers at the Kitchen sink, so if the faucet was pulled on it would come away from the wall. This is another item that I had to take care of myself. I understand they are plumbers, not carpenters but simply properly strapping the pipes should be something that they could take care of.

We have old tiles as the backsplash in the Kitchen that we were very concerned about being broken because we would have been unable to find matching tiles if they were damaged. After trying I was told that they could not remove the old pipes without breaking out the tile to do so. I stopped them from doing that and had to get the pipe out myself.

When installing the new faucet at the Kitchen sink they used nipples that were too long causing the faucet to not be able to go flush against the wall.
The pipes at the bathroom sink and toilet were too long causing the angle stops to be off the wall by about two inches, not flush as they should have been.

Plastic liner over the copper main was nicked and damaged, so I had to use tape to repair to avoid the new copper from being exposed to the ground.

When it was time to pay the remaining balance of the bill they added an additional $450 on the bill never telling us this but tried to slip it by us. When I looked into it further it was for permitting but in the initial contract it said all permits were included. The job itself cost over 11 grand and they tried to slip an extra $450 into the bill without us realizing it. So shady! This was definitely a very frustrating experience for us. I would definitely avoid this company at all cost.

David L.

Well my water heater will not fire up. Base on good review I called Bellows plumbing. Basically they just sent me a sales man who wears dress shirt and does not seem like a technician. I believed his only intention is sell me a new heater with no intention of fixing it. He has no part or anything in hand. He basically just turn the switch a few time just try to ignite the heater a few time and see no spark which I could've done then he immediately said is the heating unit need to replace he say part and labor will cost about 2000 dollars to fix it and they don't have the part and it will take 2 week to get it. To me it seems like they try to taking advantage of a water heater is crucial situation, which I could not wait 2 weeks but he strongly recommend me to get a new water heater for 5k and they have the heater in stock can do it next day. Well my heater is about 8 Years old which I spent about 3k in 2014 to replace it. I assume it should at lease worth it to repair it. I just say I need to think about it. So he charge me 149 diagnostic fee that is fine. Then I call another smaller company and got it fixed for 300 dollars same day and he has the parts with him. He say just some part in the ignitor need to change. He felt the heater is in good shape so he say I should repair it.

I am not sure which company is right or wrong but the water heater has been working 2 month now with no issue with this 300 dollars repair from another company. I would assume a 8 years old water heater should at lease repairable with reasonable cost. Maybe it's the inflation but I think 2k just fix the heater and it take 2 weeks to get the part is just highway robbery. Why other company I later use could fix it same day for $300, and while Bellows company could not even offer me any options to get my heater at lease going for now, except wait 2 weeks for the $2k parts and labor or get a 5k heater next day. seems like they just want me to get a new $5k heater from them taking advantage of emergency situation. I also ask the other company I use if I need a new heater how much they will charge me and they say would be about $3500 vs Bellow's $5k heater quote. I previously left the review to wrong branch, so I remove the existing review. The review is for San Rafael Branch. It seems how aggressive their business manager defending any negative review. It is hilarious she can know who I am and find invoice base just on my yelp handle. The name of the salesman or technician they send is Bradford F.

Kaity T.

Efficient, reasonable pricing, quality work, friendly!

We recently had a major plumbing project to install a property line cleanout and replace some of the drainage systems in the house. Jennifer was AWESOME - she was knowledgeable and was thoughtful and transparent with her recommendations, she was also hilarious and overall one of the main reasons we went with Bellows over a few other bids we received. Pricing was also reasonable especially since they're a reputable company. Shout out to Nathan, Carlos, Alfonso, Eddie, and Hector for completing the work on schedule (only took 3 days for a major project including the inspection) and for making the process easily - always came to the door to let us know when they were getting started, warned us before they needed to turn off the water and when it was back on, got through inspection with no issues, and cleaned up at the end of each day and at the end of the project. Super appreciate Bellows and would highly recommend.

Danielle B.

I am a regular customer of Bellows, because I am always impressed by their responsiveness, professionalism, and quality of work.

As a maintenance club member I had a Bellows technician (Josh P.) come out and do a regular flush of my water heater. While he was here and the water heater was clearing out he did an inspection of my bathrooms and kitchen. I mentioned to him that my shower head was leaking, but I'd been told previously that without a name and model of the valve cartridge the entire shower plumbing would need to be ripped out and new plumbing installed (which would have included removing a significant amount of tile).

Josh took it as his personal mission to find the cartridge and get it replaced (without destroying my bathroom). Within a couple of days he'd located the correct cartridge and replaced it. I am very thankful for his enthusiasm and willingness to take on (and solve) a tricky problem.

M F.

Fantastic company! Professional, excellent work and walked through every process with pricing and time frame we were looking at. Cannot recommend them more highly. Always a go to and they do it right by pulling permits, and just doing top quality work. Thank you Bellows!

Ted H.

I received a call from the management company, that there was a leak coming from the water heater from my unit in the complex. I decided to use Bellows Plumbing, which was family owned and close by. I asked for a "" ballpark "" estimate for the cost of replacement and disposal of the old hot water heater. I was told that it was not their policy to give estimates over the phone and it would be a $149 service call for a technician to stop by to evaluate. Big mistake. After I met with him, I received an email with the total cost and breakdown of parts and labor. $4,600 !!! When reviewing why the cost was as high as it was, I saw that I was being charged $240 for a brass shutoff valve, that the same valve costs $20 at the local hardware store. The same for a drain pan, $204 from them, versus $22 at the hardware store. I don't begrudge anyone from making a reasonable markup, but their padding was totally ridiculous. I ended up calling another plumber and it was completed at a fraction of the cost. Yes, they got my $149 for the nonrefundable service call, but when I'm asked if I can recommend any plumbers, they would be the bottom of my list. Sometimes companies can be penny wise and pound foolish.

Travis R.

I called and said I need a kitchen faucet installed. They scheduled the service. I asked how much it would cost. They said the service call will start at $150-250 around there. I said ok. They show up and say that it will cost $500 total and what I was quoted was just to make the service call but doesn't include the work for installing the faucet. I don't see why they could not have given me an estimate for the work and set my expectations correctly. I think $500 for installing a faucet that took them about 20 minutes is very expensive. But also just should have been told. On the plus side the work was done and fine job.

James R.

We've had multiple issues with the HVAC unit that was installed by Bellows. That part doesn't bother me (stuff happens) but I've now twice had to pay a $150 diagnostic fee to have someone come out to inspect the issue. Given the initial installation cost I would expect better service on minor follow ups.

M V.

Bellows installed a new AC unit for me in March 2018. The AC unit lost refrigerant and had to be refilled June 2018, just three months after installation. The leak continued and the AC unit had to be refilled every following year. After multiple call backs to Bellows over the following three years, some of which I was charged for, Bellows eventually determined the leak was on my original line set and therefore not covered under their labor warranty as part of installing the new AC. However, the location of the leak was on the line set at the solder joint where Bellows had attached the line for the unit they installed, and my line set had not leaked in the years I had lived in the home prior to Bellows doing the AC install. When I pointed out that their solder joint should be covered under the labor warranty as part of their installation, they disagreed and gave me an estimate for $1202 to make repairs and refill the refrigerant. Ridiculous. Why should I pay them to repair their own bad work? I went to another AC company in June 2022 and had the repair made and refrigerant refilled for $676. The new AC company determined and wrote up in the work order that the leak was clearly the result of a faulty solder job by the prior contractor. I purchased my AC through Costco in 2018 and Bellows was the installer Costco selected. That was my mistake. I should have paid a bit more and purchased the AC though a local company. Would have saved me four years of aggravation, several additional service calls with Bellows, and the funds I paid to have first Bellows then the second company to address the faulty installation.