Buddy Griggs Plumbing

Michelle S.

I didn't like how every other plumber would give a price quote over the phone, and they would not however I thought I still give them a try due to their great ratings. The initial quote from plumber was $150 over what other plumbers had quoted (and I called a lot) and then when I questioned the tech on it, he gave me $50 off. To me a quote is a quote, not a game. He should have gave me the $50 less quote in the beginning. The Plumber was nice and it isn't his fault, but this company has issues.

Lyle C.

Tonight we had a sewer backup into our garage wash basin. I was expecting to have a plumber put the screws to me knowing I was in emergency mode at having poop in my sink. Well...... Never happened. We were sooooooooo delighted with the whole service experience. When we managed to talk to a live person, we were told the on call guy could come right out. Steven Sowanick was there in about 15 minutes. We spent a couple minutes talking about the problem and he went right to work. A few minutes of running the cable throughout a couple different clean out spots and we were in working order once again. With their 60 day guarantee on drain snaking you can't go wrong. All in all the whole bill was less than the typical after hours service charge with trip charge and premium charge for after hours emergency call. I will absolutely be using these guys for all my future plumbing work I anticipate.

Brie J.

I had an emergency leak in my hot water line and they sent Steve to check things out. He assessed the situation and we both determined that my old corroded water pipes needed to be replaced both to prevent future leaks and for my health. They were in terrible shape and further examination revealed more leaks than the one initially detected. Steve spent the next few days repiping my entire house from the street hookup to my farthest hose bib. His meticulous work shows at each visible joint and exterior faucet. He knew exactly how to remedy a couple of other problems. In the office Kelly was excellent with customer service truly listening to my concerns. I would recommend them for any and all plumbing needs.

D E.

My first YELP disappointment. Steve did his best, I'm sure. The mixing valve has been replaced, it. leaks, charred wood, heading back to HD for cartridge replacement in the a.m. per Steve's recommendation, after 9 pm now, Steve has gone, $320 later (hoping most of this is for time spent, because we supplied the shower valve and wood blocking), heading over to turn out the light, near bathroom, and hear drip, drip, drip. NOT good, it's 11pm and Steve is gone, splashes all over expensive Kerdi board and the grout hasn't been sealed yet. So much for calling in an expert on a DIY project. I know my limits, but had I not been one to know how to turn a wrench or notice the dripping, the water damage could have been major. Darn HD, and Steve for not using fresh plumber's tape and properly tightening the plug on the shower head outlet plug. Unless Buddy is willing to see me through this DIY project when I reach my limits, I will not be reaching out to them in the future.
Steve, I appreciate the assist and advise.
-Santa Cruz Native, pre-UCSC

Joyce H.

Buddy has saved me I can't tell you how many times.....I have a vacation rental and things happen! Plumbing problems must be address immediately. Buddy does that for it. After seeing his work, attitude and work ethic I hired him to do some remodeling of may bathrooms and kitchen sink. Beautiful, prompt and professional job. Trust him completely.

Catherine N.

I have used these folks in the past and they have been ok, but I recently called them to do a simple fix of a drip from the aerator in a delta kitchen faucet, because I didn't have time. He said this was a cheap faucet and made with plastic and it needed to be entirely replaced, which he would do by buying me a Kohler brand for about 150.00. When I told him it was only about 6 years old, and its a delta Classic Waterfall model, which is not that cheap and its probably a simple fix. He started arguing with me saying that its amazing I got 6 years out of it and its a cheap piece of junk and he wouldn't do the job unless he replaced it. The model is all metal, except the stem, which has plastic in it, but then again so does every other model below about 600. Just to verify, I looked up the model, and it is easy to fix. Its either replacing the seats and springs or that plus the stem unit. I asked him to replace the springs/seats first, and if he opened it up and the cartridge was all eroded then we could replace that as well. Over all less than 10 dollars in parts. If for some reason the entire faucet was rusted out, which I know its not then I would consider replacing it, and I would purchase it myself.

Then to make matters worse, the underside piping is a hack job, which the previous owners put in and I wanted a estimate to replace that, because is is a kludge and might have to involve replacing the sink, since the connection to the sink might be so rusted, that removing it could cause the sink to degrade. So then he said, that unless I let him replace the entire sink, and the plumbing underneath and the faucet, he wouldn't fix the faucet, because touching the faucet might cause the whole thing to fall apart. Now, how touching the top of the faucet, required to fix the spring and seat, will cause the bottom part of the plumbing to fall apart - well ya got me.

So instead of just doing the simple job costing less than 10.00 in parts and not more than 30 minutes in labor, he was trying to get me to replace the entire faucet, sink and plumbing. Yes I do need the plumbing redone underneath, but it's still functioning right now, and I just needed a simple faucet fix. Needless to say I will not be calling them again.

Part II

Since it's simple i decided to just do the fix myself and now I understand why he refused to do it.

The RH side, went fine, easy to take apart, replace cartridge, seats and springs - and now no leak. However I noticed when taking apart the LH handle, that the set screw was missing. I was also unable to get the handle off - hmmmm wonder why? No set screw it should be spinning. Well after brute forcing it - it finally came off, and broke the stem in the process. No biggie - I should be able to pull the stem piece out of the handle.

Well that was impossible, it looked like the stem plastic was fused to the inside of the metal handle. How is that possible? There was no corrosion, and I can't for the life of me dig it out - it like its permanently stuck ..... oh ....... he actually glued the handle to the stem top the last time he was here. I assuming its because he lost the set screw.

Really !!! a screw costs .30 cents and there is a store right around the block.

But this is why he wouldn't replace the cartridge and springs. He knew he couldn't, because he had glued the handle on and you can no longer take the LH side apart.

Now I really do have to replace the faucet, because I need to be fixed ASAP - I'm leaving in a day, and can't leave the renter without water. And I can't get a replacement handle at least not quickly, if I could even find one.

This has cost me a lot of time, effort, and not to mention a replacement of the faucet - which I need to pay someone else to do - yet more money - because I'm leaving in a day.

Who glues a handle on to a faucet? !!! And worse it destroys the faucet and my ability to ever fix it again.

What should have been 10.00 and 30 min of time turned into hundreds of dollars and hours and a lot of stress and inconvenience for me and the renter.


I will never never never use these guys again.

Brian J.

I should add, these guys called after my mixed review, and were attentive to my feedback etc. They went up a page in my book. That's good business right there, even if the service call was so-so. I'll give them another chance.

Kat M.

We called Buddy Griggs Plumbing on a Saturday morning, fully expecting to be told that we would have to wait until Monday or pay some exorbitant amount of money for a weekend house call. To our surprise, a friendly voice answered the phone and the plumber - Steve - was at our door in less than half an hour. Steve was knowledgeable, friendly, competent, and quick........and, best of all, not very expensive. He quickly fixed our water heater and we were back in business. Thank you Buddy Griggs!

Aaron F.

I have a low-flow toilet which not been flushing well. These guys showed up early, formed a hypothesis about calcium deposits in the drain, and augered the toilet - problem fixed. They also explained how the problem happened (hard water) and made a suggestion about how to avoid it in the future (occasional soak with white vinegar). Nice work!

A previous plumber who was out to look at the problem simply denied that there was a problem, and suggested that I hold the flush button down longer. Bogus!

C B.

Our kitchen sink faucet was ready to explode! It's an old antique system and it was falling apart - getting worse by the minute. It was Martin Luther King Day - some businesses were closed and after calling our landlord - he was not certain how soon he would be able to get someone out there. Within an hour - Buddy was at our home accessing the situation. By early that afternoon he had found replacement parts (for an old system like ours - not easy) and had an experienced and knowledgable plumber to our house who had everything taken care of in no time. Not only did they fix our kitchen faucet - they took care of our leaky bathroom faucet as well. Both system have not worked better! Need a plumber - call BGP. They are experts in what they are doing and the friendliest guys. You'll get professional, caring and expert service. Thank you to Buddy and his team for taking great care of us and our plumbing needs.