Comet Plumbing & Sewer

Peter A.

I have a great plumber for work inside the house, but when my sewer line showed signs of needing replacement, I asked a local contractor and was referred to Comet Plumbing and Sewer. Andrew is a consummate professional. He did good work, came when he said he would, showed up numerous times to make sure everything was as it should be during a week-long ordeal with city permits and inspections, and even labored for hours in the rain to ensure my service would not be interrupted. He gives a 10-year warranty on his work, so hopefully I'll never require his services again, but should there ever be a need, I'd call him in a heartbeat.

Arthur H.

I hire Andrew on a Saturday to fix a totally blocked sewer pipe. He arrived right on time at 3:00 and started for 1 hour to find and few the blockage on his video camera. Line was too ... full of ... *$#% to see anything. He used an electronic device (feeding off the camera's signal) to find the blockage... which was about the location I expected.

He said that old pipes in Sunnyvale use this Tar/Paper material (my house was build in 1954) or clay pipes. After 60 years, they are cracked and my very thirsty fruit tree had found a nice source of water!!! (the Drought has made my garden quite parched).

The then focused on the clock and after 45 minutes total.. the pipes were clear and he was gone. I found him honest, very friendly and spoke with an English (UK) accent. I Give him 5 stars for once he got the toilet off, the pipes were clear in 10 minutes. I might use him to lay new pipes and install a dual Sewer Clean Out next weekend once I check his references.

I will post another update if I select him to install the house to City pipes... has to be done because.....

I had the same issue 4 months earlier and I called another Sunnyvale Plumber. He showed up 90 minutes late, spoke very little English. He had a very hard time trying to fix my blockage and nearly gave up. Cost was a bit higher than Andrew's final price.

The other plumber told me ""Tree... Roots.... BAD PIPES"".... and I knew Judgment Day would arrive sooner than later. I would give this guy 4 stars and did not call him for I do like to talk and understand a person that will cost me a few thousand dollars to fix.

Andrew seams very honest and easy to work with. 5 stars for he appears to know his stuff and was not trying to push anything too expensive.

Andrew was complaining about old Yelp Reviews... I looked at Barbara G. and Gordon F. reviews and they both seam rather negative all around to others. Not sure if they are real or just very negative persons. Gordon only left 3 reviews and 2 are 1 star for two local plumbers.... sounds funny since only Fake and Really pissed off persons place 1 star reviews.

Peter S.

Andy came out and did great work. Low price and finished on time. Under bid competitor. Very friendly and courteous. Will have him do all my work from now on and would recommend to friends and family as well.

Simon T.

We couldn't be happier with the service we got from Andy and the guys he has working for him. A week after moving into our new rental house our toilet bowl wouldn't drain and waste water was going into the bathtub! After the landlord suggested dumping a large bucket of water down the pan we got approval to call an emergency plumber - this was around 7 in the evening. Andy arrived within the hour and stayed until 11 to video-scope the pipe to the sidewalk and found several blockages that he was able to snake out. He even had to excavate for access to the pipe that evening as the house was too old to have something called a ""clean out"" on the property.
After this he handled all the communication with the landlord about replacing the pipe as it was old and rotten beyond salvage. He and his guys dug a trench, replaced the pipe and put the garden back the way it was such that you'd hardly know they'd ever been there.
Honest, hardworking and very communicative about the work being done and how long it will take - I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Andy to anyone requiring plumbing work.

Gordon F.

A few months ago, I had a clogged sewer line that needed immediate repair. Andrew came out to try and snake the line, and he determined that he could not break through the clog. His assessment was that it must be a broken pipe or fully collapsed pipe, because his 4 inch blade should be able to push through anything else like a hot knife through butter. He then talked me through options for digging up 75 feet of my newly landscaped front yard to replace the sewer line. When I balked at the several thousand dollar price, I asked if there were any other options. To his credit, he did bring up the fact that there is a trenchless option, but however, he kept insisting that I don't go with the trenchless option (essentially, digging 2 small ditches on both ends of the sewer line, using machinery to feed a new pipe through the existing one and pushing/obliterating the existing pipe in the ground), and that his guys could dig the ditch and restore my landscape back to the original state. I was dubious about this, and told him I wanted to seek a second opinion. He was nice enough about that, but tried to convince me that trenchless option is risky, etc.

Anyhow, I did get a couple of other quotes for both a trenchless and an old fashioned digging a big trench option, and found the Andrew's quote was on the higher side. Furthermore, I discovered that trenchless, is in fact, a much better way to go. It doesn't require digging up the entire line, and it is VERY safe (and, last but not least, almost half the price of what Andrew tried to charge me). Licensed plumbers who have the equipment and expertise, perform trenchless pipe replacements all the time, and they have no problems passing city inspections. The guys, like Comet Plumbing and Sewer, don't have this expertise, so they try to downplay it or steer you away from it, in the hopes that you'll get suckered into their more expensive and manual approach.

Lastly, the plumber I ended up using, was immediately forthcoming with helping me unclog my drain pipe by using a smaller diameter snake that easily pushed through the problem area. At least this guy was willing to give it a try and clear out my pipe so that I could use my toilets and water again, before the actual pipe replacement happened. Andrew, on the other hand, just kept telling me that he didn't want to push his snaking machine any harder, and basically left me stuck with a plugged sewer pipe.

If you decide to engage Comet Plumbing, you can make your own determination on how ""honest"" they are, but my experience has proven that if you take just a little bit of time and talk to a few other people, you'll likely find out the truth .... hopefully, before you make a snap decision and get suckered.

Adam C.

I have used Comet Plumbing for my last two plumbing jobs. On each occasion it was an emergency. The first emergency we had was on the evening of valentines day, the night before we were leaving for a weekend without the kids. I called at least five plumbers. All promised to be there in under an hour; by the time I gave up on them and called Comet, it was after 11. Andrew came promptly, worked quickly, and didn't gouge me with after hours fees. Then this past weekend after a big party, the pipes backed up. I called Andrew right away, on Sunday after 6 pm. Andrew said he was booked all the next day, but when I explained that it was urgent, he showed up within half an hour. Again, no extra fees. I highly recommend him. He's a nice guy, too.

Jay L.

We did a complete rehaul of the landscaping in our front yard, and realized early on we should get our sewer main (which runs through the yard) replaced beforehand. We had 4 backups in a couple of years due to the root systems from a couple of large trees in the yard. Called around and had a number of plumbing/sewer contractors come out to give estimates. These ran the gamut from over-the-phone blind quotes to guys who came and ran a camera through the cleanouts to see what the situation was. Andrew from Comet was one who did the latter, and was very thorough in showing us where the problems were, and what he proposed to do to fix everything. Other companies suggested ""trenchless"" repair. Andrew felt that in light of the work we planned to do anyway on the landscaping (ie we weren't worried about preserving the landscaping around the line), it would be better to trench out the line.

Throughout the job, Andrew was responsive (always answered the phone), prompt, courteous, hardworking, and honest. He also demonstrated great professionalism in working with our landscaping contractor in terms, and was accomodating with respect to timing as well as work division (who was responsible for what). He made the whole process as painless as possible, and took care of permits through the city for us. Cost-wise he was very competitive - one of the best out of the group that gave us quotes.

Highly recommend for jobs both large and small. We will certainly be calling again for any future plumbing needs!

Mary R.

I called Comet Plumbing in desperate need of a plumber. Andrew was right on time, he said he'd be there within 30 min! We had a back up in our drain that flooded our kitchen. He promptly assessed the problem and proceeded to clear the drain and clear the blockage. He was very polite and explained the process he was going to take to fix the problem. His rates were good and reasonable. There was no extra charge for the late night visit either! I highly recommend him and will be calling him out for all my plumbing needs!

Brian B.

We had a leak from the outside faucet in the back of our home. While it was not an emergency situation it was one that, as soon as it was discovered, we needed to remedy. I telephoned Comet and was greeted upon the second ring by a man named Andrew. I explained, to the best of my non-plumbing ability, what the problem was. Andrew stated that, if it worked for my schedule, he could be down here within an hour. I thought to myself, this is far better than most of my past experiences in trying to get a plumber or any other service provider. Far too many times I contacted someone, made the appointment only to have them either say that the job was too small for them, call to say they were running late or not even bother showing up at all. As promised, Andrew arrived well within the stated time time. I answered the door, he professionally and respectfully greeted me with a waiting handshake and a business card. He waited outside while I slipped on some shoes and I lead him to the site of the problem. He looked it over carefully, ""played"" with the faucet for a couple of turns and then patiently explained to me what the issue was and how best to resolve it. Being the handy fix it guy that I am, he might as well have been speaking Urdu. To his credit, I asked him to review it with me again so that I could understand what was happening and what needed to be done to fix it. He took another stab at it, stopping whenever he saw that he was losing me. He then quoted a price to me; that there was a flat amount for the service call and what he thought the parts would cost. He wrote up an estimate and I gladly initialed where asked. The fee(s) were FAR lower than what I had anticipated. He asked about the nearest OSH and/or Home Depot was as he did not have the correct part(s) that were needed for the job. He said something about only having the ""female"" end and what we needed was the ""male"" version. He drove off to obtain the needed part. Andrew returned within half an hour and promptly went to work. He did the job, taking off the old part and replacing it with the new. All the while I'm looking over his shoulder wanting to make sure that it was done correctly, yeah, like I would have known otherwise... In the end, the total fee for the job was actually less than his original quote (by about 15%). He adjusted the paperwork, I signed off on it and wrote him a check for a job well done. Hence, we are no longer wasting gallons of water per day and I've found a new plumber should I need one. I would recommend Comet Plumbing/Andrew without hesitation.

Jon C.

Finding a good plumber is like finding a good doctor, dentist, lawyer, or mechanic. These relationships are based on a profoundly high level of trust. You can call a good plumber in a time of need, and he'll come right away and make everything better. I deeply value the business relationship I've formed as a repeat customer of Comet. Since I can't review each time Andrew and Comet have saved our bacon, I'll just list the jobs here:

May 12, 2012 - My wife and 4 year-old daughter were alone when our ancient water heater rusted out and flooded the garage. She found Comet on Google. Over the phone, Comet helped her shut off the water to stop the flooding. Andrew arrived within the hour, showed us the cause of the problem, quoted the job, and purchased a new water heater that met our needs. He did extensive work to not only install the new water heater, but also to bring the entire installation, plumbing, and ventilation up to code. All was resolved, and bath time occurred right on schedule that night.

August 13 - At my request, Andrew inspected the 20 year-old water heater in the condo we own. The same kind of flooding there would have been catastrophic, and Andrew pointed out the telltale signs that this appliance was indeed on borrowed time. I arranged to have Comet come in the next day when I had scheduled the delivery of a new dishwasher, as well as another handyman to do some unrelated projects. Andrew took great care in the installation of the new heater which was on the second floor of the condo. He was careful to stay out of the way of the other technicians while he installed everything to code and was meticulous with every step. I appreciated the time he took to communicate the rationale for each step he took.

Later that week, we had a kitchen clog that was bad enough that I couldn't resolve it with chemicals or a snake. Andrew came by on his way home from a big job and used a high-pressure jet tool to flush out the clog, which it turns out was pretty extensive.

This morning, I asked Andrew to come over to replace our derelict garbage disposal. He came over immediately and just happened to have a replacement unit on hand. He made our home safer and pointed out where we could improve the wiring under the sink. He also installed a water line for our ice maker that we'd been wanting to put in but had been procrastinating for fear of messing it up. The ice maker's doing it's thing as I'm finishing up this review. Can't wait to use it.

A good plumber is someone you count on to get you through difficult times, and sometimes to make things just a little nicer at home. We're grateful and have real peace of mind with Comet. I really hope that my review doesn't get filtered out just because Comet doesn't pay for a premium listing here. My reviews are written with a lot of heart and consideration for what other members here need to know. I'd take it as a sign of complete disrespect if this review doesn't make it past the weekend.