Harts Plumbers, Electricians, & HVAC Technicians

Paul R.

Called for emergency help when water to multiple apartment units was either stopped or trickling due to water lines freezing. Great that they came out on a Sunday and had a positive attitude and good customer communication skills. Terrible that they charge more than an orthopedic surgeon for fixing plumbing issues. After several water lines were warmed to allow water to flow - something that can be done with a hair dryer - and a water leak detected that took the better part of perhaps six hours to repair, we were presented with a bill of over $8700. Talk about highway robbery! This was work that should have cost no more than half of that amount - let's see: divide 8700 into 6 hours and we get $1333/hour. Divide that by two and they are charging $666/per hour per person (the materials used for our job were about six feet of pipe and a few elbow joints).

No matter how good a plumber you might be, no matter how good your customer skills are, charging $650+ per hour for a plumber is insane, and I cannot imagine this is a business that has many repeat customers.

P.S. They gave me a quote to replace one standard hot water tank that was over $5600. I had one replaced on the same property, in the same condition, with the same work done, one year ago for about $3500. These folks think they are selling diamonds, not plumbing services.

Suzanne W.

I have never written a report in Yelp.

This past April ('23) I decided to call Chipper's Plumbing in Tukwila (recently known as Alred). The reason was, it was a small, family-owned business and Alred had been recommended by my neighbor. I needed a new kitchen faucet and 2 new toilets. I also had a clogged bathroom sink drain. I'd previously used and been satisfied with Southwest Plumbing but try to stay with smaller businesses if I can.

Mike, their plumber, came out, looked over my projects and gave me estimates. Keep in mind, I'm a 75-year old woman with an 88-year old, handicapped husband and I know nothing about plumbing prices. The bid seemed high but Mike was so nice that I didn't get any other bids (very stupid).

First of all, there were 6 different proposals offered to me...A - E. They were all extremely confusing. The different invoices showed prices if I joined the ""Chipper Club"" (for a price), if I didn't join the Chipper Club, if I chose toilets with or without new rings and shut offs (it was $450 cheaper per toilet than if I added them), if I purchased my own Delta faucet vs. bought their faucet. And, so on.

So, I signed on and joined the Chipper Club.

Mike then installed the Delta Kitchen Faucet which I'd purchased from Ferguson. They charged $2129 for labor only with no warranty since the new faucet was pre-purchased by me.
Chipper sent a new trainee/apprentice who attempted (unsupervised in the same room) to install the 2 TOTO toilets they'd provided. According to the trainee, he'd ""installed only about 20 toilets before"". The new trainee had problems and ultimately broke the ring on one. I only discovered this because I dropped in to inspect his work in progress. ""A broken ring is no big deal"", Mike (who was working in the kitchen) said. I'm not sure the ring was replaced. The toilets + install cost: around $2000 ea. Both were bottom-of-the-line Totos.

It turns out that these 2 toilets barely flush and definitely don't clear waste well. I've called Chipper 3 times to come out and adjust them so they'd perform a basic flush and they don't return my calls. I consider this part of the warranty work. They look at it as a separate service call, minimum $99. They'd then charge 'who-knows-how-much' to ""fix"" the problem.

Unhappy with Chipper's work, I had a 3rd toilet installed by Southwest Plumbers a month later. They presented me with a very clear bill for $1557.77 and the toilet flushes thoroughly.

Mike's estimate to unplug my clogged bathroom drain-by performing pipe-replacement work and possible wallboard work ....estimate $943.
In the end, I called SW Plumbing for a second opinion. They cleared a huge glob of yuck from the drain for $141.

Mike also encouraged me to buy a new garbage disposal from Chipper , which I did...
$2161...

Chipper's bills and invoices are very confusing to follow. Finally, I simply gave up and just paid the bills. Chipper/Mike was expensive, slow, way too chatty and difficult to get finished up and out of the house. Chipper also advertises that a trained professional will do the work. This wasn't true of my toilets.

Word to the wise: BEWARE and COMPARE...

Steve O.

I hired Chipper Plumbing (formerly Allred's Plumbing) to install a new garbage disposal on 8/31/21. They installed an Insinkerator Pro 1100XL which is a good quality unit. After several months I noticed the sink was draining slowly and the unit was noisy. They (Mike) came back and checked the unit and recommended heating the baffle up to make it more pliable therefore allowing it to drain faster. Unfortunately, it still didn't work. Mike told me to contact Insinkerator because it was still under warranty.

I contacted them and they instructed me to perform some tests and to work with my plumber. I felt like I was getting the run around between Insinkerator and Chipper as each of them appeared to be blaming the other. I then contacted the CEO of Chipper (Josh Allred) and he ensured me that they would get it resolved. Mike came back out to do more testing. He checked the plumbing to ensure it was functioning properly - it was. He also installed a new baffle. Additionally, he installed a new disposal (the same model). In the end the problem was solved. The sink drains properly and the disposal is much quieter.

Although it was a hassle working through the problems, Chipper stood behind their work and made it right with no cost to me. From my experience most companies don't stand behind their work despite their advertisements stating their work is ""guaranteed"". Happy to say Chipper does indeed stand behind their work. As an added bonus, Mike was polite, knowledgeable and great to work with. He took the time to explain what he was doing and answered all my questions. Thank you Mike!

Lori C.

I called to ask if they could fix a clogged sink we were unable to fix with our snake. The man who answered the phone said, sure and that it would be $89. The next day, the plumber arrives and states that the cost will be $450!! I asked what happened to the $89? He said that the other guy shouldn't have said that and it's $450. I could decline the service at that point and pay $100 for the service call and still be no closer to solving the problem, so I relented and had the service done. 40 minutes later, he was done and gone. That works out to be close to $600 an hour. Even doctors don't charge that rate!

Brandon E.

We were referred to Chipper Plumbing (Allred's) by another plumbing service who did not have availability. We are in the middle of renovating our guest bathroom and needed a plumber to set a new fiberglass tub before our tile guy could get to work. My wife met with the plumber by herself as I was out of town.

Let me preface this by saying she knows zero about plumbing and this is probably pretty clear to any plumbing professional. That being said, she thought the plumber that they sent out was knowledgeable and professional. Then he gave her a quote for over $8,000 which was much more than we were anticipating. We decided to check with our contractor and another family friend who is a plumber. They both said that number was ridiculous and to get another plumber in to look. We decided to call two more plumbers in and were quoted $1,800 and $2,200 respectively for the same work. The company we went with had all work completed by one guy within 4 hours.

When we reached back out to Chipper to see if they could give us a breakdown of their cost, we received no reply.

Normally I would just move on and let this slide without a review. But trying to take advantage of my clearly pregnant wife shows pretty low morals and I think they deserve to be called out on it.

Elise O.

Matt provided great service to Queen City Yacht Club. Thank you!

Anne C.

Called them for boiler (radiant floor heating) work. Two techs came, who knew nothing about the boiler. Did a diagnostic for almost $700 and replaced the flame rollout switch which turned out later to be the incorrect type. Suggested we replace the entire system to the tune of $24,000, which is ridiculous since the boiler was installed in 2000. Their ""diagnostic"" did not even note the heat exchangers were clogged with dust and such. When their repairs malfunctioned after several hours , we had to call a more knowledgeable boiler repair company, who changed out the incorrect part and did a thorough cleaning of the unit for a third of the price. Works now like a charm. We also allowed Allred to change out our water heater which we knew was leaking. While removing it from the boiler room, they banged the boiler, causing a leak in its pipes.Workers also knocked over a bottle of laundry detergent, spilling it all over shoes and the floor, which we discovered later, as they never mentioned it. They wanted us to pay $1800 to repair their damage, which would also entail a full drain of the system. Called and spoke to manager (Josh) who after conferencing with his workers, refused to admit the damages were their fault, telling us our boiler room door was too narrow to remove the old water heater. They refused to even split the leak repair cost with us, which we generously suggested we would agree to. Not at all interested in pleasing a disappointed customer. Just mansplained it all and left the leak unrepaired. (Second company fixed it for next to nothing and it did not need a drain of the entire system as we were told.) I see other reviews describe similar issues, including damage they will not own up to, so it's not just us. I don't like the way the estimate/bill are not broken down to show the labor cost. The parts are not that expensive so they must charge a inordinate amount for labor, but you don't know because it's not itemized. We won't be calling Allred again and will not recommend them to anyone. We'll recommend the other company.

Deanna K.

Technicians, Jordan and Mark are a good team. Both very professional and know their product. Troubleshooting the system and solutions were explained thoroughly.

Christine A.

On 11/4/2002, I needed a front hose faucet replaced and Matt Stanil of Allreds plumbing performed the necessary service. The overall service was excellent and Matt was not only very friendly, knowledgeable and but very polite. He showed up on time and explained what the problem was and the options to best resolve my problem. After deciding on the option I wanted, he quickly and thoroughly explained the Diamond Service membership programs which I enrolled in during our brief visit. This was the kind of plumbing experience everyone should experience when something plumbing goes wrong. I highly recommend Allreds and hope you are lucky enough to get Matt as your technician--Randy in Kirkland

Martin C.

First, I would like to say that Mike, the plumber who came out, was excellent. He communicated very well, was neat in appearance, and honest. I have nothing against the plumber. Next, I cannot say anything about the quality of the service since I rejected the bid. What I would like to say is that this company is insanely overpriced. I was an inspector for a custom builder 30+ years ago. I was trained in basic plumbing so I could make repairs. I am not a master plumber. I had a leaking shower drain in my second story. I diagnosed the issue. I opened up the ceiling and verified the issue. I then saw that I would have to cut out part of the drain line in order to make a replacement. I was very busy and decided I would pay for someone else to do it. I estimated that the parts would be less than a $100 and it would take at most 2 hours to repair. So, I thought that maybe the plumber would charge me $500. The estimate came in two parts. $2500 if they replaced the trap and the drain. $1500 if they could replace just the drain. They included cutting the sheetrock, cutting out the broken drain and pipe, replacing the drain and pipe, but not replacing the sheetrock. The task list is completely reasonable. The estimate was ludicrous. I decided I knew enough to do it myself. I purchased the parts and supplies (plumbers putty, ABS cement, Drain, ABS pipe, couplers) for $65. Mind you a plumber would have cement and plumbers putty I didn't so I had to buy an entire unit even though I only needed a fraction of it for the job. Also, remember, I had already cut the hole in the sheetrock. It took me 45 minutes to make the repair. I did not have to cut out the trap. So, I did the $1500 job in 45 minutes and spent $65 (less when I return the unused couplers) in supplies. Actually, it cost me $165 because I had to pay Allred $100 to come out and provide the estimate. I understand there is overhead and a 1 year warranty and all but really, the pricing is absurdly unreasonable. Think about it. They are charging roughly $1900/hr to do the job. If I add in the time they took for the estimate that would go down to $1150/hr. But Technically I paid $100 for the estimate so, $1900/hr is the price.

P.S. Their pricing is based on the type of job. Mike had a book with a fixed price for the type of job. He estimated the job they way the company required him to estimate it.