Hofmeister Plumbing

Larry P.

I was happy to find Shawn (our plumber for many years at WaterWorks which no longer exists) had found a new home at Hofmeister. I had just had a competitor of Hofmeister Plumbing to my house who tried to snake my kitchen sink but was unsuccessful. Guy claimed I needed piping replaced that would cost a pretty big number. I didn't like that answer so shopped around and found Shawn at Hofmeister. He came and was able to snake out the drain very quickly for a third of what the new piping was going to cost me (not sure why the first guy wasn't successful). Be careful who you deal with! If you want a straight up plumber who won't try to take advantage of your situation, call Hofmeister!

Ostap B.

Fast and professional, needed to have a busted kitchen faucet replaced.
The technician was on time, nice and polite, the price was reasonable, installation went smoothly.
The best of all - they were able to do it the same evening I called.
Based on my limited experience I do recommend Hofmeister.

Side note - another company that I contacted (and I do have a service contract with them, so their price is expected to be lower) quoted a much higher price and actually tried to sell me a $2,000 replacement fixture while I was perfectly happy with a $200 replacement faucet from Lowes.

Ray M.

Outrageously overpriced! I would not recommend them at all. $350 to replace a single handle shower cartridge, $400 to replace 2 water shut off valve. Probably took the guy less than 1 hour to do the actual job. Ridiculous! Stay away from them!

Micky R.

I had one of their plumbers out the week before Christmas to do some minor home repairs, one of them to replace kitchen sink faucet, a simple job that I could have done but I now have a difficult time seeing in tight dark places. As the plumber took out the old faucet, he recommended replacing the connecting hoses that seemed particularly worn and I agreed. He finished the job, I replaced all the cleaning supplies we normally store under there and that was it. It was the Friday before Christmas. On Tuesday morning, the day after Christmas, my wife woke me to tell me we had a leak under the sink and into the basement right below the kitchen. Water was seeping out from underneath the sink onto the kitchen floor. She pulled out all the stuff from underneath the sink and piled the area with old towels and a bucket to absorb the leak. I looked under the sink and saw that the leak was coming from the valve where the connector hose was attached, a slow but steady trickle that had accumulated over a period of 4 days. The worst part was going downstairs into our finished basement where we saw water dripping from the drywall ceiling, a huge bubble forming where the paint was trying to hold back the rush. We immediately place towels and a bucket underneath both and burst the paint bubbles to drain the water. In one area, it had already dripped down and soaked the carpet. I immediately called Hofmeister plumbing (about 8:30am) and explained the urgency, explaining that I had ""house damage"" as a result of the leak, to a woman who in a disinterested and flat voice said she'd contact the plumber involved. The plumber called a few minutes later and I relayed the same information, to which he replied that he'd be able come up in a few hours. I further explained what had happened downstairs and asked if he could get a supervisor or the owner to come up and help this out, it was still leaking. He said he would look into it. Apparently the company did not have the same urgency as I did so I called their office again and explained to the same flat-voiced woman that we had suffered property damage as a result of the leak and could they expedite someone here. The same plumber showed up in about 15 minutes and inspected the sink, went out to the truck to get a tool and came back and stopped the leak by tightening the valve connection that he had worked on before. I showed him the damage downstairs and he said that he would have his boss, the owner, contact me later in the day and personally inspect it. He said that during his work it was possible that the corrosion around the fitting, which normally would have been sealed by the water pressure may have been knocked loose during the work. He also suggested we get the valves replaced which were old and showed some corrosion. Then it got real bad. Some woman named Kelley called from the office a few minutes later. She explained that the valves were corroded, it would cost $250 to replace them, but since the plumber had just been out there the other day, they would take $75 off the price! I said, ""we have a larger problem here besides those valves"". She then attempted to blame the leakage and the damage on me, taking no responsibility. She said, ""we're not responsible for what happens after the plumber leaves the site"". Also, ""the plumber inspected the work at the time and found no sign of leakage""; and ""there's no proof that it the leak came from where the plumber was working"". I told her it was exactly where he was working, it was leaking from the valve attached to the connector tubes, and he tightened it up and fixed it 10 minutes before this call. She said, ""anything could have happened underneath after the work was done"" to which I responded, ""we had no reason to be underneath it"". She said, ""do you keep cleaning supplies underneath and did you replace them after the work was done?"" to which I replied, ""the pipe connection is well above the floor of the undersink, nothing was even near them"". Then she insisted I was cutting her off and not letting her speak so I gave her the opportunity to finish. Then she said, ""those valves are corroded and they need to be replaced"". I replied, ""ok, so now that you can't blame the problem on me its back to the corroded valves. But the plumber just came and tightened up where the work was done and stopped the leak."" She then said we'd have to get in touch with our homeowner's insurance company and I asked ""is that your legal position"" and mentioned that I'm holding them liable for the damage. She asked what type of threat I was speaking and I said it's not a threat, you damaged my house and I'm holding you liable. She ended by saying we should find another plumber. I said ""we're done here"" and ended the call.
This is the greatest example of **** poor customer service. The owner never called or showed up. Kelley never apologized, took responsibility or was remotely concerned with the damage to the rest of our house.
Disgraceful and disgusting.

Andrew Z.

My central A/C units stopped working. Spoke to Hofmeister representative on Tuesday afternoon. Repair person told me they would be working in my town the following morning and they would come by to diagnose the problem. Since he was already in Cresskill, there was certainly no great inconvenience to come to me. The repair person was there the following morning, as agreed.
In the interim between speaking to them on Tuesday and when the repair person came by, I went online and was able to diagnose the problem. I was pretty confident in the diagnosis.
So when the repair person came by, I told him what I thought it was and he was able to do the repair by replacing a $15-$20 part in about 15 minutes. He then gave me a bill for $350. (reduced from $375 because I asked).
While the repair was done as I had hoped, in my opinion the charge was outrageous.

Martin M.

If you care about paying what's fare and not being overcharged do yourself a favor and go elsewhere. We have used this service for 25 years and have always felt they charged to much but what happened most recently was beyond the pale. A simple $10 plastic connecter that took 5 minutes to replace and we were charged $250. Yes the worker had to leave to pick up the part and return but the supply house was 3 miles away and the entire service with leaving and coming back took less than 30 minutes. We will never use Hofmeister agian and recommend you not use them either.

Glenn S.

I had a hot water heater problem and Hofmeister Plumbing replaced it and fixed the problem in record time. They also did a great job installing my air condition system. Good guys with quality service and the work is handled right away. Highly recommended.

Nina H.

Performed illegal unpermitted installation of HWH & furnace that failed inspection.
First claimed they'd never done the install even thought they filed retro permits that remain open on my property. Then when the systems failed inspection, refused to remedy and denied they'd ever installed -- despite filing permits.

In addition, they have exhibited their incompetence in the most basic of plumbing function.
Stay away.

Gregg B.

After using this company 16 months ago for a complete drain cleanout from basement to street, called them again for a few minor services. Unfortunately the technician never showed on the scheduled day. Called 3.5 hours late and left a message. Called him back the next day to reschedule and set appointment for the following day. To this day (3 weeks) have never heard from them. Thinking of sending them a bill for time off I took for the original appointment.

Will not use them again and will make sure people in town know about this. Unfortunate too as my drain needs another clean out. Could've been another $850.00........

Eric Y.

I had an unexpected water main break this evening. Harold did an efficient job late at night to get the main line repaired and working. So far so good!