Hofmeister Plumbing

Kate P.

My Hot Water Heater sprang a small leak on July 17. Because Hofmeister Plumbing installed the HWH, and had left their sticker with the date of installation & phone number, I called them for service. Fortunately, the HWH was still under the 6 year Warranty. I felt quite fortunate that the Warranty would cover a new HWH, and of course, I would be responsible for the cost of installation.
Before I share my dissatisfaction with Hofmeister Plumbing, I want to mention that the technician (Miguel), who provided the service, was very knowledgeable, courteous & efficient. My complaint is entirely on the COST to INSTALL a HOT WATER HEATER.
$1650.oo!!! The entire time of this service call to replace a Hot Water Heater, was just under 2 (TWO) HOURS. The $1650.oo invoice is JUST for the INSTALLATION... my HWH replacement was covered under my Warranty as it was less than 6 years old.
The charge of $1650.oo seemed exorbitant for the installation of a HWH, so I questioned if, perhaps the cost of the actual Hot Water Heater unit was added to the invoice. No, the tech assured me the $1650.oo was indeed the cost of labor to install. Questioning further, I was told I was being charged for travel time it took for the technician to arrive to my house, plus his time to pick up the HWH at the distributor. (Westwood NJ is 12 miles from my home) Upon review of my invoice, and, the Hofmeister website, I could find nothing in either that supports the techs claim that the customer is to be charged for his drive time!
Granted, I could have called any plumbing service to install a Hot Water Heater, but I called Hofmeister Plumbing because I was so pleased with the work they did on my home 6 years earlier. Hofmeister Plumbing had installed a brand new Furnace, Central Air Conditioner, and, my Hot Water Heater.
I certainly don't know if there has been a change of ownership or management in the past 6 years, but the incredible outrageous fee of $1650.oo just to replace my Hot Water Heater assures I WILL NEVER EVER contact Hofmeister Plumbing for my plumbing needs, and I would NEVER EVER RECOMMEND Hofmeister Plumbing to anyone.
.... for the record, I called Hofmeister Plumbing the next day to inquire if perhaps an error had been made... I left a detailed message, but never heard back. That tells me they don't care about keeping their loyal returning customers. I'm 67, on Social Security, and feel I was taken advantage of.... I had to pay

Stephen T.

We had a broken garbage disposal unit in our kitchen sink installed by the previous owner. The unit would drain the sink but when it was shut off, the water backflowed and large amounts of black bits showed up. We initially thought it was a clog, but nothing we tried worked. We called Hofmeister at 7:30pm, and a callback service representative passed our information to the on-call plumber. A plumber called back around 8pm. Since we didn't consider this an emergency, the plumber scheduled us for the next day.

The next morning, I got a text three times giving me an update on their arrival. The plumber was running a little late form another job, but they were quick to update me. Amazingly, we got Joe again. We told Joe to remove the garbage disposal and install normal pipes again. Joe and his partner plumber removed the disposal unit. The unit had debris in it from some of its internal parts failing. While his partner moved to another client, Joe focused on replacing the plumbing underneath our kitchen sink. He installed a new sink strainer to replace the one that came with the disposal unit. He then cut and installed new PVC and metal pipes to connect the sink to the main drain. He corrected the alignment of the dishwasher hose and connected it to the new piping. When he tried to run water, it was still clogged. So, he had to use his plumber's snake and snake the kitchen sink line 20 feet down and pulled out more debris. Joe spent about 2 hours working on this and did an excellent job.

The cost of the job was somewhat higher than I expected, but they did quality work and came the next day. Our confidence in Hofmeister is restored.

John M.

Awesome work. This company always how's above and beyond for me. Will be using them again. They charge a price and stand by their work. Thank you Hofmeister plumbing.

Maura C.

Very disappointed in the service. I've used Hofmeister for many years and they always have come through, though at a price. They quoted (written) a combi boiler on Saturday with work to start today. Another plumber from comes today and says he can't do it for that price and even the verbal quote for just Hot water heater was too low. All this back & forth took all morning and nothing done. Canceled job & have another company doing the work. As usual, felt talked down to and intelligence insulted. They will blame their newer employee who did the quote when they just need to train their people better. Not his fault.

Tracey D.

So glad that Hofmeister replaced my furnace yesterday. The heat is great! The technician, Shawn, knew and explained the problems & worked a long day with an assistant to replace the furnace. He inspected my old furnace, explained how it was bad & the next day was at my house at about 8 am to install the new one. He helped line up the chimney guys to replace the liner that was broken. He got the chimney guys to my house on the same day that he inspected my old furnace. He actually called them back during the installation to correct some of their work. He bled the radiators (well mostly since I refused access to the bedrooms where my kids were due to covid concerns. My son bled the remaining radiators.) And, the price was extremely fair. I have some more odds & ends to take care of in the Spring & will call Hofmeister. Hopefully I can convince Shawn to come back because I trust his opinion. I'm glad the job was done right.

Ramsar S.

Do Not recommend - Hofmeister plumbing charged $959.63, on Jan. 20, 2021, for about one hour of work($900 labor + $59.63 tax, not sure why I was charged tax on labor, they did not use any parts). Snake the water line and replace the disposal. Here's why I'm scoring them with 2 stars:
1 star - value for money
2 star - tech professionalism
4 star - timeliness
1 star - repair accuracy (they had to come back a 2nd time as I found their mistake in replacing the kitchen disposal.)
Invoice # 16121

Timothy S.

Read this to save money and avoid a nightmare. We are a one bathroom house and when our toilet backed up it was pretty important. Hoffmeister was recommended by a friend knowledgeable in the industry. Hoffmeister determined the main had obstruction and began sneaking out the line to clear the main. 2.5 hours later they cleared the obstruction, but when removing the snake they damaged a pipe on the backside of the clear out.I own a family business myself. I assumed for three men to work 2.5 hours, on the ""high side"" it would be about $500 or so for their work. I was charged over $800 dollars. I naturally assumed they would inflate the price so they could come back and repair the damage done. Upset, but understandable I guess, I paid the bill and made an appointment to take off work and have them come back. Upon returning I was told it would be an ADDITIONAL $375 to repair the damage they had done themselves. I refused. Being capable with my hands (I'm in a repair industry, but not a plumber) I went and bought the required supplies myself for $91 and did the repair myself. So, if you want headaches and a mugging, call Hoffmeister. If you want competent work? For God's sake call someone else!

Sean P.

I had a boiler issue. Harold showed up on time and diagnosed the issue. I will definitely recommend them for any heating plumbing issues

John D.

Called to have my hot water heater looked at that was not working The hot water heater would not turn on. Shant the plumber was at my house within 1 hour of me calling. He was very professional when he greeted me. He was quick in finding the issue. The hot water heater was installed by Hofmeister 3 years ago and was still under warranty. He called the manufacturer and was able to get replacements item under warranty. He had to contact local vendor for parts and was told it would take 3 days to get the parts. Since he know that would be to long to be without hot water he contact the Harold the owner and they said instead I could get new heater the next day under warranty instead.

He arrive the next day at time he said he would and replaced the hot water heater very fast. Shant is very professional and would recommend him to everyone.

Paul B.

Courteous, fast and most importantly competent. That is the way I describe Hofmeister Plumbing. Recently had a broken water heater. The technician explained everything over the phone to calm my nerves, then arrived and fixed the issue. Awesome Company!!