James Brown Plumbing Heating & Air Conditioning

Stephen H.

Very positive experience with Jim brown plumbing. My 20 year old furnace stopped working earlier this fall, Scott gave me multiple options of what I could do, which I really liked. Plus he was not pushy with any of the options, he just gave me the cost/benefits of each options and let me make the decision best for my situation. I ended up replacing my furnace with one of the lower cost furnaces he showed me and he was able to replace it within a few days. I have had no problems since.

Cara B.

Recommended. Recently, our house suffered a frozen--and then ruptured--pipe in the basement. My husband called around to many plumbers, trying to get an estimate on what it would take to fix the one rupture in that one pipe.

Long story short, James Brown Plumbing was the only plumbing outfit that, over the phone, gave us a reasonable sense of what the repair might entail in terms of labor time (sight unseen, but we gave a detailed description). ALL of the other companies we talked with were maddeningly coy and downright evasive about their charges beyond the cost of the initial home visit/diagnosis. (Incidentally, my husband found that the price range for an initial visit by a Plumber was: $44 to $125. Some companies let you apply that charge to the cost of the overall repair. Some do not. Even so, that's quite a spread.)

The James Brown customer service rep (""April"") also gave us a solid answer on cost: $110 for the first hour, and then 25% of 110 for each 15 minute increment. Fair enough! She predicted the job MIGHT take about an hour or less. I understand it is impossible to know these things until the tech actually comes to the house. But she scored points for being intelligent enough to have a short, meaningful conversation about my problem and then to give me a conditional guesstimate. HIRED.

The owner, Jim Brown, showed up at the house within an hour or so and merrily fixed the pipe. No muss, no fuss. He even wrapped the repaired pipe with a length of coating, for safety. He was pleasant, professional, and a joy to do business with. The bill was exactly what April had predicted.

Thanks, James Brown Plumbing and Heating. We will tell others about you.

John B.

I'm blown away by the work that James Brown PHAC did for my family. We had some boiler issues on a Tuesday night that I called about. Wednesday morning Scott and his dad, James, showed up to take care of our problem. We had no heat or hot water. My wife, newborn daughter, and I were preparing to go a few days without because I assumed it would either take a bit for them to fit us in their schedule or there would be replacement parts needed. But they went so far out of the way to make sure we were comfortable immediately and now our heat and hot water are back within 16 hours of my initial call to Scott.

I'd seen James Brown PHAC's work before. It's a rare site to see a company take so much pride in their cleanliness and workmanship. They do work that will forever be hidden behind walls, but take as much pride as a finish carpenter! I look forward very much to them doing more work for my home and business soon.

Chris T.

I've used these guys about a half dozen times in as many years, and wouldn't think of calling anyone else. I recently had them do a commercial build out in a historic and historically neglected building. There were some challenges along the way and they couldn't have done a better job of adjusting to them. Great communication throughout the entire project.
I knew these guys were good, but it wasn't until other contractors on the project started pointing out some examples of their craftsmanship that I realized how good. I believe these guys care about and take pride in the work they do.

It's not even that job that inspired me to write a yelp review (something I've never done before). Two days before the bad storm rolled in last week, my heater (at home) broke down and I called them out. After an thorough assessment, I was given my options. The next day, I had a brand new unit in place and working like a charm!

Small details like laying down drop cloths and removing wet boots to keep our floors clean also make a difference.

Informed, experienced and professional craftsmanship is not easy to find nowadays, but you just have.

Ming P.

I really cannot speak highly enough about James Brown Plumbing.

My water heater was broken and it had been two tough winter days without hot water. With my lack of knowledge about the situation, I was very leery of getting ripped off even though I didn't have much of a choice at that point. I called 3 different plumbing services to quote the price for replacing the broken one with the exact same type new water heater, the price James gave me is much more reasonable than others. I also found James Brown Plumbing has many good reviews on Yelp, which turned out to be very accurate.

From the moment James came in, he told me he will take care of me and I felt totally confident he was going to be on it. They did an amazing job replacing my water heater and they also fixed the problem I had with my toilet. With a pleasant demeanor, they took care to do the jobs properly while respecting our home and us. Everything was cleaned and fixed perfectly, and is now better than ever.

If you want it done right, done professionally, and done expeditiously, call James Brown! I will certainly only use James Brown plumbing for all of my plumbing needs and issues from here forward.

Jeremy W.

Our AC broke while doing renovations on the kitchen and it happen on a 100 degree day in July. I called multiple vendors with only one calling back and asking questions - Steve from James Brown Plumbing. Instead of just coming out and charging a service fee, Steve asked some key questions and we identified it was just the circuit on the unit. I ran to get a new breaker and the issue was resolved. Not saying that it would always be a free consultation, but this was a great experience and suggest calling them for any HVAC issue first.

Bradford G.

Avoid. If I could give it zero stars I would.

After my toilet was broken by an overzealous party guest, I turned to Yelp for help. Good stars for JBP in the past, but I ended up surprised -- My experience with them went from good to bad, despite other good reviewers. I think the potential for them to be good contractors is there, they are nice enough to start, but they didn't do good work, and their immaturity turned into rude behavior and harassment when I complained.

It started with them arriving late. Miscommunication with his partner/son he said, no problem I said. I did have time to confirm with him that the toilet his son recommended I purchase from Home Depot was a good one. ""If it's got the Kohler name, it's great"", he said. Fine, I ran to my meeting while he did the install.

When I returned, he was gone. Everything looked in order until I flushed the toilet and I then just knew. It had no power, only half the water went out the bowl with the flush. Yes, it was a low flush toilet, but so was the prior one, this one just didn't flush fully. I decided to just give it a trial run, if you know what I mean. Yeah, it sucked, or didn't suck as the case may be, half the stuff never went down. Believe me I tried repeatedly. He was also supposed to fix the leaky sink but it was still dripping. I was surprised.

I called and he came back out and tinkered with the flapper on the toilet. Now he said, ""that toilet is not a good toilet, and maybe it has a defect."" Okay, perhaps, but why didn't he tell me that before? As a pro, wouldn't he know that it sucked as soon as he installed it, before he left the first time? Hell, I flushed it once and could tell it wasn't going to work well, he's a pro, right? He tinkered with the sink again as well, and it still leaked after he left. I was concerned.

I called again and we agreed I'd buy a new toilet. Coincidentally, the son was at Home Depot the day I went to pick it out and he graciously agreed to take the new toilet in his truck, my Honda being a bit small. I appreciated that.

Honestly, I know how to install a toilet, it's not hard, I could have done this myself, but I opted to pay a pro to do it for me, so I expect pro advice, like ""that toilet sucks I don't recommend it"" or ""I installed it and I can see it insn't going to work well, are you sure you want it?"". I got none of that. No problem, I'm still hopeful.

About a week later they came and installed the second new toilet. Unfortunately again while I wasn't there. When I came home, I went upstairs to check my new throne, I had to go you know...and nearly killed myself as the owner hadn't installed the toilet seat. He set the seat on the toilet, loosely installed one screw, and left the second screw completely off, like he was in the middle of installing the seat and got an emergency call and ran out the door. You can imagine what happened when I went to sit on it, I can't make this up. Insult to injury, this one flushes only a bit better than the last. And my sink still leaks.

So I call. Twice. I text him. Twice. Each time I say, hey, this wasn't $400 worth of work, I am not happy, let's cut a deal and move on, I'll pay but not that much. No reply. At this point, I have not yet sent a check and payment is overdue.

Then I start getting the second invoices and angry calls and text messages. ""We're going to sue you if you don't pay"", he texts. He calls me names. I'm ""one of those"" customers he writes. I suppose he means ones who won't pay full price for a incomplete or unsatisfactory job. I clarify that I will finish the job and we should discuss the price. No deal, it's all my fault he says. Riiiiiight.

I'm busy so I paid them the full amount and will find someone else to do plumbing work next time. Yes, they did unsatisfactory work, and he just bullied me for the money, but frankly I have better things to do with my time. You however are reading this review so you can save yourself the aggravation by looking elsewhere.

Rod H.

I just moved to Phoenixville recently because my wife grew up here, so I don't know anybody to get a personal recommendation from. I found JBPH&AC on yelp and gave them a call because I accidentally drilled into a copper pipe for my heating system. (Dumb mistake) Scott was polite and professional as he explained the entire heating system to me so I knew exactly what was being worked on, and the problem was fixed in no time. I highly recommend these guys, they're top notch.

Michael D.

Scott Brown is a first rate professional and will find great ways to help you conserve yours and the earths resources for your heating and cooling needs!

Mark S.

No job too big or small for these guys it seems. My experiences with Scott and his father have been nothing but positive. Fast response, clear explanations of problems and multiple options, and good rates. Also friendly and professional, which is a bonus. What else could you possibly want?