John O Connell Plumbing

Kate S.

Not long after buying a home I tried replacing a bathroom facet myself and found out the emergency shut off valve was leaking. I called John O Connell Plumbing to replace the valve. I had a feeling a valve in the kitchen was also leaking based on the appearance of the wall around it so I asked they take a look at that, too. I couldn't be there the day John came out so I had my mom meet him at my place. He suggested to her that the emergency shut off in the bathroom need not be replaced because once the supply lines were installed, the leak wouldn't matter - so he installed the faucet instead of replacing the valve.
As for the kitchen, same deal. He suggested once the refrigerator was connected, it wouldn't be a problem that the ice maker supply was leaking. He put a copper line on the back of the fridge and connected it to the supply - that's when we found out the refrigerator was also broken as water just poured out uncontrollably. He disconnected the refrigerator from the supply and capped the valve.

All in all, neither issue I called about was addressed, both were bandaided with cheaper, easier solutions.

Later that week, I called another plumber to check up on the kitchen valve as I wasn't comfortable with John's solution especially since the refrigerator couldn't be left connected. The other plumber found that the pipe had burst inside the wall which was what caused the suspicious looking drywall that tipped me off in the first place. In the end, there was $14,000 of water damage to my kitchen and the garage below. I don't know if any or how much of that damage could have been mitigated had John replaced the valve when I asked for it instead of taking the easier route.
But it gets better - that bathroom valve he said didn't need to be replaced? It started leaking last week. It saturated my vanity, the wall behind it, and the floor beneath. After having it dried out and replacing all the damaged stuff, my involuntarily new bathroom came at a cost of just under $3,000.

Thanks, John O Connell Plumbing, saving me money and yourselves work the first time around only cost me $17,000 in repairs in the end plus the cost of hiring another plumber to correct the work done by John and son.

Jim H.

John and his son are the perfect team providing old world quality, Irish charm, skilled service, and reasonable rates! We've been very pleased with their work and think you will be too!

Chris J. J.

John has done 2 major projects for me over the past 3 years. He put in an overhead sewer after the flood in 2010 and he just remodeled my bathroom. John is great at making sound suggestions during a project. He does / oversees all of the work himself and his pride shows. I'd recommend John to anyone