McClain Bros

Andrew G.

Had a bad experience with a different plumber and then called these guys. Pricing was as expected but was explained honestly. Pedro, the plumber who came out, was excellent. Did great work and was courteous. Highly recommend!

Ryan M.

My experience with McClain Bros. has been fraught with negligence, ineptitude, outright lies, and theft. They're currently holding $2,800 from us, and all we received was an open cesspool in our basement - which they left to fester before we were forced to call another company to finish the job.

34 days into an insurance claim with American Water Resources, McClain Bros jack-hammered open a 2ft x 4ft hole in the concrete floor of my basement, exposing a cesspool below (due to a collapsed sewer line), and left. Once off-site, and after numerous phone calls, we find out that the original plumber they had come out to assess the job grossly misdiagnosed the severity of the issue, and proceeded to QUIT HIS JOB at McClain Bros. shortly thereafter.

At this point, owner Mark McClain tried to strong-arm me into a into an extremely costly ($20K), unnecessary scope of work. A full sewer line replacement, including a 20-foot span from the curb to the foundation, which would require the removal of a 4-foot high retaining wall, a patio and a large tree. He tells me that I will have to pay out-of-pocket and try for a reimbursement from AWR if I want to begin the work any time soon; otherwise we will have to file a new claim and wait for their response (which is a 30+ day process; leaving my home uninhabitable during that time). I argue with Mark about his assessment, since I already have a sewer scope video from the curb, courtesy of another plumber. He says he does too. I know for a fact that he does not, because I was there when his plumbers assessed the job. I tell him to call his tech and ask about that video. All this time, he's on speaker, and another guy in the background is laughing at me. Laughing at me as I defend myself from being strong-armed into a $20K, unnecessary job. Infuriating.

In the 30+ days prior to McClain showing up to remedy the job, my wife and I made hundreds of calls to McClain and to the insurance company. This is not an exaggeration. We had an open sewer line under our house which was running into our neighbors property - who we were receiving daily threats from. Eventually, the city slapped us with a water shutoff notice. Every time we called American Water Resources, they blamed McClain for the hold up. Every time we called McClain, they blamed AWR. This went on for weeks.

Specifically, Becky and Courtney are the McClain representatives who have continually lied to us on an almost daily basis. Courtney is the Office Manager who takes the brunt of the blame. Becky had to man the front lines as Courtney was always ""in meetings all day, but would call us back"".

I cannot stress enough HOW MANY times Becky and Courtney told us they understood that this problem was an emergency, and they were looking into it/escalating the issue to the proper channels and would CALL US BACK BY END OF DAY. In the dozens of interactions we've had with these two specifically, we NEVER ONCE received a call back. The only time they proactively called us was to collect payments, which we were desperate to pay in hopes of getting them to show up and work.

The best part is that McClain is holding $2,800 of our hard-earned money, and about a week ago, they had the audacity to tell us that our payment had already been refunded. We obviously have documentation that it was not. Guess where we're at now. Courtney will call us back :)

At first we thought this company was incompetent, unprofessional and disorganized. It's obvious now that they are negligent, dishonest and criminal. I hate that I have given these people so much of my energy and I hate that I have to leave this review, contact the BBB, The Bureau of Consumer Protection, and my attorney... but this is not OK. I almost never leave a bad review, but people need to be warned about McClain Brothers. Mark McClain and his staff take NO responsibility, accountability, and have no professional standards or basic decency. I would be embarrassed to have my name on this business. Shame on you all.

R Z.

I contacted McClain Bros after trying to call multiple other emergency plumbers and having no luck. I had a basement full of water and was feeling desperate. I reached Rich right away who immediately figured out how to get a crew out to our place, and then he even talked me through turning off the water to our house in the meantime. Mike and his team arrived way quicker than we had expected, they were professional, efficient, helpful, and explained everything so clearly to us. They determined where the leak was coming from and what would need to be done. I would 100% call McClain Bros again and would definitely recommend them to anyone needing a plumber!

Julie R.

The list of what went wrong with renovating 2 bathrooms is too long to post. just two years later my contractor discovered that McClain Brothers had installed a new tub in my house by cutting a five foot piece out of a floor joist without replacing any support. needless to say, the tub has settled and grout is cracking all around. They said they pulled a permit but I never saw an inspector. I now need to hire a structural engineer. This was and continues to be an expensive nightmare. The shower head in the master was also installed incorrectly. I have no water pressure. Don't let them in your house!

Pam C.

This is a young business that values its customers. Their prices are fair and their response times are incredible! They are easy to reach and are very responsive to plumbing emergencies. I can't say enough good about them. Such a contrast from so many arrogant Philadelphia contractors.

Ed C.

Begged for final payment to the Point of harassment. Then left the job incomplete. Front yard completely torn apart, concrete unfinished, dirt piles everywhere. Took advantage of older residents who used their services because they were local. Been over 2 weeks since any issues addressed... job still incomplete.

Karim M.

Critical: Quality
My condo did a bulk purchase of hot water heaters for over 70 owners. Each owner had to pay for their own purchase. The hot water heater cost about $800. This occurred just about 13 months ago. The install was during week of July 24 2019. A home inspection done on August 13 2020, by a professional home inspector indicated there was a leak in a fitting. This shoddy work indicated the leak had been at least several months. The picture clearly shows corrosion of more than several months. I was instructed to contact this company since the heater was under warranty. I was charged $125 service charge, but the shoddy work was their fault. I should not have been charged anything. If the installation had been done correctly there would have been no need for a service call. Poor quality costs but it should not cost me. I contacted the company to express my concern, but they were not cooperative at all. Their excuse was, that it was an expense to drive to Center City. The original plumber should have done the work properly. Be careful

Deanna F.

This is a plumbing company, but they advertised that they also did decks in Philadelphia. We had a miserable experience working with McClain Bros. on a new deck. We were told we would have a deck in one week, by Father's Day. Now it's mid-August and their partially-built, structurally unsound, illegally-built deck has been removed and we are out thousands of dollars and back to square one. Tough lesson to learn.

Everett K.

Our main sewer line clogged up on a Sunday night at 6pm, not an idea situation. McClain brothers to the rescue. They returned my call promptly and came out within an hour. They were extremely professional, and quickly snaked the line from my house to the street, fixing the problem completely. I'm totally satisfied, and the job was priced right. Thanks so much McClain Bros, perfect service.

Tim L.

I used to hate plumbers until I met Nick and the guys at McClain Bros. They were honest and hardworking. We had water coming in and they stayed until 12:30am until the problem was fixed. Not to mention they were clean and very respectful of our small kids. Highly, highly recommend them.