Practical Plumbing

Elizabeth K.

I just had the almost identical experience with Practical Plumbing-BAD!!! Don't use him! The owner is a scammer and takes your money and won't give it back. I paid him for a job, half in cash upfront for a ""big"" problem he said I have. I got suspicious and not only looked at his reviews, but called another company to put cameras down the mains. Nothing wrong with the cast iron pipe running under concrete floor in basement. He told me it was ""crushed and broken"" and needs to be totally replaced-$4000. I asked for money back, he said he would give me back money but when he showed up this morning to jackhammer my concrete basement floor, he said he didn't have checkbook, would cut me a check and be right back. he hasn't shown up, no check...yet he is leaving for Florida tomorrow night...with my money. Fo not have any boys ones with this man, he is a liar and a cheat.

Vincent P.

My wife and I had a very bad experience with Jim Beattie, the owner of Practical Plumbing. There are lots of plumbers out there. Find one that is licensed, insured, and has good reviews.

Diana F.

Do not use this guy if you don't want to be scammed--his cousin recommended him to us as our basement
Started taking on water--his cousin is our friend so we trusted this plumber--he told us we needed all new pipes going from our home
To the street--he did this just by guessing & not using a camera--he said it would cost $4000 & he needed half down--he also had to
Tear up our front lawn & rip out a tree to do this & was going to start in about a week--guess he wanted time for our check to clear--
During this week of waiting I found out the city of warren would come out, free of charge, & camera inspect the problem for free--I had
Them come out--the city said all we needed was a drain cleaning & that there was nothing wrong with our pipes to the street--a company
They recommended cost $120--of course after we found out that Jim beattie was wrong we contacted him & asked for our money back--
Now he won't give us back the $2000 less the $120 we offered him for the work he did clearing out the opening of our drain--we are
Taking him to small claims court, of course--so do not use him if you don't want to be scammed like he did with us--we are warren
Seniors only living on social security so this is a big deal to us--we should have paid Jim beattie with a credit card & then could have
Disputed the charge, but again, we trusted him--we just had 'bison' plumbing out--they finished the job Jim beattie started--they said
Everything was fine with our pipes & just needed a simple $120 cleaning.....
just found out that this guy is not even licensed to be a plumber in michigan..

Kathleen N.

I needed a whole house water Filtration system with a UV light installed.
I got 2 quotes, one plumber said he was not familiar with my system and declined the job. Jim quoted under $700. and I emailed him the install instructions. When he came it was obvious he had not read the instructions so I printed a set and he read them on the fly. He was in my house for almost 6 hours before he broke a part for the UV. I needed to order it from the manufacturer. He said he had to buy more parts than expected and the bill was $950. and he would return and complete the job for no labor. I paid him because he had done work for me before and I thought he was honest.
When the part came in I called and set up an appointment, but at least 6 times he canceled saying he was behind on jobs. The last time I called he said he had covid and hung up on me. I was forced to call another company who charged $607. to complete the job and said he had done a lot of unnecessary work, I filed a complaint with BBB and he emailed me and said I paid only for the work he did, but I have a receipt stating no labor charge to complete the job. Also there was another part missing when I finally got the system installed by a pro, another call to the manufacture and another wait.
Beware!

Marian M.

Jim was referred to me by another plumber I had used and was retiring. I had a new kitchen sink put in but needed a plumber to hook the plumbing back up. In addition, the faucet was very loose which was probably because of the work done when the sink was replaced. Jim came out and tightened the faucet and charged a reasonable price. He also charges by the job and not the hour, which I like. I will definately call Jim again if I have any further plumbing jobs!

Jodi M.

Unfortunately, I had a bad experience. Jim came highly recommended by a friend, but he screwed up. First, he is a licensed apprentice. I believe he should be working with a master plumber, but he is the owner & I'm not sure he is. That means that he can't pull a permit even if he is supposed to.

He installed a hot water tank for me. As far as I knew it worked. I didn't know a permit needed to be pulled for the install of a hot water tank, but I would expect the expert to know that. After about a month I was notified that my A/C was causing a leak in my neighbor's unit. It turns out that Jim installed the hot water tank directly on top of a drain. The condensate pipes from my A/C unit were feeding into that drain before the install. After the install, the water had nowhere to go but into my neighbor's unit.

When I informed Jim about the issue, he said, ""It was partially covered before, I thought it would be ok."" Um, what? When he came back to look at it, he said, ""You don't want to move a drain unless you have to. You kinda just have to see what happens."" If he wasn't sure if it would have worked, why didn't he at least pour some water on the floor to see if it could get to the drain?

I ended up making a claim with my insurance company. After speaking with another plumber, my management company & my insurance company, it was decided that the hot water tank needed to be elevated. I was convinced that I should let Jim fix the problem. I told him to contact the plumbing inspector to find out exactly what needed to be done to bring it up to code.

So, Jim came back & elevated the hot water tank. As he handed me his new invoice, I asked, ""Are you seriously going to charge me when it wasn't installed right to begin with?"" He got mad and insisted, ""Yes it was."" I explained that blocking the drain was not right. He got mad and asked, ""Are you going to pay me?"" I asked again if he really thought he should charge me. I asked how I was supposed to know if it was up to code? He threatened to uninstall the hot water tank, but then he ripped the invoice out of my hands and threatened to get the money from my friend. Um, ok.

I was glad when he left. I was scared because of how angry he got and I was alone in my place with him trying to calmly discuss what had happened. Hours after he left...the hot water tank wasn't working.

I called the other plumber to come out & take a look at Jim's work to make sure it would be up to code & asked him to pull the permit so I could get an inspection done. He also said that Jim never turned on the water valve. That's why it wasn't working. Rookie mistake. Or maybe intentional?

Anyway, I have learned a lot about how to deal with contractors. If you have only simple plumbing needs - like snaking a drain - then Jim is probably good enough. Jim should have let me know that he wasn't sure how to install the hot water tank in my condo & refused the job. My neighbor didn't deserve this.

Dave W.

Jim is our Condo Association's #1 Plumber at Scarborough Square One. He has fixed and repaired both of my bathroom toilets and sinks. Today he installed a new hot water heater that gives off the best hot water compared to the Kenmore I had for 8 years. He cleans up after the job, is courteous, professional. Being the president of our Condo Association, I can highly recommend him. He has installed over 32 individual gas meters that were needed here within a good time frame and at a good price! Our Condo Association has 99 units total. We use him also to repair the units sump pumps as well. Everyone here has talked well of his work ethic, his quality of work, his professionalism, and his clean up efforts afterwards.
Dave W.
President Scarborough Square One

Chris A.

Practical plumbing ( a business of one) is a total scam artist preying in the elderly and people who don't know any better. DO NOT trust this man in your house! I called him to come out about a leaky fill valve in a toilet, and had my elderly (77) mother here to be here, as I was at work...so he thought she was the person he was targeting. He turned the water valve all the way down and told her there were calcium deposits and now the toilet wouldn't flush. All's he did was turn down the water valve so the toilet wouldn't fill or flush. And then he told her it would be 500.00 dollars to get the toilet back in working order. I found out what he did when I inspected the toilet, turned on the water valve and the toilet worked fine. He also went into my other bathroom and intentionally broke the fill valve of that toilet, claiming it was already broke. What he doesn't know is that checked it BEFORE he came and found it to be in perfect working order.
He's a total scam artist! Do yourself and your wallet a favor, DO NOT USE PRACTICAL PLUMBING!
SCAM SCAM SCAM!!!!

Patty S.

Whether it was work at our house or one of our businesses Practical Plumbing was there quickly, were very professional and they are now our go-to plumber.

Nicole R.

They were quick to call back, set up and appointment. They did great work unclogging my sink and letting me know what the issue was and then how I could fix it, so that it would never happen again. They were reasonable and professional.