Repipe Specialists - Bay Area

Rosie R.

After the repiping job, we were left with:

#1 Wrong hardware on one fixture. I pointed this out and they returned to fix it... without the correct hardware. After I'd taken the day off work.

#2 No water to bathroom sink. Even after I made sure the valves were open. Turns out the faucet was corroded or something. But they didn't tell me; they just left me with no water.

#3 No water to refrigerator.

#4 Dishwasher installed crookedly. And when we went to do the dishes.... IT FLOODED. THEY HADN'T CONNECTED THE HOSE. Who does this???

#5 Scuff marks and plumber's putty everywhere.

#6 A noticeably different texture where they patched the walls.

I don't like to write negative reviews that much, but I'm frustrated. They need a lesson from Elegant Floors on how to take pride in their work.

Don W.

The Estimator was very responsive and the crew did excellent work. This crew was from JA Plumbing. They did two jobs about two years apart. We had the same crew chief on both jobs. I am impress how organized the crew is. From the minute they arrive they start working on their assigned tasks. Because they perform this work so often they know what needs to be done.

The crew was willing to make minor changes in the job without charging extra.

If I had more rusty pipes I would call Repipe Specialists first.

brian k.

Update:

I was pleased to discover that Repipe Speciallists has a corporate parent, who phoned me to find out how my service went. It didn't even occur to me that they were a kind of franchise set-up and that there might be someone higher to appeal to. The lady was very apologetic, and took all my concerns very seriously. Though my kitchen wall had already been fixed by my own contractor, they did instantly offer to come out and fix it. They also came back out and do the OTHER things that hadn't been done before (and not even mentioned in my first posting), such as sealing up all the holes into the basement from where they ran the new piping. I appreciated that they took the time to see if I was satisfied, and genuinely tried to correct the issues.

Kathleen M.

We were very pleased with REPIPE SPECIALISTS. Excellent job from start to finish. Hal who gave us the estimate (while he was here) suggested some ways to run pipe to save cost for us and had samples of materials they use. We were so please with the estimate that we signed the contract. To topped it off, they started @ 9am and we had running water thru our new pipes @ 4pm. How Great in that!!
I would highly recommend them.

Ola H.

Don Chamberlin came to our home (which had old galvanized pipes) went through everything with my husband. He was very knowledgeable and explained the complete process on what materials would be used and even the number of holes in the walls. He answered all of our questions.

The crew from JA Plumbing who actually did all the work were outstanding. They were at the house first thing in the morning and didn't leave until that evening when everything was done and cleaned. We knew there would be holes in the walls until the next day for the City Inspector to approve the work done. The next day, the person from JA Plumbing (who came to patch all of the holes) was at the house before the City Inspector. There was only two issues which needed to be resolved, per the City Inspector. They were taken care of and he did a great job on all of the walls.

My husband and I are very happy with Repipe Specialists and JA Plumbing whom they are contracted with.

Joyce R.

I had them repipe my entire house. That job was OK, but in doing so, they broke 2 items and scratched a dresser. When the job was
complete, they didn't hook up the dishwasher.
They called me a liar about the two items that they broke. Said that they didn't break them.
Also, they said that the job should be completed in 3 days and it took more than 5 to complete, which I wouldn't have minded if they would have fessed up to breaking the items.

Miriam W.

So, I'm actually a tenant, and my landlord found these guys and did the booking. They have a couple specials so he was after the savings.

They send a sales guy to your house. Mine was Randy. Randy was a jovial fellow who asked inappropriate questions like, ""Wow, that's a crazy treadmill you got there, how much did it cost ya!""

Randy came with a boss, who's name I can't remember. Randy busts out with clear leaf booklet of materials, with testimonials from clients (years old), and a chipper sales spiel.

Randy made a big point to explain their business is different - each office has an ""owner"" onsite to manage the crew who is invested in the business, is a licensed plumber, speaks English, etc., not typical subcontractors who don't care about the main business.

Randy promised several things:

- they had to meet code, therefore, straps would be placed on the water heater, a drain would be installed from the water heater to the outside of the house, and insulation would be placed on all the relevant pipes (hot water, etc.) depending on if they were in the attic our outside in the garage.

- he showed us the copper pipe options - MLK.They use L on all their jobs, he says. He writes that down on the contract.

- they would do the work within one day

- the next day, the city inspector would come out to review, and they'd help arrange that and would let us know when it's scheduled, and he asked me my time preference for the appt.

- the day after the inspection, they'd come patch and paint my walls

- they were going to supply a new faucet/fixtures for the shower/bath since the old place had a 3-valve, and we were going to 1 valve.

Now, good ol' Randy leaves. That night, Randy calls and leaves a voicemail - they're coming Thursday to work like we'd asked. I call back and get his voicemail, and that's that last I heard of Randy.

Thurs AM, the crew lead comes. He's driving a Repiping-branded van. His crew speaks English, they're nice and pleasant. They do the work. Toward the end of the day, I start asking questions:

- There's no straps on the hot water heater
- The faucet in the bathroom is not the one shown and charged for in the sales pitch and on the contract
- When is the inspection scheduled for?

His answers:

- We are out of stock and have to reorder but we'll get it done before the inspector comes
- We ran out of stock but if you really want it I can go back to the office and get the other one when it's in stock and come back and change it
- The contract says the OWNER (my landlord) is supposed to schedule the inspection, so I don't know.

Note, they charged FEES for the inspection and said they were going to take care of it, and ASKED me about the appointment time. The lead showed me the contract and for whatever reason - both ""contractor"" and ""owner"" were circled next to ""inspection.""

And how do you insist you need things for inspection then not install them?

Also - there's no way to tell if your pipes are actually L copper, because there are no labels/stamps on the pipe. Go figure. For all you know you've got M pipe and paid for L.

After that rigamarole, we have to start calling and harassing the main office - a guy comes back to put the insulation on, a guy comes back to put the straps on, turns out the patchers don't paint the same day so, NO they can't paint and close your walls the day after the work, they need TWO days to do that (patch and dry, then paint). The painters say they just paint, NO they don't texture, so if your walls are textured you've got to argue with the dude (or call the main office) to get them to do that because it isn't just ""painting.""

Also note, I used my own damned paint for them that I happened to have left over, it's not like I got a discount there.

And the guys do put the little plastic and cloth down but the paint crew is different from the plumbing crew (a total lie from Randy, he said they were all in the same crew) and the plumbing crew doesn't give a rat's ass if they get dust all over your stuff so they're sloppy with it, and they do wear boots all up in your linoleum, scuffing it and bringing in germs.

It all finally got done, but it took 4 days at least to get everything actually done. And I still have to get a friend to help me reattach stuff to my walls.

You get what you pay for.

Bob S.

Salesman (Ron) added $2K to total bill of $7K to replace 3/4"" copper main with a 1"" copper main under the pretense that ""everything would work better in the house"". However, the 1"" copper main was immediately reduced to 3/4"" inch upon coming into the house. Thus, there was no benefit of upgrading my main line (...other than replacing say 15 year old copper with new copper that's a little thicker).

Making matters worse is that the salesman (Ron) continues to claim that there's a benefit which is essentially too technical to fully explain to a lay person. This is complete BS in my opinion. Replacing the main chewed up my yard and broke my sprinklers in more than a half-dozen places, plus added $2K to the cost.

I would advise caution in any areas of trust with Repipe Specialist's sales folks, especially Ron (Note: Their workman ship is pretty good...however...they subcontract this out anyways so you might get a better deal going direct...their subcontractor on my job was JA Plumbing out of Hayward.)

Bill M.

From sales contact, to scheduling, to on-site piping and drywall work, to city inspection scheduling and overall customer service, Repipe Specialists did an excellent job. I would highly recommend them.

Karin L.

My rating is based solely on the estimator. He came to our house promptly and was very thorough with his inspection for our repipe. He had a checklist and a pamphlet with pictures of how things would look and certifications for their workers. He was very patient with my haggling dad and did his best to work down the price with us. The estimating process is a smooth process and he shows you the 3 types of piping and the differences. He answered all my questions regarding the pros and cons of certain aspects of the repairs he suggested. Anyhow this portion was very professionally done and I was thoroughly impressed.

Unfortunately for them, their workmanship reviews online were very mixed. I googled them and well apparently they sub contract out these jobs so you don't get the same team and the workmanship and standards apparently are all over the board. If their work was consistent and mirrored the thorough knowledgeable estimator, I would have pushed to book them. They do claim to be able to repipe in one day (the second day they'd go and patch the walls) and that sounded great.

Anyhow I was impressed with him, but I guess flip a coin and hope you get a great team in your house to do the work? Definitely felt bad for him...he did a great job...but the workmanship reviews made him lose this client.