Salt City Plumbing, Heating & Air

Bryan F.

UPDATE - response to owner's response:

I can't say I'm surprised at this response from Paul after talking to him on the phone. He gave me a phone call recently to ""get my perspective about my review"". I spoke to him for 20 minutes and answered all his questions honestly and respectfully. However, it's clear now his intent when making the call was to find ways to twist what happened in a way where his company and team are RIGHT and I am WRONG.

I'll give some additional clarity based on his response. The job was an basement egress drain that was clogged. I interacted with a plumber named Christian. I was told they needed to break the concrete and install a new system if they couldn't unclog the drain. I was told that $1200 was the estimate for the work. It seemed steep to me, but I considered they were factoring in breaking the concrete to get to the drain. No, I was not ""told several times that $1200 was a best case scenario"", that is a lie. I did ask several times what could go wrong with the job though, and all times Christian said he would just ""abandon"" the existing system and install the new one if they couldn't unclog the drain. No mention or implication that if that were the case the costs could go as high as 400% more.

It was only AFTER Christian had already made a hole in the concrete of my tenants' unit and broken off the pipe (which was clogged but not broken) that he mentioned it would now cost $4800 to do the job and they needed to hire a sub that had a $70,000 excavator to do the job. This feels like deception. They hook you in with a low bid and then after doing some demolition suddenly it's not $1200 anymore, now it's $4800, but now you have a hole in your concrete and a broken pipe and the issue is more urgent.

The following day, the sub had hired another sub, no $70,000 excavator, just two guys, a concrete drill, some gravel, and a small dump hitch.

By the way, I understand that $1200 is an estimate, I'm not unreasonable, but any contractor that gives you a wildly wrong estimate (400% difference) is BAD news. It's incompetent enough to give bad estimates, in any field. It's worse to give estimates that are 400% off.

It's also interesting how Paul makes no mention of the lies I was told. Here are the lies:
- 5-10ft of digging and gravel promised, only 3ft (if that) of digging and gravel delivered.
- Mesh covering perforated pipe promised, only perforated pipe delivered, no mesh.
- $70,000 excavator will be needed, nevermind they just need a home depot concrete drill rental and a bucket.

I think the mention of the $70,000 excavator was just Christian's way of exaggerating the complexity of the work to justify the 400% increase in price, I don't agree that the scale of the work was 400% more. I only found out about the lies outlined above because I physically went to the worksite and saw the work being done and asked questions. Imagine if I had not been there and just ""trusted"" them? I'd be thinking right now that my system is 5 - 10ft deep, covered in mesh, and so complex they had to use a $70,000 excavator!

The craftsmanship was okay, nothing extraordinary, and all the work (not just demo as Paul suggests) was done completely by a company called FLC Construction LLC, not Salt City Plumbing or their sub.

Paul is also touts ""16 years of market research"" in his response and in another review yet his 16 years of market research cannot enable him and his team to give a reasonable estimate that isn't 400% off? Embarrassing.

Furthermore, very weird to say I ""went through the trouble of having them finance me"", it wasn't much trouble at all and Salt City Plumbing didn't do anything there but send invoices and agree to work with Green Sky. What Salt City Plumbing spends on their agreement with Green Sky is not my concern, that is the cost of doing business.

Regarding pricing, I mentioned earlier that the cost was not the main issue. The issue was feeling decieved and taken advantage of. $4800 seems like a lot for the work they did, I stand by that.

One final thing, and something I will agree with Paul on is the part about buyer's remorse - it's true, and that's not a good thing for Salt City Plumbing.

UPDATE #2: Attached are the images of the estimates, first $1200, then $1080. AFTER I EXPLICITLY asked for the the 10% off.

UPDATE #3: I used the word ""system"" and ""drain"" interchangeably. The french drain, is the drain. The estimate was not for fixing a pipe only or breaking ""a little concrete"" as he suggests. He said so himself, the existing FRENCH DRAIN was not working properly, so the estimate was for replacing the FRENCH DRAIN aka the existing ""floor drain"". Which is what they did, but for 400% more than the original estimate. I was unhappy about this and I expressed my frustration and unhappiness to Christian in person, but I moved forward despite the outrageously bad estimate because I didn't want to deal with the issue any longer.

Jose Luis T.

We had a shower valve leak in the bathroom wall and got flooded.
Christian at Salt City Plumbing was awesome.
He helped us out with the best workmanship and customer service! We were blessed to have him as our Plumber! We highly recommend him!!

Scott C.

Payton and Paul were Fantastic, I called with an issue with my water heater, Paul immediately got me on the schedule and got one of his guys Payton out to my home to check the issue out within the hour. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone looking for plumbing services. Payton was friendly and helpful to the issue we had.

Jaron C.

Super friendly and knowledgeable employee. Didn't feel like I was trying to be sold something, but that they wanted to help me find a solution regardless of if it benefited their company. Prompt response, prompt service, and arrived on time.

K C.

We're in the process of selling our house, and of course the water heater goes out and we discovered a leaky hose bib. Our agents go to Plumber would not return our calls so I turned to Yelp's Projects. Paul from Salt City Plumbing stepped up with quick communication and dispatched their plumber, Jaden, the next day to provide a quote (that was incredibly reasonable!). Salt City was very professional and responsive. The whole experience was all I could ask for. Thank you Yelp!, and thank you Salt City for a great experience and a successful project!

Kristy S.

I am so relieved and happy that I called these guys! Im so reluctant when having to deal with home repair companies because I've been burned in the past and it's hard finding anyone trustworthy.
From the first moment Jake walked through my home I felt at ease! He explained everything he was going to do, was very professional, and paid attention to details, fixing other issues I didn't even know i had.. it was a lengthy list of things and no easy task! Jake and Josh came over and knocked it all out in one day making sure my family wouldn't be without before the weekend hit. I'm just so grateful to those two! I will definitely be using this company again for all my plumbing issues in the future!

Laura P.

We had a leak in out outside faucet and called Salt City Plumbing to fix it. About 6 months ago we had them come out and fix our under the sink plumbing and at that time I should have place a great review but it slipped my mind. Salt City was prompted both times and they have fantastic communication. They text a picture, a history and skills of the technician scheduled to arrive and also a link to track the exact time the tech will arrive. Jake Whiting arrived exactly on time found and fixed the issue at no charge. He was incredibly professional and friendly. I will definitely use Salt City in the future and will request Jake to be the technician. Many Thanks! L. Powell

Matt W.

As both a homeowner and renter, I've seen my share of plumbers -- everything from leaky faucets to replacing entire sewer lines and remodels.

Payton and Devin showed up promptly, scheduling was easy, and were instantly cordial and professional. They took great care to put on the boot liners as to not muck up the floors.

They were curious, asked questions to diagnose the issue (sewer gas coming from shower drain), were able to infer the problem based on great communication skills and competency.

The most impressive part of their visit is that he remembers details from 2 months ago about a single, rather unremarkable visit without having any communication in that time frame as a reminder. As a member of our military, he clearly understands conscientiousness and attention to detail.

Charles D.

We had them install a urinal for our 13,000.sf plus Salon and several shampoo bowls. They did and excellent job an the guys were very professional and pleasant to work with. I would highly recommend them and will use them in the future.

A R.

Can't recommend these guys enough. I have used them multiple times and they do an amazing job each time. They are always on time and always honest. They fixed our well in our backyard when no other plumbing company would even look at it. And they have helped with our old plumbing in our 115 year old home. This week as been one thing after another with our plumbing and they come over right away!!!!