The Plumbing Doctor

Jennifer Z.

John is a very trustworthy, hard working plumber. He has been to our home several times now and we are ALWAYS happy with the results. I have even sent him to my mothers home in Wheaton and put a message on Facebook to make it known how great he is. John is everything you want in a plumber. My family would know, since my father was a commercial plumber for over 40 years. Since Dad can no longer take care of his plumbing, he trusts John (the Plumbing Doctor) to take care of his pipes correctly. Thank you John for all you have done for us!

Jerry B.

This guy was great. I had repeated problems with my garbage disposal and asked him to install a new one. He showed my how to properly flush and adjust the unit and told me I did not need to spend money on a new one. Fixed the problem for $75. Honest and knowledgeable guy - I would call him again.

Barb B.

We recently called John, The Plumbing Doctor, to help with what we thought was a broken seal on our first floor toilet. After John repaired the seal, we discovered there was STILL water coming over the top and onto our first floor in the mornings.
We called John back and as we explained what was happening, he quickly suspected a backukp in our sewer. Upon rodding the line, he diagnosed a line BREAK in our sewer just outside our house, between the house and the street. He showed my husband where the pipe was broken and how it had been improperly repaired by the previous owner using the wrong pipe seal.

John made arrangements to bring back a crew over the next few days. This was during zero degree weather. Two men dug a six foot hole down to where our sewer line was, in our front yard, and another crew came to do the repair. They were careful to put yellow tape and cones around the problem area as well. We had a mitigation crew on the inside of our house at the same time, to deal with the water that had gone through the first floor ceiling and into our basement, so there was a lot going on, and throughout John and his crew were diligent and worked well with the other teams to supply necessary information.
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While the repair was expensive, we felt that the price was completely reasonable and justified given the magnitude of the problem and the extreme weather conditions in which the work and repair to be done. Also because the break was so close to our house, John was unable to use heavy equipment to get down to the pipe as he would have hit our gas or water main as well as taking out our sidewalk and potentially also the porch.
In sum, l highly recommend John for an excellent job. At this level of problem, you need someone with a lot of experience, and he definitely has extensive experience. He knew to call the city and get permits as well as their requirements for the minimum type of repair seal for the pipe. And he additionally checked the rest of the pipe leading out to the street. He found some roots growing in there and supplied us with a root removing solvent to use every year in the future.

Everyone needs to know that there are very few if any insurance policies that cover sewer breaks between your house and the street. If you have a policy it will likely cover only inside your home and if it covers the outside you will still be held responsible to show diligence in checking and maintaining your lines over the years. I recommend having your sewer line checked periodically just to show diligence in the event of a problem, as well as to do preventive maintenance if your home is more than 10 yrs old and you have big trees like we do!

All in all, everything was great with John. Similar to what another poster said, they were not here on time every day, maybe late by an hour or a little over that, but the weather was so horrible I don't see how anyone could have been outside before the sun came out. If you have a very rigid time frame it is better to make your time limitations very clear, and maybe also try to allow extra time, as he gets a lot of calls, and just being reasonable, it is difficult for a plumber to observe a strict schedule as they are unable to diagnose a problem and the amount of time it will take to fix until they are on site- hence you could be pushed back bc of another appointment ahead of yours that took longer than projected.
What else- his crews were the nicest people. They did not just sit around, they worked hard. All in all the repair took only 3 days and it was a very big job. I highly recommend John. He is the best.

S R.

Incredible. Saturday night. 20 minute response!! Quick and honest diagnosis plus a quality, very reasonably priced repair. He also took the time to advise me of a couple other future items that I should address. Other plumbers would have given me the ""you better do these today or you will flood"" statement. Great to hear honesty. I know my lifetime plumber

Maria H.

John was great. Called him on a Saturday and he came on a Sunday morning to help us finish our DIY project that wasn't so DIY. Didn't charge extra for Sunday and we were back to normal with our new faucet with no leaks! Thanks John.

Gary B.

While house sitting we had a problem with basement drain. Picked John from Yelp rating and map.
John was polite, arrived quickly, and got us fixed up with minimum fuss. He could have made a bigger project out of a small problem with a basement ejection pump, but he didn't. He's honest as well as competent.

Nathalie K.

I would like to say something positive; however, it is impossible for me to apply any stars as a rating but it seems required. Left msg for them 7/14 in the evening to call me 7/15 by 9:00ish am no call, called them. John had an attitude, wanted to call me back in 20 min. to check his schedule. Over two hours no call. I called back after some discussion was going to come between 8pm - 10pm that night. As requested, I sent a text message to confirm appt. I thought that was nice of him; however, NO SHOW, NO CALL and NO TEXT. This cost me a whole day of work and still the bathtub is clogged and kitchen sink backing up into the bathtub! I will never work with this company again.

Patrick M.

He was able to help me fix my basement floor drain. Gives good advice, no BS. Saved me a lot of money through the whole process. I would definitely call him again.

Jim D.

John did a great job unfreezing four of our pipes after some of the sub-zero weather we have had recently. He also provided do-it-yourself home improvement tips to help prevent the problem in the future. We will be using him again for our plumbing needs.

Bee sue S.

Location: Chicagoland. Check his web site or call for details.

I reviewed his location called ""Loop,"" but he is all over the metro area, Elmhurst being one.

Jon Spears, The Plumbing Doctor, responded to my call for cleaning a tub drain on an urgent basis. He handles emergencies, too. We were able to arrange a timely appointment. John was very efficient and knew just what to do.

Another ""maintenance"" person I had used the prior day came with more primitive equipment and didn't even bring a necessary tool. I simply recommend The Plumbing Doctor.

He's available 24/7 according to his web site: http://chicagoplumbingdoctor.com/

REGARDLESS of whether you employ Jon or not, I urge you to look at his web site, first clicking the ""Promotions"" tab. Then there is other useful information there including recommendations and explanations for certain biodegradable products

He came out on a Sunday morning! I was lucky that he had a promotion on tub drains and did not charge me a trip fee or a fee for Sunday or holiday. I sensed that Jon is straightforward on his pricing.

Jon was very efficient, knowledgeable and got the job done. I will recommend him to everyone I know.

Jon travels all over the Chicago area although there may be special time slots, such as evening or early morning for more distant suburbs, such as Hoffman Estates. Call and he will tell you.

I have seen some customer comments questioning his request to use text messages or email. It is not an absolute requirement, but helpful. I asked about this. Jon values efficiency and this is documented scheduling device for you and him. If you use neither, I believe that Jon will certainly accommodate.