Winston's Plumbing

Jessica J.

I am a Realtor whose client just had a problem with a sewer lateral compliance certificate that was issued two years ago-long before my client had purchased the property. Winston's was the company who did the work at the time, and was hired by a Seller who is now long-gone. I called them on the off-chance that they might be willing to help me resolve the issue despite not knowing myself or my client.

Not only did they check their records from two years back THAT DAY to see what had happened, but they also CALLED EBMUD on my client's behalf TWICE just to make sure it was taken care of! They were absolutely instrumental in getting this issue resolved.

Given the lengths they go to when there's ZERO COMPENSATION for them, I can't wait to see how I'm treated when I actually hire them for a project. Service like this extremely rare to find now-a-days. Thank you all very much. As I said before, should myself or any of my client's in Oakland need assistance, you're at the top of my list.

pepe p.

Winston and his crew helped us out on two occasions, first to replace our water heater and second to swap out some old galvanized plumbing.
He and his crew are very pro and courteous and we were very happy with the results. I truly appreciated winston's ability to provide us with several options depending on what we wanted to accomplish and our budget.

damon e.

My heating went out at 2am last night. called them at 10am the next day. The receptionist called me back to schedule at 11am. Winston showed up at 4pm, fixed the heating. Came back the next day to fix: plumbing on dishwasher, put a new igniter on stove, install new lighting (He's an electrician) in the kitchen and the hardware on a malfunctioning shower (plumbing). What else needs to be said? I've tried to use 2 other guys over the last 2 years who were much more expensive and could never seem to get me on their schedule.

Dirk R.

Very grateful to have found Winston Washington and his company on Yelp.
Easy to schedule service . . . prompt and courteous.

Definitely recommend them for anyone needing Plumbing help.

Kareem F.

Winston and his team did an excellent job when the water line to our house was ruptured by a tree root. He came out and gave us an estimate the day after we called, and his estimate was 55% of a competitor's estimate. A day later, his crew started the work. They expected it to take 2 days, but it took 4 (not their fault; they discovered a whole bunch of concrete they had to break up, which should not have been in the location it was.) Anyhow, I was dreading the price increase due to the extra work, but Winston only added a very small amount to the final bill. I almost felt as if I should have paid more.

The work was done very well, on-time, and everything is now working well. We will definitely call him for our next plumbing/remodeling project. Oh, apparently he does electrical and drywall too. Thanks Winston!!

Jake J.

I have to trumpet the other positive reviews about Winston's work and company. Like many of my neighbors, I had to repair the lateral sewer connection to the city line at my expense. Winston came out to estimate and quoted a good price to do the newer ""trenchless"" style replacement of approximately 30 feet of pipe up to my house (on a hill). He kept to schedule, and his workers were experienced and effective. The sight of them pulling a huge section of continuous pipe through the ground (which splits the old poor quality pipe) was quite amazing. The work was done as promised and the sewer was connected again an hour before the end time they specified for it to be offline. When they re-paved the street, where the digging was necessary to connect to the city line, they also repaired an additional area that had a mini sink hole and ridge in it adjacent to their work area - without me asking. Really nice for them to do that. From conversations with Winston, I could tell that he is responsible and really attentive to customers, and he is also knowledgeable about many plumbing and electrical issues. He also has a good relationship with the city inspectors as I observed. His lovely wife/partner also was good to work with in terms of sending the contract, making minor changes at my request, and sending the EBMUD certificate guaranteeing the sewer connection for 20 years promptly. I will definitely call Winston for future needs. Great experience.

maha n.

New home owner ...and finding your people is rough. This was an incredible experience. Winston was prompt and friendly. He came through and talked with my little nephew for a bit and we went to check the broken heater out. He quickly saw the error and explained the cause and what would help to maintain the water heater long term. He got the estimate to me quickly and even though I had called to set up the appointment to replace the heater close to the end of the day, he and his crew came through and did an excellent job. Highly professional, local, businessman who showed a business ethic that will make him my go to!

Aaron L.

The crew at Winston's Plumbing did a superb job with our plumbing and bathroom remodel project. Winston did a thorough assessment of our leaky pipes and made some excellent suggestions around re-doing our bathroom for greater comfort, functionality, and beauty. In the days that followed, that vision became an awesome reality!

Winston's crew is top-notch: they're respectful, professional, thorough, and hard-working. We especially appreciated their careful attention to protecting our furniture and floor from scratches or dust during construction. After many long hours, our new bathroom looks first-rate, and everything works perfectly!

I would have given Winston's Plumbing five stars if it weren't for some miscommunication issues around delivery of materials and costs. But even these hiccups were resolved with earnest effort and in a reasonable amount of time.

We highly recommend Winston's Plumbing for your home repairs and improvements!

Shawn S.

Winston's Plumbing created more problems than they fixed. I hired Winston's Plumbing to fix an offset in my sewer lateral that was causing water to come up onto the sidewalk at the corner of my property. Winston recommended replacing a section from the offset all the way to the house in order to make a connection that would not leak. After the problem was ""fixed"" there was still water coming up onto the sidewalk. Winston said it was my irrigation, but turning off the irrigation did not affect the problem. I tried to get Winston to come back to look at the problem but no one returned my call so I called another plumber.

The new plumber began excavating and found that there was a new offset in the sewer lateral at the same place near the sidewalk where the original offset was found. More disturbing, however, was that two cast iron branches near the clean out near the house were not connected. Two pipes from the bathroom were draining directly into the soil. The hillside was completely saturated. The new plumber fixed the offset near the sidewalk and replaced the upper section and made new connections to the house. I was told that in order to replace the upper section I would need to obtain EBMUD and City of Oakland permits and administer a water test to the entire sewer lateral, which was done. This was not done or recommended by Winston's.

Winston said that missing connections ""happens all the time,"" so beware. Winston did not take responsibility for not being thorough and not supervising properly. He blamed it all on his subcontractor who pulled the pipe. Winston's charged $2,500 but it cost $4,000 to fix his work. I tried to recover the $4,000 from Winston's but they refused to cover my costs. They did refund the original $2,500 but I am out $1,500.

Caryn D.

Another overdue review! We initially heard about Winston from neighbors. We have used him over the years for jobs large and small - replacing toilets to re-plumbing the entire house. For the re-plumbing, he spent time helping us decide exactly what portions of the existing plumbing needed to be replaced for maximum benefit for our dollars spent. We ended up spending considerably less than the other quotes we'd gotten and are very happy with the result.

Winston is knowledgeable, super-friendly, always takes the time to explain what's going on, and is sensitive to the unique features of our older home. He also does electrical, remodels, etc. I haven't needed that yet but he'll be my first call when I do.