I'm really torn on how many stars to give this company. If I were simply reviewing them on their…read moreavailability to come out and do work on short notice on a weekend, I'd give them 4 stars. But wow, these guys don't come cheap! I was charged about $135/hour in labor, and it's made me drop at least 1 full star from their rating, as I'm sure there are other, less expensive plumbing companies who offer the same quality of workmanship for a more reasonable price.
Turns out that, when my place was built, it was at the height of the real estate boom in S. Florida when the goal was to build things as quickly and as inexpensively as possible....I went to turn off the water valve that feeds my hot water tank when I was planning to replace it recently, and while the valve closed OK, when I went to reopen it, the valve stem snapped... No more water to my hot water tank, and the handle simply spun but the valve wouldn't open. DAMN! So that meant that, on top of the hot water heater install, I'd need to replace the valve. No problem, I figured I'd simply shut off the main valve that feeds my entire place and that would allow me to replace the valve that snapped, right? WRONG! The main valve ALSO broke in the same way.
So that meant no water at all to my entire residence until I replaced the main water valve, then could install the new tank as planned. Problem was that, in order to shut off the water supply to my place, at least a few of my neighbors lose their water, too! Oh, did I also mention it was 1:30 on a Saturday afternoon?
One of the guys who works here gave me a card for "My Plumber of S. Florida". He said they could shut off the water that feeds my main line and replace the valve. I called Ricardo at the number listed and explained the problem. He said they'd be over. At about 3:30, one of their guys arrived and I showed him the problem. He said he could fix everything, and asked if I wanted to talk to Ricardo about the charges before he began working. He explained that, at minimum, I'd need to pay a $15.95 trip charge since he had come out. At that point, it was a Saturday, I had things to do and really wanted to get water restored to my place and $16 for his trip charge seemed reasonable, so I figured the cost of the work would be, too. Since he was already there I asked him to replace the valve and to also complete all the other parts of the installation of the new water tank.
He went away for about 45 minutes, then returned and shut off the water to my place and got to work. At just after 6:30 everything was installed and he was packing up his tools.
While running my water, I noticed that the pressure was greatly reduced vs. what it had been. When the plumber came to me with the bill, he took a look and it turns out that some of the pipe sealant he'd been using had gotten into the water system, and clogged all the filters and aerators on my sinks. He did help me clean the one in the kitchen, but once he left, I checked and all my sinks were running slow and the aerators were all filled with 'blue goo" from his installation work that had to be blown out and rinsed away. I've since checked with another plumber who explained that the guy who did this work shouldn't have used the sealant close to the end of the threads, as that can cause it to ooze into the pipe when it's tightened and cause the problem I experienced.
After he helped me get my filter in the kitchen sink open once again, he presented the bill. I was expecting to maybe pay a few hundred $$ for their service, but when I saw the total, I was floored. The charge for him to come over and do these repairs, which took about 3 hours from the time he first arrived until the time he'd completed his work, was more than $400! Granted, the installation is clean and professional looking and everything worked on the first try (no leaks, etc.), and I appreciated him coming on relatively short notice, but I wasn't expecting a $400+ charge for it!...and he couldn't have used more than $20 or $25 of materials, even if they'd purchased them retail....
Would I recommend this company to others? As mentioned, their work was good (aside from the issue with the blue goo clogging my sinks), they were available on quick notice on a Saturday and the guy who did the work was friendly and nice to deal with. On the other hand, I'm sure there are much more affordable plumbers who do the same quality of work. In 20/20 hindsight I'd have spoken to Ricardo when they offered to let me chat with him about the charges before they began their work, and I'd only ask them to replace the main valve and would've completed the rest of the work on my own if I'd know the total cost.
UPDATE - 07/26/2013. Today I began receiving SPAM text messages to my cell phone from My Plumber of South Florida. As a result, I'm lowering my rating of this company to 2 stars.
