I recently had Uptown install a whole house water filtration system in our 1907 Minneapolis home. Before I get into that, a bit of background: My wife and I moved to Minneapolis from New York six years ago and bought our first old home. There was a lot to be done, not the least of which was to have a completely brand new and rezoned heating system as well as an air conditioning system installed. The house had never had air conditioning so this was a very involved job. Admittedly, I am extremely detail oriented and concerned about having bad contractor experiences and so I interviewed a number of local companies. Uptown stood out as the best choice. The factors that went into our decision: product knowledge and expertise, excellent online reviews, commitment to preserving our home (no soffits that were not absolutely necessary, and none were), very reasonable price compared to the competition, responsiveness and total lack of pushy salesmanship. Additionally, I knew the brand of high velocity air conditioning system that I wanted to be installed and called the manufacturer to ask which of their dealers they recommended. Without hesitation they said that Uptown was their best dealer. That was enough for me... The installation went exactly to plan. There were no added costs and the house was kept meticulously clean at all times. They asked multiple times during and after the installation if I was happy and were eager to make sure that I was. The system has now been in use for around five years and Uptown was fantastic about honoring the warranty. I believe that they even made a couple of service calls after the warranty was up and did so at no charge! Our house has been extremely comfortable in the winter (no more uneven heating from room to room as had been the case previously) and nice and cool in the summer - no complaints! That brings me to the recent work that Uptown did for us. We noticed that our faucets didn't have the water pressure that they did a few years ago. This was the case in older parts of our home as well as in remodeled rooms. Uptown came out and one of their plumbers removed the end each faucet and showed me that each faucet had about half of a teaspoon of unsightly particulate in them. As soon as they cleaned them off the water pressure was back to normal. The issue, though, remained. I realized that our home had no water filter from the main, a fact which voided the warranty on our instant-on hot water heaters. In any event, my concern was not so much having the water pressure decrease again but, rather, it was that everything smaller that what the coarse screens on the faucets would filter out was going directly into our drinking, cooking and bathing water. In addition, this sediment was destroying our fixtures and appliances. The Uptown plumber made a filtration recommendation but, still, I wanted to do a little research before deciding. I investigated a number of options. I found that many hardware stores sell whole home water filtration options but they are very flimsy quality, often decrease water pressure and, worst of all, have expensive filters that need to be replaced every 30 days - a messy job. Shutting the water off and doing this every month didn't make sense on multiple fronts. I ended up going with Uptown's recommendation which was a locally made charcoal filtration system that will last around 10 years and require no maintenance. Similar to last time, installation was neatly done and the guys who installed it weren't happy until I was. We now have the equivalent of bottled water going through all of our fixtures and that is extremely nice! That being said, our left over bottled water actually has a plastic taste that is absolutely absent from our faucets. Additionally, all chlorine and chloramine is now completely filtered out. The water tastes at least as good as any bottled water and the horrible chemicals are gone. We are extremely happy with the new system, and next week Uptown will be replacing a steam boiler that is way past the end of its life. I don't write online reviews and this very well may be the last. I think that it's rare to find companies like Uptown that take great pride in their work and then stand behind it. After years of high quality and very honest service I'm happy to put in a good word for them. Hope this helps! read more

Uptown did an amazing job on a difficult project. House was built in the 60s, hot water heat, AC was added in the 80s. So instead of having a unit in the basement, our blower, a-coil, and condensate pump were in the attic - accessible only via a tiny hatch in a bedroom closet. Our initial estimate was $14K and the company said that it was too dangerous to work in that attic if it was over 70 degrees so we'd have to wait until September. Uptown's estimate came in lower (for a better Carrier unit) and they could start "day after tomorrow." Instead of waiting 3 months for AC we had to wait a day and a half. I'm not going to lie - it was a crappy job. Several supplies were damaged and needed replacing and a hole needed to be cut into our hallway ceiling to accommodate the new unit. Oh, and all the work was done in an attic with less than 3 feet of clearance. Not one thing increased the cost - the estimate was what I paid, regardless of how much work was needed. I couldn't be happier with the work Uptown did. Rob came out and gave a fair estimate with no "salesman" BS and Tommy, Dave E., and Tye (along with an electrician - I forgot his name) worked their butts off to get the job done right. Tommy even came back the next day and framed out the hole in the ceiling and built this great hatch cover so access won't be so difficult in the future. Thanks, Uptown! UPDATE: I had to change my review from 5 stars to 2. My brand new, $12,000 AC stopped working after 5 weeks. I called and they sent a tech who got it going again. It stopped working again the next day (7/29) which happened to be a Saturday. According to their website they're open on Saturdays but no one answers any of their phone numbers. After a chat session with a "person" I was called by a bored sounding human who told me the next available service appointment was Monday. "Don't you do weekend service calls?," I asked. "Yes, but emergency calls are $180," she said. "But the AC is only a month old," - "Emergency calls are $180." Uptown's website claims "100% Satisfaction Guaranteed" and right now I'm 0% satisfied. I will update my review if this is ever remedied. UPDATE AGAIN: Situation was taken care of. I can't go back to a 5 stars because the reason the AC stopped working was because of a mistake made with the install - that's the Uptown tech's opinion, not mine. AC has been chugging along nicely since the fix. read more

Amazing Service Experience!!! It all started when I went to sell my home and the buyers wanted the furnace checked as a contingency from the inspection. As a Happy Home member, I called Uptown for my free furnace service (I had recently signed up for the plumbing aspect). Chris F did an incredibly thorough job, but unfortunately found an issue that required the system be immediately shut off for my safety. He took the time to discuss this with me, backed it up with photos of my unit, sent out a 2nd technician to validate his findings, and provided me with literature further outlining the dangers for continuing to use it. He then gave me several options to repair, or offered to have an engineer out to quote for replacement. As I was pondering my options the next morning, I received a follow up call from Chelsea, and she was able to get an engineer out that same day to give me a quote. Mind you, I was working under a closing date and time was of the essence! Tony N came out and took a look at what I needed, and offered an exceptional deal. He was very knowledgeable and personable, no pressure, and went above and beyond to get me taken care of at a very fair price. TWO DAYS LATER Randy W and Ethan L were there promptly and set straight away to work. They laid down runners to protect my flooring, worked efficiently and unobtrusively, and did a great job cleaning up before they left. Joseph from the office even helped me finish shoveling the 5 inches of snow we'd received the night before! Five hours later, and I'm enjoying the warmth of my new energy efficient furnace AND sparkling hot water heater. My free inspection was done on a Tuesday, and by lunchtime on Friday the entire new system was installed. I am beyond pleased with the expertise, professionalism and service I received from every single person at Uptown who I came in contact with. The quality of workmanship, the products they offer, and the price ensures that I will always use them in the future -- my buyers should feel confident that they'll have a decade of worry-free enjoyment in the home. read more

The person that came out was incredibly punctual and professional, which was refreshing after dealing with multiple cancellations from another plumbing company. I had a pin hole leak in an exposed copper pipe in my basement and the pipe needed to be replaced. I called them at around 530 PM the day prior and they had someone set up to come visit me between 7-11 AM. Then they further clarified that they would come out between 7-730, so that was great. My issue was with the pricing. The bill to replace the pipe was $537 ($587 - $50 promo discount). The invoice doesn't provide specific information on parts or labor, so I tried to break it down myself. The plumber was there from 7 - 8:30, but I'll round to 2 hours. The top end for an hourly rate for a master plumber is $160 (from what I found on Google), so that is $320 in labor. One copper pipe needed to be replaced, which was a few feet long. I found that at Home Depot for around $10, but there were probably other things going on and being used in that repair, so I'd round that $10 up to $100. So between parts and labor I came out with $420 for the cost to replace 3 feet worth of exposed copper pipe in my basement (which still seems steep to me given what was being done). I feel like I'm being generous with those rates above and allowing for a healthy profit margin for Uptown Plumbing, but even with that, there is still $167 I can't account for. I'd be interested in getting a better pricing breakdown, as my invoice is just two lines, if I am wrong. Unfortunately, since I took time off of work for this job to be done (which I believe was non-emergency rates because it was during normal business hours), I couldn't really get a competing quote and work done in the next hour that I had off, so I had to go with that price. Based on how I understand the cost of the repair to be, I felt like I was being mistreated on pricing. That would give me pause about using Uptown Plumbing again in the future. read more

Do not trust this company. I had a few decent experiences with Hero, so I signed up for the home club membership to get checkups on my ac and furnace seasonally. The first time I had the furnace inspected, the technician discovered some visual cracks on my heat exchanger. He showed me pictures on his tablet. He told me he would need to red flag my furnace and shut it down. It would cost roughly $2,000 to repair. A Second Opinion Hero Tech was called in to use his special camera and really get a good look at things. It took about 45 minutes for the second guy to show up. In that time, I did some research on heat exchangers and on Hero plumbing. It turns out that heat exchangers is a common scam, and Hero has a history of employing it. If it's actually bad, it's very dangerous, so they'll try to scare you into doing it. If visual cracks are the only evidence they have of a bad heat exchanger, they are scamming you. I asked a few questions while the special camera guy was doing his thing, and everyone knew that there would be no heat exchangers being replaced because it was completely unnecessary. I had to badger the office to get the emailed version of the inspection. When they finally sent it, there was no mention of heat exchanger cracks or a second opinion being requested. I followed up with the company about that omission. They responded and told me they appreciated my business, and nothing more. They have let me know that I should go away. Hero is very good at monitoring these reviews and responding as though they are concerned. They are not. This is their business model. So a preemptive "no" to the request for contact. I will not help your company. I want your company to go out of business. read more

Background: Just spent a lot of money to have our steam shower completely rebuilt from the studs (our first installer did a substandard job - it's long story). The new shower had just been completed and then tiled with subway tile (to go with our 1923-era house). It looked great! But since we live in Minneapolis, the installer said we needed a master plumber to finish the plumbing (to simply put on the faucet handle, shower head, steam vent and steam controller). So I made an appt with Uptown (its advertising worked). The problem: We have a wand-style hand-held shower head that mounts onto a vertical handle. The plumber asked how I wanted the handle mounted to the wall and I said to align it centered between the single faucet handle and the water pipe above. When I went to inspect "completed" job, I saw that the handle was offset to the left of the handle and pipe. I asked the master plumber why he did that, and he said there wasn't enough room. (He did this without consulting me or showing me what he saw as an issue.) I pointed out to him that you could simply rotate the connector spout to the water pipe 90 degrees and there would be enough room. (This is how it was set up last time). The master plumber said, "Well if it's a problem, you can have your tile guy fix the tiles and we can move it." Thanks buddy! The master plumber spent a lot of time trying to upsell me on all the many products and services that Uptown offers and not enough time communicating with me on what I wanted him to do. I'm sure the sales speech is a big part of Uptown's training. Maybe training its staff to listen to clients would be time better spent. I'm really disappointed in the result. (Sorry for the long post!) read more

Ok, first of all this companies prices are Crazy....not good crazy either. Sahid was my plumbing technician and I just want to say that he was AWESOME. The problem I had was a serious lack of communication on the part of the morning dispatcher. I was explicit in stating that to snake my drain the tech would need at LEAST 150ft of line, she assured me that they had a 200ft snake and that it was no problem. I told her that I had camera'd out the line this past summer and that the clog was at 75 feet but then again stated that the main drain was at least 150ft, I had a previous company out and they only had 100ft cables as well, so I KNEW that I needed to be very specific regarding this. I was quoted $343 for them to just come out, with. $57 discount was just under $300... So I was ok with that and had them come out. Shahid arrived and basically told me that they only had 100ft snakes. The dispatcher did NOT note on his service ticket of my need for and extra 50 feet, otherwise he would have called me before he came out to let me know that the job was not possible for them to do. I would have to have another tech come out and piggyback the line would be another $300. I would definitely call around and check pricing and also if you have an extra long sewer line like I do don't even bother calling them because they can't help you. I will say that after calling the office and speaking to the manager he basically refused to pay so I was not charged but I feel as if my time was wasted. Being a small business owner, time is indeed money. The only upside to this whole fiasco Was Sahid, he was polite, professional and did everything in his power to help me. read more

Mike came out and reviewed the work to be done. He made some MAJOR and VITAL suggestions to change placement of the install which the other companies that gave us quotes had missed. These changes made the bathroom and laundry rooms so much better. The Uptown bid presented was right in the middle of the two other quotes and so I chose Uptown to do my work due to the personal great references that were given. The work I needed was a main sewer backflow preventor (code) basement floor dug up and piped for a new laundry room and new full bathroom. I needed some other old plumb work cleaned up and I needed all of this RIGHT. I had a major problem with venting the basement work and Mike had a solution to the problem that the other companies missed. They wanted to tear my walls and roof apart to do what they wanted. Mike did not. Mike and Ben arrived on time and had to take an additional day to tear up the cement floor which was so,so tough. It would not crack, it would flake with the jack hammers. I was worried about the cost but Mike said although he misjudged the cement work by a day and was over his quote, he would stick to his quote. This guy worked so hard. I had just put in a drain tile system and MIke was working around this other large investment with a jack hammer! When the cement was covering everything again, he had done the cement work perfectly. Before he left, he reviewed the work and showed how clean he had left my basement (cleaner than when he first arrived). If you want a fair price for quality work that you know will get done right, then I strongly recommend Uptown Plumbing, Heating and Cooling. read more

This summer, the pipes in our house failed - including the main water line leading from the kitchen sink to the crawl space which connects the plumbing to the bathroom, and laundry lines. It was a very stressful situation as the flooring in the kitchen was so warped from the water leakage that there were visible bumps in the floor! I was very nervous about finding the right plumbing company and read through many reviews for many different companies. Ultimately, I decided to go with Hero Plumbing, and I was very happy with their work! The communication throughout the process was very helpful. They communicated when the technicians were on the way, they reached out immediately if there was going to be a delay and every employee, I interacted with throughout the process was knowledgeable, helpful, friendly, and empathetic to my situation. Special thanks to Garrett S. (Caden B. and Josh E. were also very helpful and did wonderful work), Garrett went above and beyond, provided excellent customer service - made sure to explain every step of the process and what our repair options were and just made the whole process super easy and as stress free as possible, given the nature of the situation. I will call Hero again if work is needed in the future, as Garrett and team exceeded our expectations. Hero suggested American Water Damage for the water related damage the house sustained, and we were also very pleased with that process - so hopefully this is helpful to anyone who has to pursue insurance coverage for a water damage related repair/claim. read more

We have used Hero a few times before with no complaints other than we found them to be more expensive than other plumbing / HVAC services. This time we needed a new hot water heater installed. I asked them how much the hot water heater itself would cost - aside from labor - just the hot water heater alone. Hero charges a $89 service fee and if you end up buying a water heater from them that fee goes to the purchase. I simply wanted to know what they planned on charging me for the water heater prior to them showing up as we didn't want the added pressure of that service fee to force us into an over priced water heater. Again, I stressed that we didn't expect a labor quote. Just how much the water heater would be. The rep on the phone told me they don't do that and would only tell me the price of the water heater onsite. I asked again, and she told me that's their policy in case the price changes between the time on the phone and the time they show up - later that SAME DAY. I asked her to check with management on the water heater quote and get back to me. She said OK and that she would call me back. 30 minutes later I got a TEXT message saying our appointment was canceled as they didn't want to tell me the price or the water heater over the phone. What a racket! Hahahah. No more Hero Plumbing for us. Instead of being transparent on the parts pricing they canceled our appointment without talking about it. After using them three times in a row for service calls they now lost our business. WOW. read more

We just moved into a new to us house a few months ago. I have owned a couple houses over the past 14 years that had forced air and the hot water system in our new house was a little foreign to me. I had Uptown come out earlier in the fall to do a furnace maintenance check. I'm not sure how much can be known by just looking at the surface of the components, but it made me feel better having a professional check things out. He also convinced me to sign up for a $10/mo plan to have them come out 3x per year and save service call fees. Well, today that came in handy. The recirculation pump on our boiler gave up the good fight at 1:30 am. Uptown pleasantly answered the call and had someone get back to us right away in the morning. Andy arrived just as scheduled, confirmed the prognosis, and had everything repaired quickly. I'm sure Uptown isn't the only company in town that can do what I described above. Also, I'm not sure if their pricing is the best (I'm sure if you have "friends" you can always get a better deal), but Andy (today) and Nate (earlier this fall) both were extremely friendly and spent the extra time to walk me through my system and answer any question I could come up with and Andy explained my options to me but did not try to up-sell me a bill of goods I did not need. I know you do not find customer service like this at every business and I really appreciate dealing with people that enjoy their job. read more

We had a water heater problem as in clogged, 14 years old, and beyond repair. We scheduled an appointment for 7 a.m., and at 7 a.m. the doorbell rang and there was Bo. He assessed the old water heater, pointed out exactly what was wrong, told us the cost of replacing parts and repair, and compared that to options for a new water heater. We selected the bronze or lower cost replacement option. The price was competitive, and Bo completed the job by 11 a.m. We've been around the block, being in our 60s, and Bo stood out among professionals as a kind, honest, smart, likable person (5 dogs!); he gave us an detailed explanation of what he was doing and why, and also pointed out other plumbing issues that we might consider addressing in the future. We told him that we would always ask for him in the future -- just a top-notch plumber you can rely on. We also had a "happy home" maintenance plan for our heating appliances and hot water heater. Al from Uptown came out the same time as Bo, so we were lucky -- no waiting for someone to arrive. Bo referred to Al as "super Al," and we could see why. Al did a careful thorough job, explaining to us the condition of all of our appliances and what the different parts meant. Nobody wants to call a plumber for a problem, but we'd always call Uptown and ask for Bo. read more

This company engages in deceptive practices. I initially contacted them for a standard main line snaking service, which they advertised for $123. Upon arrival, the technician immediately attempted to upsell additional services. After I declined, they performed the basic service but strongly suggested I pay extra for a camera inspection due to a significant amount of roots they encountered. When I refused again, they offered the camera inspection for free, which revealed a root ball at about 65 feet. They then proposed an upgrade to a larger blade, which I agreed to. However, when they returned the next day, they attempted to charge me the full price for the upgraded service instead of just the $100 difference. Although their system allegedly didn't allow for the correct adjustment, they managed to apply discounts and coupons, bringing the total down to $102. Despite using the larger blade, they were unable to clear the root ball and recommended either a significantly more expensive chain service or a $11,000 liner service. I declined and instead hired Ron the Sewer Rat, who successfully completed the job using a regular blade with a camera inspection, without any issues. Save your money and avoid this company, as they seem more focused on upselling than providing genuine service. read more

I called them to have a second opinion on our main sewer line which we were told by another company was completely shot and we needed 80 feet of piping repaired. This obviously was going to be a ton of money and we wanted to be sure. I called and was probably a bit crabby when scheduling someone to come out,but the woman that answered the phone was still sweet. Dan came out and inspected the main line, he thoroughly answered all our questions and showed us exactly what needed to be done. He explained that at some point we were going to need 10 feet of the 80 repaired. We were told our house was going to basically back up in weeks and our line was going to grow roots quickly again by the original company, Dan spent lots of time explaining why this was not going to happen. He suggested that we have the line scoped every year to insure something hasn't shifted and go from there. Needless to say when we DO need our line repaired it will be getting done by these guys. I appreciate that Dan was honest with us even though it didn't make them any money today they will for sure have our business in the future. Thank you Dan for you honesty this process was so scary and stressful and i am so happy we got this second opinion or we could have been out 6300.00. read more

I don't normally bother to review service professionals, unless things go terribly wrong, but this time, the guy that came out was so helpful and courteous, I think he deserves a nod. TJ came out to fix my central air conditioning unit. He was very punctual and very courteous. He explained everything that was going on with the unit, gave me several options as to how I could deal with the problem and then, when what I decided to do didn't really solve the problem, came out later that night at no additional charge and talked me through some more of what was happening with the unit. He explained things so that I understood it and I didn't feel like he was trying to talk me into fixing more than was necessary, which is unusual in my experience with these types of companies. I appreciate when a guy will break it down and say, you NEED to do this but you can probably get away with not doing this and this, at least for awhile. Basically, this was an older central air conditioner and we are just trying to push through until we sell the house in the next few months. I really don't want to buy a whole new central air conditioning unit for someone else to enjoy. Very happy with the service we received and would definitely call them again. read more

Called these folks based on a coupon for a combo boiler and water heater tune up deal for $69. Sean was the service technician that came to my home. He was a real down to earth guy that was taught me everything about my system. He didn't try to complicate the matter by using a condescending tone to his voice before waving a quote for $1800 in repairs in my face (which is what another competitor loves to do) and he made sure I understood what was needed for the long term health of my system. Because of Sean's professionalism, I booked the appointment for the recommended repairs and I didn't feel like I was getting scammed. The phone team that communicated the service tech's arrival was fantastic and I've had nothing but a stellar experience. I'm quite pleased. Definitely recommend asking for Sean. Super ethical guy! 3/04/16: updating this review to include my most recent experience with Uptown Heating and Cooling. Sean returned to install a recommended part from the previous visit and it felt like my friend was coming over to give me a hand. He remembered my system and worked to get the extra air that has been trapped in my boiler for YEARS!! My house is scary quiet now. I cannot say enough nice things about this company. read more

Great Job! This was a BIG plumbing job in an older, 100 yr old home with the old original cast iron plumbing pipes with a series of leaks all between the ceiling/floor and behind walls. There were a number of leaks from rusting out old cast iron plumbing pipes between the first floor ceiling that tied into the upstairs bathroom. The ceiling was opened up, only to discover part of the cast iron pipes were encased in concrete! Yikes! Nothing was a problem for Michael, he was great! in all aspects. He is very knowledgable, particularly in working on old plumbing in older homes. He is very thorough and understands exactly how the plumbing works in older homes. He checked out the sewer stack in the basement and discovered weaknesses in the old, original sewer stack just waiting to leak down the road - which would be a Big mess! Michael has great customer service! He is very personable and explains everything. It was very reassuring having Michael doing this work, particularly when pipes are located between walls and ceilings where you want to it done right the first time. He also prevented a major problem in the future by replacing the old, original sewer stack in the basement. Thank you Michael! I feel so fortunate to have found you! read more