Hammer Plumbing & Drain

They sent people from "Ritz" and the employee said it belonged to the
same owner as Hammer. The employee asked for $1450 to replace it and
change the pipe to adjust to a new width. I was surpised of the cost,
but I had tenants living there and had no other option.
Next day his a
guy who said was the supervisor called me saying that the pressure
excess made the water heater leak. They opened the water heater (without
my permission) to "show me". The employee stated that it leaked because
of the pressure, yet the heat exchanger was damaged from the exterior.
The offered to changed for $6500. That's when I realized the valve was
way overpriced.
I ended having to replace the water heater ($1100).
This is the cost of deciding fast without checking with Angie's list.

What they said: we will bring four guys and do the work in one day. They came with two guys and others who wandered in and out. Job was completed by 2pm on the second day.
What they said: oh this Ritz Plumbing truck we came in? Ours broke down and we had to rent this. Truth is that they bought Ritz Plumbing and if you read those reviews, the old company was wonderful and after these guys bought the company, not so much.
What they said, "you need a new box for the automatic sprinklers". The truth, two modules could have been added to the existing sprinkler box.
What they DID not say, "we'll bring all the parts and finish the job". Truth is they left three times the first day for parts and on the second day, they arrived at 8am alright, but then left to get parts and came back at 10:30am, 2 and 1/2 hours later. Needless to say, I took one day off of work to be there and had to take a second day off.
They ended up not digging part of the job and just ran drip hoses around. I asked if that would take something off the bill. No.
The drip hoses in the roses do not water the roots of the roses. They were laid improperly.
The sprinklers in the back are too high. The person mowing the lawn will break them off according to the second opinion we got. They need to be redone.
The pipes above ground leading up to the sprinkler initiators are PVC pipe. I was told that you need metal in Southern CA due to the sun that will make the PVC crumble. So that needs to be replaced.
Then at the end of the first day they discover that the line connecting the front and back sprinklers is old and has been repaired. I asked what it would cost to replace. It started at 3,300, then 2,200, then 1,800, then 1,500. I said no, that I would get a second opinion. Went to Angie's List and found a great guy who did the work for 923. Now he is preparing an estimate for the cost to fix the Hammer work.
But here's the worst part. After they left at 2pm the second day, they were to reset all sprinklers to run for 4 minutes at 3am. But they were set to run for 40 minutes! So imagine what happened when they first ran in the back yard. The compression pipe had not been glued so the whole thing broke open and did not work.
I called and very nicely complained. The GM said that they would fix it. I said, no, I did not trust them and I would get someone else in. I sent pictures of the broken pipe and asked them to refund some of the 5,500 that they took me for. So far, no response.
How very disappointing.

Update: the best performer on Angie's List gave us an estimate for connecting the front and back sprinklers. $920. Not 3,300. Did the work and exceptionally happy. Then paid another 1,200 to "fix" the Hammer work. So in the end paid 7,620 for a job that should have cost all in 3,920.

Terrible.  These people gave us an inaccurate diagnosis of the problem at best, or told us a lie at worst.  Do yourself a favor and steer clear of Hammer Plumbing, even if you have an emergency!
Here's the story:  A Hammer plumber named Oscar arrived and performed the service of inserting the camera and snaking out the blockage.  Up until this point the service was fine.  He told us that the camera had detected a break in the main pipe leading from our house to the alley. Oscar showed us an image (that could have been anything) on the video, saying that this was the place where the pipe was broken.  He said that contaminated waste water was leaking into our soil and if we didn't get the pipe fixed, the waste water wii;d soak the ground alongside our pool and endanger its stability.  He then quoted us $3200 for fixing the pipe, with a "reduction of $650 (the amount we had to pay for the snake and video camera)  if we scheduled the pipe replacement right away.  Of course we were terrified by the prospect of what could happen and we set up a date for Oscar and crew to return to do the big job. Fortunately my husband suspected that they were overcharging and ended up calling our regular plumber to give us an estimate and replace a portion of the pipe.  Our plumber dug to the point where the pipe was allegedly broken and removed the six foot section that had been identified by Oscar.  Low and behold, not only was the ground around it NOT damp, but when our plumber examined the pipe, it was NOT broken. He charged us $850 for the work, not $3200 less the $650 already paid.  Either Oscar had inaccurately diagnosed the problem or, at worst, he had lied to us.  I was angry and called the company to talk to a supervisor.  I left word with the receptionist. I made three separate attempts and the supervisor would not return my calls. Finally I called for a  fourth time and spoke to a woman named Sandy who identified herself as the office manager. She could have cared less that we had been misled.  Do yourself a favor and stay away from this company!

They fixed the pipe, but the price they charged was much higher than what others in the same business would charge. After speaking with them about our frustrations, they agreed to lower the price.

It went well, but within a few days many adjustments needed to be made and when I called they
were totally responsive.

The work went fine  (I assume---because I won't know for another hour whether it will actually hold when the Sprinklers are supposed to turn on.)   My fault for being hit with this ridiculous price (2 men one hour, regular business hours).  We have used this company for years and years and they have always been very reasonable.  Just 8 months ago a full front yard sprinkler system, with new automatic valves was installed at a property nearby with same accessibility, with 4 men working all day, for $2300.   Backyard sprinkler in same house was repaired 9 months ago for $150 and they had to climb a steep hill.  After the work was done and bill submitted we were in shock.  Bill was not itemized.  When we looked them up again online to be sure we had not called the wrong company by mistake (truck was much newer and now says plumbing as well as sprinklers and drains) we discovered it had been sold to a large company (Ritz).  I don't blame them for keeping the phone number to retain old customers, but would be more honest if they admitted they were not the same company.  I will know to check with Angie's List from now on even when I call a company for whom I am a frequent repeat customer.

Their pricing was  alright. We didn't have them do a major job. It was very inexpensive and it was also a pretty minor job. They came out the same day, which was nice.

I had a very good experience with them. They were pretty expensive. The job went well, and they fixed all the sprinklers and got everything working. They cleaned up before they left. They came when they said they would come. I do not remember any problem that I had with them. I am not sure if I am going to use them in the future, as I would probably try to find somebody cheaper but if I could not I would probably call them. I have no regrets with them, it is just that when I got the bill it was pretty high.

I am not happy with this company. I was told after they did a job for me that when I needed them to come back out I would not have to pay for the follow up. They came out to do a simple repair and they guy who came said they would not charge me but I was still sent a bill. I am not happy with them and I refuse to pay for this service. When I called them I was told I would be informed when someone would be coming out and the guy just showed up without any notice. They had a high service call fee that I didn't like. I would not use them again in the future.

They were very professional. They go about their job in their timely way. It is done correctly. They were very polite and responsive. I think their price is right. What stands out about them is their all around demeanor and performance. They give a confidence that everything is going to be done correctly the first time and they deliver.

Very well.

Just to let everyone know, this company that used to be Hammer Company that was a sprinkler repair company family owned by Mr. Hammer was sold. Now they are a Plumbing company. I didn't realize that until I called. When they answered the phone, they didn't even ask me what the problem was with my system. Just quoted me a service charge to come out. I asked for one of the service techs I have used over the years and they said he wasn't available. I later found out he was. They sent someone out and they changed a couple of "H" caps on my drip system, and said they couldn't see any other problems. (I was getting flooding from under the ground and was pooling up. They bailed out the water also. Charged me $350.00. Before when Hammer owned it, they would send you a bill. This company is not the same. They require payment up front and are not reasonably priced !  
I still had a problem after they left and called the company and they said it would cost about $700.00 to replace the plastic valve in ground with a brass valve. I told them the price was too high and went somewhere else. These new owners don't seem to be as familiar with sprinkler systems as they may be with plumbing. I have used the Hammer company for years, they were the only company that serviced my sprinklers. This company does business differently, and seems to just want to charge you as much as they can instead of solving the problem ! Would never use them again.

I had them out in May and they did a good job. Then I had them out in October and they were going to charge me $90 to come out. They had become a plumbing company and they had to charge to come out. They wanted to replace about five or six of my sprinklers and there going to charge between $35 and $70 to do that. I asked him if sprinkler's did not last long because they just did the work in May. He said, no not too long. I spent $2,400 the first time and now he is looking for me to spend another $400 or $500. So we did not have them do the sprinklers and my daughter argued with them that they did not tell us there would be a service charge to come out, so they did not charge us for that. We ended up doing the work ourselves.

Enter Steve Hammer. He really showed us his expertise and spent quite awhile thoroughly analyzing the property and came up with some really fantastic solutions. He steered us away from the overly expensive things (a french drain) we could have easily been sold on, and he gave us a very detailed and clear report right away. He was also extremely flexible with the scheduling difficulties on our end and I was altogether very impressed with the professionalism and quality of service. I will recommend them to others and will use them again.

See above.  A waste of time and money.  Mr. Hammer implied they knew how drip systems work - and they didn't.  I finally took at class at the Theodore Payne Foundation (which is great) and learned how the system should be installed and run and got a referral through them for Arrow Sprinkler and Landscape, the company I finally used. 

Would I recommend drip systems?  Never.  The installation cost us +/- $15,000 and our water bill went up 50% until Arrow repaired the lines and put in the very necessary pressure regulators, which neither of the first 2 companies had done.

THE  COMPANY ARRIVED ON TIME ON JAN 19 AND WORKED UNTIL THE LATE EVENING.  THEY INFORMED ME THAT THEY WOULD HAVE TO RETURN TO CHECK FOR LEAKS. WE  SELECTED THE 24TH OF JAN   FOR THE COMPLETION DATE.  THEY AGAIN ARRIVED ON TIME.  THEY FOUND NO LEAKS AND LEFT WITHIN 45 MIN.  .IT SHOULD BE  NOTED THAT THE SAME TWO PEOPLE  COME EACH TIME TO DO THE ESTIMATION AND THE WORK.  THEY WORKED ALL DAY AND WENT TO LUNCH ONE AT A TIME.  THEY WORK QUIETLY AND YOU HARDLY  KNOW THAT THEY ARE OUTSIDE..  THEY CLEANED UP THE YARD  AND LEFT NO OPEN TRENCHES.  THEY WERE POLITE AND PROFESSIONAL.   THE COMPANY IS  EXPENSIVE, BUT  THE QUALITY OF WORK WAS GREAT.  I WOULD HIRE THIS COMPANY AGAIN AND WOULD RECOMMEND THEM.

Part of our sprinkler system was not working - the heads were not popping up and water was spraying from the manifold.  When another part of the sprinkler system turned on, a different manifold leaked copious amounts of water.  We were leaving for a 2-week vacation and I wanted the system fixed before we left.

I sent the owner of the company email on Sunday evening and received a phone call from their scheduling guy on Monday.  We arranged for 8:00am on Thursday.  He said that usually they can't predict exactly when the servicemen will arrive, but since 8:00am is the first slot of the day, they would be there then. 

On Thursday, when they hadn't arrive by 8:15am, I called to check.  Whoever answered the phone said they should be there and he would follow up.  They arrived about 5 minutes later. There were two men, one who spoke English and Spanish well, the other just Spanish.  They were efficient and fixed the problems quickly, throwing in removing a stuck hose diverter for free. 

They suggested replacing a couple of other heads and used what seems to be high quality heads as replacements (don't know about durability, but they are certainly more versatile).  However, they dug up what I thought was more lawn than necessary to swap the heads, including removing one paver.  The paver was replaced, serviceably, but inexpertly.

When they were there, I remembered that another part of the system wasn't working well.  There were small drip hoses connected to the regular sprinkler system, but they had never worked since we moved in and the guy said they would never work well.  Too much pressure coming in for the little hoses to handle.  So he simply replaced the connector with another sprinkler head. I'll see what happens over the coming months, but I probably will use them again as they are definitely more knowledgeable than our mow and blow gardeners, even though they much more expensive.

Overall, it was terrible. I was out thousands of dollars and had to invest in hiring someone else to complete the job. I can't speak for other jobs they do, but I would not hire them for drip systems until they can show that they can be trained.

Another company relocated two sprinklers when they put in a driveway and didn't aim them properly, so we had this company come out.  They had installed the sprinkler system.  They did a good job.

Very quick diagnosis, worked rapidly to repair the system Completed job within the minimum estimate as provided over the phone Excellent results!

They were very good. They are fast. They do what they say they are going to do.

They specialize in sprinklers. They were really good. We are getting ready to have them come back out. They have their own trucks and they know what they are doing. It's a small company. I like dealing with small companies or individuals because I feel that they are more concerned about the customer.

Originally I had asked for an estimate and was told that estimate was free but there would be a service charge call of $95.00. When the workers arrived, they checked system and said that pipe was broken, and that one valve was bad. Work began and no estimate was given until I asked Jose for estimate and he quoted around $300.00. When work was completed I asked how they would like to be paid and I was told that I would be billed, not knowing how much I would be charged. The bill arrived by mail in the amount of $394.85. I called the office to discuss the bill and my concerns as to lack of estimate and the amount of time on the job. The time was reduced by 15 minutes per worker bringing amount to $350.00. I would strongly recommend getting an estimate in writing before any work or surprises show up in the mail. Also beware that it will cost you $95 whether or not any work is done.

These guys are great! They were able to schedule an appt that day. They fixed all the sprinkler heads and 3 leaks in 45 mins. Great - would have taken me days.

I got to know about them through Angie?s list. The person was here for just two minutes as there was not much of a problem. The person told me that he did not wish to charge me for it, but the accounts will definitely charge, and I did receive a bill for $95 for that. The person who came was very good.