Sunshine Plumbing

Company's fees seemed excessive to me. Company charged $373 to remove one nut on shower valve and replace a small part. Calcium deposits had seized the nut and I was uncomfortable loosening the nut myself by using too much force so I called Sunshine. To be fair, the tech gave me this price before doing the work but, as is usually the case in these types of situations, I felt I had no option because I had to pay the base fee even if I declined and called in another plumber. After quickly removing the nut, the tech advised me that it would be best to replace the entire shower valve (which is behind the shower wall) for $900 because of some calcium deposits that might prevent the new part from sitting tightly. The tech seemed less than firmly behind this recommendation which left me with the possibility that this advice may be motivated more by additional charges rather than doing what was best for the customer. I asked whether using some calcium remover would eliminate the deposits. This seemed to surprise him and he had none to use (which struck me as odd for a plumber not to have). So I used some lime remover I had and I cleaned the valve myself (while the plumber I paid $373 watched me) and quickly cleaned the valve to a nearly spotless new condition. The tech put the new part in and it all works perfectly. I hoped the tech would revisit the charge in light of simple job but he didn't. I had also asked for an estimate for a water heater. He gave me an estimate of about $2,700 for a 50 gal, 6 year warranty Bradford & White water heater. For that price I would also get a two year membership to the "Sunshine's club", which involved, among other things like price discounts on future service, free inspections of my heating and air conditioning systems, which I assume is simply a way for the plumber to look for more work opportunities. Later that day called Home Depot for its cost for a water heater. For the premium Rheem 50 gal water heater with twice the warranty period (12 years) AND installation, Home Depot charged $1,600 - almost half the price of what the Sunshine Plumbing quoted for me. This in my opinion confirmed that I was overcharged for the initial valve work. You can draw your own conclusions about this company and its pricing, but I will not go back.

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