John Baethke & Son Plumbing
About us
Since 1993, John Baethke & Son Plumbing has been dedicated to serving the local community. When you need plumbing services in Chicago—whether routine maintenance, installation, or emergency repairs—you can rely on their team of highly-trained Chicago plumbers. As a family owned and operated company, they believe in honest, straightforward pricing and strive for 100% customer satisfaction, every time. If you’re not happy with the quality of their work, they’ll redo the service at absolutely no cost to you. If you’re dealing with a clogged toilet, broken water heater, or need new fixtures installed, count on John Baethke & Son Plumbing to get the job done.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Plumbing. Water Heater.
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 76% | ||
| 9% | ||
| 5% | ||
| 5% | ||
| 5% |
Throughout this entire process, Alex was very helpful and responsive. I'd run across John Baethke & Son several years prior and heard good things about their service at the time, but hadn't had a need for a plumber until recently. I highly recommend them to anyone, and give big kudos to Alex, especially. The level of service he provided is difficult to find and has resulted in a lifetime customer and referrals any chance I have to provide one. I owe thanks to Alex for not only fixing my problem, but for providing the most professional service I've ever received from a plumbing company. Thank you!
The tech arrived and indicated this could be done, and it would be approx a 5 hr job. Then he quoted me.
At this point I must just say... Wow! They were 2x to 3x what I was anticipating and accustomed to. It was too late though ... I had a very busy schedule, had taken time off from work, and repair needed to be done... so I bit the bullet and had them do the work.
Service tech was Professional , Polite and Courteous. He cleaned up after himself and did quality work.
They will encourage you to sign up for their 'service plan' for ~ $142 which gives you discounted pricing and a few perks. If you have a lot of work to be done ... it probably pays for itself. I did it to have a professional check the entire house over , and they did find and fix a minor problem. Hot Water Heater is also drained/flushed as part of this plan.
Quality work, professionalism ... just be prepared to pay.
We also used them to install a new tub in the master bath which turned out great!
"Thank you to the real Member, it is always a pleasure to work with and for great people. Thank you for your trust and your continued patronage."
Pros
- Speedy
- Thorough
- Friendly
- Reasonably priced
- Didn't try to sell us extras we didn't need
"I felt so fortunate to have been able to personally address the customers concern. Not every job can be perfect from the start but it is always our sincerest intention to leave every customer feeling they have been treated fairly and with respect, and in the most professional manner possible."
"Not sure how to respond to this. I did leave a voice mail for this customer but I was not able to look at the work order because it is 10 years old. From our computer records it does look like we did at least install a new toilet and as far as I can see we never had a complaint from the customer so I am not clear on his assertion of an issue with the work. I will update if or when he responds."
I've read the Provider's Response below and, with all due respect, it is inaccurate (in my view and, in light of my conversation with the provider, intentionally so). The repair on my tub was $500 and no attempt was made to repair the faucet "for free." Statements to the contrary are false. I was never given the "option" of having the handle drilled out and replaced. It is unbelieveable to me that Baethke would claim otherwise, since we specifically discussed this at length. During the original service call, I was told that I would need to spend $700 on the installation of an entirely new faucet and handle ... that's it. No other "option" was offered or discussed. The further suggestion that our call "cleared some things up" in Baethke's favor is completely inaccurate. In fact, the call ended with me telling Baethke I was unlikely to ever use his company's services again.
As part of the Silver level service package I was originally talked into, I was to receive a free plumbing inspection. During the course of our call, Baethke assured me I would have a much better experience when I used that inspection. Well, I just went under contract to buy a new home and tried to schedule Baethke to come out. Apparently, they only do these inspections during regular business hours on weekdays when, as it happens, I am at work. Interestingly, they *have* people working on Saturdays, they just won't schedule them for *this* type of project. I guess I didn't have that better experience after all.
Don't bother with these people. They'll come out with a book of inflated pricing, oversell you, and then try to sell you a service package on top.
"I was able to speak to the customer and we cleared some things up. The repair on his tub was $300 not $500 and we actually attempted a repair on his lavatory faucet for free. The faucet had leaked for so long that the screw holding the handle had to be drilled out and the handle needed to be replaced in addition to the guts of the faucet. After our initial attempt we gave the customer an option to just replace the faucet and that is where his displeasure came. The customer would have rather had us focus more on the repair of the old faucet by trying to drill it out. He did do this himself at a later date and was successful and for that I am very pleased. I apologized to the customer for leaving him with the perception that we could or would not repair the faucet, that was not the case, we just wanted him to know that he had more than one option available to him."
I had just replaced my disposal in my northshore home three months ago with Arrow Plumbing, a licensed plumber in Libertyville, who also re-did all the pipes under the sink when he replaced the disposal, because he didn't like the arrangement. Both companies replaced the disposal with the exact same model of Insinkerator, the Insinkerator Compact Pro.
My plumber bill for my northshore home was $380.00. My cost with this company was $897.00. I called the company immediatey to ask if there could be some mistake. (The disposal itself sells at Home Depot and other home improvement stores for about $175 so that means that the company is charging $722 for the labor!) When I complained, the owner did reduce the chage by 10% but my final bill was still $800 to put in a new disposal.While the company is very responsive and arrives on time for appointments, this was over double what the replacement cost of a residental kitchen disposal should have been.I had intended to use this company to also replace my kitchen sink, because I don't care for the design of the current one, and replace the toilets in the house with better quality low flow toilets. But if they are charging $900 just to put in a new disposal, even with a service contract, I shutter to think what the cost of replacing a sink or toilet would be. I feel I was way overcharged especially since the Libertyville plumber did nearly twice the amount of work, was here for 2 hours, and replaced the disposal with the identical model. The excuce I received was that it was Chicago and plumbers are union. Plumbers are union in Libertyville also! While I had intended to have them do many more jobs for me, I would be very hesitant to call this company again. I was way overcharged for this work.
They replaced the entire water heater, for ~ $4,000 and it still was the same - it still wasn't warm enough. We had the gas company in and the real problem was gas line was 1/2 inch and needed to be 3/4 inch. Baethke said they would replace the gas pipe for an additional $1,500, which was half of their normal price.
We had enough and got another opinion. We then had the gas pipe replaced by someone else for $400. We had the original heater checked, and the original heater just needed a small part and didn't really need to be replaced at all.
"Member, I will contact you very soon. I checked the computer and we actually installed this heater back in 2008 so I will pull the paper work and call you as soon as I have it. I certainly want to get to the bottom of this asap so that we can remedy any concerns that you may have. Update: I did retrieve the file and found that the price of $4,000.00 was not correct. The cost was actually $2,900.85. I also discovered that you had several issues with the original installation including flexible gas piping, undersized gas piping, undersized flue piping, the flame sensor was corroded and the water control valve was leaking. We gave options to repair and to replace and you decided to replace the unit because you felt there may be even more issues down the road. We did the installation on January 2nd of 2009 not December 30th of 2009. We pointed out to you that the gas pipe was undersized and that it would be at an additional cost to correct that. You may have gotten the gas company out to confirm that after our visit, but we have it documented and signed that you were notified of that, it was your choice not to correct it. As far as someone else saying that there was no problem with the old unit that is totally incorrect. Bosch is who we were on the phone with, not our office and they also have it documented at Bosch tech support that this unit was severely damaged and should be replaced. I empathize with your troubles. Tankless is a wonderful product. We see problems with tankless every day but it is almost 100% attributed to poor original installation and again that was the case here. The person who performed your original installation did everything incorrectly and caused your unit to fail. We installed your new unit and although you allowed us to make most corrections you did not allow us to correct the gas pipe sizing issue and chose to go with another provider. I sincerely hope that you now have many years of trouble free service from your tankless as they are designed to last decades."
While it was being delivered he started the removed of the old piping. Like a surgeon, he removed the leaking pipes, and then replaced them with new copper fittings.
Per John Baethke & Son style everything was clean and done properly. There were no unexpected fees or charges. I knew upfront what it would cost no matter how long it took.
"Thank you member, as always it is a pleasure working with you. Thank you for the kind words."
The gas company turned the gas off, so we called John back to have the leak repaired and pressure test the gas lines to verify there were no further leaks. The first quoted price was over $900. The price was negotiated down to $860 which we felt was still outrageously high considering the materials to complete the job cost less than $30 (5 ft of black pipe and 2 pipe fittings). We however accepted the price since we were in a bind because the gas had been shut off. In retrospect that was a mistake and we wish we had done more price comparisons.
After completing the job in about three hours, which included about 45 minutes downtime while proper equipment was brought to the site, the plumber assured us that the leak was fixed and there were no other leaks in the line. People?s Gas returned to test the line, and determined that a leak was still present. Our only conclusion is that the pressure test was not completed properly. Confused, we called John to discuss the situation. We voiced our frustration regarding the existing leak, and the cost of the work, and John became argumentative and sarcastic. He did offer to have his plumber come back, but at this point they had made 2 mistakes already (missed the leak initially, and did not pressure test lines correctly) and we were concerned of the additional costs of more services. So after $950 in total costs and no resolution we opted to take our business elsewhere.
Eventually we found 2 additional leaks in the line. Once repaired, Peoples Gas turned the gas back on. From our experience we would not recommend this company for qualify fair priced work.
"Sir, you are correct, we did not bring a gas sniffer to your home. The original call came into our office and you described a gas like smell. We do have combustible gas detectors but due to their cost we limit the number and keep them at our shop only to be used when it is confirmed they are needed. We arrived at your home and explained that we could perform either a pressure test or use a gas leak detector and that we charged for that service. You stated that you did not think the gas leak was enough to justify any investment over the cost of our destination fee. To try to accommodate you our plumber spent 1-1/2 hours of his time at no charge attempting to locate the leak anyways with a gas leak solution. We were unsuccessful and recommended calling the gas company because they would use their detectors for free. Several days later when your tenant complained to you again about the smell you did finally call the gas company. They located one leak. You called us back and asked us to come and fix the one leak that the gas company found. We discussed the cost of the repair and upon your approval we fixed the gas leak. This visit we had invested over 4-1/2 hours and that did not even include the time for the second employee. That second employee did bring the air test equipment as you stated however there was no down time. We air tested at the prescribed 3 pounds of pressure and the line held. Later when the gas company came out to turn the gas line back on they did find another leak. I spoke not only to the gas company employee that was at your home but also his supervisor and they confirmed that the new leak was on a defective valve that most likely it was created when they turned all of the valves off before returning your lines to service. The gas company employee shared with me that the leak that we had fixed was in fact not leaking as you are stating. Despite your assertions I acknowledged the fact that you were frustrated and made several attempts to call you. I also had the employee that made the repair try to call you and when you refused to speak to us I even sent you a text explaining that I was empathetic to your frustration.I also made the offer that we would come and repair the gas valve at no charge to you. You still did not reply. I have since spoken again to the gas company employee and his supervisor and the supervisor even offered to speak to you and explain that what we did was correct. I do appreciate your frustration. You have an older home and much of your piping is original. As a homeowner it can be very frustrating having to spend hard earned money on unexpected things like this. We however make every effort to make that as painless as possible. I do hope we can speak about this and your frustration some time in the future."
Late Thursday night, we lost power due to a failed ComEd transformer. I called Scott early Friday morning to inform him that we had no power and to offer to reschedule. Scott called back a few minutes later and said that he would bring a generator to run his lights and equipment and would be right over. He also brought Patrick, an extra plumber in order to be able to get the job done more quickly. Both guys were great - very professional, kept me informed throughout the process and worked to create the minimum mess. Even though they ran into several unexpected issues (due to some quirks of how my house was originally plumbed) that caused the process to take a couple of hours longer than expected, they stuck to the original estimate. They fired up the new water heater using their generator for electricity in order to make sure everything worked right. Once they were done, they very thoroughly cleaned up the job site.
I was very pleased with their work. I suspect I might have been able to save a few dollars if I had gotten multiple quotes, but the company came highly recommended on Angie's List and now I know why. At the end of the day, I felt their price was very fair for the service they provided.
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