Baker Elman Plumbing

While we were in the process of having our basement renovated, the carpenter found a leak in one of the laundry room utility sink pipes on a Saturday afternoon and recommended that we call a plumber immediately so that the leak did not damage the newly laid laminate. Having had such a positive prior experience with Baker Elman, I called their emergency number and was able to speak with the plumber on call right away. After hearing my description of the problem, we agreed that it would be okay to wait until Monday and that I should save the after hours fee. I called first thing Monday morning, and a plumber was at my house in a little over an hour. He was exceedingly polite and professional and fixed the leak quickly. He also remembered my house and the work that he had done two years earlier. As with our prior and subsequent experiences with this company, it was a joy to work with them and would highly recommend them.

The initial problem was that our upstairs toilet would not stop running. Our house and others in the neighborhood were built about 1924, and have tankless toilets similar to those used in public restrooms, with Sloan flushometer valves. Those valves stop working after 3-5 years, and the symptom is that the flush does not stop. So, one has to go to the shutoff valve for the line to the toilet. That was the second problem. The shutoff valve to the upstairs toilet and tub has not worked for a long while. A tankless toilet requires a big, 1 inch cold water pipe to handle the necessary flow, so it is a large-ish valve. It only becomes a problem when the toilet Sloan valve goes bad, however, so we have neglected to do anything about it. Therefore, we had to turn off the main household shutoff, stopping all water to the house. Often, if one waits a minute or two, that will cause the Sloan valve to reset and shut off the toilet flow. In this case that did not work, so we had the water off for several hours before we found that the Sloan valve had reset._x000D_| In the past, Baker-Elman has been able to send someone over for an emergency Sloan valve replacement within a day or so. In this case all plumbers were apparently busy. I was told that was due to several simultaneous boiler installations, and we had to wait a few days. Fortunately there is an old pull-chain toilet in the basement, and we also found that the upstairs Sloan valve had reset after a few hours, although we dared not use that toilet very often for fear it would not shut off again._x000D_| There seemed to be a feeling on the part of Baker-Elman staff that we should take matters into our own hands, go to the plumbing supply store, get the necessary part, and install it ourselves. That would in fact be possible, as it is a kit part, and to install it just requires knowing how to properly shut off the line to the toilet and drain enough to prevent leakage, and then some appropriate sized wrenches to open the valve casing and replace the innards with the replacement kit. However, one has to know where the right plumbing supply house is, and the proper part to order. And, one has to have the right tools and knowledge and confidence to make such a repair, which I might have, but many others would not. Plus, it would take an amateur much longer than an experienced plumber to do the necessary research to get the right part and then do the work itself. So, I am perfectly happy to pay the extra money in order to save time and gain their expertise. So, that is my only real complaint -- they were not able to respond within a day or so, and there seemed to be attitude that I should really do things like this myself and not bother them with such minor repairs._x000D_| We also arranged with them to repair the basement shutoff valve this time. On their first visit, they replaced the Sloan valve but the plumber who came had not been given a 1-inch ball valve to replace the shutoff, so was not able to do that repair. Therefore, we had to reschedule that for a week later. That was an annoyance, but a minor one, especially considering that we had not bothered to replace that valve for many years. _x000D_| In both cases they arrived within the scheduled time window and did their work very efficiently. The amount billed agreed with their estimate. We are happy with the results.

We have used Baker-Elman before and this particular plumber who came was one of their better ones. Knowledgeable, responsive, doesn't complain nor have a bad attitude. Thorough. New shower head with hand held device we purchased installation An adjustment under kitchen sink for disposal,

Fixed sink drain,toilet valve, kitchen sink hose, plumber was very willing to fix many small problems,only problem was having to wait five days for an appointment

We had a clogged drain with standing water in the bath tub. Another plumbing company told us they would need to open the ceiling and replace the trap - big job! We got nervous and consulted Angie's list to get a 2nd opinion. Baker Elman had good reviews so we called them. Service was fast, efficient and professional. Baker Elman sent Mike, who told us it looked bad, but he wanted to try some special equipment that was on another truck. He went and got it and was back in 15 minutes. It worked! Mike said we got lucky. We thought we were lucky to have thought of Angie's list and called Baker Elman.

Prompt. Friendly. Good work. Good communication about what we wanted. Came in under price quoted. What else can you ask for?

Based on reviews, I contacted Elman Plumbing for help with a bathroom sink drainage problem. The initial office contact was professional and I received two calls from Dave's assistant prior to the appointment to confirm arrival time. Dave was able to resolve the problem quickly and efficiently. Although we did not characterize the sink issue as urgent, Elman Plumbing took care of the problem within 24 hours. An overall excellent experience...

Our water heater broke over the Labor Day weekend and they came first thing on Tuesday morning. We were very pleased, except for the price, which was higher than we had anticipated. On the other hand, we hadn't asked about the cost of the water heater itself beforehand, just wanting to get the job done, so we couldn't complain.

Great service from beginning to end. Woman who booked service for me was courteous, knowledgeable and got me an appt to have the service guy come the same day. The price was totally fair for replacement water heater and installation with a 6 year guarantee. Kenny, service guy, arrived on time, was friendly, cleared the area by the back basement door that the tank was going to be removed through, explained when hot water would be ready to use again, and left no mess. Excellent service in all ways.

They were available same day which was critical given there was a leaking issue. Prompt and professional.

Well Worth it. Pleased with outcome. Would DEFINITELY RECOMMEND! Saved time, money, energy and STRESS.

We tried to change out a faucet in the powder room with a handyman, who proceeded to disconnect the P-trap from the horizontal pipe coming out of the wall. We have an OLD house, so the pipe was corroded and could not be re-attached to the P-trap. Enter Baker-Elman. Won't bore you with the details of scheduling, but suffice it to say that they were professional, very helpful, great about following up with us and called the morning of the job to confirm timing. We had sent them photos of the problem, so Tina made sure they had ordered the necessary materials before scheduling. On the day of the job, Drew came on time, was friendly and best of all, very competent and efficient! He reattached the P trap and then fixed a toilet issue upstairs as well (which was causing the dreaded water hammer noise), all within an hour. Very friendly, helped explain everything to us and even showed me how to switch out the ball valve in the toilet if I needed to do it again. Great guy, great service, great company. We will definitely use again!

I called a few other providers with A ratings on Angie's List and Baker Elman was the only one who could come out the same day. This was obviously important as water was getting into my neighbors' bathroom. I called at 8am and they had a plumber there shortly after lunch. In the meantime, somebody from the office called me and dicussed my bathroom set up and drain type /shower type. She then relayed this information to the plumber so he already had every part that he needed when he walked in the door. The plumber quickly diagnosed the problem and found out that water was leaking behind the valve used to turn the shower on and off. He then went downstairs and checked out my neighbors bathroom and adivsed them what they should do with the sheetrock/drywall and the best way to address the problem. He was entirely professional, prompt and knowledgable - I would highly recommend Baker Elman for any of your plumbing needs.

called Baker Elman to get estimate to repair clogged drain with plumbing snake stuck in drain. before getting into estimate for repairing drain he says let me try getting the snake out. After a couple of minutes pulling on the snake it came out. problem solved. for story of stuck snake see Boston Drain review.

FANTASTIC. Most outstanding service, polite, on time, and fairly priced.

I had mold developing on the back of a wood medicine cabinet, directly below our upstairs bathroom, where I'd been hearing what sounded like dripping whenever I ran the hot water in the sink. I'd taken out the cabinet and he found lo evidence of a leak, nor was there any evidence on the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom. He advised that the "dripping" sound was actually the ticking of the hot water pipe as the hot water moved through it and that the mold came from condensation on the hot water pipe, the medicine cabinet sat up against that pipe. He charged me only for the call, did not open the wall, and did not make this into a bigger job than it needed it to be, suggesting that I simplyput some insulation between the pipe and the medicine cabinet.

Soon after guests left the hot water would not stay hot. Plenty of water in the tank. Our Homeserve provider figured that somewhere in our system the cold water was mixing with the hot water when it should not have been. Homerserve made three trips trying to figure out and fix problem. They told me a mixing valve on one of our showers (house was built in 1938, original mixing valve) was the cause. We had to hire a different plumber to change the valve which did not fix the problem. Dave Ellman (our 5th visit trying to solve problem) spent time in our house going over all that had been done, tracing our pipes and traced the problem to old hot/cold water facets in tube that had inadvertently turned on by guests (the mixing valve in question had replaced the facets for the shower about 45-50 years before) and allowed the cold water to mix with the hot water. A simple turn of the wrists solved the problem. He credited us with the previous days work by one of his plumbers and the cost of the replacement mixing valve. Thank you David

Very skilled plumber who took a lot of pride in his workmanship. Not cheap....but I felt I got quality service.

Terrible, it took two visits and then I still needed to hire another plumber to do the work correctly. On top of this they took me to court because I wouldn't pay the bills for two different visits. They used defense that they did terrible work but they deserve to be paid anyway. Court awarded them 2/3 cost, then sent constables to collect money. This plumber should be avoided at all times.

They scheduled quickly and arrived on time. They diagnosed the problem but the fix required a new shower wand assembly from a high end manufacturer which wasn't immediately available. They advised me to order a new wand assembly; when it arrived, they came back and installed it and it works great. They only charged me for one visit, which was great.

Called at 5:30 pm and plumber responded by 7:30 am the next morning. Wonderful response. Very accomodating. Plumber was very polite and conscientious. Repair was done quickly . Great experience. Price was very reasonable considering what I have paid previous plumbers for same service. I would definitely call them again.

Baker Elman did a great job for me. Let me say something first about the cost---you might think that $500 for a connect/disconnect is a lot, and ordinarily, I'd agree, but my situation was really complex. The sales people at the appliance store matched me up with the wrong appliances, so B-E had to come out several times and complete a really complicated job. They did great work overall, and were extremely prompt in scheduling various follow-ups.

We had a semi-emergency situation where water was leaking in the walls between the 3rd and 2nd floors apartments. We called a few plumbers (most of who didn't return the call either at all or within 2 days). Baker Elman was professional, pleasant, and was extremely efficient. They did great work, and you could tell they where there to get the job done. They provided great information and really were an overall pleasure to work with. We'll definitely be using them moving forward.

Frank was awesome!!!! While we waited for the steam to build up, he taught us about our heating system. He was the most knowledgeable plumber I have ever met about steam heating systems. He was professional, had a great sense of humor, and worked very fast. Also, Tina and Mrs. Elman were great with communications regarding scheduling the job and providing an estimate. I can see why Baker Elman has so many great reviews and will use them for any upcoming needs.

We have used them for 20 years. They are responsive and stand by their work.