RJ Plumbing

I had contacted RJ Plumbing Service to install a new tankless hot water coil that I had ordered for the boiler, installing a thermatic mixing valve to prevent scalding by the tankless heater, replacing a refrigerator line tap with a higher quality component, and the capping, sealing, and removal of a old unused septic line on the interior of the home at the base of the foundation wall. As I was unfamiliar with properly refilling a hydronic boiler, I opted to call in a professional. RJ Plumbing was recommended to me by an HVAC company which was predominantly overloaded with dealing with broken air conditioners. In regards to the tankless hot water heater and thermatic mixing valve install, I was very pleased to find a company willing to install customer furnished parts as often the customer may find a significantly better price then what may or may not be available in a local or big name brand parts store. Although, the old copper coil had galvanic corrosion on it, I still wanted to keep the old part simply due to the copper recycling prices. However, when I was informed by the plumbers (assumed to be a journeyman and apprentice) the corrosion of the fittings could be repaired, I further informed them I wanted to have the new coil installed anyway but still wanted to keep the old coil as a backup and any fittings removed during the install as the a new coil is $230 and fittings can be reused. The coil and thermatic mixing valve were installed and the boiler filled. The senior plumber was more than happy to explain how to properly drain and fill the boiler so I can do proper maintenance on my own. However, more time than necessary was spent soldering in the mixing valve when it could have been installed where the hot and cold mixing T-fitting was located and despite my objections the drain valve for the hot water coil was removed. The septic line removal, seal, and cap provided significantly less than a mediocre result. The cast iron pipe interior the home was sealed with cement to at the rough-ins to prevent leakage into the home. The iron pipe was removed and left for my disposal, where as the more valuable copper coil and drain valve were taken and had not been returned. The sealing of the septic pipe was done only with expanding foam at the flange where the pipe exited the house to an old crushed in iron septic tank. After a day or so and some rain, the expanding foam shrank and it had resulted in a flooded basement due to the extremely poor sealing method used. When I had called the owner of the company to describe what had happened, I was accused of attempting to get a "freebie" when I asked them to come out and properly perform the repair and that no additional compensation will be provided due to the inconvenience that occurred to me. I spent all night and well into the early morning hours bucketing water out of my basement to the point of exhaustion. Upon going to bed and waking in the morning, I had continued the process of removing the water out of my basement to have it be relatively dry for when the plumbers were able to arrive at noon. I was forced to take a day off to address what was clearly a workmanship issue. I have concerns about my washer and dryer being damaged as a result of being exposed to close to two inches of water. The plumbers appeared to have sealed the pipe by using a mixture of the previous expanding foam placed in the hole, several of my personal towels further crammed into the pipe which was finally capped with roughly an inch or so of a hydraulic cement and powder mortar mix. The mortar and hydraulic cement mix and does not appear to be properly mixed as there are dry clumps visible. A better fix would have been to use a test plug placed a few inches into the pipe then back filled with hydraulic cement from the basement interior. I am somewhat doubtful that the "fix" will continue to hold. To add insult to injury, the lead plumber had stated he would be more than happy to give me a quote for the above and beyond fix to dig up and remove the old sewage pipe line on the exterior of the home. Regarding the bill settlement, I have several issues. 1) I was charged journeyman wages for two plumbers when one plumber was at best a journeyman and the other was definitely an apprentice; the labor prices appeared to be intentionally set high to make up for the loss in commission for not using plumber supplied parts 2) At no time did the owner of the company, apologize for the level of inconvenience that was provided, offer his insurance information to address damages to the appliances, or simply say he was sorry for accusing me of attempting to get a "freebie" for the work that was done incorrectly which resulted in a flooded basement and possible damage to appliances. 3) I have not been reimbursed for the perfectly viable old copper coil or the drain valve which were never returned. Unfortunately, the water leak had occurred after the check was written. I have left several messages for the owner to meet me at my home to discuss insurance information in regards to my appliances. He has not returned my phone calls and at this point appears to be screening them. Overall, this has been an extremely disappointing experience, especially after I voluntarily elected to delay the repairs for over a week while his family was dealing with the loss of a loved one. Coming from a small rural farming community, one makes it a point to attempt to support the local business owners even if personal hardship ends up impacting their business. I do not believe I will recommend his company to anyone in the future.

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They do good work. They are friendly and they treat you like family.

This is an established, family owned plumbing business in our area. At the time I used them, the owner RJ, was out for health reasons. The younger plumbers who substituted for him were well meaning and tried hard, but were overwhelmed with the replacement of fixtures in a 20 year old bathroom. They arrived promptly and tried to stay in touch and communicate through the process. They had difficulty with the appliance installation, talked to the manufacturer, and reordered pieces trying to make it fit. They were ultimately unsuccessful and recommended that I return the appliances to the manufacturer. I contacted another experienced plumber who resolved the problem within one hour and the appliance has functioned perfectly for the past year. Of course, the cost of the installation was much higher than it should have been, with two service providers required.

Pump replacement was completed in a professional manner. Cleanup was complete.

Rick correctly identified the cause of water seepage at the base of the the utility room wall as a broken line. Others had diagnosed the problem as and quot;high humidityand quot; or excessive rain water run-off collecting at the house footers. Because of limited space quite a bit of the trench was dug by hand. Extra care was taken to minimize disturbance of the paver patio and walk and to protect the grass lawn.

I had a slow drain. I tried to fix it myself, but it didn't work too well. By the time I was done, it was much worse!! I called RJs plumbing at 4:15 on a Friday afternoon. They sent a technician to my house within 20 minutes. The work took about a half hour. Now the drain runs better than ever! They emptied below the sink, put everything back and cleaned up nicely. I didn't do any estimates as this was kind of an "emergency" service. He broke down the bill for me to explain what I was paying for. I don't know how the price compares to other companies, but if I paid more then others, then the convenience was worth it to me. From the time I first called the plumber's office to the work being completed was just about an hour. I think that was incredible, especially for a summertime Friday afternoon. And they liked dogs, too.