Barnes Plumbing Co

Originally I thought Barnes did a great job, and I gave them an absolutely glowing report. On July 7, 2009, they snaked out my kitchen drain and my basement floor drain, among other work, for a total of $312.50. Barnes even called me a few weeks after my first experience to ask if they could use my original report for a reference on another professional site and I gave them full permission to do so since they seemed like such a great company. However, less than 2 months later, the floor drain in the basement started backing up and the kitchen sink started draining very slowly, again. On the evening of 8/25/09, I called Barnes Plumbing to ask if they could send someone back to check out the problem and re-do the work, if necessary. I was not at all dissatisfied with Barnes when I called them on the 25th, I just wanted to talk to them about the fact that the same problem seemed to be happening. The plumber said he'd have someone call me in the morning, and I said that would be fine since the problem didn?t seem to be urgent. Barnes called me back on 8/26, but the person I spoke with said the problem was likely roots or something between the floor drain and the street. Barnes did not offer to send someone out to check when I asked. They said they really didn't have the equipment necessary to handle clearing the main drain line and that I needed to call a drain company. I asked for a recommendation and they gave me 2 names. At this point I was still satisfied with Barnes, because I trusted their judgment and professionalism from my initial experience. I assumed a drain expert would find that tree roots or something had, in fact, clogged the main drain line. I called both drain companies they recommended and scheduled work with the company that had the soonest available appointment. A workman from the drain company came to my home on 8/28, investigated the problem and said that the water backup was not in the main line between the street and the floor drain, but that it was between the kitchen sink and the floor drain-- one of the sections Barnes charged me to snake out in the first place. I told him that Barnes had already snaked that part and asked him if her was certain; he said he was. The drain workman tested his idea by running water from several other sinks in the basement and house for about 15 minutes and flushing 2 toilets that are all on different parts of the drain system than the kitchen sink. The floor drain never backed up while running water from these other locations. However, as soon as he started running water in the kitchen sink, the water started rising in the floor drain. I was a little disappointed with Barnes at this information but still not dissatisfied, because I assumed another phone call would make everything right. I asked the drain person to wait while I called Barnes so he could explain what he found directly to them. I honestly believed that Barnes would make good on their initial work, send someone out again and there'd be no further issue. Instead, the Barnes plumber who did my initial work talked to the drain workman and said Barnes does not warranty their work, and that I?d need to pay to have the snaking done again. The Barnes plumber said he wouldn't even be able to think about the problem until Monday, 8/31, at the earliest. I was utterly dumbfounded-- especially since my previous interactions with Barnes had been so positive. I ended up paying the drain company $95.00 on 8/28 to re-do all?not some, but all-- of the snaking work that Barnes had already charged me for. I first made sure that the drain company, at least, did stand behind their work and provide a customer warranty, which they do. The drain person showed me all the gunk and stuff that came out of the section of drain between the kitchen sink and the floor drain and it was instantly clear to me that Barnes had done a very poor job of the snaking in the first place. So now I am very dissatisfied with Barnes, and I wish I had not given them permission to use my first Angie's List report on another site. I will never do that for another company after this experience. There is no way I would recommend Barnes Plumbing to a member of Angie's List, friend or colleague. I still fully expect Barnes to pay me back for the extra $95.00 I spent to fix the same drain problem I paid them for, but even if they do so I don?t think I will use or recommend Barnes in the future. I don?t think a customer should be told they?re out of luck after talking politely to a company 3 times about a continuing problem the customer paid to have fixed, nor should the company refuse to make good on their work when a workman from a different company they recommended tells them that the problem is the same, and was not fixed the first time.

Excellent work and experience with this plumber. Worked on a time & material basis. Zach showed up on time and went right to work. Work was done expeditiously and well. Nice workmanship (nice soldered joints, clean and neat routing of the pipes, neatly cut holes, etc.). This relatively simple job took two and a half hours.

They were were very prompt and courteous. I have really enjoyed their service.

Plumber showed up right on time. Went strait to work. Estimate for price was right on. They cleaned up very well and work was done exactly as planned.

Called for assistance in the morning. The scheduling person suggested that I would be able to get help around lunch time, but the plumber, Reyn, called by 9:45 and was on site by 10:15. I was very pleased that we were able to get help sooner rather than later. Reyn was professional and efficient.

Very professional from scheduling through completion of work. They arrived on time and installed a sink and faucet in the kitchen which we had purchased ourselves. They also disposed off our old sink.

We had a drain backup in our basement. When the appointment was made we were informed the pricing will depend on whether the backup was from the main sewer line. They arrived promptly and after performing a test they found issue was with the main sewer line. They explained everything and performed the job very well

My plumber worked efficiently, expertly, professionally and left the faucet areas as clean as he found them. I was very satisfied with the work done. It took a little longer than planned on that second visit, but I could see he was working continuously the entire time, no break. I realize sometimes the job gets more involved than originally planned. And I am willing to pay for a job thoroughly done.

Zach came on time worked efficiently and was very pleasant.

They were clean, fast and did a nice job. They were professional and well mannered.

Chris was friendly, informative, and efficient. I was nervous at first having work done without an estimate and on an hourly basis, but Chris worked quickly and informed me of the different decisions that need to be made. Overall it was a good experience and I would recommend Barnes Plumbing to others.

Reyn first came to assess the problem after I had attempted snaking out my pipes to no avail. He first did the same while also using some industrial strength chemical. Unfortunately, the clog was quite bad. To continue to locate the clog, he would have to access the cleanout plug in the waste pipe that was located inside the paneled wall in my basement. This would involve taking apart paneling and parts of the finished ceiling in the basement, so he suggested that I attempt to do so myself and attempt to snake it on my own as him doing all of this work would be significantly expensive. I took apart the finishing in my basement to access the old galvanized metal pipe. I was unable to unscrew the cleanout plug since it had likely been decades since they were last accessed (or never). I called him to have him come out to look at it again. He said at this point it may be better just to replace all the metal with PVC. I agreed to do this as I just wanted to get the whole episode over with, and the pipes were really quite old. He replaced the metal with PVC in the basement, hoping that the clog was gone as we saw significant buildup in the metal that we removed. Unfortunately is was up closer to the sink than we thought. He would have to go into the drywall in my kitchen/dining area and access the waste pipe from there. He did a pretty clean job while sawing open the drywall and replacing the rest of the pipe. He finally located the problem; about 5-6 feet from the drain, the pipe was clogged solid. He also suggested that while we had the wall open, he would replace with PVC and set the whole waste pipe assembly lower to make everything ready for a waste disposal. I appreciated that suggestion as we were planning on installing one eventually, and we would have had to rip open our drywall once again if we were to install it. He finished up, replacing everything with PVC.

Was easy to set up a appointment. Did 5 hours of great work and will hire them again for sure.

I was gone both times they did work and everything was done exactly like we had agreed upon, which I appreciated. They don't leave a mess either. They were professional and the billing department is very easy to deal with!

I talked by phone to Jeff on a Friday, and since the leak was not big or urgent, arranged for them to come the following Monday. Work was done by Reyn. He was late coming, but called beforehand when he realized he would be late to let me know and be sure he could still come in that timeframe. On arrival, he was professional, very clean, and explained his work. It turned out my leak was on the garbage disposal itself, and since I am planning a new counter remodel soon, he suggested that since the leak was small/slow I could opt to wait with installation of a new disposal until my countertops get installed so I would not pay for removal and installation twice. He did what he could to seal the leak and keep it very minimal (which worked), gave me an estimate on garbage disposal purchase/installation, and suggested the appropiate size disposal to buy for my sink if I preferred to purchase on my own. He also gave a rough estimate for installing some plumbing line to my refrigerator if I decide to have that done during my kitchen remodel. He was professional, cleaned up after himself and easy to talk to. I was charged the normal service fee of $150 less the angie's list discount they had advertised.

The visit went great. Mike showed up on time and knew exactly what he was there to accomplish that day. I did not need to remind him at all. He was very respectful of the paneling in my downstairs so as to avoid cosmetic damage in some tricky-to-access locations. The visit lasted the amount of time initially estimated to me on the phone based on the projects I described.

Luke was prompt, did a nice job and explained what he was doing. He fixed two additional problems that I had noticed since I made the appointment/estimate. He also answered my questions about the general state of the plumbing in my old house. A week later, after sediment had built up in the faucet and caused a loss in pressure, he stopped by and flushed it out. Luke was even OK with cats and a dog hanging around to supervise his work.

Excellent job. Mike came out and found the root cause why our house was not heating evenly (upstairs was a sauna). He fixed the plumbing and all necessary electrical work. He also replaced all upstairs valves without any concerns. Very happy!

I looked up this company on Angie's list and called in when i saw they did work in Dakota and Scott county, A man who was currently in the field answered my call saying he was driving and he would have to call me back to arrange it all. However he asked me the nature of the call. and when i explained him my problem he said he would have no trouble coming over in the morning and would give me a call before he came over. The next morning a woman from the company called and asked where I lived and quickly stated that was too far south for their workers and that they don't even have openings cause they flooded with calls. I told her i talked to someone yesterday who said he could do it, which she responded that she needed the day off yesterday and SHE makes appointments. She did give another name of a company but I would rather find another one on my own. Hopefully I will find one better that's better organized this time.

A representative of another agency I initially called for help for my leaking TPR valve said the valve could not be replaced, that I needed a new hot water heater. So I contacted Barnes Plumbing by email requesting a second opinion and advice. I believe it was Jeff who responded promptly to my request (within a day) and helped me sort this out. A technician from Barnes Plumbing ended up replacing the TPR valve (yes, it could be replaced!) -- it no longer leaks, and there are no other problems with my hot water heater. All representatives of Barnes I dealt with (Jeff, the technician and the scheduler) were professional, courteous and a pleasure to do business with. And I was saved the expense of unnecessarily replacing my hot water heater. I will definitely contact Barnes for my future plumbing needs and will recommend this agency to others.

They were wonderful. He did exactly what he needed to do and he did it well. We had another plumber in here previously and it was a lot of work to get him to do what we wanted. Chris, on the other hand, did exactly what we wanted and he made some excellent recommendations, which we took. I expect to pay more for excellent work, so the price was reasonable for what he did. He was on time, got the work done quicker than I expected and I could not recommend him highly enough. They are absolutely the first ones I will call if I need any other work done.

Great. We had frozen pipes leading to our kitchen sink. We called at 8 am, they were able to have someone out just an hour later. Chris began work to thaw out the pipes with a blow torch. The torch was not enough, and he had to go get a piece of special equipment that would send an electric current through the frozen area of the pipes. While he was there we had him do two other small tasks: rebuilding a toilet to stop a gradual leak and reset the temperature for our electric water heater.

The outside water line had been in use by city road construction workers late into the fall and so it had not been properly drained. This morning my husband found birds drinking water from it! I inspected it and found a crack in the hose connect used by the construction company. I called Barnes, and the receptionist told me to wait and watch, and they would monitor the phones all weekend. I checked the line again at 4:00 pm and found the hose connect had shattered. I called Barnes and left a message. They called me back within 15 minutes, and told me what to do... and what NOT to do so the lines wouldn't be damaged, and said this probably would not end up with a service call if I followed his instructions. He also said if it got worse, to call and leave a message, and he rush over immediately.

Great-Joe was on time and took the time to go over all the work he was going to do with me before he started.

Our water heater went out the day after Christmas-we expected we'd need to replace it because of age. I called around and found that most places would be willing to replace it on the following Monday. After describing the problem over the phone, I was advised by Barnes that I probably would not need to replace the heater, but if I did they could do so. They sent out Luke, who fixed the problem and gave us some advice on future replacement. He did a great job and was very knowledgeable and helpful.