Touchstone Plumbing Inc

Quick and quality service

The workers were efficient, friendly and we plan to use them again.

unknown

unknown

unknown

I have a leaky supply line. Touchstone called me right back was here promptly. The plumber did a great job and was very friendly with a great attitude. He also made another repair. He has worked for them for over 30 years. That says a lot as well. Would definitely recommend them. Yes it was $150.00 plus parts but that is the emergency weekend rate and he managed to squeeze in another repair for the 1 hour rate.

unknown

unknown

unknown

unknown

Monday evening our dog chewed on a faucet at the back of our house and caused the faucet to break off at the pipe.  We are on a rainwater tank system, and had to turn off water to our house to keep from draining the tanks.  We called Touchstone at 8AM the following morning and they had someone at our house and had the broken pipe repaired and the faucet replaced, by 10AM.

Touchstone was excellent. We missed connection the first time he was due to come out (my fault - I was at the Home Depot and my cell phone did not ring). Touchstone himself came out to make the assessment and said it would be a small job and that he would schedule one of his people between other jobs. After several days, because they were busy, he came out himself and switched out the gas line connector (it was too high on the wall for my new stove). It took about 20 minutes. In the end he refused payment for such as small job (small maybe, but with the potential of blowing up myself and my house, I don't like to take chances with a DIY job) and said 'remember us in the future for bigger jobs'!! How often does that happen? I will certainly use them again.  They were always prompt and responsive when I called, despite the first scheduling problem that I caused myself. Easy to deal with. True South Austin style company.

unknown

It was during the winter, and cold.  I needed this taken care of quickly.  My apartment complex claimed this was my responsibility, so I had Touchstone come in.  They demolished my driveway to get to the gas line, and did the work.  I came home one day and the workers offhandedly mentioned that they had fixed my neighbors gas line as well.  The contract they had sent to me had different prices for different jobs, and had not included me with this decision.  I had found this information out accidentally, and they violated the terms of the contract by doing additional work that was not agreed upon.

unknown

unknown

They were on time when we met to get a quote, and they provided the quote quickly.  The install price wound up being about 10% under the quote, which was a pleasant surprise.  The work was done quickly, professionally, to my specification (they put the holes exactly where I asked them to), and with good materials.   The only downside is that on the date I had originally arranged for them to install the propane lines, they didn't show up.  It was a rainy day, and they don't do outside work in the rain.  I can understand that, but somehow they neglected to call me and inform me of that.  They were on time on the re-scheduled date, and called ahead to confirm.  Overall I am happy with the work and would use them again. 

Touchstone called before coming out to the house and arrived on time.
2 plumbers came out and did a thorough inspection of our property side and out, and gave me what seemed like a very honest estimate of what it would cost  do. iwas very impressed with their professionalism and knowledge and would definitely call them back again!

Signed up for Angie's List because I wanted a company I could reply on to do a professional and reliable job.  Looked at three companies on Angie's list for the sewer work I needed done.  My usual plumber had already given me a bid.  Touchstone had good reviews and no negative comments and their photo showed a rather large plumbing team with several trucks and the City of Austin said they had worked these types of job before.  Week after I called they came out for estimate.  I had asked to be notified before they came but I must have stepped out of the house because when I checked my phone I had one missed call from them. When I called them the secretary gave me the quote.  I told her they were $250 higher than my regular plumber had quoted and asked about their senior discount.  The spoke with the men and came back with a price that was still $100 higher.  But, I wanted to be sure the job was done right and timely and I worried my regular plumber was not a large enough company (owner and one helper) so I said okay to Touchstone doing the work.  I told the secretary their price was still high compared to my regular plumber but I wanted someone I felt had good experience in the area I needed work done.  She said they could change my work to an hourly bill and would cut it off at the price they had quoted.  This they did.  Possibly because I reminded them that I had taken photos and notes all along for the job (to help me know where sewer line was in the future should I need that info and to document the work.  Also they had a young worker and I wanted to be sure he was safe in the heat.) Note - I had a bad experience some years back with a roofer who had worked on this duplex and was supposed to call when the work was being done.  He did not call until after they had finished and got to the property just as the workers were getting ready to drive off.  I discovered they had never removed the old tar paper from the roof and replaced it as they were supposed to - only put the new roof over old paper.  Since then I have been cautious to check in on workers.  I've also had a pest control person drill to spray for termite control before and hit a water line so I also want to know where the plumbing is in this property. 
All along the job I asked that I be contacted when they were getting ready to go to the property.  That did not occur.  The first time they actually were out starting the work I got a call saying they were on the job (day after they thought they'd start because they were catching up with jobs built up over Labor Day weekend - but that was okay.) I dressed quickly and was there within 20 minutes.  I saw a 2 to 3 foot of trench dug but no workers.  I returned an hour later to find a very nice young man digging away with a tent over him.  I told him I'd been there earlier and no one was there.  He said his boss was on another job and I'd missed him (the worker) earlier because he got there and had to go back for the tent.  (I was glad he had the tent but hoped the time it took him to go get it was not being charged to me.)  Next day most of trench was dug.  I was told tenants should not be disturbed as water would not be turned off at night.  Yet after second day of digging tenants sent me an email saying they'd had to leave the house for the night cause found a note when they got home from work saying not to use toilets.  I had not received any such notice from Touchstone so I was surprised.  Called Touchstone and was told the message meant they could use water but not toilets.  Who wants to stay in the house if you can't use your commode and why was I not informed by the plumbing company?  Anyway from there work stopped for about a week.  Excuse was they were short on workers cause one of their men had to leave town for a funeral.  Worked not started back up until the next week.  Then they discovered they needed the city to put in a new connection at their end because the slope was not correct so Mr. Touchstone called and got that done.  Then they got back to finish my work.  All in all a two day job took 13 days.  Final bill was $1294.86 but I do believe that was I was monitoring the time they were on the property.  Also got a call a second time saying Mr. Touchstone was at the property in case I wanted to speak with him and show him the paperwork from the city which I had requested he get before he started the job.  Got to the jobsite and Mr. Touchstone was "running an errand for supplies."  I waited for his return and spoke with him.  Overall conclusion - company seems to have nice workers who do a good job however they did not once call me BEFORE they were at the property so I could arrive at same time or before they did.  Twice I went by and was told the person I needed to speak with would be there. The first time no one was there and when I returned I only spoke with a worker and not Mr. Touchstone.  The next time I was told Mr. Touchstone was there I arrived and had to wait for him to return from running an errand.  The company does NOT appear to have a large work staff as indicated in their company photo on the web.  And, my job was not made a priority and was not completed in anywhere close to the time I was told it would take.  If one did not care how long it would take to do a job I think they would do a good job on the work itself.  But in the area of promptness and communication they fail in my book.  I had a lot going on in my life at the time (as most people do) and wanted the work finished promptly and it was not.  This was very disappointing.  It was also disappointing that I had to hear from my tenants that they were displaced for a night with no warning and I was not even informed until the tenants themselves told me.  This is my only piece of rental property and I treat it as if it was my home.  Work supposed to possibly start 9/3/13 and finish 9/5/13.  Work actually started 9/4/13 and completed 9/17/3.

I appreciated the responsiveness to my initial call, and guidance for obtaining my preferred new faucet before the service call. The service plumber, David Watson, provided excellent service and completed the job in less than an hour. Very informative and neat. I learned that we had mutual acquaintances, and they also appreciated his work.

We have used Touchstone Plumbing for three different emergencies:  A couple of leaks and, most recently, the replacement of a leaking water heater. Each time, staff responded quickly, were on time, and very courteous.  Prices were very reasonable and the staff was happy to answer all of our questions.  We were very pleased with our service, and will not hesitate to use Touchstone again in the future.

On a Friday afternoon of record breaking heat (106 F) water pushed to the surface in my front yard and flowed all the way down to the back of the lot before it was discovered.  The City of Austin was called and they soon had the water turned off.  The next day I called Touchstone Plumbing and they said they could come out Sunday morning.  A few hours later they called back to say the rate tomorrow would be $200/hour whereas if I were to wait until Monday morning it would be only $130/hour.  I chose the latter.  They arrived as promised and completed the repair in a timely manner.  The problem was a curved piece of pipe that had cracked at a connection point due to the settling of the house (built in 2007).  I was very pleased with the company and will definitely call upon them again for any future plumbing needs.

I was called about a half hour before arrival to make sure I was available.  The truck with two men arrived as expected.  Both took the time to introduce themselves.  They made sure they knew exactly what I wanted and then removed the old stove and moved it into my garage.  They connected the new range and fully tested it before leaving.  One of them even made sure the clock was set to the correct time.