Abacus Plumbing, Air Conditioning and Electrical

Curtious, clean, nice uniform, clean vehicle and seemed to be well qualified.

I had been having a problem with a leak in the ceiling of my condo's front bathroom, which I assumed had been coming from the upstairs neighbors bathroom. After several arguments with the upstairs neighbor, I eventually contacted Abacus, finding them well rated on Angie's list. They showed up the very next day that I called, cut a hole in the ceiling, determined without a doubt that the leak was from the upstairs neighbors bathroom, took photos to document the problems, and later emailed the documentation to me. The photos provided proof to the neighbor, and the homeowner's association. The person who performed the service was very professional, from the initial phone call, to patiently listening to my description of the wider issues, to quickly emailing to me the proof which I required to take further action against the upstairs neighbor. Also, the person performing the work was very careful to not soil my carpet as he went to and fro in the condo to perform his service.

Couldnt have asked for more. Didnt try to sell me anything i didnt need but gave me options. Didnt nickle and dime the job though. Gave me all sorts of tips for plumbing maintenance and explained all of the warrenty info in detail. Was really really nice and easy to deal with.

Arrived on time, had "shoe covers" so as not to dirty the carpets. He checked the outside of the tub and found that it was quite wet under the carpet. Made recommendation to get a splash panel and replace rug wtih tile. Thoroughly checked the plumbing to make sure that there was no leaking pipes. Don was most courteous and professional. Their priority customer service has more than paid for itself.

Went pretty well. The first repair they did a few weeks before was overpriced (one pipe leaking replaced). Not very easy to reach somebody by phone and get an appointment at a convenient time. Work was pretty well done, though.

Abacus did a very good job. The technician arrived on time in the morning and gave me an estimate. After I agreed, it was a short wait for the to get started (needed the heater to be delivered from the warehouse along with a helper and the roofers to show up). Still even with the wait, they were finished by early/mid afternoon. I would definitely use Abacus plumbing again. They are a bit on the pricey side. I know I could get it cheaper installed by one of the big box stores, but my last experience with their contracted installer was poor. Basically the contractor claimed he was afraid of causing damage so didn't do the work. I had to hire someone else to do the install (but still had to pay the store delivery fee). And really, the "difficult" work just ended being time consuming, not difficult at all. So from this point on, I would like to choose who does the installation work and would be willing to pay extra as long as I know the work is quality.

I can't say enough good things about Abacus Plumbing or their service representative, John Cantu. It appeared that my repair job would be a never-ending nightmare but finally, there was a very happy ending. After the old shower pan was replaced and the new tile floor installed, the grout began to disappear from between the floor tiles - just as it had done before my $4,500 repair. After tearing the new tile out, it was discovered that the new tile floor was failing because water was somehow getting into the new shower pan and accumulating under the tile floor. Due to to quantity of the water, it constantly stayed wet - causing the grout to fail and the floor to mildew. The mystery was how the water was getting there and how to stop it. To make a long story short, the cause of the disappearing grout was finally solved, but at great cost to Abacus. In the course of trying to solve my wet shower floor problem, Abacus removed and replaced portions of 2 adjoining sheetrock walls and an adjoining tiled wall. And most impressively, they installed and tore the newly tiled shower floor not once but 3 times! (They were determined to fix the problem and fix it right.) The problem was finally solved when the tile sub-contractor hired by Abacus suggested waterproofing the grout lines on the wall of the shower. It turned out that there wasn't a problem with the new shower floor - the problem was caused by my new showerhead which, unseen to all, was forcing water through the grout on the old tiled shower walls. The large volume of water was what was causing the grout to "dissolve" and wash away. This job was a nightmare for Abacus. They tiled my shower a total of 4 times. The plumber that came to my home (John Cantu) was always cheery and doggedly determined to solve the mystery and provide me a functioning shower. The professionalism shown by Abacus was a breath of fresh air. I highly, highly recommend this company. While they may cost more than other plumbers, the quality of what you get is well worth any additional expense.

They sent David out within a couple hours of my call to their office and he checked the flow of the toilets and determined it was a sewer problem, not a plumbing problem. He spent a good hour out here making sure he was right in his diagnosis and when it came time to pay, he said there was no charge. What an impression that left with me. I will always call them from now on for work to be done here. Now that's what you call a great day.

The situation: 1) a faucet leaking badly from underneath 2) another faucet slowly dripping 3) a bathtub leaking through the floor into the room below. I called Abacus as a neighbor recommended them. The plumber came out, looked at situation #1, and said that the faucet had to come off of the sink, and given the design, the sign had to come off the wall. He couldn't do anything for me. He looked at issue #2, said he didn't have the parts for that brand of sink, but he'd look it up and get back to me. He took pictures of the sink, noted the brand, and said he'd follow-up. For #3, he looked at it and said he couldn't do anything about it. I went to the hardware store and bought $20 worth of tools that allowed me to remove #1 faucet from the sink without removing the sink from the wall. I disassembled the faucet, found the problem (a kinked brass tube) and reassembled it. Apparently I'm more competent than a trained professional. For #2, I'm still waiting for the call. Abacus did NOTHING. They arrived at my house and did ZERO work. For this I was charged $50. Never again.

I started by getting estimates from companies representing almost all of the major manufacturers. After going through a couple of weeks of having the estimators come by I finally narrowed the field down to two companies. The biggest issue to be dealt with was the gas furnaces. Though the house had gas lines, these lines had to be cut and extensions added to the furnaces. To have this done turned out to be a costly addition to the project as the entire system had to be pressure tested after the additions. I brought in Abacus because they have both the A/C division and a Plumbing division. This turned out to help in pricing considerably. The other factor that I took into account was the warranty. I was able to purchase an extended warranty which I considered of value due to the company history of Abacus in the plumbing business. The installation took two days which included the gas line work and the change over of the A/C from 240v to 120v. I have waited until today, 9/17/12 to prepare this review to give the units time to run. I am very happy with both units, they are much quieter than my old system and they do not struggle to cool the house during 95+ degree weather. The installation of the airhandlers is much neater than my old system. The only issue still outstanding is whether I experience a reduction in my energy consumption. I am happy with the American Standard units that were installed. The crews that came out were courteous and efficient in their work. I also have to acknowledge Monte, the technician who came out and balanced and verified the systems were running properly. He made me even more comfortably about my purchase. The manager for Abacus A/C, Brian, was also integral as he was punctual and kept me informed as to my options through out the estimate and installation phases. The only complaint I have from this was that I had asked for pricing of hard start kits for both units which was not done. At this time I do not need them as I do not see the draw down on the electrical as I did with the older units. The lights would dim every time my old units kicked on. I gave them a "B" in responsiveness because this was not addressed prior to installation, although I didn't ask for it until the day before I was scheduled,so partially my fault.

They did not pressure us into anything. They were professional. I could not have been more pleased with them.

Kevin arrived when scheduled, was very courteous and professional, He did the work requested and did not get upset when we changed our minds some of the work orginally discussed. I will use them again in the future when it is required.

Overall, the service was done well, good tech, timely repair. But I was gouged.

They arrived earlier than stated, which was good. They got the job done quickly. They did not leave a mess. The work they did was good.

The technician was prompt and professional, but I about choked at his estimate, compared to the two other estimates I received. He gave me a quote of approximately $5,000, and that price does not include the water softener! That was so far off the mark it sounded like highway robbery. I would NEVER use this company. Yes, I know that they are rated highly on Angie's List, and I'm sure it must be because they do good work, but that does NOT give them the right to charge outrageous prices. Instead, they should stop printing all the nice brochures and maybe cut back on some of their other expenses, and give a fair price to their customers. UPDATE: I received a phone call from the owner of Abacus Plumbing yesterday (8/24/12), who was very concerned about my experience/rating of the company. He apologized for my unhappiness with their quote, but since he was not the tech who came out to my house to give me the estimate, he could not go into details of why I received the estimate that I did. He offered to do any other plumbing services on my home to make up for it, but I told him since this was a brand new house, it was under warranty for 2 years so I wouldn't need to call a plumber if there was a problem. Instead, last night he delivered 5 bags of potassium chloride (salt substitute) for use in my new water softener! I am very pleased and impressed that Abacus took the time to personally call me to apologize, and grateful that they compensated me with the potassium chloride for my softener, as those bags cost a lot more than salt. THANK YOU, ABACUS!!!

We have two Amana A/C units (fantastic units - have had no issues). Unfortunately, the company that did the installation and was doing the annual checks closed shop (two brothers owned the company and one of the died). We were very sorry to lose them as they were fantastic.We checked out Abacus as they said they could offer the warranty service. Well, long story short, we recently had a problem with the upstairs unit and they are unable to find the problem. He did not even check the attic - just outside. It is raining and a cool day so the downstairs unit is able to compensate (upstairs is open to downstairs) so he could not find anything wrong. I know they just added a/c service but they do not appear to have experienced people who can find problems. He said "there's nothing wrong" not "I couldn't find it because it's cool out". All I know is that when it is hot out, and I get home - my units turn on about an hour before I get home - all Summer long the house is at temp, until this past week. Upstairs 80 degrees and downstairs at 78 degrees and neither unit goes off until after dark. Also had a problem with Abacus plumbing as well. I don't think I"m going to call them again. Next day: They called before he arrived. He spent hours evaluating our systems and found the problem. Low on coolant....seems like that should be the first thing they check. Anyway, the problem was found and corrected. In addition, they evaluated all aspects of the cooling system including insulation in the attic, configuration of the HVAC units and how we could further optimize. Randy did a great job. I feel like Abacus made good.It was helpful that we were "BAM" members.

I like Abacus. I will continue to use Abacus. But I will certainly babysit them more going forward. My first quote was last November after stoppage removal through cleanouts revealed pieces of cast iron pipe, indicating holes in pipes under house. In about February, I called them out to go over more details, to confirm the quote and schedule the work for the end of May. Timing was important because the house would be empty and therefore having no water for a week would be no big deal. I had agreed to make a $5000 down payment in early May. (Quote for original work was $20k.) When I tried to do this, even after explaining the situation, Joanne in accounting said it had to go through the salesperson but no one from Abacus ever followed through. I called again the week before my vacation to make sure everyone was lined up. I wasn't on the schedule at all. Original plumber came out again but said he wouldn't be the one doing the work. Second plumber - who would actually be doing the work - then wanted to come out to look around. He had the quote, but all the details that I had gone through at length with the first plumber had to be remembered and repeated. Then he tried to collect a 50% deposit. It was as if my first two meetings had never happened. I told him about the agreement and attempt to make a $5k deposit, and he took that. He started on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, which was greatly appreciated. ( First plumber - same company - would not start until Tuesday.) I called several times while I was gone and he was always happy to answer my questions and make sure i was comfortable with what was happening. Plumber worked very hard to get plumbing functional for my return so I did not have to spend any time in a hotel. Part of the job was running a camera from the bathroom to the kitchen to check for damage. Major damage was found and the job expanded to include this area. If the job would have ended here, I would have given Abacus and the second plumber A+ across the board. What I didn't like: digging crew should have removed old concrete piping after digging it out. This would have saved cleanup time at the end of the job, which took two days longer than projected. When I complained about the delay, the manager relayed that this was normal but refused to call me directly. I am still waiting for promised email of pictures, details about the number of piers installed when the tunnel was backfilled and copies of permits.

David came out - very professional and courteous. On describing what I was looking for, i.e. new build bathroom - need new sewage line to be connected to existing sewage line - David mentioned that Abacus does not do new builds. He did however give some feedback on how to best address the situation. Appreciate his honesty and his feedback. Thanks Abacus

We had a very satisfying experience w/ Abacus. We signed p for them to do our AC and heating service, with which we are also very satisfied.

It was a major job; they were here a couple days. I was satisfied with everything he did. He came out the next day, on a Saturday. I bought the toilets that they replaced; if I had purchased them through Abacus, they would have been more expensive. They installed everything and took all the old things away; they cleaned up well. I was happy and he did a good job. I used a coupon from Angie’s List.

They came out to cap the pipe for us and did a fantastic job. They were early and within an hour of them leaving, they called to see if I was satisfied.

I had Abacus come out to do the annual plumbing inspection because we were preparing to list our home for sale and wanted to make sure to address any issues before doing so. We had noticed in our backyard, right off of the kitchen, that food particles from the garbage disposal were collecting and there was pooling water creating a mud problem. I asked the plumber to check that out and he did and discovered that we had collapsed pipes under our home. Because all of the pipes used when our home was built (early 1950's) were concrete, they had reached their lifespan and were literally eroding and collapsing. All plumbing needed to be replaced. We were given several options, all of which were explained in great detail. The plumber was great about answering all of our questions. The job was started the following day. They were very respectful of me being home with two small children and although it took almost an entire week for the job, I was only out of running water for one day. They were very professional and tidy and did things in an order that would least disturb our lives. This was our second experience with Abacus (the first was replacing a water main). We have been nothing but pleased with their professionalism and the quality of the work received as well as their honesty. We are about to purchase another home and will definitely use them again.

I've used Abacus for about a year now. They are always professional and thorough. They take great pains to protect the floor and clean up after their work. I always have confidence that the work will be done correctly and to my satisfaction.

They showed up promptly and they fixed the problem. They came quickly and solved it on the first attempt.

The serviceman was professional and efficient. He provided us with the details of his findings and recommendations for what steps to take next. They are very professional, but on the expensive side for repair work.