Pipes Plumbing, Inc (Newport News, VA)

Christopher A. Bloxom, owner of Pipes Plumbing, Inc, was the plumbing subcontractor for the construction of our new home in late 2012 / early 2013. We took possession of the home in March 2013, thus beginning the "one year warranty" period. Everything seemed fine until about April 2015, at which time the exterminator discovered a leak in the Master Bathroom shower drain during his inspection of our crawlspace. I immediately contacted Mr Bloxom thru the original General Contractor about the situation. His response was that it must be a problem with the drain pan and / or the membrane installed underneath the tile floor. The tile contractor came and did a test and discovered it was in fact the drain plumbing that was leaking. Mr Bloxom sent one of his guys to do a similar test, and he also diagnosed it as a leaky drain versus a shower pan / membrane problem. Mr Bloxom and the tile contractor discussed the situation and what was the best way to fix it. Mr Bloxom insisted that the entire floor of the shower needed to be torn up and the pan and membrane replaced; this would have been a couple thousand dollar project, which Mr Bloxom was not willing to do at no cost, since the "one year warranty" had expired. The tile contractor argued that only the area immediately surrounding the drain needed to be removed, the drain fixed, and the tile replaced. He offered to do this job for $750. On August 4, 2015 the tile contractor removed approx 1 square foot of tile and grout around the leaky drain. When he tried to remove the screws that connect the two drain flanges together forming a sandwich of the membrane in between them, he was unable to either loosen OR tighten two of the four screws; they had obviously been "stripped" during the installation process. After finally removing the screws, he was able to reseal the drain by injecting an epoxy into the screw holes in order to be able to tighten them. He replaced the tile and grout, and the repair was complete. We waited three days before testing for leaks. There were none. The tile contractor agreed that the screws had to have been stripped during installation AND that the plumber had to have been aware that they were. He was going to report his findings to the General Contractor, as well as to Mr Bloxom. I never heard another word from Mr Bloxom; not even an offer to help pay for the repair that a non-plumber had made to his blunder. And even though most of his work was of pretty good quality, I have to give Mr Bloxom and his company an "F" in the "Professionalism" category because of his failure to take responsibility for his mistake and to make it right.