Topgun Plumbing LLC

The plumber came in, cleanly removed the toilet and checked the wax and the mounting. Showed what was wrong and fixed it. Came in on estimate and was fast, courteous - great experience. Will definitely hire them the next time I need a plumber.

Company responded quickly to my voice mail and set up an appointment for the next day. Time was to be between 10:00 Am and 12:00 noon; however, the plumber did not arrive until approximately 12:30. Once here he quickly evaluated problem, offered a solution and bid. Bid was accepted and he went quickly to work. Made all repairs quickly and efficiently. In addition to the agreed upon repairs he did some supporting work on pipes to insure their stability.

They were professional, pleasant and thorough. Unfortunately the leak was eventually found under the driveway. So it took longer than expected and cost more. They worked hard, and I believe were fair in their price.

I know that when the work is completed, I don't have to worry about leaks, faulty parts and workmanship. When I had a question about something, I've called the owner on a Sunday and he responded. I won't hire anyone else to perform plumbing repairs on my 40 year old tri-level home.

See above.

Everything went well from start to finish. I spoke with Al prior to scheduling an appointment. He was able to answer my questions quickly and accurately. My appointment was scheduled for Saturday AM because I wasn't available during the week. Jay, the plumber, showed up on time and completed the work efficiently. I'd hire TopGun again in the future.

TOPGUN was the first plumber I called for an estimate (closest plumber with a very good Angie's List rating), and I had an estimate the next day. It was $3,275 plus tax plus permit, which I thought it was high, primarily, I figured out later, because I did not understand the situation. They did not require that I meet them for the estimate, since the job was entirely outside. While I appreciated the convenience, I would have helped myself more if I had talked to them and understood what the job required. I thought I had a copper pipe from the meter to the house, and it was a straight 100-foot run under the lawn. I figured I could locate the leak (American Leak Detection; $500) and patch the pipe for a lot less. The leak was under my driveway, which was about 40-feet off the direct line from the meter to the house water inlet. ALD told me that the water line was plastic, which was prone to wear and leaking over time. Those two facts made a spot repair seem a lot less attractive. ALD also said that the TOPGUN estimate for the complete repair was actually a good price. I called two other Angie's list plumbers for estimates. The first never showed up for the agreed appointment, never called, nothing. The second said, that if I would dig a trench 18" wide and 18" deep from the meter to the house, they would connect a copper pipe for $4,800. Then I could refill the trench. I'm not a big fan of that much digging, and while copper is expensive, it is no where near that expensive. I called TOPGUN Wednesday morning to tell them I wanted them to do the job. Since they had to schedule a guy with a drilling machine to tunnel under the yard, we were talking about scheduling. I mentioned that the water leak was getting more serious, and I wanted it done ASAP. TOPGUN said that they could run a temporary water line over the top of the yard that would stop the leak immediately, but it would not have the same flow capacity as the full line. When could they do that? Today. What would it cost? Nothing. That sounded good to me. I met them at the house at lunch, and they started right then. Wednesday afternoon, they called to tell me that they would have to complete the temporary line Thursday morning, because the water meter line connection was much deeper than they assumed, and there were other utilities right in the area. When I got home, they had dug up the connection at the house and had an impressive hole at the water meter. All of the dirt they had dug up was in plastic garbage cans, and there was plywood with weights on top over the top of the holes. when I checked Thursday at noon, the temporary line was completed. They told me the tunneling was scheduled for the following Monday. My house is on a cul-de-sac on a pie-shaped lot, with half of the street frontage covered by the driveway. All of the utilities (water, electricity, telephone, cable (two companies), gas) criss-crossed right in the front of my lot. TOPGUN had to dig by hand past all of the utilities and could only use the tunneling machine in the clear areas. I had a buried water connection Monday evening, and they had also run a wire with the water line, so it would be easy to locate if that became necessary in the future. Tuesday evening, everything was put back, and I had a receipt (for exactly the agreed price) and the permit fee and inspection report under my front door mat. After seeing what was involved, I felt that the price was a bargain and the service was fantastic.

Called Topgun around 7:30 AM, Jay and Phil came out around 9:30 AM and did the pip leak detection work from street to the house. They found the leak and guarantee the work if the spot was wrong. Happily paid the $325 + Tax = $355.00 (I didn't call 2nd company for quote to make comparison). However, Jay also offered the prices for fix the leak. If owner dig the dirt out and find the leaking spot, Topgun will charge $325.00 + Tax to fix it. If Topgun does the package deal (digging and repairing), they will charge $650.00 + Tax. I called around and found a plumber who came to fix the problem for $90.00 (labor + material). You can tell Topgun lives up by they company name...they are not cheap...

He called to say he'd be a little late, and that's all it was. We made the rounds, he wrote up an estimate, his predictions were accurate, and he worked quietly and intensively, and there were no hitches.

They were terrific. They got out here right away and did a great job. Al always answers his phone and he calls if he is ever running a little late. I couldn't be happier with them. Their prices are very reasonable and I would highly recommend them as well.

The reason I used Top Gun was the abundance of raves they got on Angies List and to be sure Jay came on time and did a good job. The reason I am unhappy with Top Gun is I feel like they are now gouging Angie's List customers. Yes, it's my duty to collect bids and compare rates but sometimes (and especially with plumbing issues) you just need it done and you just don't have the luxury of soliciting multiple bids over a period of days or even weeks. Boy was that a mistake in this case. I told them I'd probably just use them to speed things along. But now I am feeling more than a little ripped off by their rates. Case in point: in September of last year an Angie's List reviewer paid $350 for the plumber to fix a leaky shower and replace a stripped hose bib. Presumably, the homeowner supplied the parts to replace the hose bib so for about two hours of labor the customer paid $175 an hour. A fair price for a bonded, licensed plumbing outfit. I also had a leaky shower and because the existing shower hardware was a god-awful gold I went to the hardware store to purchase a $100 Moen update kit. It included a new shower head, knob, overflow and drain plus I got a replacement Moen cartridge which ran me another 20 bucks. Jay was here for at most 90 minutes and my final bill was $575.38!!!!!!!!! That's $383 per hour folks. How does the price two-fold in six months time for a similar job? Apologists will say what I paid was a flat rate for a job and not an hourly rate... it could've taken longer but the guy was just that good. Seattle plumber Evan Conklin posted an interesting take on that rationale on his web page [ http://www.seattleplumber.com/flatrate_article.html ] The short version is this: "flat rate pricing for residential service and repair work is intentionally designed to dramatically increasing both the customers’ cost and the contractors profit. Increasing profit is not a new business desire. What is new is the hiding of the cost from the customer until it is too late to do anything about it, and the total disregard for the traditional concept of truthfulness and fairness in customer relations." His conclusion about the plumbing industry in general is the same as my conclusion about Topgun Plumbing: "I would say that the flat-rate plumbing shops cost the consumer more for most repair jobs than an hourly plumber. I believe that the hijacking of the service & repair plumbing trade by the unscrupulous sales & marketing professionals has had a great negative impact on the quality of the mechanics and the integrity of the trade as a whole."

Overall it went great. Al from Top Gun fit me in his schedule on a Monday morning to give me an estimate. We knew the leak was between the house and the meter because the meter kept spinning after turning off the water to the house and there was no sign of leaking water on the inside. Al gave me a choice of (1) finding and fixing the leak (~$800 - $1,000) or (2) replacing the water line (~$3,000). Option 1 had a number of unknowns - there could be more than one leak, the plastic piping was 40 years old and could fail again, and if it was a certain type of pipe common in the '70s it could not be repaired. For these reasons, I chose to completely replace the line with copper. Al said they would pull the permit and set up the next day and finish the second day. Al and his crew showed up the next morning as promised and had the work done the second day as promised. Al used a trenchless method to replace the pipe and only needed to make a hole at the meter and where the pipe entered the house. To create the access hole next to the house he made the extra effort to lift and move a large aggregate concrete panel in my patio instead of simply breaking it up. After they finished their work, they cleaned everything up like they were never there.

Lousy. The plumber finished looking at the water heater in one of my apartments and then implied to my tenant that I had done something wrong. If I end up with a lawsuit because the plumber lied to my tenant, I am going to sue this company for falsly acusing me of cranking the water heater high enough to burn someone.

They are excellent! The owner, Al, came out and took a look at the line on Friday, Feb. 11 in the afternoon. (Another company we called didn't want to come to our home on a Friday afternoon!) Al gave us a complete explanation and a written bid. The did a bit of preliminary work on Saturday, then bored the new line and replaced it on Monday and Tuesday. Everything was completed on Tuesday, Feb. 14. We were without water for a total of about two hours the entire time they were working! (Since the old line was leaking but not gushing, we were okay with having the water on.) They tested the new line in a precise and painstaking way. They stayed well within their estimate, and did NOT charge extra for fixing my leaky toilets that they discovered while testing the new line. They would not have been satisfied even if I'd been losing even a teaspoon of water a day via my toilets. The crew was polite and professional, and they were very easy to have around. I expected the whole thing to be a huge, messy, disruptive process, and it wasn't at all. When they were done, aside from a neat new rectangle of fresh asphalt, there was absolutely NO sign anyone had been there. My husband and I give Top Gun our highest, highest recommendation.

He was knowledgeable and efficient.

I have a 60 year old house in Bothell. It has had pipe drainage issues before and I had "fixed" 2 years agao. I spetn about $800 two years ago and Steve's plumbing cleared a hug mass from my drain(about 90% blockage) and I saw it fall off into the sewer (they e had a camera down before and after they oved removed the mass). The issue arose again (my washer overflows every time I use it). The shower in the bathroom starts to back up. So I called on Topgun Plumbing due to its Angie's List ratings and proximity. Ray, the tech from Topgun gave me an estimate. I got another quote and then asked Ray to come back. He was on time, but and hour early. He procedded to just get stuff ready for when he had to enter. He worked on the issue for a full 2 hours, putting the camara down to the blockage 3 sepearet times, then trying to remove the block with the cutting tool. When all was said and done, the blockage was still there and he saud I would need ot dig to find out what the issue is. The reason I am ging a B, rather than an A is....I asked Ray if I should remove some stuff from teh closet where the clean out was. He said no thast he would put up some platci. He put up some plastic, which caught most of the mess, but there was splater that go onto several of my tenants garments (rusty/wet splatter). This could have been avaoided if I had simply moved the stuff from the closet to the bed. Would have taken less than a minute. Now ai have to figure out how to explain this to my tenant. Make sure to ask for the 5% Anglie's List discount. I wish the had given more, but this is what was offered.

It was great. We thought that the plumbers would put drywall back after moving the pipe, but now that we think about it, it was a silly assumption. The plumbers were great and suggested that we shouldn't put the new toilet on until after we fixed the wall because it would be nearly impossible to fix the drywall with a toilet in the way. It was a friday morning and they agreed to fit me in monday morning so i didn't have to wait too long for the toilet. We fixed the drywall on our own, and then they put the toilet in on monday. The work was done well and I really appreciated the advice since we had never done something like this before.

Clogged toilet: Jay came out and augured our toilet that would not flush properly (upon flushing the bowl would fill up to the brim with water and then slowly drain down and gurgle at the bottom). He was able to clear whatever was obstructing the toilet pipe with a cable thing and now the toilet flushes. He was here about 20 minutes total.

Very well. I was very satisfied with the ease of making an appointment and the service. Price above includes discount and tax.

Jay from Top Gun was very responsive and professional and stayed within the original estimate that he had given to me and finished the job quikly. I would highly recommend Top Gun for any plumbing work! Jerry Lewis

Arrived the same day I called and promptly found the water leak

Very, very, pleased with their work. My first call was to have a potential toilet leak fixed. They came out the day after I called, checked for leaks (didn't see any) but removed and refitted the toilet. The cost was very reasonable, about $250, just what they quoted. The following DAY (couldn't believe the timing) the faucet in the kitchen fell apart. Topgun came out the following day and installed the new faucet in about 90 minutes (I purchased the faucet; they installed). Again, the cost was exactly what they quoted, around $250.00. (The last time I had a faucet installed--using a different plumber--the cost was almost $1,000.) Topgun does great work, has reasonable prices and personable employees. I recommend them highly.

I discovered water flowing in the front yard rose garden at a rate of about a gallon every 2 minutes. After digging down and following it uphill for 4 feet it was obvious the leak could be anywhere uphill as the garden is large and on about a 5 degree slope. I gave up and called Topgun. Al came out the next day, removed the water meter and connected his pressurized Helium bottle to the supply line. In about 45 minutes he had pinpointed the location and we scheduled a time for the repair the following day. The repair was done by Jay on a miserable wet day. Fortunately he didn't have to dig up plants but the soil between 2 and 3 feet down was pure sand which collapsed continuously into a wet sloppy slurry. Much of his time was spent sucking and bailing the mess belly down straddling rose bushes. He did a great job and put the soil and bark back as it was originally.

Got an estimate on the phone mid-week, and Top Gun sent a plumber out on Sat. to complete the work. Cost was exactly on the estimate* and quality was great. Al informed me about the discound they give for Angie's list customers (I didn't know) after I told him that I was an AL member. Asked for estimate for future work and was told they'd call me back w/ costs...still haven't heard back but will call them tomorrow. *The plumber on the job actually qouted me a cost a bit higher but when I told him the number that I was quoted on the phone earlier in the week there was absolutely no issue w/ going w/ that quoted price.

Al arrived within 1.5 hours of call, gave estimates for 3 different scenarios to fix broken water main. Upon acceptance TopGun located beginning and end of water main, installed temporary water line so we had water again, reamed old water pipe and pulled new pipe through old water pipe, the distance was long...probably more than 50 feet, up steep grade and vegetation, and under driveway. TopGun took care of the permit and the final inspection as well. Everything was done within 48 hours of initial call. Great job.