Ideal Plumbing Heating AC & Friese Mueller Service

Took awhile however everything is great now

It was a very slow, drippy type of lea;.it wasn't like a gusher. They did some other things, too, while they were out there. With plumbers, getting them out there is almost half the cost of the job. They're pretty costly, so when they're out there you just say OK can you do this, can you do this, kind of run down the list. There aren't any cheap plumbers, because it's all union scale around here. I've used them before, probably four or five years. The first time we had them come out, it was about several years ago. We were getting ready to go on a vacation and our water heater wasn't working; and they were able to come out with relatively short notice and not charge us any premium, off-shift kind of pricing. They were really good about that.

I would recommend them. They left the area very clean. They were great about explaining what they would do. The work took about forty five minutes.

Work does was great. Onsite Plumber was great. Communication with "office" was very slow and I did not feel like and important customer, was just another number. Cost was higher then other so I would still use them in my quitting process because the work was good. They are very "ala-cart". They scoped my line for ~$300 saw something they could not move past and flagged it and did the primary work. When I called back to have the "flagged area" looked at, there were going to change me again to scope the line which I believed to be something that I should not be charged for again. You already got my business, "why nickel and dime me" again. because of that extended cost I did the work myself and determined is was just a bend in the pipe the camera could not move beyond. That saved me a lot of money. Overall GREAT quality of work, dedicated and professional onsite work, head office communication and customer focus needs some work. I will quote with them again for other jobs.

.

.

unknown

unknown

unknown

We called and the plumber came out the next day during the time quoted. He was very professional and the work was done correctly. He was able to provide us with a cover we needed for the fixture.

We were switching from an electric range to a gas range and needed to have a gas line installed. We chose Ideal Plumbing based on our experience with Pieper/Spring City Electric which is a sister company of Ideal Plumbing.

Service was scheduled for 8am. I received a call from the installer at 7:15am on the day service was to be performed asking for clarification of the project. I explained that a gas line needed to be dropped in for a new range, that the gas source was not far from the installation site, and everything would be easily accessible.

Plumber arrives at 9am. He did not mention during our earlier phone conversation that he would not make the scheduled time. Fortunately, the electrician from Pieper/Spring City that was scheduled for 9am arrived early and was able to get most of his work done by the time the plumber arrived.

The work was completed in two hours. I took it upon myself to clean up the installation site while he packed up. After the plumber left I checked the basement to make sure everything was in order. The area in the basement just below the installation site was only partial cleaned. Now, I will say that some of the mess was probably attributable to the electrician. However, I can see why he, the electrician, might not tidy up the worksite given another installer is literally doing work in the same area he just finished working in. That being said, there was sawdust on the top of the clothes dryer, tile, plaster, and small chucks of wood tucked into the dryer handle, and debris, including pieces of left over pipe, on the floor. I'm fairly confident any obvious debris was swept off the dryer top by hand into an adjacent garbage can. Call me crazy but I feel like you would/should try to return the worksite and affected areas to the original state as best as possible. If you don't have a portable vacuum or broom to clean up the mess please feel free to ask to borrow one and I will gladly oblige.

It looked like some of the smaller pieces of pipe that were installed were "repurposed" as they were very rusty. Now I'm all for recycling and reusing things, but I feel like if you're going to reuse/repurpose pipe you should ask the homeowner if that is acceptable. Maybe this is industry standard and I'm just not aware this is a normal practice, however it leaves me wondering if rust on the inside of the pipe gets pushed into my new range will it do damage? I was charged $265 for supplies which included approximately 12ft of new gas pipe, 4 smaller pieces of questionable gas pipe, 4 elbow joints, 1 T joint, a valve, and a plug. When I priced out what this would have cost had I gone to Home Depot for supplies it would not have exceeded $50. Mind you I full well expect the price that I pay to the plumber for supplies to be inflated, but over 4X more?

The kicker was when I was handed the invoice. I was billed for three hours of work when only two hours were completed. I was expecting to be charge around $400 and was billed almost $700 even after being given $25 discount for being an Angie's List member (even though I never mentioned I was one). I was told I was billed for the time it took for him to get supplies before he arrived. What?! Is that normal!? Hindsight being 20/20 I should have asked him to quote out the job before hand, but the estimate I had in my head was absolutely in line with being charged for two hours of work as I was aware of their rates.

Needless to say I shared my shock at the price and compared the work done to when we had a gas line installed for the clothes dryer which was completed at a fraction of the price and was essentially the same work. I was told this was because he did not use a flexible gas line and the install was a bit more complex. Meh.

I spoke with the district manager to see if this is experience is normal (because it just doesn't feel right). The manager, Mike, was very understanding and willing to listen to my concerns. I hope to provide an update once he is able to look to the matter further. I do hold myself partially accountable as I should have questioned the quality of the pipe and pushed back on the price as it was all unfolding. The plumbers late arrival unexpectedly worked to my, and the electricians, advantage.

So, after all is said and done I have my gas line and the actual work completed is acceptable. The quality of the supplies used, phantom billing practices, poor worksite clean-up, and lack of punctuality are big misses as far as I'm concerned. I'm more disappointed than anything as we've had such a great experience with Pieper/Spring City.

Moral of the story: All sisters are not created equal and you need to be your own best advocate.

unknown

Excellent. Fast, friendly and efficient.

We noticed recently that an old section of galvanized pipe had developed a rusty spot and a very slow leak in the middle of the section. We called Ideal because we had used them a couple of years ago to replace our water heater and were happy with the company. We were able to schedule an appointment within a few days. Tom came out first thing in the morning and set to work. While the system was open, we had an outside anti-siphon valve replaced and the inside shutoff valve relocated. (The last plumbers had used a valve from Wolverine Brass, which can only be repaired by their plumber dealers, and they put the shutoff valve in an inaccessible location.) Tom decided to use PEX piping instead of his preference, copper, because there was other PEX in the area and it was not practical to protect it from the heat of the torch he would have to use to sweat the copper pipe.
Overall, a great job by Tom. He explained what was going on during the project and cleaned up well afterwards. He even put caulking in the hole where the outside valve came through, and pitched it slightly downward so the water would drain out properly when the shutoff valve was closed and the outside valve opened.
I know that plumbers should do these kinds of things as a matter of course, but the point here is that he did them without me having to ask or even know that I should ask.
The total project took about 3 1/2 hours and was a real pain to complete, due to having no room for leverage to swing a wrench handle to take the old pipes apart. I thought the total price was reasonable for the work performed and materials provided, even if it was a bit more than I figured on originally. You can't always tell what you'll run into until you start the job.

I talked to Mile the owner regarding the gas leak I had in my home yesterday and they scheduled a time yesterday itself to come and take a look at the leak. Carl one of their technicians came yesterday and he found out one more leak and marked the place of the two leaks. They scheduled another technician to come in today itself to repair it and test all the gas lines in my home.
Today another of their technicians,  Dave came and did everything. 
What made the company stand out for me was the caring attitude of Dave, Carl and Mike. Also they fit me into their schedule immediately.
Extremely professional, helpful and knowledgeable.
 Dave taught me to light our fireplace and showed me all the valves of gas lines, water lines so that in case of emergency, I can
shut it off myself.
Thank you so much for all the help I received today and yesterday

unknown

unknown

unknown

Plumber was on time and did a good job fixing the toilet. Did have to leave to get the part which added to overall repair time and labor cost. Company was responsive to providing service when we needed it. Overall very satisfied with results.

When I went to fill the whirlpool, I noticed that it didn't fill the tub with hot water. I had them come back out and the technician said that's how they make water heaters nowadays. Our old water heater was able to fill the tub with hot water and he said that he was sorry and that's how they make them today. I'm not sure how true that is, but the problem still remains that it doesn't fill up with enough hot water to fill the Whirlpool. It could be the water heater they chose or it could be that water heaters don't work the same anymore. I'm stuck in the middle and I don't know what to believe. He told me that they were going to bill me for the return visit and I told them that I wasn't going to pay because he didn't do anything besides turn on the faucet and confirm that there was hot water. I'm ultimately not thrilled.

Service was completed same day and clean install. No issues to report and I have seen a good decrease in my energy costs since installed. 3/23/2015

Excellent service.

I use Ideal Plumbing whenever I have a plumbing issue, and I've always been a satisfied customer.  The company is highly responsive and has someone out within day of my call which I really appreciate.  Furthermore, it charges reasonable prices, and its plumbers consistently do good work.  In fact, I've never had to call them back for follow up issues.

excellent.  quickly diagnosed and repaired.

Showed up on time. Did everything as expected.