Hard Hat Rooter & Plumbing

Raffi arrived on time. His work was executed excellently. I would recommend him and his company to all.

He arrived on time, took a good look around, and told me my options in way that didn't make me feel pressured.

My house repeatedly has drain problems, due to the age of the plumbing. I called Raffi at 4:00 in the afternoon; he was at my home by 5:00 and completed the job by 5:30. He was able to explain the probable cause for the issue and recommended where a fix could be done. I will call him again the next time I have a plumbing issue.

Raffi showed up right on time, was very friendly and knowledgeable, performed the work necessary with no delay or fuss, and provided an instant estimate on other work. As one who has grown very weary of what passes for 'service' these days I am truly impressed.

Just fine. Already explained!

I called these people because of the high scores on Angie's List, their location was close to my home and their advertisement of 24 hour emergency service -- WRONG! It is now 11 pm they have not called. Needing a plumber on a holiday is a hugh risk. I think people saying they provide a service and not doing it should be held accountable.

Raffi responded promptly to our request for an estimate. Price was very competitive. Arrived on time and as scheduled. Excavation was performed with respect to plantings and irrigation system. Fittings used were appropriate and of the highest quality. Job was completed in a little over a day. Raffi was courteous and very professional. Money well spent on a job well done. Thank you.

Absolute professional. I wish all the trades I hired went as well as California Green. I bought my house while living out of state. I left Raffi the code to get in and found all work done professionally, and promptly. I needed a minor service call when I moved in for good four months later. Raffi showed up the next morning and didn't even charge me. Very impressed.

Overall, first-rate. We'll call him again when we have a problem.

Rafi arrived exactly at the time of our appointment. .He was courteous, clean, personable,and very professional. He worked quickly, neatly and efficiently, and completed the installation in 45 minutes time. We will definitely contact him again for future plumbing work.

Mr. Bardakjian, the owner, was very professional. When working on setting an appointment, he was willing to come to my home as quickly as possible, even on the weekend! Since it wasn't necessary, we settled on a time that was convenient for both of us. He called to confirm our appointment the night before and arrived at my home at least 10 minutes early. He came into my home very respectfully and got right to resolving the issue with my toilet. He explained to me what he was going to do and what it could possibly be and the worst case scenario. He removed the toilet and had me come over and see that there was in fact a toy stuck in it. He proceeded to remove it, clean out the passage, and re-install my toilet. At this point we tested the toilet with a ton of toilet paper and it was perfect. Although my job was a small one and tedious...Mr. Bardakjian, took the time and effort to resolve the issue...unlike the previous plumber I had called in to fix the issue...who didn't even try to remove the toilet and tried to tell me that it might be my pipes! Mr. Bardakjian, very graciously proceeded to give me estimates for other plumbing issues such as installing a sub-meter, and a tank-less water heater, and circulating water pump in order to conserve water and safe money on my bill. He gave me clear explanations on what the work would entail and what my options were as far advantages and disadvantages. Mr. Bardakjian fixed my toilet and gave me estimates by walking around my property and seeing the location of my pipes... all in 40 minutes! I will definitely recommend him and call him back for any plumbing needs I may have.

It went better than my highest expectations. Raffi is a hard worker and did a terrific job for me.

My experience with California Green Plumbing?s owner Raffi Bardakjian was the worst experience I have ever had with a plumber. First, when I called to confirm the appointment to fix the diverter for my shower, Raffi had apparently forgotten completely about the appointment coming up in a couple of days, so he asked to change the date. I agreed hoping this miscommunication was not a sign of things to come. On the new date, he did not show up or call. When I called to find out what happened he first claimed he had already called and we talked. Then realizing how ridiculous this idea was Raffi claimed he had been in a car wreck and that is why he missed the appointment. Raffi guaranteed he would come the next day and fix the diverter. I reluctantly decided to give him a final chance. When he showed up the next day, he removed the handle for the faucet, but claimed he could not determine what kind of faucet it was or what type of diverter he would need to find to replace it. After complaining for several minutes about having to go to the plumbing store, about 5 minutes away by car, to look for a replacement diverter, he finally agreed to go. After nearly two hours, when he did not show back up and did not call, I phoned him. He claimed that he looked at two stores but was unable to find the part. He claimed he would look for a replacement in the Valley, but had no idea what he was looking for. At this point I realized I would have to get more actively involved if my shower was ever going to get fixed. After 5 minutes of inspecting the parts of my shower handle that Raffi had removed, I saw on the plate that my faucet was a Danze. How Raffi missed that I will never know. After several calls and searching on the internet for about 15 minutes, I was not only able to find the part, but order it by next day air to my home. I still cannot believe that a plumber that claims 20+ years of experience could not figure out how to locate a replacement part for a shower. After the diverter arrived Raffi promised to come by the next day to finish the job. When Raffi did not show up to the appointment (again without calling), I phoned him and it quickly became apparent that he had forgotten about the job. At that point I phoned another plumber, who came the next day and finished the job in about 20 minutes. Raffi was the least competent and least professional plumber I have ever dealt with. I would not wish his services even on my worst enemy.

The whole transaction went very well. Raffi is extremely businesslike and polite but friendly, patient, and not overbearing in any way. I was so distracted by his quick and professional approach that I forgot to ask him for an estimate before he began the work, but this may have been my fault more than his, and in any case, I am completely satisfied that the price was, if not extremely cheap, quite good for the quality of the parts and the service provided -- especially in the light of what I described above, i.e., the gouging certain plumbers inflict on their customers with hugely inflated diagnoses and charges. This is my first experience with this company, and we will have to see how things go in the future, but on the basis of at least this first experience I am really eager to use their services again and recommend them most highly. We had a few communication glitches in getting the invoice and receipt over email, but this was really minor and I only mention it so as not to seem blindly enthusiastic in this report. Raffi says he will be sure to provide an estimate before starting next time and an invoice and receipt on the job, and my impression is that he definitely will and that he is quite straightforward and honest, as well as just being a nice guy and a super plumber. If the other guys in his group are roughly as good and the policies and standards consistent, I will be extremely relieved and happy to have found a competent, available and honest plumbing firm at last.

The plumbers are great for jobs over $500, for anything lower, it seems like the owners take little to no interest in jobs of that size. I scheduled with him an appointment for them to come in at 4 PM today. We made the appointment last night, and was confirmed this morning. Here we are 90 minutes later, and no phone call or texts, or any other type of communication.

as good as it gets. My back bathroom toilet has been making a water running noise for about a year. It was a short running, 10 or 20 seconds, intermittent, not constant, and sometimes didn't happen for weeks at a time. Then, recently, i started finding water on the floor next to the toilet, just a little, and not every day, but then last night there was a lot of water on the floor and none in the tank. Background: In 12/2009 i had been getting really high water bills from DWP. I had a plumber come out to see if there was a leak. I got the plumber from Angie's list. The guy checked around the house and then said that the leak was coming from the toilet in the front bathroom, even though i had not heard water running from that toilet before. He said it was not very loud but the flapper needed replacing. While he was there, he replaced the flapper on the other toilet too, he said i should do it because it might wear out too like the other one. I had seen no symptoms with that toilet (either) but he said the flappers get old and can have tiny leaks so they should be replaced The water bills were less for a month or two. Then they got higher again. It was around that time that the toilet in the back bathroom began having that short intermittent running sound, summer of 2010.. In August of 2010, i had the same plumber come again because of the high water bills and water running sound from the toilet in the back bathroom. He said the flapper needed to be replaced again on the toilet in the front bathroom, the same one he had replaced 6 months before. He said the problem might have developed because i had turned the water off on that toilet back in December, to try to reduce my water bill. He said the flapper might have cracked because of that. I told him the other toilet made a brief occasional running noise and asked him to look at it--the one in the back bathroom which he had also replaced the flapper on in December. The toilet would not replicate the problem while he was there so he could not observe it. He said he believed it was time for me to replace the toilet in the front bathroom since it needed new flappers twice in six months and probably had cracks in other rubber parts, he said it would be about $500 or so to install a new toilet. He said i should probably also have the other toilet replaced too since it was having a problem, and i would get a discount on the new toilets if i did two at the same time. I was not living at the house at that time and was under financial stress maintaining two residences, and did not want to replace the toilets right away, especially since they seemed to be working fine, but i was getting those high water bills. I told him i would think about it. That was almost a year ago. I've been living in the house now since March and the back bathroom toilet has continued to have that intermittent running noise, it would run for about 20 seconds and stop and then run again after 10 minutes. But then it would not do this at all for a couple of weeks. Then it would do it again. Due to financial stresses, i put off having a plumber come out because the toilet was otherwise working fine and i thought i would have to spend hundreds to replace it, it would have to get in line behind other big expenses i'm trying to deal with. But then about 2 or 3 weeks ago, some toilet paper fell on the floor and when i picked it up, it was wet. The floor was wet next to the toilet. Uh oh. I realized this meant i needed to have a plumber come but i didn't have a good feeling about the plumber i had used, something didn't seem right. It was just a little bit of water, i couldn't see where it was coming from. It did that for 2 or 3 days. Then it stopped. The toilet continued to sometimes make the running noise and sometimes not. No water leaking for a week or so, then it started again, and i knew i had to have a plumber come. so yesterday before work, i looked at some plumbers on Angie's List.I looked at three plumbers. California Green Plumbing was the third. I liked the the first two and was ready to call either one of them, good reviews and close to where i live, and evening hours or weekend hours, these are things i look for, along with a range of prices and a high rating on price along with everything else. The thing that sold me about California Green when i read the reviews was, in addition to other great qualities, many reviewers said they were able to get the service very quickly and easily. I work a long commute from home, don't get home until 7pm, and need someone on a Saturday or evening, so although the others were located closer to my home, which is a plus (their convenience would make them more available, in my thinking). I was still trying to make up my mind when last night i found that all the water in the tank had leaked onto the floor. So, decided to choose California Green plumbing. I called about 9am today, Saturday. Raffi said he could be out 'later in the day.' I said good, when? He said about 10:30. haha. Perfect for me as i hadn't had breakfast yet but would not have to tie up my whole day. Off to a good start. Raffi arrived right on time. He was friendly to my dog, which i appreciate, my dog loves people and wants to be petted and noticed, then he will be satisfied and not interrupt. Raffi looked at the toilet, saw where the leak was coming from, said replacing the flapper would take care of it, and went to his truck for a flapper. I got out my two bills from the other plumber from 12/09 and 8/10, and showed him that the flapper had been replaced in 2009. Raffi said he uses a better kind of flapper which has soft flexible rubber and a 5 year warranty. He showed me both flappers, what a difference. The old one had a small hard rubber ring which common sense would show could not provide as good a seal as a big soft rubber flapper. 5 year warranty works for me. Definitely a more functional looking flapper, though obviously i'm not an expert. Raffi installed the flapper quickly and checked the toilet, adjusted the flow, and wiped up the area. While he worked, I told him that the other plumber said i needed new toilets. He said those toilets i had, first of all, were not old, and second, this kind of Kohler toilet "lasts forever," unless they're abused. You can see what a difference this was from my other plumber experience. I didn't like the communication with the other plumber, he wasn't communicative, he didn't want to go into much explanation, he wanted to tell me what he thought and have me be satisfied, it wasn't much of a conversation. This did not inspire my trust, even after the first time when i didn't know that the trouble was going to continue despite the repair. However, i did believe him that i needed two new toilets, whicih is why i procrastinated taking care of this small problem. So you can imagine how happy i am as a result of Raffi's visit. I had braced my self for a huge expense, which was depressing. One of many huge expenses waiting to be paid, or not waiting as the case may be. Although this repair was just done today and i don't know if it will last, or if my problem will return, i can't know that until time has passed, I am happy to have connected with Raffi and feel that i now have a plumber i trust. I know if the problem returns, he has tried to fix it in the most inexpensive simple way, not trying to sell me more expensive repairs 'just in case,' he reassured me that my kind of toilet is a good quality and should hold up well. The other plumber was the opposite, very negative, warning me ominously about things that were probably going to go wrong, and advising me to have repairs that weren't necessarily needed yet. I trust Raffi and appreciate his way of doing business. It's the best kind of professionalism, responsive, friendly, excellent communication, listening and explaining, building a relationship with the client that will be ongoing, skilled, knowledeable, experienced, has the parts on his truck (the other plumber i used had to drive somewhere far away while i waited to find the right flapper, the flapper that lasted about six months). Raffi gave me advice about how to lower my water bill by changing the scheduling of my automatic sprinklers. I asked if he could give me some do it yourself advice on fixing one of my sprinklers that was shooting straight up in the air, i asked him if i could just put tape around it. He said to show it to him. He then quickly fixed the problem that i've had for a long time because i haven't been able to schedule my sprinkler guy on a Saturday. No charge for this. I don't wish to have future plumbing problems, but when and if i do, i will look forward to seeing Raffi and again and have him take care of whatever is needed in the most effective way. And i know that i will be able to communicate about the problem in a way that leaves me feeling i understand and have been understood. definitely one of the best house repair business experiences for me. When i think of how i've dreaded and procrastinated on this, mainly because i didn't trust what i was being told, i am now feeling relief and am pleased to have found this plumber. I look forward to recommending him to my friends and neighbors.

Our experience with Mr. Bardakjian was very positive. It was our first with him and Angies List. We wwould use him and Angies List again. Arthur Wolf

First and foremost, I was floored when Raffi, from California Green Plumbing, asked me WHAT TIME would be good to come out. And, rather than a block of time, he was asking SPECIFICALLY when would be a good time for me. He arrived right on time, and assessed the situation pretty quickly. I got a quote that I thought was reasonable for the amount of work it became. He arrived at 8 am and was done by 11am. Considering the job, I thought it was done in a very timely manner. I couldn't have asked for a better experience overall. I will use them again for sure.

The plumbers arrived early for their appointment and started immediately assessing the problem under the kitchen sink. They started with the dishwasher trying to figure out what was wrong since we had a constant leak under the sink. They pulled the dishwasher out and replaced the hoses and monitored the dishwasher through the cycle to see if there were anymore problems with water gushing out the aerator. Then they went outside to rotor rooter the main bathroom drain running inside to see if the dishwasher was ok. Success at last. They were here for a couple of hours and cleaned everything up after they were done.

He showed up on time and did the job quickly and neatly. He lifted the old dishwasher out and slid in the new one without cutting the tiles. He is a pro and a very nice guy. Most importantly, he is honest in a profession notorious for ripping off its clients. I would recommend Rafi to anybody looking for a good honest plumber. My neighbor used him a week after I did and also was very satisfied with his work.

I recently moved into an old house that had a plumbing quirk - hot and cold water were reversed in the bathroom sink and shower. I saw all the positive reviews for California Green Plumbing on Angie's list and I'm ready to add my own. Raffi showed up right on time, crawled under the house and took a look, gave me his price, fixed the problem, was extremely pleasant and professional, honored my Angie's List discount coupon - really, what more can you ask? I will definitely call Raffi at California Green when and if any other problems arise. And I would readily recommend him to anyone.

I had a backup in the front bathroom ---tub into shower into toilet, and also a backup from the washer to another toilet on the other side of my house. Called Raffi after reading all the good reviews, and asked for a drain cleaning. He was able to fit me in that day and came out and boy did I find out alot of information about my house that I'd never known!:-) Apparently I have a line leading into the main line which is the first system and another which was build when an addition was done. So he cleaned out the old drain leading to the main which is where the backup came from and then I asked that since he was here-- to clean out the new main from the back of the house which he did. Everything is now running, and when I need another clean out in the future I will certainly call him. Also got verbal estimates for other needed repairs which I can't do now. Don't hesitate to call him----he's very knows his business, is professional and has a good spirit too.

My building was re-piped with all new copper L plumbing and all the sewer lines were cut and replaced. stucco and Drywall was done to my satisfaction.

We called Raffi late Friday afternoon, and he came out on Saturday morning (he even showed up early, which was nice!) to unclog a shower drain. After looking over the sewer pipes and making some suggestions for future monitoring/repairs, he got right to work and snaked our drain, fixing the problem quickly. He even spent a few minutes cleaning out a sink drain without charge, which I appreciate very much. Raffi is obviously not one of those "rooter" plumbers that only seem interested in gouging you for more money/work. Rather, he wants to do what's best for you and your house. He is very friendly and I trust his opinion and experience. We've found our plumber!

I got home from work to find that the tub had about 2 inches of standing water, the toilets were not flushing and water was coming out of a pipe in the kitchen. In a panic, I called California Green Plumbing. I left a message and proceeded to dial another plumbing company. In between calls, I received a voicemail. It was Raffi. I couldn't believe how fast he returned my call and I was so happy to hear that he could come out the same night but not until after 8 pm...which was fine with me. Raffi had explained, during our conversation, that I could take the cap off of the sewer line and it would release the "stuff" and allow me to flush the toilets. I was not able to do that so I waited for him to show up. He arrived as promised and I showed him the two pipes in the front yard. He could tell by feeling the "lid" to the pipe that it was backed up and it was not good. He took off the cap and detritus overflowed. It was disgusting....but he had a good sense of humor about the smell. He snaked the line and brought up a bunch of tree roots that were quite big. He snaked the line about four times and continued to bring up tree roots. He also put a camera down the pipe while showing me the extent of the root growth and explaining how to fix it. He was very patient and answered all of my questions. He also unclogged the train in my guest bathroom by using the handheld snake. Prior to entering the house he was concerned about getting muck on my floors and was going to put something over his boots. I didn't care if he got anything on the floor, but was pleased that he was concientious about it. He quickly unclogged the tub drain and cleaned up the tub, as well. There was also a crack in the kitchen pipe which he glued and advised that it would dry by morning and be fine. He provided me with a detailed invoice of the services he peformed. We also discussed an estimate for replacing the sewer line. Of course, I am not happy about replacing the sewer line, but it is an old house and it is time. I was extremely satisfied with the services and enjoyed talking to Raffi. I later learned that he had taken the day off and had just returned from a family outing and came out to assist me....now that is customer service! I will definitely use California Green Plumbing again and I would recommend them to anyone who asked for a referral to a plumber.