Bill Howe Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning Inc

We just gradually stopped sending them work. We had open tickets with them that are still being closed out but we don't really send them any new work anymore. I hope they could have more control over their techs and have more consistent pricing. They shouldn't send out apprentices who don't know anything and being overseen by a guy who also doesn't know anything. I think they are operating like a plumbing contractor and plumbing subcontractors so these techs that go out have some leeway in setting his prices, and so that makes it inconsistent for us when we are trying to gauge cost on jobs. Because they got so many different techs that seem to turn over all the time, it's almost like instead of having one company we are dealing with, we are dealing with 20 different companies and it is annoying. They get the job done but we've reached the point when it's not worth the hassle anymore. Their prices are pretty good but they are inconsistent. We've had some serious issues with some of their stupid techs breaking things and not knowing what they are doing so we had to call them back out. When the issues come out, it's seriously hard to get a hold of somebody consistently who is above the tech to get some sort of resolution. There are some techs that work for them that are great, but there are other techs who blow off appointments, don't call, don't schedule, etc.

REVISED review: Tech arrived, tried hand-driven auger into toilet; no result. Removed toilet, tried motorized auger in drain; no result. Tried various things over the course of several hours... no result. Ultimately, wanted to charge us $300+ to use camera to "find out what's going on down there". We sent him away. Tech was nice enough to charge us only $180 for the time spent.. Next day, we had another drain-service company come out. Within 30 minutes, they had both problems fixed. Overall time was about an hour or so. Charged only $140. (Not supposed to directly compare companies in these reviews, for some reason... see my set of reviews if you want a pointer to the good drain service company). After I wrote a very negative review here, the Bill Howe company contacted me and offered to fully refund the money. That interaction was pleasant and professional. I appreciate the responsiveness.

My service agent was Rigo and he was exceptional. He came on time and quickly solved all my troubles with the drain. He even took my garbage to the trash for me. He was careful to clean up after himself. I was very pleased and will not hesitate to call them again for my Plumbing needs.

There was a water drainage leaking and creating a permanent water spot on the concrete. It was bad. They came and went into the attic and fixed it. They told us it would have been more expensive and they were professional.

He was very professional and the service wasvcompleted in a timely manner

David came out within an hour of my call and had the shower fixed. He also answered a few other questions for me as weel. Very professional and quick. Will call them for all plumbing needs from now on.

They did an outstanding job installing a central air conditioning system in our home. They were on time for both the quote and install. The installers did a great job. They were professional and knew what they were doing. Job was booked to take two days but much to our delight they were able to finish it in one day. We had an issue getting a quote form one of their main competitors so it was nice being treated like a valuable customer from Bill Howe and we will use them again.

Saul, was very knowledgeable. He even drew us a diagram to explain what the problem might be and what solutions he could offer. Based on that, we got a better understanding of how to tackle the problem. The only reason I do not give 'A' for quality is that I feel, had I not been firm about what I wanted and stuck to my guts, I would have been led to believe that I needed to get more work done :( Yet, I'd say that's a common marketing gimmick used by most service providers everywhere and one that's to be expected. Also, I felt that they were a little pricey, but the quality of work makes us for it! I'd definitely recommend them.

I called Bill Howe for an estimate on a repipe and some other work on a 1920 house we just purchased. The truck showed up within the 2 hour window (I wish they could commit to a specific time, but understand the reasoning for the window). The BH plumber (I've forgotten his name) asked me what the problem was, apparently not knowing why he had been sent. Once he realized he was there to give an estimate for extensive work, he walked around with me and seemed very knowledgeable. Once we were finished going around the house, he told me that most of the repiping had already been done under the house and that the rest of the work was not too major. Then he started telling me he could do it in parts for time and materials as his schedule would allow. I told him that I wanted a fixed priced estimate for the whole job. He sounded dubious and changed his tone telling me it was a pretty big job. He said he'd have to have someone else come out and look things over to write up the estimate. It became clear to me that Dispatch has screwed up and sent someone out who couldn't bid on large jobs. He then said I'd need to pay a service charge for that day and would need to pay again the next day when he came back with the senior plumber to do the estimate. We pushed back on this and only had to pay his trip charge and did not end up having to pay for the subsequent inspection. So then next day, the first plumber shows up with a senior plumber named Alex. Alex was excellent. he went over everything and made good suggestions and re-assured me that the work would be done in a relatively short time and that they would coordinate the permits and inspections. One issue was that the piping from the main water valve that went under the sidewalk to the house needed to be replaced, so the sidewalk had to be excavated. They said they would take care of this and patch the concrete. I received an estimate in a day or so. While the overall price seemed within reason, one complaint I have is that it was not itemized. I called to have a few things removed from the estimate and Alex called me back that day and went over it with me and then revised the estimate and sent it to me the next day. In the end we did not choose Bill Howe to do that work. Partly this was concern about doing business with such a large company, even though Alex said he would be overseeing everything. I was also put off by all the negative reviews from other members. It sounds like Bill Howe has some quality control issues. Keeping up quality with so many employee plumbers must be a real challenge, especially if they are payed on commission, which I read in a review here or on Yelp (don't know if that is actually the case). If the job was smaller, or if I hadn't found a smaller plumbing company with stellar reviews, I may have taken my chances and gone with Alex and Bill Howe and hopefully had an excellent experience.

The plumber, Tish (I believe was his name), walked me through the process but didn't overwhelm me with too much technical information. He was in and out in the time that he had quoted and did a great job.

Called and made appointment to obtain estimate. Bill Howe Plumbing estimator was available to support an appointment for an assessment and bid within a few days, a reasonable period of time since this was a non-emergency repair. They did not charge for providing a bid. The appointment was for 5 pm on a weekday to accommodate my schedule. Estimator arrived at the house on the appointed date and time, listened to my concerns and desires, went into the crawl space and did a complete inspection of the main drain system. NOTE: Only 2 of the 4 companies I received bids from actually went under the house and assessed the system. Estimator indicated the the shower drain in the master bath would have be replaced. This would entail a rip out and re-tiling of the master shower. NOTE: This was the only company to make this assessment. All other companies said the master shower drain was in good working condition and did not need to be replaced. This issue resulted in a B for quality. The estimator responded quickly to all follow up questions except when asked to provided a split of labor and material costs, which was never provided. This issue resulted in the B for communications. Bid for the work was $4700. I did not choose this company because of the requirement to replace the master shower drain and subsequent costs associated with that work.

Very professional installation. Prompt and friendly. Cleaned up thoroughly and put back sections of drywall cut out to access new piping routing.

As we are not HVAC , heating and ac specialists, we depended on the service tech to tell us what was wrong and give us options to fix or replace our AC unit. We were expecting a quote of several thousands of dollars to replace our non functioning unit. HOWEVER, the tech told us it was only an inexpensive part. One that he had in his truck and could have us up and running in minutes. He could have sold us an entire new unit and we wouldn't have been the wiser. Instead, he only sold us what was needed and for that we are happy and thankful.

He has a great reputation in San Diego. Emergencies never seem to happen during business hours, but they responded quickly to a weekend need which really helped us out.

Great Service. Prompt response and the fix was successful. We were very happy!

They were very nice, courteous, and professional, but there turned out to be a problem with the unit they installed, which was resolved. After the initial installation, the unit was howling like an airplane. When they came back out, they said it was normal. Eventually, they sent out people from the manufacturer, who figured out there was a malfunctioning part. The people I dealt with were professional, easy to get in touch with, and showed up on time.

Gentleman very friendly and thorough.

The service went very well. We already purchased the garbage disposal so all he had to do was install it. He was very quick, accurate and did a good job. I had no issues with scheduling and he showed up on time.

We were lucky enough to have Jorge as our technician from Bill Howe Plumbing. His workmanship, punctuality, intelligence, knowledge and overall professionalism are all excellent. He has a can do attitude, understands current building codes and can prepare for city inspectors. He is tidy, efficient and friendly. We highly recommend Bill Howe Plumbing based on our very good experience with Jorge on our project.

Service was performed on time, repair was finished quickly and the parts cost was reasonable.

Fantastic, when it happens on a weekend its always a pleasure to have the person who answers the phone and is knowledgeable on price and need. David Acosta was my technician, very professional, answered all my questions. I would definetly recommend your service as well as David!

I called them for a quote 9:50 AM and they were here within 20 minutes the plumber drained and removed my old water heater within an hour. He rejected the first water heater they brought and drove to his facility to get an unscratched water heater. he had it installed by 12:45 and I had hot water by 1PM. They were fast efficient and courteous. I could not have asked for better service.

He showed up on time was friendly, explained the process and what was found during trouble shooting phase quoted a price and he did not upsell anything. I am very pleased with this plumbing service and would use in the future if I needed it.

Great job, fantastic work, arrived on time and fixed the problem..

Went well. Arrived at appointment time. Professional and understood the scope of work.