Repipe Specialists

Excellent, very happy with all work done.

They came on time. The workers were polite. The job was completed on time and on budget. A leak emerged and it was fixed in a timely fashion. Our basement had exposed piping and we had not specified otherwise, but upon our request they came back adjusted their work to ease the removal of the old galvanized pipe and to conform to accepted standards such as pipes entering walls and ceilings at right angles.

Our REPIPE experience did not meet expectations. After reading many Angie’s list reviews (very positive), plus testimonials on the REPIPE website, and talking with the sales rep who quoted our job, we were anticipating things to happen differently than the actual experience. In short, the repipe project did not go like it was portrayed on the website and from the sales rep. REPIPE turned out to be like many other contractors we have used. They make great promises but did not deliver on all promises. If you wish, you can use REPIPE…just temper you’re expectations. REPIPE is not as special as their marketing promises. The crew arrived on Wednesday and scoped the work. The team lead was Dennis Hamill. The crew stated to us that they want to stay as long as needed to finish and we wanted that too. Later in the day when the work was near completion, we looked at the work and saw there were two repiped areas where the work was not satisfactory to us. This is where things got a little testy for us and the crew. Our request to repipe an area was met with resistance. What we were asking for was that we thought the work could have been done in a different way with the pipes in a less constrained condition. One of the crew was not open to doing something different and was resistant. So we went to discuss further with the team lead Dennis, and he agreed to do something different with the repipe. Next the team lead asked if some of the crew could come back tomorrow to re-do the work. Also, it was asked if they could clean tomorrow too. Well, it felt uncomfortable at this point (felt a little pressured as the team lead mentioned that he wanted to get home to his family…we felt a bit pressured to let them go and come back). Also, it turned out that Dennis had other plans the next day and could not return. So the other two crew members would return without Dennis. We agreed to let them come back to repair and clean. This was not the best decision to let them go without cleaning. We didn’t realize how much mess there was. We chose to clean up ourselves that evening as there was too much debris and dust. We later that evening changed our mind about having the crew (without the team lead) come back as we thought their resistance to repairs was not in our interest; and we decided it would be better to have Dennis do the repair work. We asked our sales rep to arrange it so Dennis could come back by himself. Since Dennis could not make it back until Monday, we subsequently met with Dennis and the sales rep on the following Monday. Dennis agreed to come back that Friday to do the repairs. So now, the two repairs were done to our satisfaction and the work is complete. Because of the scheduling difficulties of the team lead and the two areas that needed to be redone, it took several days to get through it (started on Wednesday and finished 7 work days later on a Friday). Also, as mentioned before, the job site cleaning was not done after the first day. We later were told by our sales rep that the crew perceived that we were anxious to have them leave that evening (or they felt they were there too long, or whatever the reason…we aren’t sure why). We never said anything to them about hurrying up. So we are not sure where this perception came from. I recall making a comment to one of the crew “that it’s not good to hurry the cook” and that we don’t want you to hurry the repipe work. Somehow, there was some miscommunication happening. We were puzzled. Whatever the reason, this led to the crew leaving the site not cleaned and asking if they could clean the next day. In hindsight, we wish we had known that there was an event the next day that prevented the team lead being there both days. We would have scheduled the work on a different day to ensure time available in the event an extra day was needed. From our past experiences with contracting work, we have learned that having the desired craftsmen on the job site can make a difference in the result. (We’ve been burned on this in the past.) Our experience was a mix of some good and some bad. We were not as satisfied with SOME of the work performed by the other two crew members. We found that we were satisfied with the work after Dennis made repairs. Work scheduling with availability of the team lead was also part of the reason the work schedule was stretched over several days. Finally, some communication breakdown occurred, and we’re not sure what happened there. Finally, a last comment. After posting this review, we realize we can expect a defense of the events, including some assertions about “he said…she said” and others. We don’t debate that REPIPE will disagree with us. We accept and expect that. We only are telling you what happened with us as honestly and accurately as we can. You can make your own choice of contractors. Honestly, we cannot highly recommend them as it would be dishonest on our part.