John Baethke & Son Plumbing

The service man was polite and cleaned up after himself. They were out when they said they would be and resolved the problem. He double checked everything to ensure there would be no follow up issues. My only frustration was the price. Just coming out was $90 (waived due to Angies list). Fixed rate pricing was very high. I would have expected these rates for a weekend emergency, not a non emergency in the middle of the business day. Fixed rate pricing per service is great when something goes vastly wrong but for a straight forward service like this it was way too expensive.

Upon inspection he found that one of the valves on my water heater needed to be repaired. He was excellent and did great work.

Work was done correctly and service person was polite. However the issue was a leak coming from ceiling of 2nd floor condo and plumber thought it may be coming from 3rd floor toilet based on location of the leak. Flushed the toilet several times but was unable to replicate leaking...however after checking the toilet seal...plumber felt confident that might be the issue...although not 100%. Also the plumber mentioned that my tile under the toilet was chipped and I am not sure it was chipped prior to the work being done. I did price out this job with other plumbers including highly rated ones on Angie's list were much less in cost aprox 150.00. However John's plumber was the first I could get to come out. The price charged for this relatively simple job was more than double. However I was on the hook for the initial visit fee and due to issues with neighbor and getting a fast resolution, had to get the work done. Plumber did explain that the prices I received from others were surprisingly low...however I did check online for average costs for this type of work from reputable licensed plumbers and the average seem to be 156.00, parts and labor.

Inspection went as expected.

He was very nice and pleasant. They do good work. We had another issue after our Big Deal and we went back to them due to the previous experience.

Professional and propt but I felt like I was definitely overcharged. 2700 for a hot water heater installed seemed high, when I called about getting 3 facets replaced they quote 1800 on the spot, I paid 1200 and still feel its outrageous for 6 hours worth of work.

I called this company to get an estimate to replace two outdoor faucets. A very simple job. They explained to me that they have a $90 charge to drive to my house and generate an estimate. $90 to generate an estimate for two outdoor faucets. Wow. They did tell me they would waive the charge if work was performed that day. I even explained how simple the job was and asked for a broad range and they could not provide it. I would not recommend them to anyone based on the first phone call.

I wish I had remembered to review this in a timely fashion, so I don't remember some of the details. However, I remember it was an A+ experience. I felt the price was fair and he was more than explicit with the details of the cost of the parts, etc. I really appreciated that. He was extremely courteous and prompt. He talked about some of the maintenance we'd need to do on our ejector pump in the future, but was not at all pushy about anything. I very much appreciate being given the details and having the option to make choices ourselves without feeling bullied into anything. When he left, I literally thought "phew, now we have a good plumber to call." We'll definitely be using them when we have future plumbing needs.

When the technician came he checked out the exterior drainage and said it was fine. He was helpful and explained what he was looking at. He concluded that visually there were no blockages and to be certain he would have to run a camera or hose through the drainage pipe. The quote was $400. After this he proceeded to my kitchen were I was experiencing leaks from multiple connections under my sink. The previous day my sink was backed up and after I was able to clear the water there was some leaking under the sink I was unable to repair. He looked under my sink and said I would need to replace the current metal pea trap set up with a plastic one. He did not offer to fix it or attempt to, also he did not provide a quote to fix it. There was another area that was corroded and blocked off that I was concerned about but he said it was fine and that I should not do anything. I went to Home Depot with my parts and spoke to someone in the plumbing department here. He looked at the metal pea trap that the technician told me to replace and said it was totally fine and it does not need replacing. If that is the case then why couldn't the technician fix it? Or at least try? So I purchased the plastic pea trap per the technician's recommendation and installed it. Still leaking. Also the corroded part was leaking badly and I had to turn off the water immediately. After this I called back John Baethke plumbing and they had the technician call me. This conversation was pointless and he provided alot of excuses but was not interested in fixing my problem. There are leaks under my sink, I called a plumber to fix them, he provided some recommendations but did not attempt to fix anything, and left twenty minutes later with a check for $90. And I'm still stuck with the same problems. After this I called back the company because I was unhappy with the technician's excuses and wanted an answer for my problem. This conversation resulted in the technician will call me back with a quote to fix the leaks. Never called back. The company response will say I said I will do all the repair work myself and that was part of the argument I had on the phone with the technician and receptionist. The guy never gave me a quote. He never tried to fix it. I had a better experience with the guy at Home Depot. I would not recommend this company to anyone, there are much better options.

This was an after hours call that required emergency attention. My tenants got home after work to find the bathroom a total mess with dried grey water covering the walls, floor, corners of the bathroom. We had no idea what happened but it definitely needed immediate attention as the bathroom was unsuable. I put my call in around 7:30 and the plumber, Edgar I think, showed up at the property by 9pm. He assessed the problem and found a large hole in the p-trap where we assumed water had been leaking from. He was careful and thorough in his work and very patient as my boyfriend and I peered over his shoulder and asked lots of questions. Rodding the drain in my old apartment is rather tricky and he explained the risks and extra care he would take to make sure it was done well. I was most impressed however with the call I received the following morning from John. When Edgar was cleaning up he found the true source of the problem - my neighbor (my unit is in a condo bldg and the bathrooms are back to back) had a plumber come out earlier that day and he rodded the drain and wasn't so careful. Instead of rodding down the pipe he came across and through to my unit, breaking through my piping where it found resistance (at the p trap) and then was snaked all through the bathroom. Edgar realized this when cleaning up and took pictures of the marks the spiral chain pattern left on the bathroom floor. Then, the other plumber ran water through the pipe which was actually just spraying into my bathroom. I would have never realized this on my own and the thorough call and photos were incredibly appreciated and helpful when I called the owner of the other unit to explained what happened. I am definitely keeping their contact info handy for future plumbing issues although this specific situation really seemed unlikely and I hope not to encounter the problem again!

See above. I am happy with Angie's List, however, because they immediately agreed to refund the purchase price.

We were selling our place and needed to do a couple items from the inspection report. When I called to schedule the appointment I made sure to explain thoroughly what needed to be done and that the plumber they sent out should contact me if he has any questions about what needs to be done when he was in our condo - I could not be there myself, and the person at my home would not be as informed about the problem as I was. The plumber was on time, was shown the toilets that needed work, but apparently had none of the information that I had provided to the scheduler. None of the work that I had scheduled was done - the plumber did his own thing. Once I got a chance to review the bill I realized this and called the company, spoke with the plumber, Edgar, and tried to work out a solution. In speaking with him, it sounded like he never got any of the instructions that I made sure to carefully explain to the scheduler. Edgar said he would need to speak to his boss, but would return my call about coming back out to do the work that I actually hired them to do. He never called back.

Representative worked cleanly and quickly. Performed water heater flush and total inspection. Checked water pressure and examined all pipes and connections for leaks. Made a number of suggestions relative to age of materials and possible additions for efficiency and safety. Very professional and will use again.

People's Gas shut off our supply and said we needed to increase airflow to the room where the water heaters for our condo building are. We called Baethke and Son Monday night and explained the problem and got an appointment for the next morning. Tuesday morning Edgar called to let us know he was on his way and arrived ahead of schedule. He walked me through his plan, gave me an estimate of the cost, and then got right to work. He had to bore through the brick wall to install the vent. He did have to come back later to extend the new vent pipe towards the floor to direct the cold air away from the water pipes, but he was prompt and friendly throughout the job. Overall, the service was - prompt - cost as estimated - friendly - thorough

Our hot water heater was about 13 years old and wasn't performing very well so I called John Baethke & Son Plumbing to have it replaced. I was able to schedule an appointment for the following Monday. I received a reminder phone call on the Friday before my appointment. On the day the work was scheduled the technician arrived on time and looked over the existing hot water heater. The technician pointed out a few things that were done improperly on the existing unit and said that he would correct them on the new installation. I also asked if he could connect the hot water heater to a different gas line as the one it was connected to was close to being over utilized. The technician went over all of the options for me and said that he would complete the work that day. Everything went really well. The whole installation was around 4 hours from start to finish including cleanup and removal of the old hot water heater. Before leaving I asked the technician a few questions about some other plumbing work that I was planning to complete in the future. He was very courteous and answered all of my questions and gave me some recommendations on what needs to be done.

We just built a new home. The plumber that our general contractor uses was hesitant and negative about installing a whole house water filtration system, stating that they didn't work well, negatively affected water pressure, and generally wasn't interested in the work. Once we moved in we called John Baethke. I have been using John and his team for the better part of 13 years. Initially John came out personally to scope the project - determined the size of system needed, the best location for it, etc. He was very clear and confident that any impact on water pressure would be nominal and not noticeable. Once we decided to move forward, the installation was scheduled for the NEXT DAY! Our plumber was Stephen. Professional, clean cut, and incredibly nice and personable. His plumbing skill was exemplary too! Installation took several hours. You would have never known that he was there. Overall based on my numerous experiences with the organization, they are always professional and very skilled at what they do. We passionately love our plumber and I am hopeful that my post will encourage other A L members to give them the chance.

Patrick was on time, neat and organized. He answered all the questions I had while he was working. One of our problems was a disposal on the fritz. I assumed it needed to be replaced, but Patrick was able to determine that it was simply stuck and got it operating again. He explained how the drain from the dishwasher should have been hooked up when it was originally installed. He explained the age of our water heater and what he was doing as he checked it out. Our laundry sink had a leak and needed to be replaced. My only disappointment was the $400 charge (reduced from $500!) to replace that faucet. We want to replace our kitchen sink faucet. We have not decided whether to use Baethke for that job.

Steven, the plumber, showed up at 8:50am, well within the half-hour window promised by the scheduler. He drove up in a large, well-marked van that turned out to have a lot of equipment and parts, came to the door, introduced himself and covered his shoes with plastic booties. The master bathroom is on the 2nd floor. The drain in the wash basin has been slow for a long time, and resistant to previous attempts to clean. We had the bathroom redone six years ago. The crew then tried a work-around that seemed to fix the slow drain in the wash basin. It didn't work, whatever they did. A couple years later I tried to clean the drain with a hand operated snake. It was better, but not much better and not for long. Another plumber tried to clean the drain with a power rodder three years ago. It did not work, but the guy shot me a ridiculously high estimate for getting at the problem and fixing it. I tried Drano a couple times. Finally, I called Baethke Plumbing last Tuesday after spending some time reading his reviews. Baethke's plumber came Friday and fixed the problem. Steven took the time to explain to me what he was doing and to show me their price book for the services he was performing. He started rodding and really, really tried to clear whatever was clogging the pipe Steven could not get his power rodder to make the turn into the right pipe. In fact, the snake could only go up, out through the vent and on to the roof. He said that the best way to get at the problem was to go in from behind, which mean cutting a hole in our bedroom wall. Steven moved the chests we had on the wall in question and then measured twice to make sure he was in the right place before he started cutting wallboard. In a few minutes he had exposed the clogged pipe, a horizontal pipe that connected the basin drain to the main drain. The main drain was working properly. He quickly identified the problem. The house had been built in 1943 during WWII. The pipe that connected the basin drain to the main downward drain had a slight upward tilt. Because of this reverse slope, the horizontal pipe was some 95% full of sediment. As the drain water "flowed" uphill towards the main pipe, material in the water had settled out like a river delta. The result was a pipe nearly full of nearly solid material that was impossible to remove by ordinary means. Steven removed the clogged pipe, replaced it and repaired the drain from the wash basin. Then he carefully covered the hole and put all the furniture back in place. I forgot to mention that wherever he worked, Steven laid down tarps he had brought with. And then he cleaned up carefully, including running my vacuum cleaner over the bedroom rug and washing carefully under the bathroom wash basin where he had been working with the power rodder. Before he left, Steven gave me the name of their wall-board guy whom I will call Monday.

All went well. No complaints. Pluses -- these guys are always very considerate about not tracking mud and other stuff from the outside into the house and without being asked they put covers on their shoes to avoid tracking in stuff. Patrick even got along with my labrador retriever.

(Edgar) John Bathke was on time and was very polite to us. He completed job and explained coverage for future repair. Very glad to hear this. Covered his shoes and was very patient with dog watching, real bonus.

Disconnect plumbing from kitchen sink/compactor in order to allow for countertop installation.

The guys that came out were fast, clean and efficient. I hired them because I read a review on Angie's list that was written last summer of another person that had their water heater replaced for $1400. I thought that was a little steep but I needed this done quickly because the water heater I had was leaking gas into the house. I called and the next day they showed up and did the job. Just to show up they charge $89! So I really had no choice but to hire them once they got here. They did say that I would be charged for the visit but I figured that would be part of the $1400. They waved the fee but the instal and tank cost over $1800, which they said was a flat rate, plus for their warentee it was another couple of hundred. I was also informed that to keep the warentee valid that I would have to spend an extra $300 a year to have them come out and check it out every year. I didn't really care about the cost because they did such great work but when I told my brother-in-law and father about it over Christmas they just about fell out of their chairs laughing. I would use them again if they weren't so expensive. But who knows, the only other plumber I have used has been my cousin so maybe all plumbers are this expensive.

I needed an estimate on work needed to repair my house after a break in. John Baethke showed up in person and showed up early. I explained that I needed an estimate that was accurate and fair to present to my insurance company so that the insurance big wigs don't short change me. He understood my exact needs and after conducting an extremely thorough inspection, provided an estimate that very same day!! The service and professionalism exceeded my expectations by far!!!

This company was our second opinion but we went with them because of their professionalism (beginning with the way they answered their phone) to the way they interacted with us. The owner, John, was just a down-to-earth person who really wanted to figure out the problem & did some diagnostic work that same day. (the first company didn't) I told him I was going with 'my gut' in hiring him because I felt really comfortable. Our decision was a very good one. He also had a much lower price quote & the other company was going to tear up a washroom wall that was unnecessary. Each of the workers were very nice, knowledgeable & accommodating. I would definitely recommend this company & if we need a plumber again - John's who we'll call.

very good experience, lots of knowledge and ideas to address difficult plumbing issues in a very old home