John Baethke & Son Plumbing

Great - Tom came in and helped diagnose the problem, then provided suggestions for mitigation and restoration.

It turned out to be a much more complicated job. Backup was happening due to tree roots clogging the catch basin. It went well, but they had a really difficult time with the roots.

The power of a trusted plumbing relationship..... John Baethke & Sons is my plumber. I say that proudly. They have been since they were referred to us in 2001, shortly after we purchased our first home. Over the years, when we have had a need, we would call John. Regardless of the technician, there has been a consistent high level of service, a thoroughness that I don't think you find everywhere, consultation, advice and guidance. There is never been any pressure and the advice has always seemed logical and practical. I appreciate this. Also over the years, I would say that a relationship has been developed, directly with John, Barry, the office manager and several of the technicians that have served us over the years - Steve, Rodney, Cormack, Josh, just to name a few. Everyone seems to enjoy what they do, enjoy where they work, and that's obvious when you meet them. There's a comfort level and a trust to have these people in your home. John's team has dug up and replaced a sewer line, identified toilets that are running and wasting water, identified minor gas leaks, installed a whole house water filtration system, fixed a clog from "disposable" wipes that really aren't that disposable, replaced toilets, repaired fixtures, and have always been available over the phone for simple questions and advice. Most recently John and his team did a video inspection of the sewer line in our new home. It is this video inspection that has sparked me to share my experience with Angie and her list. A few months back, I shared with John that we were moving. He suggested that as part of the home inspection that we also conduct a plumbing specific inspection including a video analysis of the sewer line. We thought this was sound advice and John participated in the home inspection along with our hired inspector. As a result of his work, we learned that the sewer line was in complete disarray - clogged in areas, cracked in others, and it was his opinion that it needed to be replaced. Even trying to clean it out could have caused additional damage due to the pre-existing cracks. We provided his report along with a copy of the video to the seller. The net result was for the seller to properly repair the sewer line prior to closing, which they did. John even showed up during the repairs to ensure that their hired plumber was going about the repairs in the right way, which they did. He didn't need to do that....I see it as over and above. Not only do we have peace of mind knowing that we have a properly functioning sewer line, who knows what kind of expense we would have been facing if we had to replace the line or worse yet, if the broken pipe would have led to some kind back up causing interior damage to our home. I like to say that I don't know what I don't know and certainly, I know very little about plumbing. I would have never thought to have the sewer line inspected as part of the home inspection. Nor can I say that I would have ever received this advice if it wasn't for having an existing trusted relationship with John. John's team has struck a great balance of high skill, good people, and a caring culture that is eager and willing to help and support their clients. I am grateful.

I've used them for 5 years. It is one of the most conscientious customer service experiences I've ever had. They call you and let you know that they're coming. They call you 15 or 20 minutes before they arrive. When they leave, you fill up a customer service form. After they have been gone for 20 minutes or half an hour, you get a call from the office asking how your experience was. Their customer service is phenomenal. They are expensive. You get what you pay for.

Cormac arrived on time and was professional and thorough. He replaced some pipe, shut-off valves, and the supply valve for my humidifier. He did all of this quickly, removed the old water heater and cleaned the area before he left. My only complaint was the cost for a standard (not high-efficiency) 50 gallon gas water heater was pretty high.

Flushed the three hot water heaters. Hired them to come do other repairs.

Rodney was very prompt and very friendly. I showed him the issues I was having and he took some time to come up with different options for service. He explained what the options were and the corresponding prices and answered questions about each one, not pushing for any particular option (not upselling, which I appreciated). I chose an option and he immediately set to work. He had someone with Baethke Plumbing drop off a part he was missing and very efficiently did the work. He gave me a tour of the work before when he was done and then he provided me with information regarding the new equipment and also details on the discount program they offer for existing customers.

I had a bad experience with them. I paid $89 for them just to give me a diagnostic. He gave me six quotes. I was like, "Okay. Can I get the quote that you gave me?" The highest was $3000 and the lowest was $900, to fix a leak. I was looking at him like, "Are you serious, to fix a leak?" I said to him, "Let me get the paper that you gave me the six options on," and he wouldn't give me the paper. So, I told him, "Leave my house." He was saying to me, what price would I think I would pay for something like this and I'm looking at him like, "How much will you charge for labor?" He couldn't even tell me that. I'm like, "How long it's going to take then?" He couldn't give me a straight answer. I'm like, "You're talking about $3000. You're talking about $1000, lowest, to change a pipe and I'm saying that you gave me a quote and I can't take the quote and call you back if I needed the service, if I'm going to go out there and see if I can get it cheaper. You can't give me that paper that you wrote on?" I just thought that was a low ball. I just thought it was a highway robbery. So, I told him, "Just leave. Just take the fee for $89 and just go." He was like how did I hear about them. I told him that I went to Angie's List. He was like I'm not going to get it any cheaper if the person is not licensed. I'm like, "I do things through Angie's List because I want a licensed person in my house. I don't want to not have a licensed person in my house. I'm going to go about it obviously if the person is going to be licensed." He ended up leaving.

We had used John Baethke & Son plumbing in the past to replace a toilet in our 100+ year old home. When our bathtub and kitchen faucet developed leaks, we called them for repairs. Making the next-day appointment was easy, the plumber (Cormac Connolly) was prompt, very pleasant and exceedingly professional. He inspected the problems, advised what needed to be done and gave us a very detailed, accurate estimate. Although he could have repaired the Delta kitchen faucet, he recommended replacement for long-term satisfaction since the faucet was old. We love our new kitchen faucet! He had several faucet choices on the truck, so no second visit was necessary. The bathtub fix in our old house could have been a bad experience, but he was able to remove the old valve stems and replace them. All the work was done in less than 3 hours. Outstanding work, superior company, will definitely use them again!.

Having been a loyal customer of JB for many years, I've appreciated their quality and have been willing to pay a premium for it. On this visit, I was presented with 5 options to resolve my slow drains, the cheapest being cleaning my P traps for $300, and the most expensive being completely replacing the drain pipes. With this specific visit, however, I was very disappointed in a few things: --Were all these 5 options in my best interest? No, they were not. Instead of acting as my fiduciary, it seems like JB is comfortable offering options that are either (A) insufficient to resolve your issue, but will cost you anyway, or (B) overkill (like replacing all the pipes), and will merely maximize expense for the customer. The rep indicated as much to me -- his job was to provide me with 5 options. Not all of them made sense to him for the issue. In providing me options that are not in my best interest, JB is shifting the risk to the customer. If I'm paying a professional, I want them to bear the risk of a bad decision, and collaborate with me on finding the right one. --$300 to clean P traps? Takes 1/2 hour tops, no specialized training, and I did it myself prior to JB coming. This is a good example of the premium you will pay to use JB. --The $900 I did pay resolved my issue in one drain for only a week. It was not a long term fix. And part of the JB solution was to loosen my drain stopper so the fixture was not tight, a solution which will be undone through normal use. And it seemed to me like treating a symptom, rather than the disease. Ultimately, I don't feel like I got the value for my considerable money.

I like this company, they are clean, punctual, organized and easy to work with.

.First he examined the problem and wrote down his report while the water was still spitting out of the pipe and he gave me a quote and I had to call the condo board president to get approval of the price, then I reluctantly signed it, even though I could not at all read it because he printed it very tiny, he then proceeded to replace the burst pipes, The next day I called the office and requested that the person who wrote out the report to type it up because it was impossible to even read his writing and I was told they would tell him. However he never responded to my request. I gave a "B" review due to his not rewriting or typing the report he wrote out with the tiny printing in pencil. I gave a "C" review for the price which was very high.

They are very responsive and move quickly. They had somebody at my apartment in less than 24 hours. Ultimately, I cancelled and they honored a refund with kindness and understanding. Initially, I already completed the inspection of the bathtub on my own to determine that it either needed a better drain rodding tool (than the one I had) or to use a pressure gun to push the blockage through. The plumbing technician came with a charge of $89.50 which is meant to cover the trip and the time necessary to do an inspection and determine the best course of action. From there the technician presented me with several options from a book with various job costs. The cheapest option and the one which may not fix the problem cost about $250 more than I already paid. I have a few apartments, and in my experience rodding a drain never costs more than $100, so I expected to pay up to $120 in total. The $250 was far beyond my expectations, so I cancelled and went with a different Plumber who did the job for about $90. I contacted John Baethke & Son Plumbing Inc and explained that I didn't believe I should have paid the $89.50 Inspection charge because the Plumber didn't do any labor, did not inspect anything, and only showed me the work options because my explanation of my own inspection was satisfactory to determine a solution to the problem. Because I myself had already performed this in the past and had gone through the inspection on my own, the owner agreed and provided a refund. Thanks for your time John Baethke & Son Plumbing Inc!

The person answering the phones at John Baethke is very nice, and promises to send someone out that same day. The plumber, Rodney, calls before arrival, and is very friendly. It all goes downhill from there. After looking at the problem with his eyeballs for one minute, he sits down to write me a quote. "This first quote is more than you are looking to have done today," he tells me. "We could blast a hole in your basement floor, replace the fitting, *blah blah blah*, and redo all the concrete. Now," he says, clutching his paper to his chest, "How much do you think something like that might cost?" OH NO, BUDDY. He partially realizes the error of his technique and gives me the price. $6000. SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS. I need the kitchen drain line rodded out. That's it. Not a basement remodel. He shows me the paper with the range of possible services to be provided. The cheapest is $100. So, you could fix my problem for $100 with some glorified Drain-O, or I could choose to pay you $6000 for a week of inconvenience? Lemme see... I sent him packing, to his utter shock. A *woman* did not fall for his game-playing? I think he really believed he had me backed against the wall: I'd had two plumbers just plain not show up in the last 3 days with this problem, plus I have little kids and 2nd floor tenants: lots of dishes and laundry need to be done at this point. However, I realized it was an utter rip-off. The shock on his face was allllllllmost worth the exorbitant $89.50 fee for allowing him to walk into the basement to eyeball the drain and waste 30 minutes of my time. The next day a local plumber comes - thank you, Gilchrist-Traynor, 708-386-1311 - and successfully rods out the drain line in under an hour for $115. That "level of service" from these jokers was quoted at $700, I kid you not. (This is no exaggeration, in fact, I'm rounding down. It was $700 and change, I forget how much change.) No thank you.

Preface: I have used many vendors on angies list and never had a bad experience, and I selfishly have never written a review because lack of time on my part. My experience with John Baethke and Son was so bad, however, that I feel compelled to prevent other customers from having an equally poor experience. How it went I had a bathroom faucet develop a slow yet still annoying leak. Since we had purchased our house recently and the faucet had no product markings on it, we were unsure how to take it apart. Because this was a double vanity and the faucet handle looked expensive, we decided to play it safe after some effort and call a plumber with what we expected to be a relatively quick fix for them. We called John Baethke and son on a friday and we scheduled them to come out the following monday. The lady on the phone was polite but informed us that an 89 dollar service charge would be assessed for them to come out. While this seemed on the high side, we decided to use their services anyways. I was at work and my wife showed the plumber (Cormac) the faucet. As it turns out, the decorative screw on top of the faucet had been overtightened and just needed a little extra nudge. The cartridge inside the faucet was corroded and the ceramic piece was cracked. Because there were no markings on the faucet, the plumber said he would need a few days to determine where exactly the replacement cartridge could be obtained. The plumber also noted that our supply lines were out of code and replaced them on 1 sink (these are the lines that cost about $4 from home depot). After a total of 40 minutes, the plumber presented my wife with a bill for $263, and told her that it would likely be an additional $240 to replace the cartridges and reinstall. My wife is very non-confrontational and chose to pay the original amount of $263 despite feeling like she had gotten ripped off. She said she would discuss further options with me regarding the repair. I came home and was very discouraged by the fact that we had literally payed someone $263 to turn a screw. Neither Cormac or John Baethke were able to provide me with an itemized bill detailing what we actually payed for. I asked them how much it would be to order a cartridge and that I would put the faucet back together. They gave me a big run-around and told me that it would $80 to replace a cartridge. I asked for the part number and they would not tell it to me; i specifically knew that $80 was 3x the price of an average cartridge. Defeated, I asked them to just go ahead and order the cartridge, it was costing me time and money to stay on the phone with them any longer. They said they would arrange to drop off the cartridge in a few days after it "arrived from spain." After about 2 weeks, I still had not heard from them. I finally called them on a Wednesday and they said that the part had been there for over a week. I asked if they could drop it off sometime Thursday or Friday and they said they could. I finally received a call from them Friday and rather than schedule the drop off they told me that they wouldn't be able to drop it off until Monday. I asked them what time they stayed until (5:30 pm), so i offered to hurry home from work and arrange to pick it up myself (their warehouse is 1.5 miles from my house). I called them at 4:30 and "Tyler" said I could pick the part up as long as I arrived by 5:15. He then called back 5 minutes later and said that he actually had to leave now and I wouldn't be able to get the part until Monday. I was furious at this point, and Tyler agreed that their customer service had been very poor. Tyler said he would personally deliver the part to me on Monday if none of their techs could deliver. I never heard from them. I called Monday afternoon and they said they would not be able to drop it off at any point, and a man named Barry told me that if i wanted to give him $50, he could drive it over to my house. What a joke. It is 1.5 miles away. My wife finally got off work to pick up the cartridge today (thursday). The "new cartridge" was in a plastic bag and looked used. It also contained no serial number. My wife asked for the serial number and they did not know it off hand; "their warehouse guy was out and would have to get back to us tomorrow." She payed the $80 knowing full well that we had been cheated, but just wanted to put everything behind us. I installed the new cartridge in 7 minutes, a service that John Baethke wanted to charge an additional $160 for. This experience was the worst I have ever had in all of my years, I am uncertain how this company manages to stay in business.

If a business claims to offer 24 hour emergency plumbing service on their listing, then one would expect that someone would be available to handle plumbing issues that arise at any hour. Unfortunately for us, this was not the case when we called the company last night with a backed up kitchen sink and TWO bathroom sinks that were clogged and leaking. It was a hot mess and I told the dispatcher as much. She took my information and said that the plumber would call back in 10 minutes. This was around 8:00 at night, not some ungodly hour. We NEVER received a phone call. Thankfully, my husband was able to execute the repair himself and our problem was solved. I guess it was a blessing in disguise because we ended up saving the money we would have spent on their services--their loss all in all, but definitely not a company I would call to handle future plumbing issues.

Before making an appointment, I asked about charges and was told the service call would be $89.50, that there was no hourly charge for labor, but there would be a flat rate depending on the job. I asked what the charge would be for the lowest priced job, just as an example, but they would give me no further pricing information. They said he would arrive between 11 and 3. He got there at 4:30. I gave him all the information sheets from Moen, but it took him a long time to do the job. The faucet worked fine when he was done, but I do believe that $383 is excessive for a small job like this. Corrections to provider's response: It could not reasonably take more than a certain amount of time to take a faucet apart no matter who put it together. I was NOT given any "options" before the work began. No options were "laid out prior to work." I was simply presented with a bill for $383 at the end. They did not tell me the window was 12-4, they told me it was 11-3. They did NOT arrive shortly after 4:00. It was three minutes before 4:30.

Brian from John Baethke was super professional and did a great job unclogging my shower. My only complaint is the price - which for about 30 minutes of work was over $500 to fix a clogged drain.

Prompt arrival. Helpful list of options to resolve the situation. No pressure to accept higher priced options. Service provided with excellent result. Stayed around to answer questions about other projects.

It all went very smoothly and they left no mess.

This plumber is my "go-to" person for any plumbing issues in our association, which consists of an 18 unit building that was gut rehabbed in 1978 in Lakeview. My first interaction with this firm was in 2011 when our hot water heating system needed replacement. The original engineering of our building involved a 100 gallon tank water heater which needed replacement every 5 years. Our goal for the project was to get a solution that was not only cost effective, but more durable than what was previously followed to provide domestic hot water for our building. What John brought me were solutions--not products, a very refreshing concept. Yes, our replacement system was about 50% more in cost than what we normally did, however I'm looking at a 20 year lifespan minimum and an immediate 1/3 reduction in our natural gas consumption with our new system--plus, we've never run out of hot water. The owner, John, is very much a hands on business owner--he answers his own phone and makes things happen. Steven and Edgar typically handle the work in our building--they've taken the time to learn its intricacies and provide solutions that leverage what we have rather than a gloom and doom speech about our building.

We had two problems. We needed a water connection for the ice-maker in our new refrigerator and our disposal was making ugly noises. Rodney, a young journeyman plumber, came on-time. We discussed the problems and he got down to work. First he took the disposal apart, removed the detritus that was causing the problem and tested the machine. It now worked fine. Then he inserted a by-pass into our under-sink water line and connected a new copper tube to the refrigerator. Finally he put everything back together and turned on the water. Everything that he worked on works fine now. I'll have him deal with other, smaller problems later. One last remark. Rodney put cloth booties on over his shoes. He left no mess whatever. He was very good about explaining my options and what he was doing.

He was very professional and we had no problems. He was a good-hearted guy. He was a little bit late, but not much.

The service itself went well, but a blade from the power rod broke off, not really helping the situation any. There was no offer to come back to try to remove the piece that broke off in the pipe which was now a definite obstruction in the drain line. The tech also dumped his shop vac into the utility sink which left scraps of wood and who knows what else there to clog the drain. And although it is nice to be given one or two options on how to tackle a specific job there was far too much time spent concocting and calculating prices for services we had clearly said we were not interested in.

It went well. Scheduling was easy.