John J Cahill Inc

The friendly plumber arrived on schedule and proceeded to work. He liked talking but he was very, very, very slow. It took him almost five full hours just to complete the claw foot tub. There was a missing part in the kit for the shower valve, so he moved onto the sink reinstall. He completed that in an hour but the cold water faucet was leaking at the stem and I pointed that out to him. It was not leaking when I disconnected it three months before. He ended up cutting the faucet out because he could not disconnect the escutcheon from the main stem. It seemed like there should have been a way to avoid this BUT now I needed to buy an entire new Grohe faucet set plus it takes TIME to saw through a Grohe cartridge and supply stem. Time which the plumber seemed glad to eat up as he worked at a snail's pace while charging brain surgeon rates and commenting that he has not worked a full 40 hr week in a long time. Then he said he could get me a good price on a replacement sink faucet set and even ordered it before I agreed. After he left I felt like I had been violated and my wallet picked clean. I went on-line and got the parts delivered for less than half what Cahill wanted. I called the owner's son (whom I knew) but he was not available, so I left him a voicemail saying how dissatisfiel I was with his plumber and his prices and fired him. He never called me back. I found another plumber (Moody Plumbing) who finished up the job in short order at very reasonable rates.When the dreaded invoice arrived, I felt violated again so I wrote the owner a long letter describing my issues with their lack of service and asked for some consideraation. The only consideration I got was that he promptly processed my payment without even a phone call to discuss. The only call back I ever got from Cahill was from their parts department a week after the other plumber had done the job right to inform me that my parts were in and they would like to continue the continuation of my job ticket.

HVAC fine - plumbing had issues with toilet placement and HVAC service was spotty

We have used Cahill for over 17 years. They used to be a great company with a great reputation -- a bit pricey but they did exceptional work. We've lost confidence in them and will no longer use them. Our reason? It was Friday evening and our heat went out. It was quite cold. The associate who answered our call gave us every excuse in the book for not wanting to come out, telling us how prohibitively expensive it was going to be, in the rudest of terms. I think he was watching a soccer game. It turns out we had a prior rude experience with this same person. That time, he did take care of the problem and we let his rudeness slide, though we almost called the company to complain. No more. There are better, nicer service people and companies out there. The person at another company that we did end up hiring offered to come out that night, though it was late...at no extra cost. We mutuallly agreed it would be easier in the morning...and that's when he came. That's service.

I was very surprised that after two visits to our property Cahill never came up with an estimate. These guys have a very good reputation in Evanston and the estimator was very professional and knowledgeable. However, they never gave us an estimate after spending over a hour between the two visits. Very strange! We ended up going with another provider and having all the galvanized replaced with copper, huge loss for John J. Cahill.

Cahill has been our plumber across several homes in Evanston,so we turned to them immediately. We needed emergency service on a Sunday and got it quickly. The two problems were likely unrelated, but both got solved. The plumber routed our main house drain in the basement, and found some clogs. Then he routed the kitchen sink drain and got it working fine again. The toilet issue, after a little detective work, probably traced to us being out of town meaning some water had evaporated from the bowl, and therefore wasn't performing its role as a natural sealant against sewer odors. Kudos to whatever modern day engineer figured out that having water in the bowl blocked sewage smell!! It's quite unpleasant.

Cahill was very prompt and professional. They completed repair work in order to avoid a more expensive fixture replacement project. They were great to deal with.

The service was performed in a speedy, competent and professional manner.

They did the service on a Sunday when it was about a 100 degrees outside. The kid came out and said he had never seen an air conditioner like mine and he left and did not fix it. They sent a bill for $300.00 and did not even fix anything. I did not contest it as my mother was very ill and I just wrote the check and did away with the service. The provider's response to my rating is untrue. There is no other company called John Cahill on Church Street in Evanston. I have lived in this town since 1964, and had always heard they had a sterling reputation. But the "work" they did for me was no work for $300. If they really cared, they could have called me and fixed the problem or refunded the money. Also, I don't believe we ever called them before because we heard they were expensive. Our regular company came out in the next couple of days and fixed the AC condenser. So we paid twice!

In 1997 one of my tenants recommended this company when I was looking for a vendor to handle hvac/boiler service for my 6 flat in Chicago and I also was trying to get bids to replace the old boiler. They did service the unit once but I decided to go with another vendor for the new unit. Since then I have used several different companies...one who stopped providing hvac services (Baethke) and the company they sold their customer base to (Deljo). Fast forward to April 2012...I was looking for a vendor to service 2 complete HVAC systems, 1 standalone furnace and a boiler and I called and left a voice message for Dave Kessler/Service manager to return my call. After no response I called again and was told he had been on vacation and I left another message. Please note that there was no message on his voice mail indicating he was out of the office. Again, no response. I made other arrangements for A/C unit cleaning. Because I knew Cahill had a decent reputation i called again on 9/21/12 and left a detailed message concerning the equipment that needed service and requesting a call back to discuss a contract that would cover all the equipment. Again no response. I guess they have more customers than they need.

Since we moved in, 4 years ago, the upstairs floor has always been 10-15 degrees warmer than the main floor of the house, especially in the summer months. I had hired 3 different service companies who didn't have much of an answer for the problem. Based on the reviews on Angie's List, I called Cahill, and they sent out a very knowledgeable man to assess the problem with my heating/AC. He spent about an hour crawling around and behind the furnace, and ultimately told me he could fix the problem 2 ways. The first was a minor reconfiguration of the ductwork, the second a more comprehensive change in zoning the house. After some discussion, he assured me that he believed the first solution would work great, but if not we could move on to the second solution. A week later the same man came to the house and did the ductwork himself! I was impressed that he was not only diagnosing the problem, but actually doing the labor. The job took a full day, and it cost around $1200, and it completely solved my heating problem! My kids no longer complain about the sweltering heat upstairs, they sleep well at night, and I can keep the main floor at a comfortable temperature as well. This job was well worth the money, and I would recommend Cahill to anyone. They were wonderful.

I don't care for these people. They always slam the previous work and the pricing is ridiculous. I don't care for companies who try to elevate themselves by diminishing the prior people's work. Too arrogant.

Needed to replace Central Air and Forced Heat Gas Furnace in a 2000 square foot home.Went through Angie's list and found 3 local and reputable firms, and after the quotes, Cahill was about $1000 less expensive for similar systems. They took out the old furnace, A/C coil, and outside condenser and installed the new system. They were very methodical in the installation, and every wire was tied back, every seem sealed, and a very professional job with everything installed exactly as promised. Very happy with the result, and would use them again.

I would rate them highly since I have no problems with my heater after they had fixed it. I would rate their price a little low since I felt that the charged me a little bit more for very little work and I would us them again in the future.

I love everything about Cahill except the price. They are a union shop, and boy that shows up on the billing. What I get in return, however, is prompt service, qualified plumbers and work that they stand behind. I've used Cahill for 15 years on my 1950s ranch (where every pipe, frankly, is due for replacement). I called Cahill on a Saturday in a panic because I had no hot water and lots of cold water flooding my basement floor. I'd been through this once before--why can't hot water heater manufacturers build in a warning light when the d*** thing is about to expire??--and so I was pretty clear on the situation. They came out right away, were extremely courteous and professional, and installed a new energy-efficient hot water heater by noon. To paint a fuller picture, both our bathrooms were under construction, I had just installed new carpeting in the basement rec room and I was feeling a little panicky at incurring yet another substantial house project (and worried about my investment in the carpeting). Their prompt response prevented my carpeting from being ruined and their positive attitude was really what I needed. As I said, they are expensive but qualified. On the rare occasion I've had a problem with a job they did, they take care of it with little hassle. I really appreciate that in this day and age, when everyone seems to be focused on today's profits at the expense of building a long term relationship. They will continue to get my business.

They are expensive, but they are top of the line. They are more than compatent they are excellent. It's worth the price. They are a rather big company.

I have used them on many occasions and they perform a variety of plumbing tasks. I will use them again in the future.

They are terrific. They’re always on time. They do good work. They have good service people. The price is a little high but it’s worth it because of all the other stuff they do. They’re outstanding in every category.

Was on time Was ready to just repair faucet but that couldn't be done wore booties to protect carpet (company policy) finished quickly - everything needed was in the toolbox or truck cleanup was spotless. a bit more expensive but worth every penny.

I'm a MEP Engineer and Project Manager in commercial construction contracting, so I've more than a-little experience in these types of things. We obtained about 1/2 dozen bids all form reputable firms. Cahill was not the lowest but represented the best value. Their salesman/project manager, Dave Charles, assisted me in selecting the correct equipment and helped to make sure that the new equipment was compatible with our existing equipment. I was confident we were getting the best value for our buck and was never worried we were getting ripped by being sold a bill of goods and a lot of extra expensive new equipment that we really didn’t need. Cahill is definitely on our short list of contractors to call for HVAC - and the only contract we call for plumbing.

I'm a MEP Engineer and Project Manager in commercial construction contracting, so I've more than a-little experience in these types of things. I feel like I can call Cahill's plumbing service desk and get a licensed and insured professional plumber (w/ a service truck) dispatched in a timely fashion to help with w/ our misc. home plumbing needs. They are certainly not the cheapest, but we get what we pay for? and when it comes to plumbing we're not taking any chances. It's that simple for us, when we need a plumber, we call Cahill.

Every service call and repair has been handled professionally and on time. They are not cheap but when I have obtained costs from other firms, they have been competitive.

I spent a big amount. They were knowledgeable. There weren’t a lot of things that they didn’t know about how they were going to approach. So while I was interviewing them, they had nearly solid reasonable answers for everything. They were confident while I was talking to them. When I spoke to other handymen, they had to think about how to do various things when I interviewed them. They seemed like they do things the right way. They had sub contractors come in and while I think they were good, you won’t get the same response from the primary company. We used all the plumbing fixtures from the sub contractor and he was super punctual and on time. He was very good. The primary company was fine and I didn’t really have any problems with them but they didn’t quite get the door ordered in before the holidays and all the companies were on vacation. So we had to wait for two or three weeks. It’s not wrong but if they were on top of it, the wait would have been lesser. I think I will use their services again in the future.

The gentleman who came out, promptly, to give us the estimate was thorough and professional. While he was there, we asked for estimates of other, various small plumbing/remodeling jobs and he accommodated us. After a week or more, I phoned to get the estimates and finally received a phone call with the numbers. The costs were so much higher than other estimates. After going with another company who did a great job, we're glad we didn't pay more. We used to use Cahill for all our plumbing needs, but have since switched because they cost so much more than others. But in the past, their work has been mostly pretty good, so I wouldn't hesitate to use them if I had no choice.

They came out when they said they would and found out the problem. They ordered the part and came back and put it on. They did a fine job. They've done all the work on our water heater and so forth.

We gutted the bathroom completely and they did electrical, plumbing, carpentry and tiling. They did everything except for painting. The work has been superb. They were wonderful. They were trustworthy and very good at what they did. Their workers, service, professionalism and the clean-up stood out to us. We would not have any hesitancy in recommending them to the others or hiring them to do future projects as they were great. Everyone was great in all of the different areas of work that had to be done. They worked together as a team with an appropriate timing. They came when they said that they would come. They were expensive but it was totally worth it as we pay for what we get. Also, the kitchen required a lot of appliances and fixtures.