Duane Blanton Plumbing, Sewer & Drainage Inc.

I was extremely pleased with the service, the product and the promptness. Jack Blanton is not cheap, and I would venture to say a little expensive, but well worth the price for quick, no-nonsense, considerate workmanship! They are "our plumber" for as long as we live in Chicago!

My experience was outstanding. There were no problems.

We came home Sunday from visiting son at out-of-town campus to find that the hot water heater had been leaking profusely in the basement. It was like a little river flowing into the basement drain. I started to clean up while my wife started calling plumbers. Jack returned the call immediately. We asked him to come Monday with a new hot water heater. He came early Monday morning with an assistant, did the work quickly, honored our Angie's list 10% off coupon, cleaned up and that was that. They did one thing that I thought was particularly good. They installed proper elbows in the pipes where the previous owner's guy had just kind of twisted the fittings to head the pipes in the right direction. Given the range of possibilities, this was a good experience.

They did a great job. I was impressed by how quickly they had someone at my house and performed the work. They were very clean and professional. It was a little expensive but I sleep at night knowing the job was done right. I highly recommend Blanton and will call them again and again.

We've been experiencing a back up problem periodically. We were told by two plumbers to replace the joint in the sewer line -- a job that requires excavating and expense. Jack came to take a look as we were getting estimates for the job. He told us that he didn't think we needed to fix anything and that we just need to periodically clean the pipe. He would only do an estimate if we actually needed to do work, and he told us everything was fine and that he wasn't going to move forward. He was so honest! He was awesome and we will definitely use his firm if we should ever require any work. We were all set to pay a couple of thousand dollars to get the work done, but apparently we didn't need any work! Now, I will recommend him to all our friends and family. Great, honest, hardworking! Thanks!!

I probably could have gotten a better price by shopping around, but I just wanted to fix the leak and not to worry about it. Also wanted to make sure the job was done correctly. Jack knew exactly what he was doing. Jack video inspected the line after cleaning out both lines (we have two southern and northern) and they were both extremely dirty. Had another company come out 2 days before that, but that guy did not know what was happening in our building. Jack Blanton was much better!

When the company I hired to install a drainage system and sump in the basement opened the laundry room floor they found that the tiles that were supposed to drain the kitchen and laundry into the catch basin were broken. I called several local, highly rated plumbers. Jack was the only to come out that morning. As a matter of fact, nobody else returned my call that day. Jack looked at the situation and talked with the drainage company foreman. He had worked with this company on other projects. He then came up with a proposal and estimate. He said he could have the work done the next day. I waited a few hours before calling him back, because I wanted to get a couple estimates for comparison. Given the lack of response from other plumbers I called him back and asked him to take the job. He immediately called the city and got a building permit and scheduled the city inspector to come out the next day. He came back with his crew later that afternoon to walk through the job with them. The crew came back the next day and did all the work quickly and professionally. At one point a second crew came by to help, and I had 5 plumbers on the site for an hour or so. The drainage company came back the following Saturday to finish pouring the concrete. 96 hours later Jack's crew came back to install the laundry tub, faucet, and tie in the drain to the revised drainage system. All went well again. I've done a bit of plumbing myself, and I could appreciate Ron & Chris' (the crew) professional attention to detail. They were personable and pleasant. Finally, I had forgotten the 10% Angie's List discount when I got the estimate from Jack. I called the office on that last morning and asked if there was any discount they could apply even though I had already signed off on the original estimate. Stacey immediately said that there was no problem and that they would take 10% of the entire job. A nice surprise.

Two of Jack's assistants came the same week and had them installed in a little over an hour. They were professional and prompt and and left very little mess in their wake. (No small task considering what they were doing.) Would gladly call them again.

Call the office and they gave me a window in which they would arrive, promising that they would call 1/2 hr ahead. Obviously they did not. I called them multiple times to get a time since I had to run errands that day. When they finally arrived, "Chuck" looked at the water heater, told me: "this ain't good, man", and that was all. When I told him I wanted an estimate first, he decided to leave. In his way to his truck I had to stop him to ask him for the estimate, that was in the outrageous category. I had the impression he was p***** because he wanted to do the work (I had specifically asked his office for an estimate) so he wanted to rip me off or something. Not sure what happened here but not a company I will call again.

Considering this was a HORRIBLE experience for any homeowner, B&B made it as easy as possible to tolerate. And, my nicely landscaped front yard had to be dug with a back-hoe! They did a fantastic job saving mature ground cover, avoiding grasses and bushes, and of course, the "treasured trees" of Lake Forest! They were so wonderful dealing with the city when my tolerance level was very low. You just want your sewers working and really don't care if a tree's roots might get hurt! B&B had to deal with the city inspector AND me!

The previous owner of the house installed the water heater himself. They were able to fix any and all the safety issues we had regarding that. I gave them a call directly when we smelled gas in our home after the project. He said he would be at our place in the morning, even though he was booked up. He came, checked out the situation, and found the problem. It wasn't the company's fault. The issue was faulty manufacturing of the part. He came out and replaced it at no charge. That kind of service was definitely appreciated.

Jack came quickly, checked and cleaned the line. He rodded and discovered a blockage, videoed the line, recommended we get it rodded (roots). Did that. Good guy, efficient and explained everything as he went.

We had a pipe back up in the basement on a Saturday afternoon. Jack came out within 2 hours and had it fixed an hour later. He was quick, professional, and explained everything he was doing. I was very happy with his service and will call again next time I have a problem.

Jack Blanton Plumbing had done multiple jobs for me and they have always been good experiences. He is reasonable with the costs and the payments. He always does quality work and I have nothing but good to say about Blanton Plumbing.

They provided prompt service and were very knowledgeable in the service that I wanted. The cost of the service was less than the estimate.

He determined very shortly after arriving that it was a radiator pipe and not a plumbing pipe. He didn't find which one. He said to call an HVAC guy, which I did. He was in the house a total of 15 minutes and the bill was $180.00. It seemed really steep.

After they left, it was already dark. I called a second company; they sent Dan here. He was very experienced and fixed the problem inside the house. After the work, he charged me $540! I was happy comparing with the $2,000! I gave him very good evaluation, and would like to tell this story to Angie's list.

Jack arrived at time promised inspected the job and quoted $1134.00 and advised job to repair would take 6 to 8 hours. Also he advised if job took less time the cost would be less. Estimate was approved and an appointment was made for the following week. Plumber arrived as planned, the repairs were completed in approx. 1 hour 15 minutes. I was charged $864.00 which seemed excessive, so I called Jack to discuss the charges. Spoke to Jack at length and he promised to look at his costs, and make adjustments to the price. 1 month later I have not heard back via phone or mail. To sum up they were prompt, efficient and provided quality work, however the cost for the time and almost no materials (just one union connector) seems out of line. --

I called Jack Blanton Jr. on Saturday late morning asking if they worked on small jobs. Jack was working on a furnace job at that time and said that he will call back in 15 min. He called back promptly and said that he could come over around 2:00 PM to look at the job. After showing him what I needed to have done, he quoted about $340 for the leaking toilet which I thought was a little on the expensive side and $340 for the leaking bathtub faucet. He said he would give a discount if I had both jobs performed and therefore I decided to have both jobs performed. He completed both jobs quite efficiently and proceeded to fix the faucet by replacing an o-ring and cleaning out the cartridge assembly, at no cost! I would certainly use his services again.

I found the pipe in my garage had burst again (happens every Winter) around 8pm. First I had to shut off the water to my house and then I checked Angie's List for plumbers. I left messages with a few different plumbers and Jack Blanton called me back within half an hour. I explained to Jack that we have a one year old child and he was very understanding about our need to get water running in our house again. Jack was at our house first thing the next morning. Despite some small obstacles, he fixed the problem very quickly and moved the shut off valve to prevent the problem from occurring again. As for the price, I was thrilled at his initial estimate. When he found the pipe had burst in a second place, the charges went up another $200. I thought $200 was a lot for a 6 inch section of pipe and another 20-30 minutes of labor, but overall I think the pricing was fair.

Jack came within 2 hours of us calling him. He was courteous and took the time to not only explain what the issue was but he showed us where the leak in our toilet was coming from. We also appreciated that we weren't charged for his assessing the problem, where with other plumbers we called, they said it would be a flat $80 fee just to come to the house. Jack was prompt in fixing the leak and allowed us to flush the toilet a number of times while he was here to ensure that the leak was fixed. Additionally, he assured us that if there were any problems we had his direct line to contact him. I don't feel we will need to call him, but it is reassuring that if we do, we can get him directly. I would highly recommend Jack Blanton Jr. Plumbing.

They had a coupon that I used. They were very good with customer service. They did a very good job. They did what they said they would do. They were kind. They took care of the clean up afterward. They took care of what they were supposed to.

We called Blanton and they said that they could come out the same day. They arrived promptly. We have an outside clean out and they began to power rod the line. They initially quoted $150.00 but didn't tell us that was only for their smallest cutter. After rodding the line, the technician said that the $150.00 was only for their smallest cutter and that the clog would come back right away. He said that we really need him to use his larger cutter and that would cost $300-$350.00. We negotiated him down to $250.00 but really felt taken. We were already into them for $150.00 and would have to have spent that to hire someone else. Although Blanton guaranteed that our sewer line would be clear for 2 years, 11 months later we have a blockage. Even though they said that they would come back for free if we had a problem within a year, we are calling and paying for someone else. We don't ever want them on our property again.

Wednesday evening, water from a bath started leaking through to the first floor. Found this company on Angie's List; had not heard of them before. Called at 6:15am the next morning; was promised a visit before noon. The plumbers arrived at 11:30am, quickly found that a cable driven waste overflow unit had failed, causing the leak. That tub/shower had always drained slowly, so they also proposed to replace the old, rusting drum trap with new PVC p-trap and line, as well as rodding out the line to remove the stoppage. Discussing the replacement unit, they persuaded me that we could save more than $200 by simplifying and eliminating the cable-driven part, which savings I appreciate. The two person crew came, as scheduled, at 8am the next morning, Friday, to perform the work, which was done professionally, neatly and within three hours of their arrival they were done, exactly as quoted. At my afterthought, they spent a further few minutes adjusting the drain control for a sink in another bathroom at no charge. The repair was costly, but necessary in a 54 year old house. They unhesitatingly honored the 10% Angie's List coupon I mentioned. I would unhesitatingly recommend Jack Blanton Jr. Plumbing; we met several of their people, all of whom were polite, respectful and professional. A total "A" experience.

We moved into our house in November of 2007 and we noticed almost immediately that the hot water smelled like rotten eggs. We called around and Blanton came out. The first guy who came out was nice and told us that the problem was that the water heater had not been used for months (the house was vacant for months) and that the rod in the water heater got bacteria and that caused a smell. They fixed that for $250 and we were pleased. However, they came back to work on our sump pump claiming it had to be dug two feet deeper than it was (we later found out the sump pump was fine at it's previous level, so the job was unnecessary and it cost us $5000.00). The other problem we had is that they knocked a small valve off of our water pressure tank. They would not come back to look at it and were quite rude and claimed they didn't break it. They said to look at their contract anyway since they are not liable for any damages per their contract. So we spent $5000.00 on an unnecessary job and they wouldn't fix the valve anyway. I talked to the manager and said I would call the owner and they still ignored us rudely. We had another contractor fix it for $70, this was not an expensive piece comparative to the job. We will never use them again even in an emergency.