2 Rivers Contracting & Services Inc

I have used 2 River before and had two different experiences. I called them out both times to fix a clogged drain but the most recent experience was very frustrating compared with the first. The clog originally started out as snake job, but John was unable free the clog with a snake. At that point the only option seemed to be to cut open a wall and cut away the clogged pipe. For better or worse 2 Rivers does not bill hourly but normally delivers a quote before the job begins. Because they had snaked my drain before, I kinda of knew what to expect from the bill. When the snake job failed however, the wall was opened up with very little conversation about options and there was never a discussion about price once the scope of the job increased. At the end, I was stuck with an unexpected bill that was nearly $800. This was a problem for me because I already had another plumber on site who was working on something else who doesn't snake drains but could have done the pipe removal for much cheaper. In the end, I wish 1) 2 rivers would have given me a new quote for the work ahead once the scope of the project had increased and 2) when it comes to other plumbers it is customary not to bill for snaking time that fails to clear a clog, so I think that should have been taken into consideration when arriving at the final bill. It was not. Perhaps worst of all, I have called 2 Rivers multiple times, as well as emailed John, the owner and have gotten no response. As a result, I will not use the company again. Also, be aware that they will put 2 Rivers stickers on appliances your house (my dispose-all) without asking permission.

They put in new washer/dryer hookups. Including a gas fitting for my dryer. Matt, the journeyman that worked with John was really good. They were super hardworking, thorough, and pleasant. A+ on personality. They did a very good job on all fronts.

My toilet overflowed this morning. I shut the water off and went to work. I called 2 Rivers and John Ellis promtly called me back. We agreed he would call me one hour before going and he did that. He called me and we met at my condo. He showed up when he said he would. I was very impressed with his professionalism. He came in and fixed my toilet in no time. I was so impressed with him that I got an estimate for other plumbing (garbage disposal etc) work I need done. I will be calling to set that up. Thank you Mr. Ellis.

Courteous, professional, timely and fair. Excellent.

Overall it went great! The services did cost more than I was expecting (from my completely uneducated perspective, mind you) - but I would say it was well worth the money. We were potentially looking at having to return our washer and dryer to Home Depot (thusly getting charged a 15% restocking fee), and getting a MUCH smaller and less efficient washer and dryer that still may not fit properly. John walked in and assessed the problem in no time at all. His confidence in how to make this all work for us was reassuring. The work was performed quickly and neatly, and he even gave us some extra pointers along the way. For instance, we have baseboard radiators and he pointed out that vents were closed on them, which obviously is not too efficient. He gave us some great little pointers on how to save some energy and money down the line. I would hire them again in a heartbeat!

I called after 4pm on Thurdsay (along with 3 other places) and left a message. John called be back within the hour. He would have come that night for a $200+ "emergency fee", so I opted for 7:30am the next morning. He was right on time. He was very professional and friendly, and gave me a no BS assessment, and answered all my questions, including those I wouldn't have known to ask. He explained how and why my old waterheater had failed, made sure I was aware of the 40-year $4300 super-eco "indirect" gas-heater-accessory option, and quoted me $1275 for a new 40Gallon,10-year-warranty (double zinc rods) model installed. He swapped it out in under 3 hours and gave me a new shut-off since the old one was corroded. His office will be doing the warranty paperwork and sending me copies, which is sweet.

My kitchen faucet stopped working on a Saturday morning and I called Two Rivers and several other contractors I found through AL. Several called back but Two Rivers were the only ones that could come out Monday morning. I didn't want to pay the double fee for emergency weekend service since I had water everywhere else in the house. I tried to do the repair myself but the water stops were damaged so I couldn't shut off the water to the sink. Had to call a plumber. They were quick, efficient and courteous. Charged $245 for labor alone for about an hour of work. I bought the faucet myself, so I'm not sure if the price is reasonable. They did put in two new water stops underneath the sink.

They were very good and very professional. I got an estimate over the phone but I did not write it down. The amount that they charged seemed to be high. They said it was exactly as the estimate, even though it wasn't a round number or anything like that.

The last time they came out, it was because I had no heat - on a Saturday morning. They arrived within an hour, found the problem and fixed it. And they gave me a break on the price of a part.

The 2 Rivers crew gave us a very competitive estimate, purchased hardware for us and did a first-class installation job - on time and in budget. In addition to this, what I appreciated about them is that they had been to our house before - to diagnose an In-Sink-Erator issue, which turned out to be a cherry pitch clogging the drainage pipe. At this time they'd told us the model we had was low end and would need replacing at some point. At no time did they pressure us to give them the job or try to get a timeline on when we would commit to this. When we did finally call to ask for estimates, they were thorough professionals - told us all the models we could choose from and offered us pros and cons for each. Working with them was a great experience and they'd be our first call in case of any plumbing issues.

They responded very quickly. They completed the work right away. He came when he said he would. They seemed a little pricey. I asked if the final price included the 10 percent Angie's List discount and he claimed it did. He recalculated the price with 10 percent added and then reduced to the same price. I don't think they are honoring the Angie's List discount and if so, they are trying not to be up front with that.

I received a call back in less than 1 hour and we were able to schedule an appointment for the very next day. Originally I received a 30 minute window for service. The tech called 5 minutes before start of window to let me know he was dealing with a plumbing emergency and wouldn't arrive until 15 minutes after window expired. Arrived 10 minutes after time window. No big deal. Tech did not take shoes off, or ask if he should take shoes off, when entering unit. Tracked in a lot of salty water and dirt. Completed the job in about 10 minutes. The tech did attempt to clean up the worst of the water he tracked in, but I still ended up needing to vacuum and mop. Paperwork took longer than the repair, but they do take credit cards. The work seems to be sufficient, and the parts used seemed to be of a decent quality. The company does guarantee its work for 3 years, which I think is good. I was surprised by the cost. I figured for something so simple it would have been closer to $100, but perhaps my expectations are unrealistic

We did a complete bathroom gut-out and renovation (entirely new construction, plumbing, electrical) and used John as our plumbing contractor. He was extremely professional, courteous--and tremendously helpful from planning through completion, as we did this project without a general contractor. He was very easy to work with and guided us through the entire renovation process, and was terrific in working with and around the other construction, electrical and tiling contractors who also worked on the project. We thought the cost was reasonable, considering the amount of work involved with this complete renovation (major plumbing work in the bathroom and basement, installation of all new bathroom fixtures and parts, and additionally, a kitchen faucet repair.) We're very happy with the work and our new bathroom, and would definitely use John again for future projects.

Boiler was not working so no heat was being generated and house was getting very cold. I called for after-hours service at end of day. I left a message and received a return call shortly after (A for responsiveness). Tech said he would be in the area that same evening for another job and could stop by. He arrived the same evening (A for Punctuality) and was courtous (so i gave an A for Professionalism). Within 5 minutes, he determined that the main emergency power "breaker" switch for the boiler was off. I'll admit this was good trouble shooting (so i gave an A for quality). It then took him 10 minutes to fill out the paperwork. After a negotiated "Angie's List Extra Discount" of $50 was removed, the final bill was $200. $200 for 15 minutes of his time! I felt absolutely taken advantage of (hence the F for Price). I don't know anyone else who gets paid $800 an hour, even at an after-hours rate. He either charged me for a full hour of service which is ridiculous since he was only here for 15 minutes, or he included travel time, which seems unfair because he had told me he was already in the area for another job, so i have to wonder if he potentially charged both me and someone else for the same travel time. I was livid after the experience and am giving a D for Overall Experience.

He came promptly, the following day after my initial phone call. He was able to diagnose my toilet problems, and fixed it. He was confident and polite. The work was good, but I thought the bill was a bit high.

We got an estimate for $1200 to install a new water heater and dispose of the old one. John charged us $25 for the estimate, said it would come off our final bill if we used him. We wanted a heater with an efficiency rating of .62 or higher so that we could get a rebate from Nstar. John couldn't find us one. We had no hot water and have a baby so we went with what he got us, a .52 water heater. I told him we had an Angie's List coupon for $100. Final bill was for 1385. He added a couple hundred when he realized I had the coupon.

Responded to my inquiry/voicemail within two hours and was at my house the next morning to do the requested repairs. Also gave a quote for a new water heater, as ours is getting old.

Very professional and punctual. No charge to come out. The work was going to be expensive ($2500) but we ended up not needing it done so didn't get any additional quotes.

We had used John multiple times over the years and in previous experiences had found his work to be fine, if expensive. Our last experience with him, however, has been very negative and prompted me to write this review. We had a small drip at the junction of the bathtub faucet and the pipe to the shower nozzle, which only dripped when the shower was in use. As we are selling the house, we wanted to fix it, and wanted the tub to look nice for the new occupants of our house. John came to the house and replaced it with a cosmetically unacceptable brass pipe (all the other exposed pipework is chrome) and charged my wife $170. My wife told him this was not the right color -- he told her we could spray-paint it. It took an exasperating week to reach him by phone afterwards (made much more difficult by having to deal with his answering service and the fact that he will not leave a direct callback number) to ask him to order the correct color pipe. When he returned to the house with the correct colored piece, he installed it in 5 minutes and charged another $100. At this point the experience was just annoying and expensive... but then we discovered that the pipe still leaked, in fact worse than it had when John started working on it. My wife called his answering service back on Friday, but John did not return her call (this was very much par for the course). We called again on Monday and received a call back from another plumber who said that John was on vacation and that he was covering John for emergencies only. There are plenty of good plumbers on Angie's List. I'd advise you to find one who will do the job right and be reachable and responsible when the job doesn't go right. At least in our experience, that hasn't been the case for 2 Rivers.

1st: John was the only one of perhaps 10 plumbers I called who was available during the great deluge earlier this year. within 12 hours he was on site, getting the water out. recommended a follow-up for the install of a sump pump and to repair a sewer drain cap that had lived past its useful life. 2nd: his price was a bit higher than what a contractor friend guessed for a sump pump install, but not enough to make me go through spending time interviewing more plumbers. Work was done well 3rd: different building, came and cleaned out work sink plumbing and explained how pipe had not been installed properly, and what I should expect maintenance wise in near future. I'd hire him again, as needed

Simply put, 2 Rivers is the best plumbing and heating team we have ever worked with -- in 25 years of home ownership.

We suffered a furnace failure at our new house, which we'd not yet moved into. A contractor had been working on the furnace and it was not left in working order, and as a result, our heating pipes froze up on a very cold night in January. We discovered the problem the following morning, a Saturday. The original contractor was unresponsive to our calls, and so we called John. He assured us that he would be out that afternoon and that we "would have heat tonight," and he lived up to his word on both counts, John's troubleshooting and repair process was first-rate. He's intelligent, methodical, patient, and very well informed, and he worked through the problem for seven or eight hours into Saturday night. He had our heat working as advertised that evening, fixed several leaks (thankfully minor) and gave us good advice about ways to prevent a recurrence. It wasn't a cheap repair, but it was done well and promptly and with good attention to detail on a day when there were a lot of frozen pipes in town. We and our family have used John for several projects since, and would definitely recommend him - a smart guy with a good work ethic (and his son seems like he's carrying on the tradition!).

The clog in our sink had previously defeated two other plumbers, including a plumber who specialized in drain clogs, and a whole host of liquid drain openers. John had it opened up in an hour. He was professional and flexible, willing to work around a last minute change in our schedule and I would work with him again.

I was very pleased with their service. They were prompt-- especially impressive on a day when basements were flooding all over town and I know they were getting dozens of calls-- and came to my aid as quickly as they could. Work was done quickly and for what I think was a fair price-- $500 for pumping out about seven inches of water and fixing a drain to keep us from flooding again. I will call them again if I need a plumber in the future, whether for an "emergency" situation like this or a planned fix-it or repair.

They came and installed the toilet I had requested and did other repairs as well. They were very professional and neat, but they were very expensive. They did not have a very good write-up of work to offer to me. Everything was hand written and their were no details; just one price. I requested an estimate on two other things that I wanted to have done, and they just gave me a hand written figure on the hand written "Bill" they had already given me. This was not what I had in mind, I wanted a more detailed description of work to be completed.