Pohlman Plumbing

I would not recommend Pohlman Plumbing, which was sent to us by American Home Shield (AHS) for warranty-related service on our water heater. Pohlman indicated that the water heater was unrepairable and required replacement, and wrote up a report in a way that resulted in a claim denial by American Home Shield (stating that the water heater failure was the result of a leak in the attached expansion tank, thus allowing AHS to state that the water heater problem was an uncovered "incidental" cost of the expansion tank failure, and this despite the fact that our policy fully covers water heaters). Pohlman then quoted us an out-of-pocket cost of $1950 to replace the water heater. We then called a far more reputable local plumber, who was able to fully repair the water heater in less than one-half hour, and for the cost of no more than a service call of $100.

I spoke with Joshua Pohlman and he was so nice very respectful and knowledgeable, I have never had a problem like this. We need it excavation done to replace sewage lines. From Josh and all his workers everyone was great the price was right and I would never hesitate to tell someone to call them they are good people and they look after you.

Joe Pohlman called and came by the same day that I made the request for a plumber to replace the garbage disposal. A new unit was provided and installed the next day. We were happy that the work could be done so quickly and in such professional way.

Called after hours for a problem we were having with our kitchen sink draining and what we thought was a problem with our disposal. The technician arrived promptly and was able to snake and clean out the drain. He also went above and beyond and determined a pipe in our basement was improperly positioned leading to the problem with inadequate drainage. He also fixed this problem to avoid future issues. The technician was quick, polite and happy to help! Highly recommend.

They arrived as promised and installed a 3/4 inch two ball valve union pipe to replace the leaking union. After seeing the part and the amount of labor required for installation( one hour forty minutes) I got a second opinion on the cost to do a similar job and was quoted $325 by BGE home. I petitioned the owner for a reduction in the price and received an email from Joshua Pohlman that basically said that the $325 would barely cover their overhead. I would suggest that before you use this company that you get a second quote as their prices are exorbitant.

The Pohlman plumbers are excellent. From the original estimate to the little follow up details. Very responsive even when you use their emergency on call middle of the night service. You would never know that they were being woken up in the middle of the night they were professional the entire time. I will and have recommended them to friend and co workers who needed a plumber.

TJ came and unclogged my tub drain. He explained to me what he was able to do, as well as my options for repair/replacement of pipe. I was referred to Pohlman through American Home Shield. Even after he cleared the drain, he answered my questions regarding the tub.

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My exterior sewage line broke and I needed someone to excavate a part of my patio and replace the sewage line. I called them up and they were able to come out and give me an estimate the same day (and their prices were lower than 4 other plumbers that I called). They also offered a discount if you paid in cash because of "avoidance of credit card fees," but I wasn't born yesterday. :) I was able to schedule the service quickly and they did a good job. My yard was a mess, which was expected. They also offer a 10 year warranty. I would use them again!

In sum, this was a terrible experience where, deliberately or not, I was misled about the price for service and then stonewalled when I tried to explain my situation. I am an American home shield customer who requested a contractor to replace a broken faucet. Someone from Pohlman plumbing came to my house and informed me that I did not just need my faucet replaced, which would cost $100, but that?per Maryland state code?I also needed to have my valves inspected to ensure that they were lead-free. The extra inspection would at most, the plumber assured me, cost me an additional $50, and the rest of the bill would be footed by American Home Shield. I explained that I would prefer to avoid the inspection if at all possible since the valves were in good working order and my only need was for the faucet to be fixed. After the plumber replaced the sink in less than fifteen minutes he told me that the work to inspect the valves would be more involved than he thought, so he was willing to forego the inspection and waive the extra fee. I was relieved and grateful. He charged me the $100, the total price listed on the work order, which I then signed. I had a new faucet. This good experience took a sharp turn for the worse when the office manager of the company called me the next day with a surprising question: ?Would you like your additional $100 co-pay to be paid now through your card or later through American Home Shield?? Caught off-guard, I explained that I had already paid the $100 agreed to with the plumber. The office manager told me that the plumber had also inspected my valves and that an extra fee was involved. I explained that he had made it clear to me that no extra inspection was done and that the fee would only be $100 instead of $200. I might as well have been talking to a brick wall. The office manager refused to acknowledge that I had a legitimate complaint, insisted that the $200 had been agreed to in the contract (I checked it later?it had not), and basically implied that I was an idiot for thinking the plumber had not done what he said. I asked to speak to the plumber in question to work things out since the manager obviously didn?t believe me. The office manager refused my request and again repeated her question about how I would like to pay the extra money. I was then shuttled to another secretary to arrange my payment. I tried to explain my situation to her. Brick wall. After I mentioned that I would write a negative review on Angie?s list if my concerns weren?t addressed, she hung up on me (?You go ahead and do that.? Respect for the sass factor, but not exactly award-winning customer service!). I get that Pohlman plumbing is a family company and that they try to protect their plumbers from customers. Maybe the office manager understood me as implying that the plumber, which happened to be her brother, lied about the work he said he did. (If someone called a member of my family a liar I would be rude to them as well). Of course, I wasn?t actually saying this. All I was saying is that there had been a serious miscommunication since the plumber told me that that there had been no extra inspection of the valves and that the fee was $100 on a work order which I then signed. The whole situation with the valves, which were absolutely necessary, but then turned out not to be necessary, felt a bit shady to me, like the company was trying to up-sell. I don?t know if this is true or not?the plumber may have just been doing me a favor by not doing a routine inspection of the other valve?but I definitely know that I would never do business with this company again.

Jake and his workers did the work professionally and neatly, cleaned the area when completed and came back in a timely manner to finish the hook-up once the generator was in place. Last night the electric service went out in our area and the generator came on within 10 seconds of the outage. We also called them when we came home on Memorial Day from a weekend away and found we had no hot water, since we have a contract with BGE home they recommended we call them, but Josh stayed on the phone and walked my husband through with checking the water heater and suggested some things we could do to get it running. We were unable to start it, but certainly appreciated the time he took with us to try and help (it turned out to be a major part, which Josh predicated was the problem) This is a really great company, professional, friendly and thorough, the installation is great and well done, they even painted the PVC so it matched the wall the generator is sitting near, Great company to work with and we would definitely us them again for any plumbing work we would need to be done in our home.

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Provider, represented by Joshua, took care of city permit and with Shawn had to dig out two slabs of sidewalk concrete. When pushing new copper pipe from basement of house through garden to water meter they encountered problems, but diligently and professionally worked their way through the obstacles and finished installing the water pipe including valves, etc in the afternoon. The hole in sidewalk was secured before they left. Early next morning two others came and repaired the sidewalk with concrete. It was a job well done.

Josh Pohlman came the Friday before Labor day to put a new part in our hot water heater, that had been turning off intermittently. The day Josh came, the hot water heater had died completely. The cost of repair was too high for the age of the unit. Josh explained all to us. He quickly ordered a new unit (75 gallon special order). He said slight possibility of new unit arriving on Tuesday, more than likely Wednesday. We were called Wednesday morning. The new hot water heater was installed, When the technician showed me the new unit; I was concerned that the gas line was not attached to the heater and could get caught on something. (I have kids). The man asked if I was concerned about it, I replied yes. He said "no problem", called me down 10 minutes later and the line was secured. No mess. Totally professional and polite. The cost of the work done prior to today was credited to the the total cost.

Our lower level toilet was backing up. We called Pohlman mid morning and they arrived mid afternoon. The inserted a camera down the sewer line from the toilet and found a cracked portion of the sewer pipe that resided in the middle of our front yard. The provided us with and estimate and said they could return in two days. They returned on time with a crew and required equipment and completed the repair quickly. The final price was lower than the original estimate. Great company, doing great work.

We are very pleased with Pohlman Plumbing! They were very prompt and took care of our problems in a very professional manner. Jake was very courteous and professional. Since I did not take time to compare shop, I believe their price met our needs and expectations so that is acceptable. I highly recommend them for any plumbing need!

My home warranty company suggested Pohlman Plumbing to locate and repair a leak from my upstairs bathroom. I was able to schedule someone to come out quickly. When TJ arrived I explained the problem and he said he would have to open up part of my wall to try to find the leak. He found that the cast iron pipe from the bathroom had a crack in it. TJ said that he would need to get approval from the warranty company for the work but would not be able to do the work today because it was a two person job. TJ called the warranty company right away to get the approval. I paid the warranty deductible and TJ explained I would not have to pay anything else when they came back to do the work. He said the office would call me to schedule the work. The office scheduled the work for the next time I could be home. TJ and another person came out to do the work. They opened up the wall a little more to have better access to fix the problem. They replaced the cast iron pipe with a PVC pipe. When they were done they cleaned everything up. TJ explained that they would not be able to fix the hole they made but would call the home warranty company so they would send someone else out. Everyone from Pohlman was polite and professional. I appreciated that they were able to schedule me quickly and at times that worked for me.

Home warranty assigned me this company to fix a leaky pipe. It was leaking through the floor from upper level bath into the lower level and I did not know where the leak was exactly. TJ arrived late because he was held up at another house, but he was polite and nice. He went into the crawl space and thought the leak was coming from a pipe in the wall in the lower bath, so he cut a hole there and replaced a part of that pipe. When that did not fix the leak, he realized the leak was actually from a pipe higher up in the wall, that was coincidentally leaking onto another pipe. So he had to cut a second access hole in the living room. The culprit turned out to be a new shower line that I just had another contractor put in. He replaced the leaking part, waited for the glue to dry, and tested again to see if the leak was fix -- it was. He vacuumed up the debris from cutting the access holes and left. The following week, I had him come back for another leak, but it turned out to be a faucet that needs caulking. Since that was not covered by home warranty, he patiently explained how I could DIY to save some money.

Cooktop and sink were installed. Dishwasher connections were partially run. Added another $200 to original quote, even though they had done a pre-inspection and agreed to original price. I had also provided photos of current setting. After installing the cooktop, they left without checking to make sure that everything using gas in the house worked. I came home to find that my heat would not come on. While it is warmer now during the day, it's still going into the 30's at night. Called the office and spoke with the owner (also the person who had done the job). I was told that I would be charged if they had to come out and fix the problem. I stated that wouldn't be necessary and I would find someone else to finish the job and fix my furnace issue. Pohlman was supplied by G&E Contracting.