Thomas E Clark Inc

Well. Very knowledgeable and straight forward.

TC bonuses their repair men based on up-selling. It can get VERY expensive for some routine stuff. There was a sponge that got flushed down our toilet. Called them to snake it out. The snake pushed it to the down spout where it got stuck. I was told it was an extra $400 to work on a downspout. Hmmmm. So a $250 service call became much more ($650) They gave the AC the once over and reminded me of it's age and need for replacement. It works fine. I did ask they work the drip line so it didn't flood the ground near the house foundation. Never done. It was the only thing I specifically asked them to do. They can fix things right, but they are not cheap, and they up-sell like crazy. Just be mindful of their motivations.

We ordered a new, energy efficient boiler after much (much, much, much) research. Thomas E. Clark was three local providers that had manufacturer approval to install the boiler, and they gave a great quote. Steven Hartman was responsive and great to work with. The install went great, and the re-plumbing they did to make it all work is a thing of beauty. We've actually gotten comments on the pipes from other workers since. There were a couple of things that weren't perfect (outdoor temp. sensor wasn't working at first, and the install required some plumbing magic), and with such a highly priced piece of equipment, I'll admit I got nervous a couple of times, but Thomas E. Clark ALWAYS made sure that everything worked perfectly before the job was done. The folks who did the install were knowledgable, kind, professional, in all: great.

We have had an annual contract with Thomas E. Clark since they installed our Triangle Tube boiler in 2008. They check our A/C each spring and our boiler each fall. Visits are easy to schedule: THEY CALL US to remind us! We set up an appointment for this morning to have our A/C checked. Carlos showed up right on time, and by the time I'd gotten home after dropping off my kids at school - a few minutes late, he was already working on the exterior unit. When he finished with that, he came inside and started checking the internal unit. After about 15 minutes, he asked to show me something. He showed me that when the condensate line had been installed (not by Thomas E. Clark), they had provided no way to access or clean the trap between the unit and the pump (that clears the drain pan if water collects). Part of the check up was to clean the condensate line, and he couldn't do it without taking apart the whole pipe. He suggested that we might want to replace that piping so that there is an easier to clean pipe to the drainage pump. That way it would be much easier to clean annually. I ok'd the work for $219, and he completed it in minutes: installed a new, flexible pipe to the pump with an accessible trap for easy cleaning. The pipe he removed was, in fact, filled to the brim with crud. Since our house had been flooded once before by a malfunctioning pump system, I was glad to know that was working again. He also replaced our programmable thermostat ($289+) since our old one had been on the fritz. I thought he did an excellent job of showing me exactly what he was concerned about and explaining the possible implications without making me feel pressured at all. He offered options for the thermostats they carried, and let me know that these weren't the only ones on the market. I am so pleased with his work today that I'm writing this review immediately.

The two technicians did an excellent job. They arrived on a Saturday morning; fortunately I had already cleared out work spaces around the inside and attic systems, and was at home that Saturday, so was glad to have them get to work right away. Unfortunately, the Clark business office did not notify me in advance, but no harm done. Lead technician "Matt" (who also did the initial diagnosis and prepared the estimate) said the job would take about a day; he and his partner did a superb job and completed the work by mid-afternoon.

Repair guy was super nice, and even hung out and waited for a bit because I was having an issue with new locks to the roof hatch in my condo building. Service wasn't cheap, but it seems to be basically in line with the market cost, from what I can tell. The scheduler at the office gave me a little bit of misinformation about when he was going to show up, but in the end, he came well within the window, and was quick about his work, knowledgeable, and very friendly. I was overall quite pleased an would recommend them.

NOT well. Firstly the problems with time... Also, when he was explaining the breakdown of the prices, it just seemed a bit of a scam/excessive, but i was desperate to get the dryer installed. I asked him a few questions and they just were not answered well. Like for instance "can i use that flexible vent for my dryer?" "oh yeah sure its fine"?no clarification, which kind of flexible vent...just "its fine". So the cost of the work was: (this is literally what the bill says) code: 106 - 2 @ 59.00 = 118.00 code: p717-8- 2@77.00 = 159.00 discount: 20.00 service fee: 69.00 (just for showing up) total: 321.00 They did install it. Not the best job. Not the worst job. The vent run they chose was not logical and now obstructs the water outlet knobs for washer. The tape job was fair on the vent. The plumbing seemed good, obviously i am not a plumber: just with a layman's eye? fair, not great. Final insult: They , by accident i am sure, took the special wrench that is used to level the washer. Now i am without that tool and i will have to call them to get it back (if i can) ?if i do get it back i will update this review. I was also going to get an estimate from them for moving a toilet and sink upstairs, but I simply do not trust them to do high quality work at fair prices. To me it seems they did fair quality work (not shoddy or anything) at HIGH QUALITY prices,

Arrived at scheduled time and delivered the promised services. The quote for the work has been provided for my approval before the repair. I took the morning off to wait for the crew and did not want to waste time by refusing the price quote. I believe the charge was extremely steep for the performed service. When I asked the company to provide me some reasonable explanation they could not. I am familiar with cost breakdowns such as material, labor, variable, fixed costs, overhead costs etc. but these guys charge way over too much. There should be other good plumbers out there with more reasonable prices.

Experience went very well. Thomas was very fast in his work, and was gone before I knew it. He was very kind and courteous while he was in my home. I would recommend him to anyone else who needs plumbing work.

It went great, though these guys aren't cheap.

Very well, would use him again. Real old fashioned plumber, hard to find these days.

They are pretty good. They were punctual, they came on time and they did exactly what they were supposed to do.

Rocky start with a good, albeit expensive ending.

I was charged $223 to replace two valve seats, which probably cost about $10 each wholesale (if that). The plumber finished the job in less than 20 minutes. This flat-rate pricing scheme unfairly penalizes customers with quick, easy jobs. Yes, "$223" was a flat fee; the plumber refused to break out parts and labor and tax on the invoice. Is this even permissible under DC law? Adding insult to injury was the $69 visit charge. Even with the $20 discount for Angie's List members, this simple repair cost an astronomical $272. I will not use Clark Plumbing in the future.

Very pleased with the fast response, good job and courteous service. The prior day a handyman attempted the same job and it was a time-consuming disaster that left the place a mess (20 minute clean up for me) and matters worse than before. In contrast, the fellow from Thomas E Clark did the job perfectly, lickety split and left the bathroom spic n span. Ah! Professionalism!

First the good: The plumber, Andy, did a great job replacing a pipe that had burst over the winter. He worked quickly, left absolutely no mess, was polite, very upfront about the cost and the scope of the (admittedly small) job, and gave us some advice on how to avoid the freezing pipe in the future (My first east-coast winter as a homeowner and I didn't drain the pipe properly. An expensive lesson learned!). The work was good, and I would recommend Thomas E. Clark for that. The Very Bad: My appointment was on a Saturday between noon and 4 pm. At 4 pm, I had not seen a plumber nor had I been contacted by anyone to let me know they were running late. I called at 4, and the gentleman who picked up said "I'll look into it and call you back." At 4:30, when I hadn't heard back, I called again. A different person answered and said he too would look into it. I got a call back 15 minutes later letting me know the plumber was running late and he would be there "Within the hour." The plumber eventually showed up at around 5:20, and completed the job in about half an hour. I found it very unprofessional to have not been contacted that the plumber was going to be nearly 1.5 hours late for a four hour window. I understand that people run late and appointments take longer than normal, but that's not what upset me. The problem is that I had to call twice and wait 45 minutes AFTER the window had ended before I knew the status of the plumber. That's unacceptable. Next time someone is running that late, Thomas E. Clark needs to let the customer know.

We were having a problem with sewage backing up into the house. This ended up being a big problem, with flooding and gunk backing up into the house [the problem would ultimately be diagnosed as tree roots growing into our sewer line]. Thomas E. Clark first sent out a plumber to do an initial check, and once he determined that we needed to send a scope and snake into our sewer line, he called a drain technician to come out. The drain technician who came out was incredibly nice and professional, but completely misdiagnosed the problem the house was having. No need to get into the weeds of his diagnosis, but after scoping the sewer line, he made what turned out to be a pretty basic error in identifying where the clog was. Sure, people make mistakes, but based on the faulty advice we got, we had to have technicians from the city come out that night (on an emergency call ), only to tell us of the error made by the plumber and that in order to have the problem fixed, we'd have to have the plumbers come right back out to diagnose it properly. I then called Thomas E. Clark to come back and take another look at the sewer line, to catch the problem that they missed the first time, and ultimately give me an estimate as to what it would cost to fix the problem. (Mind you, this will now have been a third visit from Thomas E. Clark, and by this point we had paid them about $700 -- and still had not gotten an estimate to fix the actual problem.) Here's where we had the biggest problem - the third guy to come out (Joe, who I believe is one of their managers) suggested that there was a chance that he was going to bill us again for the company's services if they were to take off our toilet and scope the sewer line again. By even making that suggestion, he failed at a basic principle of providing services - when one of your subordinates screws something up and you have to send someone more senior in to clean up the mess, you do not hold the client responsible. I then had what can only be described as a ridiculous conversation (for about ten minutes) with Joe where we haggled over whether I would have to pay another $600 or so for him to look into the sewer line again. They ended up not charging me for the visit, but that we even had to have that conversation was absurd. Then, two more problems. One, for what ended up being about a $10,000 job, his estimate was just scrawled as about two sentences at the bottom of an invoice - no substantive details about the work they'd do, or of the actual cost breakdown. For such a big project, it was perfunctory at best. And he was also incorrect about the permits we'd need - he suggested that we might need a $3,000 permit, which would be our responsibility -- this turned out to be inaccurate. The plumbers we ended up going with explained the permitting issues much better, and handled them all for us. The folks at Thomas E. Clark were all reasonably nice people and I'm sure they're wonderful plumbers, but after this experience, they came off as careless and a bit sloppy.

Arrived on time; careful about dirt in the house; pleasant, courteous, efficient. Faucet working well.

Had a good experience with this company. Technicians arrived on time, diagnosed issues quickly, had the parts required on the truck and set to work making repairs. Things were a bit hectic for me when they finished and I signed the invoice and proffered my credit card. It wasn't until I had a chance to review it later that it occurred to me that it was a bit pricey to charge the same parts & labor fee for each of three valves that were installed at the same time. Included with the invoice was a feedback card with an attached lengthy explanation of why charges might seem high - no doubt an attempt to counter the knock on this outfit in reviews for its seemingly high prices. I duly filled it out and included my comments regarding the pricing i had an issue with in my case. A couple of days later I got a call from the owner, Michael Hartman, saying that I was correct and that there should have been a discount on 2 of the 3 valves, for which he would send me a refund check. Said check arrived a couple of days later.

On l/24/13, we learned that we had some major problems with our furnace. Not only was it in need of repair, but it was leaking carbon monoxide! The person who came to service the furnace said he had to cut off the gas to the heater. Wow! We wear glad that no one became ill. I then asked for a price to fix and the price for a new furnace. He gave me the quotes. I called Thomas E. Clark that night and left a message that we wanted to replace our furnace. The next day, I called the company, and I was told that they had just ordered my new furnace and that someone would arrive on Saturday to install it. The next morning, the repair person came with his assitant and installed my new furnace. The two men who came were respectful, conscientious, and hard working. They put down sheets of fabric on the floor in the kitchen to protect it as they carried the old furnace and all of its parts out. They cleaned up every piece of equipment they brought. It was almost as though the old furnace had never been in the basement. I would hire Thomas Clark again. . . in fact, I contacted them today and they will come on Thursday to fix another issue we have in our home.

Realized over this past weekend we were having new problem that involved a rapidly depleting hot water supply (the hot water was running out after 2 showers of the same duration as previous). Further, over the past several months I'd noticed increasingly slowly draining bathroom and kitchen sinks. I was able to be at home today because of an illness and called Thomas E. Clark (TEC) at 10:58AM (the time stamp was saved in my phone). It's now 12:30 and I've gotten the entire job completed with the problem (hopefully) addressed. Joe came over within 30 min of my initial call and was kind and professional. I showed him the hot water heater and he informed e about the diagnostic test that would need to be run and the cost involved ($89). I agreed to the test and then showed him the problems with the bathroom and kitchen sinks. He did some quick investigation into both sinks and found very minor and easy fixes for which he only charged for time. After the diagnostic hot water heater test he informed me that the heater itself was working fine and offered both a cost free option (turn up the temp of the water on the heater) as well as a fix (water mixing valve -$429). I opted for the former. After that he wrote the invoice and it was settled and he was gone within 45 min of being here. I am very happy with this service and will call again for any future needs, very simple, very professional, and courteous. The added touch of shoe covers (which is common these days among contractors but by no means universal) is always appreciated and noted. Great experience working with TEC!

Overall, the job went well. Thomas E Clark was very responsive to my call and had someone right away. Thi is the second time I have used them and Joe has performed the work both times. Thus I feel comfortable with their services. My only complaint is the costly travel fee of $69 that is not applied towards the cost of services. Even with high cost of gas and some travel time, $70 seems very high and unreasonable.

It went well. He was timely. He later had to come back to fix the issue come and he was prompt at that time as well.

Very good service, clean, professional, timely. However, very expensive. Proximity to the Thanksgiving holiday prevented me from shopping around for a lower price. They did a great job, but the price was very high.

We had a grab bar to install in a tiled shower and the job was expedited well and efficiently.