Pete Wall Plumbing Co

We called this company on 12/1/20 to fix a gas leak in our fire place logs. The leak was evident because we could smell the gas in the room and it was confirmed by Piedmont Gas Company. The Pete Wall technician came to fix this problem without the proper equipment needed to detect the leak location and waited for another technician to bring him the tool. The wait time was added to our bill. After spending another 45 minutes he confirmed that there is a leak somewhere in the gas logs which cannot be fixed and we need new gas logs. Not convinced with his trouble shooting we decided to call another company. Next day when this company’s technician came he detected exactly where the leak was and tightened a loose screw there and told us that we don’t need new logs. His time spent to fix this problem was less then 10 minutes. Had we listened to the Pete Wall Plumbing technician we would have spent 1500 dollars on new gas logs. It is surprising the the Pete Wall Plumbing technician could not fix as simple a problem as tightening a screw besides the fact that he came to fix the problem without the proper tool to fix it. How frustrating an experience.

They came in and took a look at the damage pipe line and took care of the leak immediately. This guy managed to bring over 2 people over to repair the line and was completed in a short amount of time (2 hours) The supervisors name is Clay.

Running PEX. The initial runs were horrible - all angles and no sweeps used, which is horrible inefficient for performance (and uses more materials too...), but I was told they actually had people ask for runs to be done that way previously. If it had been copper piping in would have been a nice job, but different materials want very different handling.... They did a fairly nice job of correcting all the issues. Would have been been beautiful rework except for one 12 foot run that was clearly spliced with seven pieces salvaged from the initial work. These guys are totally capable of great work, but make sure you discuss details first and thoroughly or you may end up with a first cut of "not at all what was expected". They will certainly exert themselves to make it right in the end though.

We had all of our drains stopped at once, so we called Pete Wall Plumbing, as we have done since we moved to Greensboro 8 years ago. The 2 men arrived on time and the first thing they did was start working on the drain under the kitchen sink. Ne\xt they moved to our guest bathroom. At which time they removed the entire toilet from the floor. After 10 -15 minutes they determined that the clog was in the main line. They spent a considerable amount of time looking everywhere in the house for this clean-out. After not finding the clean-out in the house they finally went outside and found it in the front yard. One of the guys had to go get a piece of equipment that they didn't have in their truck. After returning they took about 20 minutes the drain was cleared. At this time, they and quot;cleanedand quot; up the mess, got paid $563 and left. When they left we found all kinds of dirt and water on the kitchen floor and bathroom floor. Also, in the bathroom they chipped one of the tiles around the toilet. $563 well spent, ha! .We have been very happy with Pet Wall Plumbing for years, but this is the second time they left a mess for my wife to clean. The previous incident took place day before Thanksgiving and we were having 20 people to your home for dinner the next day. My wife had plenty on her plate already and did not need this additional burden on her. Unfortunately, we will not be using Pete Wall agai

They gave me an appointments quickly, came when they said they would, were very focused a task, cleaned up neatly, and were very friendly and helpful. I thought the price was very reasonable for the amount of time they were here, which included going out to get parts.

They were on time, discovered the water leak from a rusted nail and fixed it leaving the place clean and things put back in place.

I called Pete Wall Plumbing to repair the following – a clogged toilet (one of the kids had sent a toy on its merry way), a leaky faucet and a 2d floor leak through the sub-flooring onto the 1st floor ceiling below it. The first two repairs are what I consider basic plumbing 101; the third repair is more of an intermediate plumbing issue because of the need to diagnose the source of the leak. On Dec 13 Tom came out to repair all the issues. He quickly fished out the stuck toy and got the toilet flushing properly again; he replaced all the seals on the leaky faucet and that was fixed. Both of those repairs took less than 30 minutes combined. The 2d floor leak is a more complicated story. Tom had to diagnose the problem and uncover the leak’s source. He cut a small square in the 1st floor ceiling to determine whether or not he could identify the source. He determined the water pipes in the sub-flooring were not leaking therefore it must be coming from a 2d story source leaking onto and through the sub-flooring. There is a shower and a jet tub on the second floor located directly above the leak. So he went upstairs to look at those two possibilities. Tom looked at the shower and jet tub. I don’t remember the exact details of what happened next but the bottom line is Tom was not able to identify the leak’s source. He removed the faucet head and handles and didn’t see a leak; he was not exactly sure what to do next. He then told me he wasn’t too familiar with that specific Delta tub faucet and that he’d have to research it “back at the shop.” I found that unusual and even gave him a copy of that Delta model’s instructions which I had previously downloaded from the Delta faucets website. A few days later we received a bill for the first visit. Two hours of labor @ $100/hour = $200; materials with tax = $16.90; minus the Angie’s list $20 discount; total bill was $196.90. The labor part seemed high, especially since I had not been told the labor cost was $100/hour. I should have asked ahead of time. Additionally, it seemed to me Tom had spent a considerable amount of what I consider unproductive time diagnosing the problem. More specifically, I would have expected a professional plumber to have the expert knowledge to more quickly diagnose and identify the leak’s source. This is especially true when they are charging such a high dollar amount per hour. However, we paid the bill. At this point I thought the follow-up visit would be at a reduced labor charge since it wasn’t my fault Tom couldn’t properly identify the leak's source during his first visit. A week later Tom returned with his supervisor Clay. Clay ruled out the shower and shower skirt as the leak’s source after a cursory inspection. He then focused on the jet tub. He removed the tub’s faucet and handles. He focused on the faucet’s diverter valve which I had replaced about 1 year ago. Clay quickly identified the leak’s source. He noticed the brass spout had a small indentation where the screw seats into it which secures the faucet. This meant the entire deck mounted brass spout had to be replaced. The next challenge was how to access the spout. There were only two possible ways – 1) approach it from the bottom going through the 1st floor ceiling and the sub-flooring or 2) break one or two of the tub’s 12”x12” tiles to gain direct access to the spout. To their credit, they did try to access it from the bottom through the 1st floor ceiling since they had already previously cut a hole during the diagnosis stage. However the access was too restrictive and very awkward. They asked if they could go through the tile and I said yes. So, the rest of the story is straight-forward. They broke the tile, gained access and replaced the brass faucet. A little over a week later we received the bill for the 2d follow-up visit. This time they charged three and a half hours of labor for Tom @ $100/hour = $350; two hours of labor for Clay @ $35/hour (reduced rate since he is a supervisor) = $70; materials = $199.35; tax = $13.45; total bill was for $632.80. Once again, the labor costs seemed incredibly high, so I called and asked to speak with a supervisor. I spoke with Jimmy Wall on Fri Jan 3, 2014. I explained the quality of the work was good however the labor cost per hour was very high. I told him we’d paid the first bill without calling to inquire about the relatively high labor cost but this second bill was unacceptable. I also shared with him the following information: The first bill which we had already paid: He charged us for 2 hours of labor. I told him Tom had been at our house for somewhere between 60-90 minutes (not 2 hours). Jimmy explained they charge travel time to the jobsite. The clock starts when they leave their office or previous jobsite. If it takes longer than 15 minutes then they charge a maximum of 15 min. I also told Jimmy the reason I called a plumber instead of trying to do the work myself was because of the expectation of a plumber’s expertise. Specifically, that a professional plumber should have been able to quickly locate the source of the leak causing the spotting on the 1st floor ceiling. This would have reduced the diagnosis time during the first visit by about 30-60 minutes (depending on the plumber’s expertise). And more importantly, it could have potentially eliminated the need for a second follow-up visit. So that instead of a total of 5 and frac12; hours labor for both visits maybe the total labor costs could have been around 3 hours total (if repaired on the first visit). This represents a $250 cost savings ($550 minus $300 = $250)! So I asked him to give us a discount on the first bill and he said “Let me pull the other ticket and look at that one; it’ll be the first of the week before I get back with you.” By Thu Jan 9 I still hadn’t heard back from him so I called that morning. I left a message for him with the person who answered the phone; she assured me he would return my call. Towards the end of day that Thu I still had not heard from Jimmy. I called again. The person who answered the phone told me “I spoke with Jimmy about your issue and he said he reviewed the invoice and it looked right so there is no discount.” The second bill (conversation with Jimmy on Fri Jan 3) – He charged us 3 and frac12; hours labor for Tom - $350 and 2 hours labor for Clay at a reduced rate since he is a supervisor - $70 for a total labor cost of $420. I told Billy the following: I did not have the exact timeline but they did not spend 3 and frac12; hours at my house. Billy said he charged me from 8:15am to 11:40am (8:15-8:30 = 15 min travel time charged). I am pretty sure Tom did not arrive at my house that morning until well past 9 am. If Tom had been knowledgeable enough during his first visit then he may not have needed to return a second time. I should not have to pay for Tom’s lack of expertise. When Clay arrived at my house he quickly isolated the problem and identified the leak’s source. I asked Billy to provide a discounted rate on the second bill given that a more knowledgeable plumber should have been able to take care of all three repairs during the first visit thereby saving me at least $200-$250 in labor costs. Billy agreed to remove Clay’s 2 hours because “he’s a supervisor” so that reduced the second bill’s labor cost from $420 to $350. In summary, all three repairs were done correctly. Both Tom and Clay are very personable and polite. However, I ended up paying somewhere between an additional $200-$250 in labor costs which could have been potentially minimized with a more knowledgeable and expert plumber (during the first visit). So based on the overall value I have to rate Pete Wall Plumbing a and quot;Dand quot; on Angie’s List. Key learnings: Don’t assume a service provider delivers good overall value just because they are on Angie’s list. Don’t be swayed by any provider offering coupons on Angie’s List, like I was. We saved $20 with the coupon but ended up losing hundreds in the long run. Call at least 3 different “A” rated providers with lots of reviews and get the following information: Always ask them their labor costs and how they calculate it. Do this when you call them to shop around, long before you agree to set-up an appointment. Specifically, when does the clock start and when does it stop on what they are going to charge you per hour. Ask them to provide you with a faxed estimate based on the described work. Always keep a log of their arrival time and their departure time. We will not use Pete Wall Plumbing again. They are too expensive. I should have listened to the Angie’s List member who rated them a “D” on Sep 3, 2013 instead of dismissing the review as a “disgruntled” customer. I should have paid attention to the fact that of Pete Wall Plumbing’s 18 reviews only 78% are “A” rated. Next time I have plumbing needs I will call Hayden and Sons Plumbing. They have 80 reviews with 96% of those “A” rated. I hope this helps other Triad area Angie’s List members avoid the same costly mistake I made.

Wonderfully. Kept in contact throughout the process. Served as our contact with the city Even helped us get a large refund from the city to cover plumbing expenses by providing evidence of improper installation by the city at a previous time.

I tried to drain out my water heater to remove built up sediment. I released the TPG valve as recommended by several YouTube plumbing videos to allow the water to flow more freely. As a result, the heater sprung a leak that wouldn't stop even after shutting off the intake valve. My regular plumber doesn't work weekends but Pete Wall Plumbing does. They responded to my call immediately, on a Saturday, got it fixed, and Tom, the guy who was on call for the company, gave me great advice about prevention and maintenance. He was honest about the cost being higher on a weekend, which I expected. But for the time spent, the effort and quality of the work performed, and the good advice about what to do in the future, he is my new go-to plumber

Tom was professional, kept us informed and made the experience pleasant. He solved our problems while providing'Customer Service Excellenceand quot;. We highly recommend their services.

They called and said they had a guy free so he could come right over to do the work so I agreed because that sounded great. When he got here he sat out in my driveway for 5-10 minutes just sitting there in his truck. I work from home so I didn't immediately get up to go see what he was waiting for and just assumed he must taking care of some business. Then I got a call saying that the guy was lost so I went out and waved him in. The receptionist had given him the wrong address. She called me back immediately to correct my address in their system and said the wrong address twice and had to be corrected twice in the same 30 second call. Then he told me that he couldn't install the new faucet I had because it would not fit to the existing plumbing valves. I told him that I had explained that it didn't fit to the existing plumbing valves and that it would all have to be changed out when I made the appointment. He agreed to do it but said it would take another guy coming out and several hours of work and would be easier to just let him go get a faucet that was the same brand that would fit on the existing plumbing. I agreed to this and he called model numbers into the office to see if they had them on hand and was waiting for the guy to call him back. I told him, instead of just standing around the whole hour I've paid for, I will have you install another faucet while you're here so I will get some of my money's worth. He then said that he didn't have time to do it because it would take 45 minutes and his hour was almost up. He had only been at my house for 20 minutes at this point. I told him that I, an amateur, could install that faucet in 15 minutes (I had installed 2 like it the day before) and didn't see how it could possibly take a professional 3 times as long to do the same job. He then told me that he could do it in 30 minutes but that would still put him over the hour because he was counting the 20 minutes it took him to drive from his last job to my house (this would be counting the time he sat in my driveway doing nothing). They did not say anything about charging me $100/hr for him to drive to my house. At this point I was so disgusted that I told him I'd just pay him for the hour and he could leave and that I no longer needed their services. They were trying to charge me 3 times the time it would take to do the job and the time he wasted sitting around because the office staff couldn't get the address right.

The service rep was excellent! Very courteous and professional. I would definitely call them again!

Was very pleased with our experience! We had our hot water heater go bad after 17 years. We called and got an estimate over the phone and they were able to get us a new bigger one installed the same day. They were very courteous and gave me the names of the installers that were on their way to our home Would highly recommend them and will call them again.

I found Pete Wall Plumbing on Angie's List. When I called, I explained what was going on and that the hot water heater was located in a crawl space. The person I spoke to thanked me for telling her about the location of the hot water heater and said she would send someone who would be able to fit in the space. The person arrived promptly as promised and had the necessary equipment on his truck to repair the pipe. He wore shoe covers to protect our carpet and was professional. He showed us the pipe he replaced and explained why it leaked. We felt very fortunate to have found Pete Wall Plumbing on Angie's List.

Was advised that the new machine should not be installed. I was trying to put a portable dishwasher in a permanent location, and the hose was not long enough. The worker did not think it was safe to try to adapt the hose. I appreciated his honesty and advice. Old machine was removed and hauled away. Very professional and speedy work.

This was a simple job of finishing digging a hole that was at most 2 feet deep and repairing a connection. I had performed some of the work and supplied materials. When I called about the bill I was told this was an after hours call (past 4:00 pm) and that it took 2 hours. No one said beforehand it was an after hours call and that it would be time and a half. Sure I wanted the water back to the barn but it could have been done the next day which I would have done had they told me the cost (or I would have found someone else). In my opinion, this was not a difficult fix and so routine that anyone with plumbing experience could have easily performed the task.

The fellow was very pleasant and got the job done quickly and professionally. Have used them a number of times, and I call them first with any plumbing issues

The overall experience was very good. They were friendly, responsive, and price was exactly what I expected. I would definitely use this company again and would recommend them to anyone.

I like them very much and I've already recommended them. The original water line went under our driveway and they found a different way to go around it without tearing up the driveway. They took care of everything and did a very good job.

They have the nicest service people. They always take their shoes off before they come into the house. They are always kind, nice, friendly and respectful. The prices they give are very reasonable too.

We highly recommend them because they originally worked on our house when it was built so we are familiar with their company. In the neighborhood when the homes were built they did all the work and the people asked us whether these were guys who worked on our house so they must get them too. Price wise within the competition of the area we had some pricing before anyway. They were very competitive. We will use them again.

They were quick to respond. They were easy to schedule them. I will use them in the future.

I called them at 9 o'clock in the morning and by 5 o'clock it was installed and they were done. I was very fortunate that they were very responsive, professional and did the work as advertised. I did not have any surprises; he responded quickly and took care of the problem. I would not hesitate to call them again.

Woke up to find expansion tank on hot water heater had rusted thru the bottom. After cutting the water off, called Pete Wall Plumbing and was told it would be a 2 hr. wait....after an hour they called back to tell me a serviceman would be here in 20 min.. . RIGHT ON TIME...he looked the job over and said it shouldn"t take too long and yes the tank was bad. The serviceman, Tom, was a pleasure and very helpfull in explaining what the job of the tank was and the life expectancy of it as well as the hot water heater lifespan and how it operates.. Overall VERY polite... called me "Sir" when he spoke to me! Would use again.

The rough-in changes were carried out well and professionally. However, the overall service was very unprofessional. Three toilets leaked (one was improperly seated and the other two were simply careless oversights with the valves). The water heater leaked out the top (expansion tank area) and ruined a whole stack of trim for which Pete Wall Plumbing refused to compensate us. A valve in the upstairs bath leaked through the ceiling below and damaged drywall for which Pete Wall Plumbing refused to compensate us or remediate the damage. They did replace the valve. Most recently, an incorrectly installed overflow valve in the master tub led to a leak that created a pond of approximately 300 square feet in the crawl space, soaked up through the grout joints in the floor and buckled approximately 120 square feet of hardwood flooring in the adjacent bedroom. This last event took place almost 3 weeks ago. Pete Wall Plumbing was notified within an hour of this major leak on a Saturday, neglected to investigate it until the following Tuesday, after I spoke with them twice on Saturday and twice on Monday. They have still not offered any remediation or compensation for the remediation we completed on the water damage and must complete on the wood floors when they are fully dried. We took immediate action to stop the damage and worked several hours on Saturday and then again on Sunday when we found the pond in the crawl space. This company is unprofessional in their follow-up, does poor work, and does not take responsibility for their work. I am still waiting to hear back from Pete Wall Plumbing with a solution to this most recent issue. I will be sure to update this posting on Angie's List when a conclusion has been reached.