Hofmeister Plumbing Heating & Air Conditioning

excellent!! Fast, clean, professional and fair price for a lot of work.

I called on Friday after 5pm and left a message, not really expecting anyone to call back until Monday. To my surprise, Sean called back promptly, and scheduled to come in on Saturday morning to fix my clogged shower drain. He got that fixed pretty quickly with his drain snake, so I asked him to look at the outdoor facet facing my front lawn, and the hack-job pipe work that the previous homeowner did, for an estimate. He was able to give me a estimate on the spot, and even offered to do the job then and there. Sean replaced a plastic pipe and old facet, and connected new copper pipes to the new facet. I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality and speed of his work. I will definitely call him for future plumbing needs.

Hofmeister was prompt when it comes to getting estimate and replacement. They did install a replacement unit, however, they short changed us with minor things, like new replacement thermostat(in the written contract) and a new more efficient filtering system. They tried to weasel out of replacing the thermostat until I showed them its in the written contract. After 3-4 calls and many cancelations, they finally showed up and I had to purchase my own thermostat. In the end they did not replace the filtering system at all. They were more expensive then other quotes I have, gave us a cheaper AC units and service was poor/slow when we contact them with in one week of the new installation. We use them based solely on fact on Angie's list they were suppose to be A rating. I am not sure I can count on their promise of 2 years free service, when they don't even honor what is written in the original contract.

I got them off Angie's List. I've used them twice within the last couple of years and I'm very satisfied with their work.

We called Hofmeister for a second opinion after having another company come the day before. Sean was the plumber that they sent and I have to say that he spent nearly an hour educating my wife and myself about our sewer system. He offered to use his camera system to find out exactly what was wrong with our sewer for free. I have to say that this certainly was an experience - Sean was able to identify that prior to us buying our house 2 years ago that there was a repair done to the sewer and the repair broke. He found that our line for the most part was in great shape except for a 6 foot section right outside our house needed to be fixed. He quoted us the price of $1,875.00 plus tax versus the $11,500.00 price that the previous company quoted (and they didn't use a camera). Sean came back the next day (6/25) with his helper and they had they dug up the sewer and fixed the problem - they were done by 2pm and since I had to be at work during the day they took pictures and a video of the whole process. I have to say that I'm glad to have found Hofmeister and if I ever do need a plumber again I know who to call.

I came home from work today and found water leaking from the ceiling in my kitchen. My neighbor recommended I call his plumber and a guy named Sean came. I called them at 4pm today and he was here in like less than 30 minutes. Sean found that the problem was a corroded cold water line for the upstairs sink. I took him about an hour to open the ceiling, find the problem and fix it. He even cleaned all the water up and the mess that he didnt even cause. Great guys, Great Company.

It went horrific. Nothing was done correctly and there were numerous code violations.

It sucked. They were rude and unprofessional

They were very unprofessional, was overcharged for service.

First off, the administrative office of this company is awesome. Quick call back time. They were frank, honest, and I didn't have to deal with any run-around. This is 12/24, the day before Christmas. Many plumbers were either not working, or wanted to charge me an exorbitant fee just to come out and take a look. They listened to my problem on the phone, scheduled the appointment, showed up on time, and were very professional. Harold, the plumber they sent, along with his assistant went straight to work. First, they made sure the leak really was originating in the first floor bathroom and that no other areas were affected. They figured out what needed to be done, gave me an explanation of the work they were going to do, and provided an estimate. I'm not a plumber, but Harold explained things clearly and made sure I understood how he had come up with that estimate. Harold and his assistant worked diligently. They set up protective tarp on the floor, took precautions to put up a gate to keep the dogs from eating anything they dug out, and started working. They had the busted section of the pipe out and replaced it. They ended up needing to replace a much longer section of the pipe than they had originally predicted. Harold made sure to show me why he felt additional pipe should be replaced and then took the time to answer my questions. I felt very comfortable with his decision. Harold and his assistant did absolutely wonderful work. I will definitely call them again when this old house needs a touch up.

Mike, from Hofmeister, was hired to replace an old hot water boiler. The installation did not start off smoothly and went downhill thereafter. First, Mike kept changing the original install date--forcing me to take days off from work and reschedule appointments. His crew did not clean up after the install. Mike did not initially bleed the system--as he was required to do. He shut off all of our gas and power during the installation and forgot to put everything back on. His workmanship was shoddy; his attitude was worse. The system almost immediately sprung a leak--which he would not repair. He failed to bleed the system and forgot to turn various zones back on. He failed to apply for permits (as required) until well after the job was done. The boiler failed municipal inspections for plumbing on at least 6 different items. I was advised by other plumbers, that the installation was "amateurish" with "poor workmanship."The installation was the cheapest. For example, he used flex hosing instead of piping. To date, he has refused to address all of the issues in theinspector's report and to fix the leak and zone. The system still leaks and the thermostat/zone is still not repaired. I am hiring other plumbers to fix the job in accordance with all regulations and codes. His demeanor is horrific. For example, he came to my home yesterday to address the items on the inspection and said the inspectors and PSE&G "don't know anything"; he fixed a few things, left, and never returned. In subsequent text exchanges regarding returning to my home to complete the job, he just cursed and told me "FO." What do I have now? I am still left with a system that did not pass inspection, still leaks, still has air in the system (because he refused to again bleed the system), and a zone that does not shut off.

Harold snaked out a bathroom sink. The working space was very tight, little room to use a wrench, was eventually successful in removing the trap. Nothing was found in the piping from the trap back to the main downpipe. He replaced the trap (well-corroded; snake poked a hole in it), filled it with water, snaked again, and was successful. He took some care with cleaning up a messy bathroom floor. An olde toilet always pushed out tank water through the holes attaching the seat to the bowl rim after each flush. I was told the tank water level could not be adjusted, that we needed a new toilet. I got educated in choosing a toilet and am close to checking with Harold about my choice. In a second bathroom, the olde hot water supply put out a very low flow. After inspecting it, Harold said that it needed a new cartridge. He didn't have a replacement in his truck, among their fixture supplies, or on-line, so the whole faucet had to be replaced. I got more education, chose, ordered, bought, received an acceptable faucet over a period of about 10 days. Harold installed it shortly thereafter. Due to its age, the olde faucet was very difficult to remove. It was a wrestling match, but Harold eventually got it out. The new faucet went in much easier. I am aware that Harold was coming from another job on each of his visits and that there is no telling how long each job will take. If he realizes that he will be late for my appointment, a call to me or to his office and then to me would be appreciated.

Fabio was great! He worked constantly and efficiently, was there to clearly explain his thoughts and diagnosis and actions. It was clear to me that he was very experienced and knew how to problem solve and exactly what to do. He left all areas spotless. i would hire again in a second.

Overall it went very well. Few glitches here and there but that's to be expected in a 70 year old house with no duct work! We have hot-water baseboard heating. Luckily our unfinished basement is all open and they were as thoughtful as they could be in locating the duct work there to be as unobtrusive as possible. Mike and his crew were fairly communicative, as needed, since we have no experience with AC systems; they were flexible and open to questions and suggestions. I think it helped that my husband and I were also flexible and placed confidence it their many years of experience. And we might have asked even more questions. Plans were adapted and changed to suit the particular situations encountered in a retrofit like this, opening walls to find surprises that required 'trying something else'. In the end it was a very good job. We are very pleased with the AC, of course and expect to continue with Hofmeister to provide services in the years to come.

AC unit installed by this provided in June, 2014 stopped working. I contacted the provider on Friday evening and he was supposed to come out Sat AM. Received phone call from owner Harold, JR stating that the weather was too cool and he would be out on Sunday around noon. Owner Harold, JR called Sunday and said he will be delayed and he arrived approximately 2:00 pm. He assessed the problem, and proceeded to repair. Completed in about one hour at no charge. This is the first time I dealt with Harold, Jr and he was very accommodating. I will continue to use this company for future plumbing/air condition needs. Thanks Harold for giving up some of your Sunday time off to get our system up and running!! 11/5/15 late update. System continued to shut down intermittently. It took a couple of more service calls before they finally had to replace the compressor in the outside unit. Once that was replaced, it ran great.

Set up a time with the technician on 5/8/2015 and agreed to meet on 5/15/2015 to meet at my rental property at 9 30 am. I called the tech on 5/15/2015 before leaving home just to make sure that he was coming and he told me he couldn't make it today. So, I asked him if he can meet the next day and said he could not do it. Later in the conversation he said that he may not even come because the job is too small. I went to this company to get an estimate and to compare it the other estimates that I have already have with me. The other estimates are in the 1500 dollar range and without seeing the tech said its a small job. Very unprofessional way to dealing with things. May be for this company 1500 dollar is small job. They forgot about customer satisfaction. Since, this is for a rental property and I was looking to establish a relationship and hire them for repeat business. They just lost all of it now. I have the name and phone number of the tech if someone want it. But I wouldn't work with them again.

It was outstanding. They were very responsive and they came out Saturday and Sunday.

This review is review is only for HVAC/heating, but if it is any indication, I would NOT trust this company. Longer review below for those interested. Ironically, this review could have gone a completely different way...or not. I am under the impression that most reviewers just don't have enough information. I would have given A's across the board for being on time, etc, if I had done what he had said..and he fixed the problem. But, in this case, it wouldn't have solved the problem....I know this, because I got my problem fixed and had 3 other opinions. Mike and his helper showed up to our apartment after a night of no heat and temperatures dropping into frigid territory. His response was quick and he was very fast with his responses via phone. He was punctual and spent less than 5 minutes trying to see what was wrong with furnace. He than proceeded to tell me I needed a new furnace and that this one was 12 years old (he was right on that it was 12 years old, as he called someone to check the date of the furnace). I asked him how much a new furnace would be, and he quoted 2900. "That's a good price for a new furnace". I'm sure it is...the problem is, did I need a new furnace? He also kept saying I would not find a better price and that they were the #1 rated on Angie's List.... I asked him how much it would have cost to fix just the parts that needed to be fixed. He quoted me $700 to repair the parts and said that wasn't the right way to go b/c then the next part would fail and you would have to pay for more and then you aren't even sure when the furnace is going to go. It'll cost you another $700 next year for the control board, etc... It sounded good, but I had to make sure. I called 3 other HVAC guys, and all of them were incredulous that someone had told me I needed a new furnace considering that my furnace still generated heat. It was just turning on and off every 3 minutes. The unit was giving a signal that told us to replace the negative pressure switches. If that wasn't the problem, the replacing the control board would probably fix it. Considering that it would have cost $700 to fix those 2 parts (someone else quoted less than $200), or fixing a control board (quote of $150), I'm pretty sure these guys are completely over charging. On top of that, I didn't need a new furnace....and having other's walk me through the fix, I know that they wouldn't have solved the problem with a new furnace and I would have an experience similar to the F rated reviews on 3/20/14 and 10/26/14. Look them up. The one on 3/20 talks about them overcharging, and him fixing the problem himself. I think this quote brings it up best. "The tech was a nice guy, I had no problem trusting him in my house when I wasn't home. I do however think that he was inexperienced in working on my furnace, and ridiculous in his pricing." If you want someone that knows what they're doing and guarantees that they will fix the problem before they charge, I would go to Pruzansky Plumbing as long as they are sending Anthoniel which is the only experience I had. That guy is a beast. Diagnosed and fixed my problem in 90 minutes. I paid $225 which I was very happy with considering I now have heat and he solved it on the spot. I say this because after my first couple of experiences, these guys promised to not charge me unless they fixed the problem, and gave me a quote of about how much it might cost if they fixed the diagnostic of another HVAC.

Back in August an employee came by my house to give me a quote on a hot water heater. Even though I asked him at that time about upgrades to my system, he talked me into a straight replacement of my conventional heater. I negotiated the final cost with him and he came down $200 if the payment was in cash. I assumed that this was to reduce the fees associated with other forms of payment, but when the job was finished, he would not give me any paperwork, saying that the discount meant that there wouldn't be any paperwork. This did not make me feel comfortable. I felt that there was further sketchiness in that his original description was to take the whole job up to code, including reworking the venting. But when he completed the work, he did not redo the venting saying that there was too much involved, nor was there ever an inspection scheduled of the work. Given this, I would normally not expect to be charged for the work not done, but the total remained the same. Since then, I have called them back for two items. The first was that my boiler was making loud noises. While he was trying to figure out what was wrong, he called me at work giving me diagnoses and I would have to talk him through testing if that was the correct diagnosis, at which point he would do the test and decide on the next one. During one of these calls I asked him if the problem was the circulator pump and he dismissed this. Finally, he decided that the boiler would need re-piping of everything accessible from the area where it is housed and quoted me 1500-2000 for this. I ended up replacing my circulator pump which fixed the problem. A month ago I called him back because the hot water heater that he installed in August had failed. He diagnosed this as a ventilation failure even though he was supposed to have upgraded the ventilation when he installed it. I had spent some time troubleshooting and had diagnosed the problem as a failure of the TRD which he dismissed. He had other ideas, and left my house saying that both the heater and the boiler would need to be completely replaced with power vented options even though there was no change to the ventilation from the summer when he recommended against this option and both utilities are relatively new. He quoted me $16k to do this swap, without any discount for the fact that he had just replaced my heater. I hired another company to come in, and they fixed the heater by replacing the TRD. The part being under warranty, the labor not because they did not install the heater. I contacted the company to give them the opportunity to comment on my issues, and they never replied to me. They are unprofessional and I do not have faith in their abilities to do the work well. I will never be using them again, and I recommend that no one else does either.

I had thought we had a roof leak and was not prepared for a heating problem. We started to remove small wet spot on our ceiling and discovered that a heating pipe had a pin hole that must have been leaking for some time and ready to burst any minute. I immediately went on line and found Hofmeister Plumbing & Heating and called them. It was obvious that Mr Harold Hofmeister understood my dire need for a plumber and what could have been a disasterous situation had the pipe blown while we were doing the drywall removal. Within one hour he was on site and drained the heating zone so we could keep removing the wall. He asked that we call him back when we were ready for him to repair the pipe. We called and again , within one hour he was back!! Mr Fabio da Silva arrived and instantly reassured me that he has an understanding of the problem. The pipe leak was NOT in an easy spot to get to but he was sure he could fix it and in two hours he did just that and by 4:30 PM WE HAD OUR HEAT BACK ON!! AND THIS IS WHAT MAKES THEM DIFFERENT While doing the repair he noticed that one of the zone vale units did not have the proper electrical current and said he could repair it ... Without a charge since he was there ..... AND .. Discovered my A/C unit air handler had a second filter ( that I didn't know was installed) and he took the time to remove it and clean it. OK.. What I haven't said is that I an a construction consultant and build schools all over the U.S. for over 45 years and have worked with hundreds of plumber and issues but rarely do you find the level of concern for the situation being worked on. Most times the staff are " someplace else" and hence make mistakes ! Both Harold & Fabio get it! They are good mechanics and did a fine job! I didn't say it was cheap but cheap and quality don't normaly go together. Mr Alphonse Di Ambrosio Windmill Consulting Co

After speaking with Mike in the morning to describe the oil to gas conversion process he came that afternoon to prepare an estimate. We scheduled the conversion for the following week. Mike arrived at the agreed upon time and completed the job in less then six hours. The entire transaction was completed in a professional and friendly manner.

As always, Hofmeister gets there quickly, troubleshoots and fixes in a very timely way. Almost like valet service.

Our 5yr old oil burning furnace cracked on a very cold Friday evening. With the expectation that it would have to be replaced, we considered converting to gas and called Hofmeister Plumbing early on Saturday morning. In less than 3 hours their service man Mike was here to access the problem. He gave us a careful description of the replacement process, a fair estimate and followed up diligently over the next few days. The only reason we didn't have the work done was because the original manufacturer of the furnace agreed to replace it at no cost under terms of the warranty. Since we aren't sure how many years we will stay in the house, we couldn't justify the conversion expense despite the fact that natural gas is less expensive. I would absolutely call Hofmeister again for future work.

Before having the work done, I requested a written quote with all the small, but necessary, upgrades spelled out. I also requested a specific model of hot water heater. Fabio supplied the quote promptly, at a competitive price. Fabio arrived on time as scheduled to install the heater. He was exceptionally neat, laid down drop cloths over my tile floors, and cleaned up all debris from the work area. He even offered to sweep my foyer! The quality of workmanship was absolutely top-notch - a true professional who takes pride in his work! Even his solder joints were exceptionally neat! All work was performed exactly as quoted and exceeded my high standards. I would happily hire Fabio again!

All arrangements were handled by Allen at Hofmeister. The actual work was done well and in a few days and we have had no problems with the boiler or hot water heater since they were installed. The whole process from contract signing through permits, installation, and inspections took longer than expected due to conflicts with other projects and delays with the permit process. .