JAYBIRD PLUMBING

The galvanized plumbing in our 100-year-old Victorian has frankly needed updating since the day we bought it 13 years ago. But with all the other projects around the house in the meantime, it got pushed to the bottom of the priorities list until a leak erupted from one of the badly-corroded pipes. Jay came highly recommended by the workman who noticed the leak in the first place and came straight over to disconnect the pipe and stop the leak. Then the bad news came: much of the plumbing was on the verge of a similar event, and the stalagmites from several of the basement pipes proved it beyond any doubt. As much as we wanted to, there was simply no way we could afford to replace all the plumbing with copper. So Jay took a hard, long look at the system and provided an estimate for the service to replace the worst of the areas, that we could reasonably afford. Now, if you've ever seen the basement of a 100-year-old house, you know that often times over the years, repairs were not so much planned as grown. Our house was no exception. Indeed, following the hot & cold pipes was like trying to follow the path of a single strand of cooked spaghetti through a pile on your plate, where some of the strands disappear through and under the table. So even though the plan that Jay came up with to bypass and remove much of the old, unused piping was completely sound, it's not surprising that the confusing maze he encountered led to some serious challenges that added a lot of time to the job. In my opinion, nobody could've reasonably foreseen that disconnecting a pipe on one end of the house, would lead to no water on the other end of the house. So instead of spending one day, he ended up spending three, often working into the night (and on the first day, into the early morning hours) with his assistant Harry, to make sure that every day, we had flowing water before he left. The job was expertly done. Jay's work ethic is exceptional. And the only thing that compares to his attention to detail is the absolute pride he takes in the quality of his work. Jay is personable, funny, engaging, likes both kids and animals, and on the latter of those two, took special care when it came to the safety of our cats, who spend much of their time in their basement "rumpus room." In the end, while I knew the original estimate was out the window, I considered what we ended up being billed as completely fair and completely reasonable. This is a man who takes his estimates as seriously has his work product, and is accountable to both. We look forward to Jay continuing with the long project of fully updating our home's plumbing as resources allow. We recommend him highly.