POSITIVE PLUMBING

I hired Andrzej from Positive Plumbing to install a new acrylic bathtub in my gutted main hall bathroom. The shower/tub area was down to the studs, the door and framing to the door removed. He arrived on time on Nov. 20th, 2018 and had estimated the job to take between 3 and 8 hours. I had already moved the tub into the bathroom (with some help, it was 100 lbs) and the only thing he needed to work around was the new vanity I had just installed. I had planned on installing the tub prior to the vanity, but things just didn’t happen in that order. I happen to be walking by when he was manhandling the tub and he was up against the vanity. When I asked him to watch it, he moved it so it wasn’t against the vanity, but he had already scratched it. When he left that day, I briefly looked at the tub. Unfortunately, I had been sick since Saturday with a headache and was not functioning at 100%. I did notice that the front of the tub was not touching the floor. My floor is not level in many places throughout my house (1977 split level), so I assumed my floor was out of level. The next day, Wednesday, I looked at the whole thing closer. I used a large level to check the floor and it was completely level. I also checked the tub levelness and it was not between the two level lines. I realized the gap was around ¾ of an inch, I didn’t think to measure it. Because the gap was so big that meant when the vinyl was installed, there would be nothing for the caulking to butt up against. I also noticed that the drain in the tub was off center, not flush against the tub, and at a weird angle. I called Andrzej Wednesday night. He said he told me that the drain would be the way it was because of something, I couldn’t understand him on the phone. I don’t recall him saying anything, but I wasn’t feeling well, so maybe he did and I just didn’t understand. He said if I’m not happy that he could come back on Sunday, the 25th, to make the corrections. He said that my warranty would be reduced from one year to 3 months if he fixed it and made it clear that I “did not pay for perfect”. Given his comment about not paying for perfect, I decided to see if another plumber (Nolan Plumbing who’ve I used before but wasn’t available) could come look at the issue and see if he could/would fix it for me. I did not tell Andrzej I was going to talk to another plumber. As we all have our own way of doing things and while Nolan Plumbing ended up re-doing everything that Andrzej had done, it doesn’t mean that what Andrzej did was wrong (except for the tub installation itself), it just means Nolan Plumbing does it a different way. Mike (Nolan) and I discussed this and he said what was definitely wrong were the following: • Tub not level and flat on the floor. • Drain not centered, flush to tub, set at an angle, and the shower valve was not centered with the rest of the plumbing. • Andrzej used a black iron (gas line) fitting on water line for the tub spout. • There was no need to take chunks out of my framing (2x4’s) to make the tub fit (this had to be repaired). • Cutting my warranty by 75% to correct the bad work. I called Andrzej on Monday, December 10th, to let him know that I hired someone to fix the tub installation. I tried to explain it was mostly because of his comment that I didn’t pay for perfect and that the warranty would be cut. Andrzej had me mixed up with another person as he kept saying something about an inspector and about talking to me in the last week, neither of which is true. He became belligerent with me and told me none of his work is now warrantied (which really doesn’t matter since it was ALL redone). I asked for some of my money back and he said absolutely not because everything he did was to code and I was wrong to bring in another plumber. I ended up hanging up on him because he was being rude. I will be filing a complaint with the CCB. I believe Positive Plumbing’s work behind the walls may be fine, but his finish work is not. Beware is about all that needs to be said. I paid for the work to be done correctly by a licensed plumber. Does that mean perfect, I think it does, within reason. Cutting my warranty was also unacceptable.

Andrzej replaced washers in a faucet that is very old and a little delicate because of past mishandling. This is not your run-of-the-mill washer replacement and required more time than usual to complete (hence the cost). In addition, he looked at a shower that has a leak of unknown origin and explained to me how I could troubleshoot the problem myself to save money. Once I figure it out, he will come back and fix it. Andrzej is very nice, eager to explain what he's doing and show me how to do things myself the next time. His instructions on troubleshooting were clear and doing it myself will save probably 2 hours that I would otherwise have to pay him for. A friend recommended Positive Plumbing to me and I was very happy. I highly recommend him.

I had heard really good things about this company from a friend about their price and quality of work, so I had Andrej come and give me a quote for making some changes to a basement laundry room. The price was very reasonable, but we weren't ready to do the remodel at that time. I called Positive back about 6 months later to have him come out and look at the job again, but this time the estimate was twice as much as he had previously quoted. Also, he made a lot of suggestions that weren't what we wanted to do and by the end I wasn't confident that he knew what we wanted from the project. We did not choose to have him do our plumbing on this job.

His price was a lot less than any of the other bids we received. I would use him again.

We have old 1947 plumbing. Andrzej came over in January. The basement sink was completely clogged up and no water would drain. Several years ago they came over and did a variety of plumbing fixes in the upper bathroom, kitchen and laundry room. I really liked them at that time. I have given their names to several other friends. So I called him again. Within one hour the job was finished and he even adjusted a faucet in the upstairs bathroom! He is SO knowledgeable about everything and exceptionally honest and fair!! This company is WONDERFUL! I would recommend them to anyone.