Sembower-Mikesell Inc. Plumbing and Heating

It went well and the quality of the work was great, though he initially tried doing something that didn't quite work. Not being a plumber myself, it's hard to tell if maybe he should've first done what he ended up doing later, to save time and money.

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On both jobs, service was professional and (seems to be, so far) very well done. On the second job, a leak from second floor bathroom sink, he ended up needing to cut through kitchen ceiling (on floor below) to replace the original, rusted-out pipe -- took about 4 hrs total, and charge was about $1300. We didn't get an estimate (spouse was home, not me) before job (but once hole was cut in ceiling, couldn't really say no) and didn't get an itemized invoice/receipt. Two contractors I spoke with subsequently (before kitchen ceiling was repaired) agreed that we should've at least had an itemized invoice, since they also thought the job was closer to $900-$1000.

Excellent work performed. Cleaned up afterward. Professional and quick. Highly recommend!!

Chris came out on the weekend to attempt to open a blocked sewer lateral. He worked on it with multiple snakes and multiple attempts for about an hour unsuccessfully. Chris suggested a dig in the yard (6' deep, with inferred gas and water line interference) at $4500 - $5000 to uncover the problem and we scheduled a return on Monday. The charge for that day's work was $389. Later that evening, the problem resolved temporarily. When the problem recurred soon after, and with another opinion of a broken line under the street, Rich and John visited the site and bid $15,900 to open the street and perform a cleaning, evaluation, and spot repair, with the option to rebid additional work as necessary after examining the line. Additional work could include lining the original sewer pipe at $500 + $150 per linear foot. A sales rep following up suggested the possibility of a 10% discount for a cash payment. A 4% discount was offered after review with Rich. This was the highest bid I received and I did not pursue it further.

Our AC in our house wasn't working (it was the first time being switched on after buying the house). Multiple other people said they couldn't come out for days or weeks and Mike came right out that day. One other person had come out and quoted us hundreds of dollars more without even knowing what the problem was. Mike immediately did some troubleshooting, figured out that there was a leak in the outdoor unit, and fixed the issue. He charged us for the cost of the refill from the tank as well as the services and I feel he shared us very fairly. My husband wasn't home at the time and he took the time to show me where the leak was, how he was fixing it, and where I could look if we had a similar problem in the future to see if it was the same issue. I would highly recommend him.

We were very pleased with the work and appreciated the helpful suggestions offered by the gentleman who did the work.

They were the second company to come and fix the floor drain in my garage that backed up. The first company spent 90 minutes and couldn't figure out what the problem was. Sembower-Mikesell figured it out in about 30 minutes. They took parts of two days to fix the problem, which was a little long, but I am satisfied with the work that they did. They basically cut a hole in my garage floor about 4 ft square disconnected the old trap, which had a hole in it right at the bottom of the "U", replaced and filled in the hole and repaired the concrete floor. They did an excellent job of cleaning up the mess. Except for the fresh concrete, I could not tell that they did anything in the garage.

It was excellent all around. They were great. The price was good. The guys that I talked to were very straightforward. They didn't try to up-sell. They gave me a realistic idea and talked me through options.

I did not have a good experience with Sembower-Mikesell Inc. Plumbing and Heating. He had gone out to make the invoice when he was done. He came in the house to give me the invoice at around 3:31, and he had charged me for the half hour from 3:30 to 4:00. When I looked at the bill, I saw that they charged a huge amount of money for materials. I just felt like I was really over-billed. He had an interesting way of solving it. He told me he'd forget about the extra charges if I made a charitable donation in that amount. But I wondered if they had to do that a lot, if they ran into the same situation when people really looked into their bills. I was still not happy about how the whole thing was handled. When I first started asking about the bill, they were saying, "Well, other plumbers charge $400.00 an hour," and I didn't think that had anything to do with me having a question about their bill. I really got the feeling that overbilling was a common practice of theirs and that they were used to sitting in their trucks to write the invoice and waiting there longer, to be able to bill more. They said it was just going to take a couple hours and it took a lot longer than that. The work was fine. Then when I looked into the materials, I paid $190.00 for $10.00 worth of materials. It was crazy. They had initially had a very competitive rate, but they ended up taking a long time to do the job. It took them about five hours to put in two fixtures that we had already purchased.

I replaced the faucet on a pedestal sink, but when I tried to install a new pop up drain, the old drain broke off coming out of the wall. This happened on a Friday after lunch. I found Sembower Mikesell on Angie's List and called their office. A plumber arrived late that afternoon. He said he would need to take the entire sink apart to correctly install the drain from underneath. He said if would take several hours and couldn't do the work that day, but set up a time to come back early Monday. I later talked to a friend who does some plumbing work and confirmed what needed to be done; he said he doesn't attempt to work on this type of sink. The plumber from Sembower arrived at 8:30 am on Monday. He installed a new gooseneck coming out of the wall and a new pop up drain and shut off valves. He had the work completed by 11:00, including caulking around the sink and cleaning up. The work was done very well and in a professional manner. I would definitely use the company again.

Very polite, very professional. There were some issues with my dryer in obtaining a different receptacle. I would use them again.

Sembower has done work for me on four different occasions. They are easy to reach and always call back quickly. On time and did a great job at a fair price.

Bought a new toilet to install myself. When removing the old toilet I was unable to locate the flange or replace the toilet bolts. Put new wax ring down and reset toilet but the toilet was leaking around the seal. Toilet valve was not shutting off properly either. Called Sembower a little after 8am, woman answering the phone said they would have someone out the same day. Chris called thirty minutes prior to arriving at my residence the same afternoon. Did an excellent job fixing everything that was an issue. He explained everything that was going on. Cleaned the floor where he was working. Very happy with the results.

Very efficient and price was competitive.

The main water line coming from the street into my house, through the basement floor, started to leak right where the pipe comes out from the floor. Because of this unfortunate location, the pinhole could not be plugged with something like a rubber band and a clamp. I called 3 plumbers to get their opinions and estimates. Sembower-Mikesell was very professional and transparent from the very beginning, providing 2 detailed estimates: one for the removal and replacement of just a short section of the line (~$1,550), and another for the replacement of the whole line (~20ft) from the water meter inside the house to where it connects with the city line (~$4,000). Both estimates clearly indicated what the plumber would have done, item by item, which made me comfortable to end up paying exactly what was in the estimate. The other plumbers had provided estimates for jobs that would have led to the same results, that is the replacement of a short section of the line around the pinhole, or of the whole line. However, although for the former repair the estimate was about $300 lower than that by Sembower-Mikesell, I decided to go with Sembower-Mikesell just because of the level of detail of their estimate. The day of the appointment, they showed up at the scheduled time and started to work right away. They dug a 1 ft deep, 2ftx2ft wide hole in the basement concrete floor, to expose the leaking pipe. They cut and remove a ~3ft long section around the pinhole, upstream the water meter. They replaced it with a new copper pipe. They also replaced the main valve and the pressure reducer with new ones. To comply with code, they installed an anti-backflow check valve downstream of the water meter and, since with that the circuit would have become a closed one, they had also to install an expansion tank at the water heater (which was also listed in the estimate). At the end, they filled the hole in the floor with sand and covered with an inch of concrete, to bring the floor as it was originally. The whole job took them about 6 hours. I was very happy with their professionalism, and for their availability in answering questions I had. I would certainly consider Sembower-Mikesell in the future, should I need plumbing work again.

Although it wasn't easy, Rich and his son removed the clog successfully. They did the job as quickly and they could and cleaned up afterward. While waiting for it to drain, Rich even took the time to give us a few tips on preparing our boiler for the winter. My husband and I were quite impressed with not only their service in taking care of the clog, but the fact that they came over within an hour of speaking with them at 9 pm on a Saturday night. Sembower will be our plumbers from here on out.

We had a back-up in our basement and found it to be the sewer. I choose Sembower based upon the Angie's List comments. The Plumber was very thorough and kept me informed every step of the way. The job was more involved than he anticipated and he called for help. He diligently worked until he was able to get my drain open. Although the job was much bigger than both of us anticipated, he communicated with me and presented me with viable options. After having very bad plumbing experience with another firm, I can say that Sembower was the exact opposite and I was very pleased with their service.

Sembower and Mikesell have done numerous pieces of work for us. They are honest and always try and repair instead of replacing if feasible. They communicate extremely well and are very prompt. A++++++ Good job, Rich!

I wasn't present. My husband met them at the house. They were on time, did the work in timely manner, and honored the discount for Angies List. My husband is a retired plumber, but did not know these gentlemen. He stated he was very impressed with their work, and would not hesitate to recommend them.

They were prompt, professional and very friendly. The work was done in another person's house at my request and even though it was farther than they usually travel, they were kind enough to do it for me as a courtesy for being a customer of theirs. They did the work well and we were very very pleased and I highly recommend them to anyone wanting an HONEST and reliable plumbing company.

They did an excellent job and are still doing some work for me now because I keep finding things that need fixed - they are even able to fix things that no one else has! They always do a great job and I would highly recommend them to anyone.

Showed up on time. Was straight forward in explaining what needed done. Everything resolved.

Upon getting up in the morning I noticed that the house was colder than expected.. I then saw that the furnace was not working although it should have been based on the thermostat setting.. It appeared that it was either not getting any power or that the controls were not working. I called Sembower-Mikesell at 8:00 am and explained the problem.. They said they would have someone over as soon as they could. Their service man, Jeff, was at our house before 8:45 am - amazing response In today's world! He thoroughly checked the furnace and its controls and concluded that the problem was with the power line to the furnace and found a defective part. The part was non-standard and he did not have one on his truck, so he had to leave to get the replacement. He returned quickly, replaced the defective part and all was back working properly before 10:00 am. We have used Sembower-Mikesell on other occasions and have always found them to be very responsive and professional. I could not ask for better service and I would certainly recommend them to others.

Furnace wouldn't light. called them, they came the next day. they say that i need a new furnace... C02 leaking in house. checking angies list to see if any complaints. They installed a water heater several years ago and it w