Texas Choice Plumbing

This "crew" was hired by a general contractor to do the "rough-in" and then fixture final install, etc. for my home expansion. This included installation of all new plumbing lines throughout the house - both water and gas. IT WAS A TOTAL NIGHTMARE!!! Dollar amount reflected above was just for "rough-in." Entire amount budgeted for plumbing was $12,000, and I fired these guys after discovering all the mess they had left me. I have WAY more than $3,000 left yet to pay to complete the "final" plumbing installation, so the portion paid was more than the amount that should have been allocated to the rough - EVEN IF it weren't screwed up, necessitating massive correction efforts and costs. I've already paid well over $3,000 just to correct all of the screw-ups I have found so far. I HAVE NOT YET BEEN ABLE TO DETERMINE WHAT ALL ELSE MAY BE FOULED UP WITH THE HOUSE ROUGH PLUMBING. Based on track record so far, it'd be a miracle if the remaining items (2 bathrooms, plus this n that) were in decent shape. But I'm praying. (NOTE: It's always a lot easier to do the work right initially than to come behind someone else and try to figure out what they were doing. I am BEYOND grateful to the GREAT & kind plumbers I have found to help me try to recover from this horror, going as easy as possible on my pocket book.) Examples of Problems: Nutshell - 1. Gushing water from damaged lines to sprinkler system. Have not yet been able to investigate or get estimated correction costs for this. 2. Failed to install gas line for the water heater - though I paid for it. 3. Broke and mis-drilled a $1200 value garden/ soaker tub (6 ft.). (These are NOT repairable damages.) I paid over $1200 to re-purchase the tub, have the damaged one removed, and have the new one installed. 4. Initially plumbing/ installed piping of PVC - WHICH IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED BY MY CITY CODE (City is VERY clear, consistent and ADAMANT on this point). So had to then rip it all out and re-do with copper as required. 5. Incompetent, previously untried welder made a big mess of my copper pipes. When tested, they spewed everywhere like a soaker hose! 6. Kids' bath: Tub spout spews water sideways, with no water coming straight down. Sinks s*** rusty brown water every time they're turned on. Both instances most likely caused by debris dropped down pipes during installation. Haven't yet been able (insufficient $) to get this investigated or corrected. 7. Floor drain specified to be installed in laundry room was never installed or plumbed. I had to have it put in before installing the laundry room floor, which cost me an additional $300 in correction funds. 8. GAS LEAKS. Took large amount of correction effort and additional $150 correction funds (my new plumbers cut me a break... this "search and destroy" mission, that took them all under, into walls, etc. throughout the house, was REALLY time-consuming - and no fun.) 9. HVAC drain lines were screwed up, leading to my having TWO incidents of massive leaks, necessitating EMERGENCY plumber intervention AND a slow leak leading to need for MOLD REMEDIATION. 10. All of the outdoor water hose spigots were relocated withoutauthoirization, & leaving gaping drilled "mistake" holes in the house exterior (see detail below). DETAILS: 1. I pulled up to the house one day to find water gushing geyser fashion in my front lawn. Apparently when, after construction trucks having run over and broken all of my sprinkler heads, these guys turned on the water, they had it somehow connected so that it just blew up into the front yard sprinkler system. A couple of men who didn't speak enough English for me to communicate well with them ran out to me screaming to know where the shut-off was. But the only shut-off I knew of was at the back alley, where it pipes in from the city line... since the plumbers were the ones who had redone the plumbing, I expected THEM to know how it was all hooked together. But the "boss" was not there, and apparently the only guys who were there had no clue. This caused me a HUGE water bill - in a month when there really was no reason to anticipate ANY water usage in this very incomplete, unbuilt house. Some other guy showed up to "make repairs." He stanched the gushing, but I have not had the funds to get someone out here to due all the investigation that will be required to determine what all is screwed up with the plumbing connection to my sprinkler system. 2. The plans called for running a gas line for my hot water heater, and this was never done. Which I did not discover until I had already paid. 3. The plumbers left a $1200 value garden tub uncovered for 48 hours, while not only plumbers but also HVAC guys were running all over the place. The tub bore the very clear mark of a hammer that was dropped into it and scratched it - but as neither the plumber nor the HVAC guys owned up to causing this, and the general contractor refused accountability, it was decided that I should bear the cost of this damage to the tub - apparently chalked up to an "act of God." Right. Later, after re-taking my house back, I discovered that, in ADDITION to the hammer drop mark, the plumbers had DRILLED HOLES in this expensive tub -3 holes, for installation of the 2 faucets and the spout, that were CROOKED and NOT CENTERED. Apparently someone decided to just freehand it and that approximate locations would be good enough. So, when the faucets and spout were installed, they were all uneven and wonky. NOT OKAY. I had to not only buy a REPLACEMENT tub, but also PAY LABOR to have the damaged & misdrilled one removed and the replacement one installed. Once I was able to "dig out" my other bathtub (which had also been left sitting, but was then hurriedly covered with nailed boards), I found that it ALSO has a scratch. I just don't have the money to replace this one - so I am NAUSEATED to STILL end up stuck with a damaged tub. 4. These guys initially plumbed the whole house with PVC piping, which is EXPRESSLY prohibited by the local codes and ordinances. SO then they had to take it all out and start over with the code-specified copper pipe. Impressive, right? 5. As if all of that weren't enough, I walked in on a day when the plumbing/ newly installed pipes were being "tested" Water was spewing everywhere - as if the pipes were sprinkler hoses! Plumber Mike opined that this was "no big deal" - he had just decided to try out a new welder on my job, and the guy turned out to be lousy. Lucky me. So once again I get a "patch job." 6. I haven't been able to afford to install nearly all of the plumbing faucet, fixtures, etc. yet. But in the "kids' bath" the tub faucet spews water out to the sides, with no water coming straight down. My current plumber (who is FABULOUS - what a contrast!), along with my online research, says that this is most likely due to construction debris having been dropped into the pipes feeding into the tub spout - nice, huh? There's a "clean water" image for you. Plus water splashes everywhere. So THIS is still on my to do (and TO PAY FOR) list of CORRECTION WORK remaining after this plumber left "his mark." 7. Also in this same bathroom, the water coming out of both sinks is brown at initial flow, every time. My online research indicates that, since the internal parts of the fixtures are brass, this must be from some sort of lead or other inferior metal being used in the pipes feeding these sinks - or from some rusting materials, such as nails, etc. being dropped into the pipes. Again, I haven't yet come up with funds to get the REAL plumbers to address this problem. 8. Once I was able to start up the gas, there was a GAS LEAK - that took 2 trips, and about 6 hours for my plumbers to find. Also, in addition to not installing the water heater gas line AT ALL, the gas line to the fire place was improperly installed, as I discovered when I had a fireplace guy come out to do a routine inspection. 9. Once the HVAC was finalized so that I could turn it on, I got the nasty surprise of the plumber-installed drainage lines for the condensate being screwed up. In one instance, the line ran down to underneath a sink in the master bath - but from there was not connected to ANYTHING; so only a few hours after the AC was on, water started flooding throughout the upstairs master bedroom and master bath and hall, running down and pouring out of the below first floor overhead lights, and pouring down the walls. Since this occurred on a weekend, I had to pay $250 to an emergency plumber to come out to make the repair. The OTHER HVAC condensate leak was a SLOW, HIDDEN leak that I did not discover until a month later. One of the drainage lines from the attic HVAC unit was not glued together; initially it leaked slowly, but over time it loosened creating an increasing gap until one day there was a big overflow, running down the master bedroom master bath and upstairs hall walls. Also, because I did not discover this leak until it had been going on for a while, I was left with a mold remediation problem AS WELL AS A needed plumbing repair. This time I got online and got educated and made the repair in the line myself (I'm a 57 y.o.female non-plumber). Again, I haven't yet put together the money that will be required for the resulting MOLD REMEDIATION. 10. ALL of the outdoor water hose spigots were relocated and installed in locations I never authorized, bored into the brick walls of the house. A couple of additional unfilled holes were also drilled as part of this process (apparently with the same care and precision as the drilling in my master bath tub), and were then left as open, glaring eyesores for vermin access to the house interior.

Quality of repair was good. The plumber even offered to run a scope/snake for free. Downside was punctuality and scheduling. Also a hole had to be dug to get to the sewer pipe. After the pipe was repaired and hole was filled, excess dirt was hauled off. Turns out the dirt was needed and the yard developed a low spot. I called repeatedly and my calls were not returned. I ended up having to buy dirt at Home Depot and then later buying sod from a sod farm to fix the front yard. Kind of a pain. Also when I called to schedule sever repair the estimate of the repair seemed to increase every time I called. At least the quality of the repair seems to be sufficient.