Abacus Plumbing, Air Conditioning and Electrical

There was a little bit of haggling about price because of an unforeseen complication but we came to an amicable settlement. Now all that's left is the city inspection.

Excellent. Courteous. Professional. Fixed the problem.

Douglas was the electrician that came out. He did an outstanding job replacing the light. He made sure that everything was working and I was happy before he left. I really like the work he did. I have used Abacus for both electrical and plumbing and have been very pleased with their work.

On Thanksgiving day 2019 the guest bathtub, toilet ad kitchen sinks would not drain. Called Abacus the next day and made an appointment for the next day. On first day, plumber snaked line up to where Kitchen sink drains to pipe and was told he could go no further due to hitting mud, Plumber said that this was where the break was and that new pipe would have to be installed up to that point. At my request, plumber removed old toilet and installed a new one, which was a little over $900.00. installed. This seemed very high cost since the toilet was listed at Home Depot for $258. I was never asked if I wanted a Membership for $126, but it showed up in what I owed. I thought the quote of $19,000 was absolutely absurd, but agreed since we could not use the guest bathroom, kitchen sink and dishwasher. I was assured that this would fix our drain backup problems. I kept up with hours spent by Abacus, a total of 60 hours, of which about 44 hours were used by the Diggers. Divide 60 hours into $19000 and it shows that Abacus charged me over $300 dollars an hour for my job. Skipping ahead about three weeks to Christmas eve when Son's family, Wife and two older adult children arrived. On Christmas day we began to hear the gurgling sound in the kitchen sink when one of them was taking a shower. This is exactly what happened when they were here for a Thanksgiving visit. The guest shower, toilet and kitchen would not drain, and also the same for the kitchen sinks. A total replay of what happened three weeks ago. Called Abacus the day after Christmas and got an appoint for the next day between 1-4 but a no show. Called at 4 and was told someone would be there by 6, but again a no show. Called and had appointment for the next day 1-4. At 1:30 PM the next day plumber arrived and did many camera surveys. Both my Wife and i remember him saying initially that it looked like there was a problem with the slope of the new pipe, but then he switched to saying that he saw problems with the remaining old pipe. He initially gave me a quote of $27,000 to remove the remaining old pipe and replace it with PVC., but he did say the price would be reduced to $21,000, but a later quote still shows $27,000. My conclusion is that he problem was not fixed and that not once did the plumber on the initial November job ever look at the remaining old pipe to see if it had problems. I will not pay the 27k quoted since that is ridiculous and will get other opinions. I feel ABACUS is not honored the two year warranty. I never experienced problems with areas that drain into the old pipes. So why all of a sudden does it appear to have them. I feel that this a breach of the Contract's two year warranty as stipulated in the Membership I bought. I paid the $19000 to have the problem fixed and it is not fixed. I was told by the plumber that I should not use the guest bathroom and the kitchen sink/dishwasher, which all drain into the new PVC pipes. Strange, but he said that I could use everything that drains into the old pipes. If there is something wrong with the old pipes then why should I be told to use them. Something is is amiss here, and now I have to get other costly second opinions where other camera reviews may or may not agree with ABACUS 's assessment, including the high cost.

First day: plumber used snake to clear drains , but it ran into mud. Another plumber used an electronic apparatus that determined where the snake hit the mud. I had the plumber install a new tollit in the guest bathroom. Second day: two diggers dug 20 feet under foundation to get to where break ended. Two guys worked very hard for ten hours and spread all the dirt removed onto large pieces of plywood. Third day: plumber installed new PVC pipe and connected it to guest bathroom and kitchen sink. Fourth day: Houston inspected and approved work that was done by ABACUS. Fifth day: three ABACUS employees spent half a day to reinstall some of the dirt that was previously.removed. Sixth day the same three guys spent a little over half a day refilling the hole under the slap with the remaining previously removed dirt. Much dirt was hauled off since they said putting it all back in could damage the new pipes. This completed the job and the next day the project lead guy came by for my final approval and payment. ABACUS did excellent work, but their high cost was the cause of my "B" Overall Rating.

Horrible. I called bc we smelled gas in my moms house. We were told by CenterPoint that there was a leak. After $2600 to Abacus - turns out it was a bad valve on my moms 5 year old gas dryer. So - the problem could have been fixed by buying a new dryer - which she did but only after paying Abacus $2600 which turned out not to be necessary. Be careful and get 2nd opinions.

This company is very responsive. An appointment was made to perform the work, the technician called to notify us when he was on his way and arrived on time. They were careful, professional and answered all of our questions. Abacus is a bit higher priced than some plumbers but the communication and quality of the products make it worth it. We would you them again.

I selected Abacus due top their rating with Angies List and their numerous commercials. I requested to have a camera run through the main sewer line and a quote for some work. Abacus sent someone without the proper gear to run a camera down the main line. I also requested a quote to put in a main line p-trap to block sewer gas back feeding from the city sewer. Someone came out a few days later, and ran a camera. He repeatedly stated he could NOT provide an evaluation of my system unless I had jet cleaning performed at a cost of over $1000. I refused the proposal. I specified the technician perform some basic diagnostics to check the connecting lines while I was running water from different locations while he moved the camera upstream. He identified a slight low spot downstream from the house and that there did not seem to be any leaks or issues under the house based on the water flow he could see. I requested a copy of the video, and he indicated he would send it to me via email. I provided my email address, but never received a copy. I called Abacus numerous times over several weeks requesting the video footage, and the quote for the p-trap, but they never responded. Very frustrated with their lack of effort and follow through, and I would NEVER use them or recommend them again. I had to hire a private contractor to perform the work.

DO NOT ALLOW THESE PEOPLE INTO YOUR HOME This review is more about the integrity of Abacus technicians than the quality of the actual work although I understand an attempt was made to upsell the landlord by misrepresenting the severity of the problem with a furnace. Abacus came to repair the furnace and gas lines in the duplex I rent. Because of various complications they were here for several days. Once the lines were repaired, they came into my apartment to seal off old wall heaters in the bathrooms. This required that I allow Abacus employees access to the master bathroom and so, access to my bedroom. On my dresser I kept my father’s watch that was given to me by my mother on the day he died. This watch was very precious to me. When I went to put the watch on a few days after the repairs, I discovered it was not on my dresser. It had been stolen. I am single and live alone. The only people who had access to my apartment between the time I last wore the watch and my discovery it was gone were Abacus employees. I can’t adequately express the sadness I felt when I realized a person who I trusted to come into my home actually stole something so dear to me. Unfortunately there is little I can do to get it back. My landlord attempted to contact them but his call was not returned. It is lost and I am without a very important memento of a much loved father. These people are thieves. I recommend all steer clear of this company, they cannot be trusted.

Excellent! They were on time and professional.

Arrived promptly and suggested a 10-year smoke detector as replacement. Smoke detector was installed by builder in an impossible position for a homeowner to address. Work was done quickly. Much appreciated.

Experienced a blocked sewer line on a Sunday night that caused 1 shower and 2 toilets to back up. Blockage was diagnosed to be about the middle of the house as kitchen + laundry room + 2 bathrooms downstream of the blockage continued to drain OK. The initial company I called diagnosed the blockage as a broken sewer line beneath the house with a $55,000 estimate to repair by trenching under the house and replacing the line (they were reluctant to run a clean-out tool first). Called Abacus for a second opinion; tech was able to come out the same day. The blockage was confirmed to be in the same location as the original company found, but the tech could not confirm a broken pipe. Arranged for Abacus to come out the next day to attempt to clear the blockage and verify the condition of the sewer line by camera. Blockage was cleared - took 2 passes. Camera runs confirmed some low spots in sewer pipe, but no broken line. Worked involve removing 1 toilet to run the tool to clear the line, and to pull and re-seat a 2nd toilet due to blown wax seal. Overall job took about 5 hours with two technicians (Brett and Rick). The techs were punctual, friendly, knowledgeable (took time to explain and answer questions), professional, and they left no mess. Its only been 2 days since the repair, but so far, so good.

***DO NOT USE ABACUS***SCAMMERS*** Abacus came and did an estimate to replace my breakers. The estimate was $89.00 for each breaker plus installation fee of $50. I approved of that amount and said go ahead and replace the breakers. The technician fixed the issue but hid the final price and never told me the final price and took my credit card information. What I didn’t realize was that they charged $890.00 to replace two AFCI/GFCI breakers! They said each breaker cost $445.00 each. Lowe’s has them for sale for about $50.00 each. I understand markup and installation fees but this company ripped me off big time! Hopefully this company goes out of business soon!!!

Technician Robert was very quick to determine source of the leak and presented our options. He was very honest in mentioning we could potentially do away without an otherwise very expensive repair. In the end we decided not to fix the issue at the moment and he gave us a bill of $0. Will definitely call them again if I have need of plumbing services.

They checked the pipes and water heater and we ended up paying for the installation of a new tankless water system.

Arrived exactly when promised, finished the job quickly and professionally.

We solicited multiple bids to replace our aging A/C unit. The salesperson showed up promply, was polite, thorough and patient, and spent quite a bit of time estimating our needs and use. He told us that for the 2-ton rooftop Lennox Unit he wanted to install the total install cost was $13,800, which seemed reasonable...initially. We solicited several other large, reputable businesses, and were quoted $8200 and $6450. Abacus' pricing seemed quite a bit higher. In fact, pne of the reps from the other companies was incredulous and laughed when they heard the quote from Abacus and said, and I quote, "That's highway robbery!" We asked why. The retail cost of the package unit that was quoted to us was around $2700, the rest is install fees and profit to the company. So even at 6K, a company is making a reasonable profit. Needless to say, I received a call from Abacus about a week after getting their quote, and the nice representative asked if I was going to go with them. I told them that every other company we had gotten a bit had been thousands of dollars less. I asked why the pricing from Abacus was so inflated over the retail cost of the unit, and her answer was "well, the only way to compare pricing is really to think apples to apples, so [she] wouldn't be able to compare. but a big value add is we (the company) is available 24-7 and we provide piece of mind." My response to her was that there was no lack of A/C companies in Houston; it is ridiculous to pay a huge premium for a commonly available item. While all business vary in price, but Abacus quoted more than twice (210%) of a similar competitor for the exact same AC unit. If we are comparing apples to apples, a lot of people seem to be are buying very expensive apples from Abacus.

It was very good, because of the coupons it helps.

I scheduled this company for two separate services because of the great reviews they got. The first service I scheduled them to do was to come out and fix my garbage disposal. First off, they showed up outside the appointment window with no previous communication that they were going to be late. The maintenance guy that did show up came in and took one look at the garbage disposal and said I would need to have it replaced. He did no troubleshooting or checking to see if there was an issue he could fix and charged me a $45 service fee for this. Luckily, I did some troubleshooting before setting up the appointment and knew that it might need to be replace but it was shocking how quickly he stated it needed to be replaced, which is fine. I then asked for a quote on how much it would be to have them replace and install a new garbage disposal and was shocked at their prices. It would have cost $660 to provided and install a new garbage disposal. If I were have to bought the garbage disposal myself and just pay them to install it that would have cost $370. Which means they would have charged me almost $300 for a basic garbage disposal that I could have gotten myself for $100! I ended up finding someone to install an upgraded model garbage disposal I bought at Lowe's for that was $110 for the garbage disposal and $80 for the installation. Absurd how much they would charge for this service! Second appointment I scheduled them to come out for an AC unit inspection and tune-up. Again, they didn't show up in their appointment window and failed to notify me. I ended up cancelling the appointment that day because I waited an hour after the appointment window with no phone call. The people that I dealt with were nice, but the overall company pricing and scheduling is poorly run and out of touch with customer service. I will never be using them again for anything and I highly recommend that you seek someone else out for your services you need rather than going through this company.

I have no complaints about the electricians that gave the bid and performed the work. They offered a good solution for the work I wanted done and were very professional when they were in my home. However, I am very unhappy with the company. Here are the things that will cause me to not use or recommend them in the future: 1) The work itself is very pricey and they tried to sell a "membership" which is only good for electrical (not plumbing or AC work). I decided to go with the company anyway because I was in a time crunch and trusted the electrician who came to do the bid. I asked that he be the one that return to do the work. 2) I took off work on the day the work was scheduled. Toward the very end of the appointment window, I received a call that the electrician was running late, but on his way. Some time later, the electrician himself called to say he was not prepared to do the work that day. I was a little irked, but he said he would come the next day at 2pm. I needed the work done, so i agreed that would be fine. 3) the next day, the company said he would not be available because he was on another job. They said they would send someone else. At this point, I getting pretty disappointed with the overall experience. I told them that I felt it was fair to ask for a free membership. After some back and forth with supervisors, they agreed. 4) When the electrician arrived, he said that I could not use the membership that day. Therefore, I would be charged full price. The member discount is 15%. He said he could not help me with figuring out price, but that I could call supervisor, who would have to call a manager. 5) The supervisor offered me 10% off. I said I wanted 15% (the member price) and that I did not want a membership for future work as I don't plan on having any other electrical work done). She recontacted the manager who said NO WAY... 10% off is the max and that I should feel lucky to get that as the original bid left off a bracing so I was already getting a deal. $700+ dollars for moving a wire that already has existing switch and ceiling holes to run it through is not a steal. The layers that I had to go through to request a discount based on a no-show and a different technician were ridiculous. The difference between what I was asking and what they were willing to give was 5%. The manager should be ashamed that he could not assign a 5% value to making a customer satisfied. This company is more about selling memberships and overpriced services than pleasing customers.

Didn't hire as the price was too high for me. The man they sent out was very courteous and patient in explaining what was wrong.

Excellent installation, master plumber went out of his way to make sure everything worked well in the house, furnances, hot water heaters, gas range, gas fireplace. I will hire them again if I have any problems with plumbing or electrical. They follow up on everything to make sure you are pleased with their service. Very impressive

The pipe is no longer leaking. Seemed a little expensive. I’d have liked an explanation of the chargeds. Work was able to be scheduled promptly and I was pleased with the service overall.

Adam did a great job, was prompt and detected the issue quickly. I would definitely recommend him to others.

Fine. Quality job but way too expensive!! Very small job and I shelled out $400!!!