Berkeley Plumbing & Heating Co.

Excellent service! I have an old shower from the 1920’s that was leaking, I called Berkeley Plumbing, receptionist very helpful and friendly. Stormy came out and was really friendly, fast and helpful! Reasonable rates and fixed it in less than an hour! You have a loyal customer from now on!

Gordon (long term friendly employee) and Tim (owners son) are awesome, prompt, knowledgeable, and on time. I have used them for several emergency and non-​emergency plumbing problems associated with ERI company rentals (I leased as a UCB student and graduate researcher). Can’ t go wrong and they are good at fixing outdated old-​style turn-​of-​the century faucets, heaters, and relics of the by-​gone era.
Been using them for over six years… a must have for renters in old units. Seem affordable too. Can’t speak to the cost as the landlord covers it –probably a blessing!

So in a series of stupid events my deoderant fell down my toilet and got flushed. I called Berkeley Plumbing and walked down the street because their phones were out, and as I walked in, I was greeted with kindness and immediate help. With no appointment or anything Tim (who’s family owns the business) walked over to my apartment and fixed the problem very quickly. An issue that big was fixed in a little under an hour and I have seen no ill effects today.
Today Tim came over and checked to make sure everything was ok today. Super helpful and great service.

I went in with the valves from a 50 year old kitchen faucet that a place in West Berkeley had rejuvenated. It had leaked almost from day one from the place in West Berkeley, even after I brought it back once and bought yet more parts. I took it into Berkeley Plumbing and one of their plumbers must have spent 20 or 30 minutes with me finding all the small parts to rebuild the valves. It wasn’t cheap (about 45 dollars out the door), but cost less than I had been charged elsewhere and works better than ever. As the guy at the counter said, that faucet is like having a 1930’s rolls royce (maybe he said Cadillac). It is rare to find this kind of KNOWLEDGABLE service today and I’ll keep going back.
Thanks Berkeley Plumbing.

We were without hot water due to an inoperable on-​demand out door mounted water heater. The appointment was 2 days later. The technician inspected the innards, poked at a couple of contacts with a tester. Did not remove, pull, alter, or expose any components. He then pronounced the circuit control board «blown» and as evidence pointed to dubiously (to me) browner areas on the sealed board. He also unequivocally stated that it was not cost effective with labor, etc to replace the board and that I needed a new heater.
After research and consultation by phone with Tankless Only and with guidance by very helpful customer service by Takagi itself I was able to diagnose, remove the circuit board, remove the fan motor (the culprit) and dry it out, and reinstall both in a couple of hours. Myself. Waa-​Laa, It now runs fine without having spent a nickel. That is, except for the $ 160 «advice» from Berkeley Plumbing. Incidentally, the «expensive» circuit board costs about 220 from Takagi and is held in place by a single accessible screw. I am not an engineer/​tradesman/​etc. Tools needed-​2 screwdrivers. So, what do you think?

How difficult is a toilet rooting job? Took them 15 minutes, they charged their minimum hourly rate of $ 160 plus $ 15 for equipment. Equipment? Don’t plumbing companies usually have rooter equipment as part of the job? Next we’ll be paying for plungers.
Too expensive for a standard rooting job, which in my experience should be $ 125 at most.

Bradford White Water Heater (expensive unit, professionally installed) started leaking after 3 years (6 year guarantee). Called Bradford White and they gave me the name of Berkeley Plumbing and Heating as their plumber in my area. Made an appointment for the next morning (speedy) and the man showed up and spent 15 minutes confirming that I had a leaking water heater and it should be replaced. Gordon called that morning and said the heater was under warranty but now local laws required a lonox water heater which would be an additional $ 150 for the upgrade. Also, 4 hours labor at $ 160 an hour. I thought that very steep and he said it was «inflation». New water heater installed that afternoon which took approximately 1 and ½ hours. Was presented the bill and it stated 4 hours labor. Although 1 and ¾ hours was actual labor, the balance was travel time. I live in the Oakland hills, per Google 9 miles and 17 minutes away. The installer had to traverse 30 level feet from his truck to my water heater unit.

Wish they would call back — either too busy or keep on forgetting to return calls.

Gordon was a gentleman when called in the middle of the night. ll The A.O. Smith boiler went out, and there was no heat in the house.
Although he could not fix the unit, he was able to quote a replacement unit, and schedule an installation for this sixty year old radiant heat system.
He was trained by the US Navy on submarines and understood radiant
heat really well.
The only problem with the installation with the new heating system from Berkeley Plumbing was that the PGE bill in January went from $ 30 a month to $ 200 since we had heat for the first time in years.
I should have called Berkeley Plumbing when the radiant heat system went on blink years ago.

I am really shocked at some of these reviews.
I’ve lived in Berkeley for 8 years now, and was lucky enough to call Berkeley Plumbing & Heating the first year for some minor repair. They gave me fantastic service, and I’ve been a loyal customer ever since.
Every single technician they’ve sent out over the years has been polite and extremely knowledgeable about our ancient (and annoying) toilets. Stormy is the latest, and he’s been up to the house at least twice.
I would recommend Berkeley Plumbing & Heating to anyone, and I do when asked face-​to-​face.
If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a note via Unilocal

Very customer service oriented… they did excellent work on my plumbing problem and accomodated my time schedule!!!

They need to get a little more organized over there according to me…
This is my long drawn out story…
Called Friday morning to get an appointment to have my toilet looked at. Friendly gentleman gave me an appointment between 2PM and 4PM that afternoon — I was relieved that I could find someone to come the same day since I did not want to try and schedule someone to come on Saturday. I asked that they call me when they were 20 minutes away as I do not live at the house — he said fine, and said that it was also possible that they could be available early, and would call me if that were the case as well.
I waited until 4:15PM, and then called to make sure they did not loose my appointment — the person who answered «transferred me upstairs to dispatch» where I was put to voice mail. So I left a message, and someone did call me back 15 minutes later (thankfully since now we are getting close to 5PM on a Friday, and did not want my appointment to be lost since I needed my plumbing issue resolved). He said that he had tried to call the plumber, but he was not picking up, but that he left my cell number on the plumber’s voice mail — and as soon as he was done, he would call and come over. So I waited another hour (until 5:30PM), but still no word. Thought I better go over to the house so I would be there to meet him exactly when he called. When I got over there, I found they had left a note saying they had «missed me» and would be back at 1:50PM.
Hello! — of course you «missed me» because as I said when I made the appointment, I need to be called before you come over.
So I waited until 6:30PM assuming that the plumber would get his voice messages after he finished his current job, and give me a call… but no call. And calling the main Berkeley Plumbing Co office after 5PM is of no help — everyone is gone from the office by that time, and they don’t have any type of pager service, so no way to contact anybody. I did leave a message, but evidently they don’t pick up messages after 5PM on Friday either has I have not heard from them.
So after waiting all day on a Friday, original relieved that I was able to fine someone to come same day, then I end up in need of a plumber at 6:30PM on a Friday because they could not keep themselves organized over at Berkeley Plumbing Co. And they are not open on the weekends (which is fine they have the right to be open when they want — but let me know if it is not going to work so I can find someone else!). My advice: a little bit more communication with customers would go a long way.
So needless to say, I called another company, and had them come on Saturday morning since I had to have this done before Sat afternoon.
So I don’t expect I would be using Berkeley Plumbing Co again… They may do great work, but does not look like I will find out.

Scammed also… Changed some pipes under sink and had to make two trips back to store to get parts. Of course you are charged for the time that takes. Also the installation was not done in the best possible manner and makes it more likely that sink will back up in future.
I called to have someone come out and look at the work. He yelled at me! What sort of conflict resolution skills did he use? Received no satisfaction and had to call a second plumbing company as needed use of kitchen sink.
Buyer Beware!

These people scammed us. They said we needed a second opinion and charged us for three visits. They told us they were going to be here at a certain time, came early and when no one was home, charged us for the visit. Never gave us an estimate. Took a week to get a simple job done.

Came right on time, worked quickly and efficiently, charged us quite a bit less than quotes we had received on the phone from other plumbers. I think it’s a family owned business that’s been around for a long time. Very nice guy, seemed very honest and friendly, professional. I told them they should encourage their clients to write about them on Unilocal,because they seem to be under-​represented in reviews for a company that has been around for so long! Definitely better than my last experience with a different Berkeley plumber, which struck me as a total rip off.

VERY helpful, took extra time to answer my questions and give advice. I highly recommend this place– feels like a small town family business.

We’ve used Berkeley Plumbing and Heating a few other times with no complaints. We recently had them put in a 40 gallon hot water heater for us. For starters, the cost was $ 1,200 which is ridiculously high, but the guy was here and ready and we were desperate. The installation went fine and they just left a minimal mess. I handed the guy (I think his name was Storm) a $ 1,200 check and thought that was the end of it. I get an invoice in the mail a few weeks later for the $ 1,200. I thought it was a mistake, so I ignored it. I get another invoice a few weeks after the first with a late fee. I call up accounts payable and they tell me they never received my check. The A/​P person asked Storm and he said I never gave it to him. Ugh. I told her that he obviously lost it, but there was no offer to refund me the cancellation fee. She at least agreed to waive the late fee on the invoice. She couldn’t get my credit card to process and said she’ll try the next day. My wife told me they called a few days later saying they still couldn’t get my credit card to process. In the mean time, I get a third invoice. Frustrated with it all, I waited a few weeks thinking they’ll at least try my credit card again, or give me a call personally. That never happened. Instead I get a letter from a collections agency telling me to pay the full $ 1,200 plus an $ 83 fee.
Yes, I should have dealt with this a few weeks earlier, but to lose my check, not pay my cancellation fee, and send a collections agency after me with late fee was infuriating.
My recommendation: if you all you care about is quality and not price or customer service then use these guys. Otherwise there are plenty of other plumbers out there.

I needed basic supply cost information from them and the man who answered the phone couldn’t have been more annoyed. I guess business is booming. I wouldn’t go to them for future services or supply purchases.

Berkeley Plumbing rocks!
I’m a new homeowner and had to deal with my first plumbing crisis — my shower’s cold water stopped flowing. It’s tough to take a scalding hot shower. I made a newbie mistake and hired someone who had no State contractor’s license, who just had a lot of good reviews on Unilocal.Maybe that works for minor issues like clogged drains, but this person completely failed to fix my shower. Left it in worse shape, actually. Then I called Berkeley Plumbing. A real company, in business for years. They were prompt and fixed my shower. I will absolutely hire them again. I don’t want to trash the other plumber, but just advise anyone looking on Unilocal to do their homework and see if the person is licensed! Good luck.

Very professional and courteous. Arrived on time and completed within the time frame quoted. The person on the phone in the office is also very nice and efficient.