Pribuss Engineering

Pribuss does a lot of work in my SF High Rise building and the management seems reasonably happy with them. They have very deep experience in the plumbing/​mechanical systems of complex buildings like this one and they installed and maintain our giant boiler. But I also called them out for a personal plumbing issue at the suggestion of another plumber who felt the work was out of his depth. The Pribuss estimater Nick arrived on time and had deep plumbing and code knowledge which he was happy to share. The solution I wanted wasn’t practical and he explained why in detail and even drew diagrams for me, then he suggested some other ideas that could work instead.
Pribuss has terrible Unilocal reviews, but I think much of that is from people who should have just used a random plumber. For a simple job like replacing a faucet or toilet, Pribuss is overkill. It would be expensive and they probably can’t come out as fast as your local plumber. But for unique and/​or complex jobs, particularly in larger more complex buildings, you can do a lot worse than Pribuss.

Working with this company has been a nightmare. By far the worst customer service experience I have ever had. The tech that came out to my residence was here for 6+ hours and spent about 30 mins resolving one issue, all while I am being charged an extremely high rate. The tech also left behind a huge mess of materials etc., that I had to clean up. Very shady business practices and unprofessional staff. I was forced to use this company due to HOA requirements, but I would never recommend their services to anyone!

My family had used PRIBUSS for many years. They stopped because they were very expensive for what they do & didn’t do right the first time, but charged again for rework.
I am using the same Boiler man as my cousins. He just did my back flow test & general check up on my boiler. His rate is SO MUCH better & reasonable than this outfit. I’m going to post a review on my new gem!

I used to use this firm to test my back flow until they made a mistake to our water system. They denied they made a mistake and were totally unprofessional in handling the matter. They also charge too much compared with other plumbers providing the same service

Hi,
I’m a building manager, and these guys fixed everything quickly and noticed a sewer valve was open which allowed tons of germs in the garage. They put a lid on it, that took 5 minutes. So, in my opinion and the owner’s of the building, they rock!
They were super nice, smart, on time, effective. I highly recommend them and call them whenever there is a problem in the building.

The general public is paranoid about calling a plumber from out of the phone book, for good reason. A honest and competent plumber is like a good car mechanic, so very difficult to come across, but once you find one, you’ll never have any more plumbing worries. Engineering Pribuss is not that plumber.
The average cost of plumbing service has gone up dramatically over the years, with little improvement in proper training or knowledge of the plumbers, and little pride of being a plumbing professional. This is worse when they’re part of a union, which allows them to charge exhorbitant fees.
As a preventative maintenance routine, I decided to have the stop valves in my condo checked and replaced. While inspecting the valves, the plumber suggested that I also replace the fill-​valves on both toilets in my unit, which I was happy to do. It turned out that my toilets were «not standard» and the guy ended up spending much more time than he first estimated. A few hours after he was finished, there was actually a problem with one of the toilets, so he had to make another trip back.
I didn’t really think much of this until I got slapped with a $ 444 bill. Since when should a customer get billed for «training/​learning time» for a plumber to learn how to install a fill valve on an unfamiliar model toilet? Also, why should a customer be billed for a follow-​up visit if it was related to something that wasn’t properly installed in the first place, on that same day? I called the company to explain this, and was offered a $ 70 reduction. Apparently, they thought that made everything right. Comparing stories with neighbors, it seemed that what I had done would have cost between $ 100 – 140 from most plumbers.
Obviously, I paid and just considered it an expensive lesson on who not to use in the future. Plumbing vendors have the right to charge exhorbitant fees, but customers have the right to share their experience and hopefully spare others the same unpleasant experience.