Aqua City Plumbing

NO water and 2.5 hrs later water back on. Best Plumber I have used in 15 years.

The showerhead fell off breaking in the tub. They left a long-term leak in a drainage run from the tub to the stack. I had to tear out the ceiling and replace. Had to have work completed by another contractor.

Last week, we had drain tile and a sump pump installed by another contractor. They had to disconnect our gas dryer and washing machine and they removed, at my request, an old concrete double-sink that I replaced with a plastic utility sink. I called Aqua City on a Friday and they scheduled an appointment for first thing Monday morning. The plumber called ahead to let us know exactly when he would arrive. His recommendation was that we not use the utility sink that I had purchased (admittedly, it's not of high quality and would require some plumbing work-arounds to hook up). He also indicated he would redo the gas line to the dryer. The estimate was so mind-bogglingly high that I asked a lot of questions. It took me a long time to get a sense of what each of his recommended services would cost. I felt compelled to get a second estimate and was shocked at how much lower it was for a similar scope of work.

We were happy with both the advice and the workmanship of this plumber.

Appointment was made 1 week in advance with Bob at Aqua City and we got the time and day we had requested.Technician (Mark) called when en route, which is what Bob had indicated would happen. Mark arrived about 9:05 am; we were told it would be between 8 - 9 am. The problem for the plumber to solve: we had low water pressure (had been decreasing over time) and some knocking in the water system as the pressure would continue to drop when the kitchen faucet was on. We told the technician (Mark) that the faucet was about 6 years old. He asked about the pipes, assuming we had galvanized; we stated no, the pipes were all changed out at the time of the faucet install which was part of a kitchen remodel. Mark asked to see the basement pipes, and we went down to look. Copper pipes, new work under the kitchen sink was shown. Mark asked for the owner's manual for the faucet. Really? Well, when we thought we had found it and thought that it was a Kohler, Mark wasn't sure - - the installation and homeowner's manual didn't match the style faucet. We said we were pretty sure it was a Kohler, but again we weren't 100% sure; we've had other plumbing work done and perhaps this was the manual prior to the 2006 kitchen remodel. We expected that we'd have an experienced plumber (do homeowners really have instruction manual on how to fix a plumbing problem available for repairs?) but Mark didn't appear to be very experienced as we soon saw because he had trouble taking the faucet apart to do the problem solving. The main time-suck issue that Mark struggled with was trying to get inside the middle on/off water faucet. Because he thought the problem was due to a bad cartridge, he needed to get in from the top of the faucet. He appropriately expressed concern about scratching up the faucet trying to get at the inside cartridge. We were told that if he could only get into the cartridge he was fairly certain this was the issue and he'd be able to get it fixed. After nearly 2 hours walking in and out of the house to get tools, or calling Bob, his supervisor, or numerous attempts with screwdrivers and a utility knife blade to get into the faucet, only to further scratch up the faucet top - - we were given no other options from Mark to problem solve because he couldn't get at the cartridge, so now his only solution seemed to be to have a new faucet installed since he could just do all of that from below the fixture; he had a catalog he brought in from the truck so we could see what they could order for us - - (nothing we'd want in a similar style) and we knew from this approach that this problem wasn't going to be fixed today. We were not happy. During our time with Mark he decided to tell us all about how he'd need to tear out this & that underneath the sink to do a new faucet install, and he'd need to take out and disconnect the garbage disposal. I saw $$$ that I didn't want to spend with an inexperienced plumber. He made comments related to having little room for the install with the way the granite countertop was done, and in some situations he has had to cut into the counters. This felt a little condescending about the craftsmen who had built our kitchen. We really had low confidence in Mark at this point, between lack of problem solving, the need to call his supervisor with every single move, and the comments about our existing kitchen, we felt like he was getting coaching on how to handle the situation to push product and not problem solve the issue. So, while Mark went back out to the front yard to call Bob again and to write up a trip charge since nothing was able to be done, we went out to look at the faucet and by simply taking a flat rubber jar opener, we were able to unscrew the part that Mark had so desperately tried to pry off; it was screwed on. How did we figure this out and he did not? Were we being played into a new faucet install? We walked out to the truck to let Mark know; he hung up with his call and then was able to remove the faucet cartridge. This cartridge that he had told us earlier would likely be an easy part to replace and that he might have the part on the truck turned out to not be a part he had on his truck; out to call the supervisor again! He then asked if we had email and could we take a picture of the cartridge and email it to his boss...he said he tried to send a picture w/ his phone but wasn't clear with us if he did take a picture or if what he did didn't work. So yes, we were able to do this....and on the second attempt (Mark had an incorrect email address for Bob at first) we sent three pictures of the cartidge to Bob so he could identify it. At first we were not clearly told what to expect; we weren't sure if they were ordering a part for today, for another day or what. During this time I went out onto the internet and was able to identify the cartridge as a Price Pfister, not Kohler. After about 15 minutes, Mark came back into let us know this same detail....and so he said he was looking up the part...he told me that it was going to cost $232.00! I said, you're telling me the part is going to cost that much? (when I looked it up on Park Supply it was around $21.18...what he was really doing was looking up how much the trip charge, the labor, the part would be in total to write up some weird pre-estimate on a sheet of Aqua City notebook paper.) After very pointed questions from me, Mark asked me to sign this weird note with the $232 labor, $79 trip charge less a $33 coupon for $278.00. I wrote on the paper that this was a pre-installation estimate. So Bob was going to send the part over to the house within about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, when the part arrived and Mark installed it, this did not fix our problem. We had a new cartridge, but no change in experience in how the faucet worked as it still had low pressure, and I didn't trust how quickly Mark seemed to be defeated in how the new cartridge didn't fix the problem. Despite talking about the diverter earlier with us in his "problem solving" Mark never took the time to see whether or not the diverter might have been the problem....so when it came to not having a plan B for us, I was clear that I was not willing to have him re-install a new kitchen faucet or tear anything out based on his earlier explanation. We needed to be done at this point since it was clear he wanted us to go with a new faucet and we wanted a plumber who could come out to problem solve and repair the existing one. We ended up paying $155.00 (half of the proposed amount from Aqua City) after a discussion about fairness and yet another phone call from Mark to Bob for authority to reduce the bill. We were not getting a repaired faucet, we understood a new part was installed, but we all saw that this didn't fix the problem. The experience sucked for everyone.

Worst plumbing experience of my life. Aqua City totally took advantage of my wife and charged 5 times the going rate for some very basic plumbing work. Worse yet, the service technician was rude and lied to me about the work done when I got home and followed up with them. Worst ever!! Do not use Aqua City!!

Single estimate, very over priced ($1200) versus the $125 that was actually charged when the service was done by a different plumber. Very disappointing for a locally owned business.

I called to make an appointment to get a quote. The sales person did not come on the scheduled day. They just sent me an email with the quote. The quote was scanned in a word doccument upside down. Because it was in word, I was not able to read the quote without printing it out. With these two blunders on "attention to detail" I went with a company that was a bit more expensive and much more detailed and professional in their quote.

I needed a plumber for an issue with the bathroom sink on January 14, 2010. The drain was slow, and after a couple attempts with drain cleaner, decided to have my son clean the trap. He found that the nut tying the trap to the pipe going into the wall had cracked, and the rubber washer that seals the sink drain seemed dry and brittle. I had used a company in the past for a slow laundry drain. They were great to work with, and did a fine job at a fair price. I called them to come out but was told they only do drain cleaning. I asked if they had anyone they could recommend and was given Aqua City Plumbing's number. I talked to Bob. They came out, assessed the problem, and said I needed a drain assembly, a trap assembly, and they would also have to snake the pipes. To replace the existing drain and pop assembly - $407.00. To replace the existing trap assembly - $216.00. Snaking the drain - $159.00 for up to 45 minutes (they spent about 10 minutes snaking). Being they were recommended by a company I trusted, I assumed that's what it cost, and gave them the go ahead. It was only after they were finished (it took them less than 2 hours for the entire job) that I started to think they over-charged me. So far, I have called five plumbing companies in the Twin Cities and was given basically the same price each time. To replace a drain assembly AND a trap assembly - $125.00 - $150.00. I found a union shop, which I assumed would charge the most, and was told $150.00 - $200.00. I went to Home Depot and a local hardware store to price the parts. Top shelf, polished parts were $40.00 (drain assembly AND trap assembly). I'm quite certain they didn't spend that much - they get their parts wholesale (yes, they mark them up). So, if we go with $40.00 for parts - that means $742.00 for less than 2 hours of work. I'm a 79 year old widow, and feel I was taken advantage of. I tried to make things right with Bob on Friday January 15, 2010 and Dave (the owner) on Wednesday January 20, 2010. I was told that's their price. I don't believe there's a plumber on the planet worth $350+ per hour.

The work ended up being expensive. Everything was good. The quality of work was excellent!