Hofmeister Plumbing

Current Review (July 2019), 2 stars: My wife and I have been using Hofmeister Plumbing since 2017, and we have been satisfied with their work and prices until now. Unfortunately, the latest incident is not to our satisfaction, so we can no longer recommend them easily. In July 2018, a Hofmeister plumber replaced two outdoor spigots that connect to garden hoses, because they were old and leaking. That plumber replaced them with two single part brass spigots, because the plumber stated that they didn't have a lot of working parts, so they would last longer. Fast-forward to July 2019, I attempted to remove one of the hoses, and that hose was stuck. We could not unscrew the hose from the spigot. My wife called Hofmeister, and after a few days of wrangling the schedule, Joe showed up. Joe initially thought we were being silly when my wife told him the hose could not be removed. But, when he tried to remove the hose, he was surprised that he couldn't remove it either! He had to use three plumber's wrenches to get the hose off, but the spigot and hose were damaged internally. He grumbled about what the previous plumber did, and we showed him the Hofmeister invoice of the plumber who installed the spigots in 2018. Joe contacted the other plumber and the owner about this. Shockingly, only the owner knew what happened. What happened to the spigot and hose is known as "galvanic corrosion," and this phenomenon is a common occurrence between brass spigots and aluminum hose couplings. If galvanic corrosion is such a common occurrence, one would think the Hofmeister plumber who installed the original brass spigots would have warned us that this could happen, as we didn't know about galvanic corrosion until now. The fact that Joe did not know about this either does not speak well of Hofmeister's advertised expertise. So, Joe talked to the owner, and the owner apologized to my wife for the oversight. However, they would not do the spigot replacement job for free. The owner told my wife that they would do the job for a reduced price and would guarantee the job if we supplied a hose with brass couplings. My wife tried to argue that the job should be done for less (or free), since it was a mistake on their watch, but the owner refused. Despite this, we thought the reduced price was to replace both spigots, as the price was half the original job, so we scheduled Hofmeister to return after we obtained a garden hose with brass couplings. We got a new hose a day later and scheduled Hofmeister again. Joe returned again, and my wife was then told that the quoted price was to fix only one of the two spigots. The other spigot and hose were stuck together, but Joe said to leave it alone until the spigot or hose actually breaks. Again, my wife tried to argue with Hofmeister about the deceptive verbiage, but Hofmeister denied any intentional deception. So, my wife authorized Joe to replace the spigot. Joe replaced the single part spigot with...a multi-part spigot. This is the same type of spigot that broke down in 2018 before the first Hofmeister plumber replaced it with a single-part spigot. Joe stated that the multi-part spigot is easier to maintain, as individual parts could be replaced rather than the whole spigot. My wife was wondering why Joe and the other plumber had contradictory opinions about spigots. With a company as large as Hofmeister, one would think the owner would have trained his plumbers on standardized processes and parts. In addition, they would not guarantee the work in writing but verbally mentioned 5 years. With the verbal shenanigans going on, we are not sure it would be honored. We are disappointed with Hofmeister over this incident. While previous jobs were satisfactory, they failed to take full ownership of this spigot job and make the customer 100% satisfied. Combined with the inconsistent competency and professional opinions of their plumbers, it is hard to recommend Hofmeister now. Note: The original review written in 2018 was 5-stars. Due to character limits, that review was deleted.

We called Hofmeister tonight at 9pm with an emergency drain issue. As I write this review, it's 10:30 (1.5 hours later) and they have already been here and completed the job. They were quick, professional and affordable. The technicians, Chris and Jim, did a great job. Will use again.

Excellent Service! Called on a Saturday night that my hot water heater was leaking. By 9 AM on Sunday, a new water heater was being installed. Quick professional service.

I called on Wednesday May 8 that my 4 year old Hot water heater was not working. Hofmeister installed the hot water heater 4 years ago. Within 2 hours after I called Shant arrived at my home. He was very polite and professional when he greeted me. He quickly was able to find out what was wrong with the unit. Since it was still under warranty he contacted the manufacturer and was able to get replacement parts under warranty. He went to a local supplier but was told that part would take a few day to arrive. He called me to tell me this. He than contact Harold the owner about my situation. They then decided to replace the hot water heater instead of waiting for parts to come. Shant arrive the next day Thursday May 9 at time he said he would. He was able to replace the hot water heater very fast. I would recommend Shant for future plumbing issues. Hofmeister Plumbing should be proud to have him as plumber.

I highly recommend Hofmeister Plumbing! Harold the owner is a highly skilled professional, and his pricing is very reasonable. Roger and Kelly in the office are a pleasure to deal with and extremely helpful!