Montclair Rooter Plumbing & Heating

Over-priced, a lot of talk, unpleasant personality, very disrespectful to his assistant, called me honey. Came at a moment's notice but still wouldn't hire him again.

Reasonable ~ Reliable ~ Confident ~ Trustworthy

I have my own house and some rental property - in other words I've had to deal with more than my fair share of plumbers.  Josh was simply amazing.  Worked with me both by text and phone to keep me in loop at all times.

Supply line the house broke - the amateur gardener in me hit it with a spade.  Josh asked all the right questions from the get go - Is this an emergency, or can it wait until tomorrow?  I have every confidence that if it was an emergency, that he would have been at my house Tuesday evening when I called.

Instead, he evaluated the situation with the information that I gave him, and assessed that it could wait a little.  Totally reasonable.

When he was able to get to my house, he let me know what was going on and approximately the cost to fix.  When he ran into other issues with the original plumbing, he just handled it.

I got a follow up call and felt like it was a very reasonable price for the work that was done.  He left the old part for me to inspect (I was traveling for work) and left the work in a way that I could see what it was that he fixed.  I am confident that I picked the right plumber.  

I'm having him come back next week to work on my heater before the winter sets in.  You don't get service better than this.

Came to our rescue on Sunday afternoon, Father's Day!  Couldn't even get a return call from 2 other 24/7 plumbers.  Josh answered his own phone, arrived in under 2 hours, and cleared our lines in about 45 minutes.  He goes the extra mile for local homeowners.  Recommended.

I notice our water heater was leaking near noon on a Friday. I called, left a message, and received a return call from Josh within half an hour. He first discussed whether we should try to fix or replace the water heater. When I made it clear that it was leaking badly, he quoted a reasonable price and promised to install a new water heater at a specified time. He arrived promptly and successfully installed the water heater.

I contacted Josh for a second opinion / estimate of a sewer line replacement. I experienced a major sewer back up and thought I picked a reputable company to snake the line.  I was advised that my terra cotta pipe had a crack that was allowing roots in. They gave me 2 bids for replacing the broken section for $4000 or replacing the whole system for $11,000.  After explaining the situation to Josh he immediately told me you don't need me . He explained that since the system was flowing and until another back up occurred he would not recommend  taking any of my money to do unnecessary work.  
He then assured me that if and when I needed him he would be available a.s.a.p. and would only advise me on what was absolutely needed.  In this day and age and especially being a woman you will almost never hear this. Josh will be the first person I call if needed. Thank you again for spending the time explaining things to me and giving me a better understanding of my situation.

Josh just finished several hours at our home assessing, experimenting and ultimately fixing a persistent back up in our kitchen sink that had been acting up periodically (usually just before dinner guests arrived) for years. Others had provided temporary fixes, but Josh was determined to get to the bottom of it and provide a long term solution. He said it was the worst build up of decades old fat and coffee grinds he'd ever seen, and he's seen a lot. He was creative, systematic and persistent, not averse to getting dirty. He kept trying things until something worked. We are very grateful.

Update - I have now had Josh out three times to do repairs and updates to some of the original late 1950s plumbing and fixtures in my house. He's got an amazing inventory of parts on his truck and that saves time and money because he doesn't have to go get them. All his (substantial!) work has been top notch and he always explains everything he's going to do, how much it's going to cost, and cleans up thoroughly when he's done.

While he was here yesterday I asked him if he could replace my 18 year old water heater as I thought it was about time for a new one, but he said we don't replace water heaters unless they don't heat or they leak, I'll flush and inspect it for you, saving me a lot of money and turning down a lot of money in his pocket because he didn't think it was necessary.

Two thumbs up for Josh. I've been very happy with his work, my plumbing problems are solved at last. I could not be more pleased.

Josh provided us with excellent customer service and work on our house. I phoned him and he immediately answered the call. He's available through text and makes sure its as easy on his customers as possible. Speaking to him over the phone and explaining the situation, his mind was already focused on the best possible outcome. He replaced my water heater just as easy as if he was swapping out a battery on a car. Knew every little detail to make it most effective. He was thorough and to the point; he also made sure his work area was spotless. He triple checked everything before he left and made sure I knew it was okay to call him should anything pop up. We're very happy to have chosen Josh as our plumber.

I contacted Josh because we were having issues with our water heater. I thought there was something wrong with it, and I'd had another plumber come out and tell me it needed to be replaced, giving a quote of $1300. Over the phone Josh diagnosed the issue, which was my fault in how I was trying to re-light it with the door off, and let me know that there was nothing wrong with the heater. I re-lit the heater this morning following his instructions and it is working normally. Josh saved me at least $1000. When it comes time to replace this water heater or if we have other plumbing issues, Josh will be the man for the job. Thanks Josh.

Josh came out on a Sunday morning in the rain to deal with a plumbing issue. So grateful!

on second thought,  downgraded to 4 stars cuz the prices jumped so much the second time around. still bugs me .... but the work is 5 stars.

Josh saved the day on the 4th of July.  We had some problems with the toilet water filling properly. Within an hour, he was at our place and shortly after had it fixed.  Honestly amazing service on a normal business day, never mind that it was a holiday.  On top of that, we told him about an issue in our kitchen with a lighting fixture and he fixed that up for us free of charge.   Highly recommend Josh, seems like he is a master of a lot of different tasks which you may not be able to do yourself.

We just moved into a new home and city and had an unfortunate kitchen sink leak our first week. Being new, we were not at all helpful in assessing the problem. Josh at Montclair Rooter Plumbing came out as soon as he promised, on time despite one of the rainiest and traffic-heavy days of the year. He rapidly diagnosed the problems and reworked / rebuilt the sink plumbing on the spot and thoroughly tested the solution. We couldn't be happier with the results! We would recommend him to anyone in the Lamorinda area. Thanks Josh!

Was told this was a licensed plumber, seems the CA State License Board doesn't agree with them...
 
No license + no bond = no hire.

Check the the CA State License Board for yourself...

Expire Date: 10/31/2007
License Status: This license is expired and not able to contract at this time.

Contractor Name: MONTCLAIR PLUMBING

Also...
Does not accept credit cards.  But will demand to follow you to the ATM (Creepy).

Wow!!  Josh saved my life--or at least my sanity.  We had a ridiculous situation where our handyman had washed a bunch of grout down our drain and it hardened in our pipes.  I got the trap cleared, but the sink still wasn't draining.  Josh came out within a few hours of my calling, and climbed to the roof to snake out the pipe.  Water drained from the sink... and out the seal that I'd inadvertently broken when clearing grout from the garbage disposal.  

Josh had to run to another service call, but came directly back afterward to finish our job.  He replaced the seal for the garbage disposal, and everything is flowing and dry again.

Josh was kind to my wife and kids, and didn't make me feel like an idiot.  Even with the extra work of the leaky disposal seal, he charged a very reasonable price.  We will be calling the next time we need plumbing or heating help.

The top 5 reasons I will be calling again for future plumbing needs:
1) talking to a real human
2) came on time - was super communicative
3) fixed my sink quickly at a fair price
4) awesome to work with - personality for days
5) just book with him - you 100% won't regret it

Bonus: was great with my dog :)

This guy Josh is a joke, my nickname for him? Talkin' loud and sayin' nothing.
I can't explain the positive reviews here or on his other Yelp page, maybe he is a decent plumber - though I have actually heard otherwise - but he is an absolutely inept HVAC tech. Beware that Josh has two businesses on Yelp, he is also listed as Piedmont Rooter Plumbing & Heating. Here's the sad tale, Josh spent 2 HOURS at my house, much of that time was loudly taking calls on his phone in my crawl space and calling for me to assist him in testing the unit - I was on a conference call with my CEO at the time, but he seemed not to understand this. He left with the heat still not working, still talking a mile a minute and making no sense AND charged me $215.00 for doing absolutely nothing. Josh told me it would cost an additional $500+ to fix the issues, 3 parts needed to be ordered and replaced but I could apply some of the $215 towards that total, gosh thanks, he also said the unit was in great shape so with the obvious inconsistency and high-cost, red flags started waving....I called Apple Heating and Air for a second opinion - explained my doubts and Bobby calmly and in a normal tone of voice, said he would check it out for FREE, FREE people, for FREE!!!!
Bobby fixed it in 15 minutes. FIXED IT IN 15 MINUTES and charged me....drum roll, wait for it.....$90.00 fricken dollars. Plus being exceptionally polite and unassuming - he also came at 9 pm after a long day but didn't want to leave me cold another night. There are amazingly good people in the world, there are -  but this joker Josh is not one of them. I gave him the chance to refund the money and we could just assume this was a mistake and forget about it, but after being a master texter and calling and talking all the time while trying to get more money out of me, he has for some reason been struck dumb and silent, appropriate I suppose.
Stay warm out there Yelp Family!

I will try to be as objective as I can with the review:

Positive Comments:
1) Josh and Chris did fix the problem I called them for i.e. the clog on the drain in the bathroom sink;
2) I appreciated that they fixed the problem with the light in the kitchen, even if they were initially called to fix the clogged drain;
3) Josh is friendly and thorough with explaining with what he thought was the problem and how he was going to fix it;
4) Chris was more focusing on getting the work done.

Negative Comments:
1) Josh was at times too friendly it made me uncomfortable at times;
2) His friendliness was distracting to the work he was supposed to do;
3) At times I was required to assist with the work;
4) Josh and Chris left saying that they needed to get parts and do some other work - I was charged while they were gone, which I didn't think was right since they did mention that they went to other jobs.  Josh did give me a discount, however since they went to other places to work, it's not really a discount.  But I paid it since I felt the amount charge with the so called discount even out the price;
5) Yesterday I read that the license has not been renewed.  I checked the status and to this date this has not been renewed.  I was a bit troubled by this, although I do somewhat take responsibility for not checking prior to calling them.

Steps I should have done:
1) Read more of the reviews;
2) Request for an estimate;
3) Check other sources;
4) Check for licenses or state requirements; and
5) Not procrastinate with the problem.

Hope this helps.

Josh is competent and charges roughly up to $300+/hour for flushing and routing drains. The extremely talkative bedside manner, trying to create value, was ultimately not for me.

Josh is a trooper. My sewage ejector pump was broken, and to top it off there was a significant crack in the effluent line with sewage shooting out. This was not a simple a leak under the sink type of job. Josh showed up within an hour and got to work right away and job was finished by next day. Two months later, no leaks, and a functional pump in place.

Josh was an amazing help in remedying what I thought was a simple sink clog in my kitchen.  When I called, he had a fully booked day but was willing to come to my house in the evening to take a look. After we realized that the issue was bigger than a simple P-trap cleanout, he went ahead and troubleshooted until he found the problem in the piping all the way in my basement. He removed a disgusting buildup of crud from my pipes in my 70-year old home and even cleaned up the goopy mess that occurred after unclogging the clog in the basement. (AND took away my gross towels for me!)  Josh is so friendly, knowldegeable and helpful that I felt super safe to have him in my home with my two small children late at night.  He even impressed my hard-to-please civil engineer Korean father who was present when we were being serviced.  So much in fact, my dad asked to book him for a few projects for his own home. 100% recommend!

PS He is not a cash-only business, despite what previous a previous reviewer had stated.

My husband was out of town and I was home with two little kids and a non working toilet. Josh showed up 5mins after I called and fixed the issue in 10min. And best was that he charged a very reasonable price. He definitely saved our day! Wouldnt call anyone else for plumbing problems.

Helped with some advice that ultimately means I probably won't need any work done. How often does that happen?!

Corteous, reasonable, punctual and highly skilled professional. Josh arrived on time, successfully concurred crazy glue and antiquated setup, took care of tiles and carpentry around newly installed fixture AND left the area spotlessly clean before departure.

We were very unhappy with his lack of professionalism and his lack of integrity.

(FYI -- Josh of Montclair Rooter apparently also operates his business under the name Piedmont Rooter, since we called that company as an alternate and he answered.)

We hired Josh somewhat by accident because he happened to be working next door and we needed someone to unclog hair from a drain.   The overall experience would make us avoid him in the future. He did ultimately unclog the drain, which took about ten or fifteen minutes but charged us for a full hour of his time anyway even though he was already working next door.  Josh spends a lot of time talking about non-plumbing things and then wants to charge you for that time so beware of chatting.

First, it appears that he is not licensed, even though his cards say that his company is licensed and include a license number.  

He told us his normal hourly rate (and then said he'd give us a discounted rate because he was already here); later our neighbor said he charges him far less per hour than the normal rate he quoted us.  As for payment, he pushes for cash, and strongly discouraged using a credit card - leaving little recourse if there is a problem.

While he was here, he pointed out  another significant plumbing problem with water going down the tub and other drains backing up into a sink in the garage. We appreciated his identifying the problem but were frustrated with his refusal to help us deal with it.  Even though we paid him for what we understood to be an hour of his time at what he said was a discounted rate, and he only spent a quarter hour actual working on the clog, he wouldn't tell us how he thought the other problem could be resolved, unless we hired him to come back separately for that.

Finally, after we posted a short negative review, he called on the phone to berate us, and then an hour or so later showed up at our door and continued to do so.  He was very calm about it, but it was disturbing, particularly his comments about the various ugly ways that karma will repay us for posting the review.  

Josh may be a master plumber, and his skills may very well be excellent, but this was not the kind of experience I want to have again.

Best plumbing experience. Good price, came right on time. Unclogged the bath sink quickly. Then moved to ceiling light fixture and fixed that, too. Very experienced, very good.  Did more than one job within the hour, didn't charge extra for the second task. So glad I found them

I needed a leak fixed for a dental office. I found Josh on Google and called him. He said he was right around the corner and showed up in 10 minutes. He worked fast, was honest, and ended up charging me less than initially quoted, because it didn't take him as long as he had originally thought to fix the issue. He came back to fix a different problem a couple of days later and also helped me install a sign for the office. Overall, very professional, fast and reliable service. I highly recommend his services.

I needed a drain pipe fixed and called Josh because of the reviews. He's everything the other reviewers say - smart, super-helpful, completely prepared with all the equipment he needs to do just about any plumbing job, and reasonably priced. I've had pools of water collect at the corner of my house from a cracked and clogged drain pipe. Josh cleared the whole thing out in less than an hour. He explained what he was doing and why, and he noticed other minor problems that he fixed for me on the fly without a great deal of additional charge. He's been a general contractor and is a fount of helpful information about structure, plumbing, electrical, and other areas of concern for a homeowner. And if that weren't enough, he's entertaining and engaging. Nice to have a plumber who's fun to be around. I will definitely call him again.

Incredible!  I called Josh on the recommendation of our regular plumber to repair a clogged sewer line.  Josh arrived within 30 minutes.  Confident, capable, and efficient are only a few kind words I can say that describes this man.  He helped me understand the problem, did not inflate prices, like some of the bigger chains do, and repaired the clog within 45 minutes.   When he left I felt comfortable that the problem was resolved.  I recommend Josh (Montclair Plumbing) without reservation.  This guy is an incredible find!  You should use him if you need a superb plumber.

Excellent!!

This guy is a laugh a minute..... while doing a fantastic job and keeping the cost down he made me laugh a lot even in the middle of 2 days with no running water!  He and his helper George were here for most of a day dealing with a broken water main that was several feet below the surface in my front yard.

He was concerned about possible code violations with the existing pipes, and made several phone calls until he found someone in the city offices who could give him the information he needed.

His charges were lower than the previous estimate and the job was done in a timely and professional manner.
We have found our plumber!
I highly recommend Montclair Plumbing

We chose Josh at Montclair Plumbing based on reviews here and he did not disappoint.  We had a very old garbage disposal and asked for a estimate to replace it.  Josh asked lots of pertinent questions and then gave us a fair price estimate.  He arrived just when he promised, replaced the old disposal and fixed a few ancillary problems and charged just about exactly what he had estimated. We would confidently call him again with future problems.

This guy knows what he's doing (and he'll tell ya himself!). He cleared our bathtub blockage and showed us how to fix our shower temp issue in about 30 min.

He never stops talking (No joke, both on the phone and then when he came to the house, he literally chatted us up until he was pulling his truck away, hilarious.) , but it's all interesting, and he gets the job done super quick. He's pretty close to my neighborhood and reasonably priced.

I'm sold, and  will call him with any future issues.

The company name says Rooter, Plumbing, Heating but Josh does so much more.  He is a jack of all trades and an Ace of the trades as well.  We have a rental property in Oakland and we call Josh for all our major and handyman needs.  He's very professional and very courteous to our tenants.   When Josh sets up an appointment he is always on time. We know when he leaves, the job is complete, and don't need to check up on his jobs. I highly recommend him for any work needed around the house. Thanks Josh for all your help!

They were working on my neighbors' house. Not sure if they get the job done but very rude attitude. They were walking up and down my driveway without asking; talking loudly and provocatively. Certainly would not recommend them to any neighbors!

I want to begin by addressing the main theme in negative reviews. Why? Because I often read those first.

People have pointed that Josh talks a lot, and at times unprofessionally. That's spot on.

But you'll also find that the reviews consistently point out he knows what he's doing, works honestly, works hard, and for an honest reasonable rate. Do you really care if your plumber talks a lot? Did you invite him over for a beer or to fix your problem? Do you want to pay a premium for a plumber who is fun to talk to?

He came to our home at 10pm and immediately diagnosed our issue. We had just purchased a home and found that the upward section of our main sewer-bound drainage pipe had been severed. This reduced the pressure downward which led to blockage, which in turn caused the water to flush backwards up through the open pipe and flood into the basement.

He also immediately diagnosed the appropriate fix, attempted it, and then planned an innovative plan of attack for the next day.

As promised, he showed up at 8am the next morning with everything that was needed. His 35 years of experience led him to solve the situation within an hour, and he charged us a rate that amazed everybody we told.

I highly recommend his work. As for his banter, just decide whether you care about that in your plumber and act accordingly.

Josh just left my condo after saving my wife and I thousands of dollars on a water heater repair. We're new homeowners, and were a little overwhelmed by the process of attending to our lack of hot water since move-in. We tried going through the home warranty, only to find out we had a very unique and largely out of date style of heating unit that was far past its prime.

Multiple contractors came out to look at this thing, stumped or quoting thousands of dollars in replacement costs. Our realtor put us in contact with Josh, and he was incredibly communicative and quick to respond throughout the whole process. When he was able to look at the unit himself, he was able to find the root of the problem and get the thing running again, and provided an exceptionally fair rate for how much attention he gave us and the efforts he put in to get our problem solved.

You can trust Josh to think of your needs first and find the fairest solution for your problem. We'll absolutely be contacting him again as soon as we need his services!

The sewer pipe from my house broke and sewage was spewing into my back yard.   Fortunately, Josh came within an hour, and even though it was late in the day and getting dark, he fixed the problem at a reasonable cost.

He is a colorful personality, but you'll put up with his eccentricities because he's honest, knows what he is doing, and gets the job done.

Josh is not a good plumber at all I would recommend not hiring him for anyting I called to have my sewer line unplugged on a Saturday his words to me that he wasn't going to charge me weekend rates he would give me a discount. It ended up costing me $398 and some odd cents for absolutely nothing he never unplugged thedrain. I had to call in another plumber to fix it. When I called Josh on Monday morning and told him what happened his words to me was  the plumber that fixed it was a fuck head and I'm an old grouchy son of a bitch this is Josh the plumbers words he used the F-word in front of my wife in front of my sister-in-law and had no business attitude at all. I called him to see if he was willing to give me half my money back and what he told me was I ordered the hamburger and ate it and that I was a grouchy old son of a bitch and a a fuck head. Do not call this man for anyting

Just had the pleasure of meeting Josh from Montclair plumbing. What a wonderful experience: a fair, honest person with integrity. I would definitely hire him again. The thoughtful way he diagnosed the problem with my shower valves, explaining how to fix was amazing...I have not had many such experiences in my life as a single woman hiring people to work on my home. Fair price, too. I am a disabled former wildland firefighter/park gardener...if I ever have problems with my plumbing or heating issues, I now know who I can TRUST to CALL to fix these issues. Thank you, Josh!

Ok, so it's 2 days before Thanksgiving and I decide to put a whole bag of kale down the garbage disposal... (not a good idea, I don't recommend it) Anyway, my kitchen sink decided it was not going to drain after that, and after trying some home remedies (boiling water, baking soda/vinegar, etc.) it was still not draining.

Around 10:30pm I decide to try and run the garbage disposal to clear some of the water, and each time I do I hear what sounds like a little waterfall near by, but I can't find it. Not under the sink, not in the bathroom the next wall over, so my husband crawls under the house to look because he hears it too each time, and we realize the noise is coming from the laundry room.

To my horror, the whole floor (including under washer/dryer) is flooded with kale and cous cous pipe puke which had shot out the pipe our washer drains into... It did not smell good...

Time to call the professionals. Called a couple places the next morning and they were either busy or not available, then called Josh and he answered right away and said he could be over in an hour! My hero!!! After 3 hours of trouble shooting our wonky pipes (apparent hack job remodels before we bought) and climbing on the roof to snake from a vent up there, he got it! So grateful for his experience and sense of humor. Plus he was super sweet to my kiddos who were home at the time, he's got fans for life here now.

Thanks again Josh. I hope to only bump into you at the grocery store in the future, but if we ever need help again, we're definitely calling you!

I had a leak under my kitchen sink that a tried fixing myself. But after a few tries with no avail, I decided to seek professional help. I found Josh via a recommendation from my neighbor. She sang his praises so I gave him a call. Josh picked up right away on a Friday afternoon, asked me to send photos and then was able to come out that same day. He arrived within the scheduled timeframe and was able to resolve the issue quickly and at a fair price. Thank you, Josh.

We had a plumbing emergency mid-day and the owner, Josh, was willing to come out within the hour. He fixed the problem quickly & efficiently, explained everything in detail, and gave us a great price. We will definitely be calling him again whenever a problem may arise, and not just for plumbing as he is a general contractor and can handle just about anything. He's been in the business for years, and his knowledge and efficiency are invaluable to his customers.

Josh installed a water softener for our home. He was on time, very informative, and very kind. He was able to come to soon after we called. He explained the process and our water is Amazing! He taught us how to change the filters and did extra then he really needed to do to ensure we understood it all. Will definitely be using his services again and would highly recommend Josh!

Complete lifesaver today - Friday afternoon and the heater stopped working. Called at least five other companies in addition to Josh and he returned my call immediately and was able to come by in the afternoon. Spent time to figure out the exact problem and made sure that he fixed it before walking out the door. Super personable as well as reasonable priced - will definitely use him again for all heating, electric, plumbing, etc. needs.

MPH is everything you want in a plumber. They are prompt, courteous, efficient, and knowledgable. I want to stress the last quality. MPH is experienced and capable; they dealt with 6 issues for me--both routine and more complex--in 90 minutes. So along with providing professional service, they also saved me money.

I almost rented a snake from the tool lending library for what I thought was a simple root/debris clog in my clean-out line. Thank god I was too icked-out by the thought of dealing with the mess and decided to have a professional handle the job.  I spoke to a friend who recommended Josh and checked out the reviews here on Yelp.

What I thought was a simple snake job turned out to be cracked and unaligned pipes and a previous fix that created angles in the pipes that even a camera couldn't maneuver around.  Josh was very patient in explaining the situation, made sure that I saw the problem areas with my own eyes, and was honest about the long term effects of whatever course of action taken or not taken.

According to Josh, I should never have to call him to come snake the clean-out line again. But should I need to call for another plumbing problem, he would be the guy I call.

Josh is very friendly and very good at his job! I had a busted water heater and he was very responsive in replacing it, and also addressing a couple unrelated issues (including the connection between furnace and thermostat that plagued me last winter). He explains what he's doing and gets things done quickly and at a great price.

I like Josh and have used him at least 5 times over the last 5 years or so.  He returns calls and texts quickly, available that day more often than not, a good trouble shooter, completes work quickly and fair pricing.   A mensch.

Highly recommend!  On the recommendation of a neighbor we called Josh on a Saturday afternoon when we noticed our hot water heater leaking.  He immediately talked us through some points over the phone, after which he offered to come out early the next day to save us issues with additional water damage. Seriously, who does that on a weekend?  Well, Josh does.
He came out early Sunday as promised, cordial, professional, got the job done!  He's our new go-to-guy for plumbing.  That says it all.  Thanks, Josh!

Called Josh in 2006 for a water heater that went out on a 3-day weekend ...had hot water within hours!  Then called a few months later for a leaking toilet issue.  When I needed a sink unclogged in 2011, I knew just who to call -- and found that his business had expanded to include general contracting so I had him take care of accumulated small and large items that would each have required contacting and selecting electrician, dry-wall guy, dryer repairman, painter ...Josh (and his right-hand man George) can do it all.

Josh is truly a gem to work with. I stumbled upon his business and called him as I was truly having a crisis!! It was a little bit late but I knew I had to get it fixed before I would be able to catch a flight that same day. I called and Josh came right over and handled the situation like a pro. It's people like him that make you believe that humanity isn't dead.

Very knowledgeable, prompt, and extremely thorough.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND HIM FOR ALL HOME SERVICES !!!!

We found Josh through Next Door.  He was great.  Our dishwasher leaked all over the kitchen floor and we had no idea what to do.  He methodically went through the possible causes one by one, determined our 12 year old dishwasher was dead, cleaned up the mess and then proceeded to explain to us why the water pressure in our kitchen faucet wasn't stronger.  He's also been doing business in Montclair for years.  Next time we have a problem he'll be at the top of the list.

I highly recommend him for any kind of plumbing work. Reasonable prices, on time, smart and a great personality is what Josh offers.

This guy is hilarious, but more importantly he does the job quickly and reliably. I had a clogged pipe at my b-friend's house and he was there in 20 minutes and fixed the problem within 5. Thanks Josh.

Josh saved my bacon, no joke. One of my toilets was running continuously and not refilling the tank. I called in a plumber from Task Rabbit, who despite saying that he had never seen a toilet like this before, proceeded to completely take my toilet apart, then take away the main parts and tell me he'd call me in a day or two once he'd found the replacements.Suffice to say I did not trust him to do the job right, so I went to find a professional to put my toilet back together. Josh spent several hours working on my toilet and making it as good as new. He was super thorough and wanted to make sure everything was exactly right. He also made a point of checking the water levels in my other toilets to ensure they wouldn't overflow. I would absolutely have Josh back again for any plumbing job I needed done.

Agreeing with other reviewers, Josh is a star.  On a late Sunday evening we had a crisis and he showed up within 30 mins, diagnosed the problem quickly, got to work pronto, and got the messy problem resolved.  He definitely knows his stuff and makes sure you know it too :)

Fairly priced for the excellent service he provides.  Definitely will call on him again - hopefully not in the next 5 years though!

I called Josh. He was busy but promised to get to me by the end of the day. He got to me by the end of the day and went to work on the leak at the front of my house which I had been trying to repair for days. of course, he has the tools and parts and experience that I don't have. So it didn't take him long to solve the problem.
He was fast and reasonable and I finally have a permanent solution to my Plumbing problem which has been jerry-rigged for years.
Thanks Josh!

Of course our heat goes out on the weekend and then I need to find someone to come to our house on Saturday. That is not an easy task! It is Josh who came to our house (a few hours after I called him) and was able to help us out.
I know nothing about HVAC but I do know about good customer service, knowledgeable people, and people I can trust. Josh is all of those things. He came to our house diagnosed the problem and set up a time to come and fix it on Monday, which he did (Please note this was Saturday afternoon so Monday was when he could get the part he needed).
Our heat is now working great and I have already talked about working with Josh on a new project...he's also an electrician!

Funny if you read through Josh's reviews there is a lot of agreement about the one most important thing:He is there when you need him and he gets the job done. That's the Josh that showed up at my rental property the evening of of the SF-Seattle game ( when all other able bodied plumber humans in the Bay Area are out of commission, whether they are diamond certified or not, I learned after many calls for assistance). and not only did he deal with the urgent heating issue but he fixed a less urgent shower flow problem on the same visit.  His price was fair, given how responsive he was and how much he got done. To othe reviewer, I never met a plumber who didn't charge or one hour the minute they set foot in the house, whether they are coming from next door, or clear across town. That's how it works. He accepted my credit card, and I would definitely call him again. Communicative, reliable, and interested in providing service when you need it

Josh saved me $7000 by finding the cause of low water pressure and no hot water in 2 sinks. We were being quoted thousands of dollars to do repiping throughout the whole house, by other plumbing companies. He actually cared about saving me as much money as possible by looking for the blockages...instead of doing complete copper.
Josh is a nice guy and I highly recommend his company.

Josh is truly a master plumber!  He offered to take credit cards or check and was very affordable.  I found him to be very professional and great with suppliers and the manufacturer in all his discussions.

Our unique, and expensive, water heater was cycling over and over and not engaging.  Josh methodically eliminated possible causes until he determined the switch that failed and sure enough it was rusted on the inside.  He researched his contacts including the manufacturer and everyone said we need to replace the entire blower for $600-800.  Josh was able to find a similar switch for $10 which got us up and running.  He then helped us work with the manufacturer to register it and use the warranty (we had only 3 days left on it).  Once we were under warranty, the manufacturer totally changed their tune and said they could just send us the switch part (saving themselves the $600-800).  Happy ending for us, though!  Josh was able to help us get the true replacement part from the manufacturer and we didn't have to buy an entire assembly or replace the water heater.  Josh had great follow through and was very responsive.

I highly recommend Josh.

I came home the Thursday before 4th of July to find our downstairs bathroom was flooded.  It's 4:30 in the afternoon before a 3 day weekend.  Josh was at our house two hours later and would not leave until the job was done right.  Assumed given the last minute unscheduled visit, this was going to cost an arm and a leg.  To be clear, it wasn't cheap but given the amount of work that needed to be done, I could not be happier.  Qualify work is hard to find and... I've found my plumber...

It's the week between Christmas and New Year's and my tubs are backed up. I called four referrals. One could come in two days, and the others weren't available until after the first of the year. I needed a shower! Finally, I reached Josh, at about 1:00 p.m. By 4:30, my tubs were draining properly, and as an added  bonus, he even fixed my loose toilet seat.

Super competent, speedy service, from an all-around nice guy. Fair price, too. I'll be calling him again.

Sunday afternoon plumbing emergency.

Yeah, been there, done that, wrote favorable Yelp review, but we couldn't reach the guy we'd used before, so based on what we read on Yelp this time, we tried calling Josh at Montclair Rooter Plumbing and Heating.

Josh analyzed, described, and fixed the situation.  He explained in terms I could almost completely understand how in this case running the dishwasher and the washing machine had resulted in a sudden, dramatic, highly unpleasant backup in two toilets, two showers, and a bathtub.  He also explained how some of the factors in the layout of the house and pipes have led to recurring problems, and identified some of the least intrusive ways to partially alleviate those problems.

Then the surprise finale:  Josh cleaned and sanitized the toilets, showers, and bathtub, and did it in about a quarter of the time that we were expecting it to take us once he was gone (and probably one and a half times as effectively).

The several additional positive things I could add have already been said in other reviews here, so I'll save my energy and let the sentences I've already written and the five stars speak for themselves.

Josh was incredible in the recent atmospheric river event. Our home's sump pump and drainage systems were overcome, and our first floor flooded. Josh got to us quickly with the right equipment, saved the day and thousands of dollars. Josh went the extra miles, stayed with us past midnight cleaning up and left us an emergency pump for the night. Many thanks and no greater recommendation from our family.

Josh came out on a Saturday, same day as I called, to fix a busted pipe on my water heater and a few other things that he noticed while in my crawlspace. Josh know's what he's doing. He was fast and communicates well. Josh is fun guy to chat with. I will definitely be calling him again next time.

Josh fixed our sink problem in no time! It definitely wasn't as straight forward as I had thought. Good thing I didn't try and fix it myself (original plan)! Thank you Josh!!

Expert work. Reasonable rate. Exceptional responsiveness and customer service. What more do you need?

I'm truly stunned by a recent poor review -- this was the polar opposite of our experience and I can only assume there was a breakdown in communication somewhere. Is Josh talkative? Yes. But we found that a refreshing change from the often surly demeanor we've experienced with other service providers. Is he a rockstar plumber? Unequivocally, yes!

We had a clog somewhere deep in the pipes past our garbage disposal, and grungy water was backing up into our kitchen sink. With a hosted holiday party fast approaching, that's not a good thing! Called our usual plumber but he was booked for a week. Calls to three more plumbers went unreturned. Finally a friend took pity and passed along her secret weapon -- Josh. He picked up the phone immediately even though I was calling at 7:45 p.m. He was friendly, reassuring, and best of all said he'd be able to get here in 20 minutes! When I told him it wasn't an emergency and could wait until morning, he said not to worry, he'd be happy to handle it now.

20 minutes later, he was indeed here. He quickly diagnosed the problem (future note to self: do *not* use the garbage disposal as an actual garbage repository for pounds of food!), located the convoluted venting and drainage system in our older house, and climbed up on the roof to access the drain vent. He warned us that with our ancient pipes we might be in a bit of trouble and said he'd start with the lowest level of motorized rooter/snake thing to try to avoid potential damage. Lo and behold, within 5 minutes of his expert attention the drain cleared and the kitchen sink was again fully functional, and no damage to our poor pipes. Woo!

He's an upbeat, personable, and (yes) talkative guy who really knows his stuff. He took some time explaining how the plumbing was constructed in our house, answered a few really newbie questions from me and my husband, and was fun to chat with as well. Very competitive/reasonable rate (about half the price that Roto Rooter would have charged), and he gave us a referral discount thanks to my friend (much appreciated!).

I have worked with dozens of plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and the like (did I mention it's an old house?), and after just this one visit Josh ranks up there with the best of them. He's got our business going forward, no doubt about it.

Got the toilet fixed tonight. Thank you Montclair Rooter Plumbing & Heating!!! Josh you rock!!! Showing up within hours of me calling was really appreciated.

Josh was our LIFESAVER tonight. After being jerked around by our landlord for a month we finally began calling heating companies ourselves to get our heater fixed before friends visiting from out of town arrive this weekend. When I called, Josh answered almost immediately and when I explained the problem and the urgency, he said he could come the same night. He asked a ton of questions that my husband was able to describe and answer and we sent him pictures by text so he could fully see what he was getting into. When every guy before him was telling our landlord it would have to be fully replaced at quotes of $1200 and up, he came in wayyyyy under that and was able to repair the unit for us. He was also so kind to deal with our crazy and extremely difficult landlord by phone. He even ran to Home Depot to get a part when he realized the last guy had damaged a valve when trying to fix another part. All in all he was a godsend tonight and we are so grateful for the heat, just in the nick of time!
The only thing I would note is that he has a bold and vibrant personality that we found endearing, hilarious, and honest while some people might find it off the cuff. He runs his business like a local Mom and Pop shop, but he clearly has many years of experience. And he will definitely ask you periodically to look at things - he wants you to understand the processes and see the honest work he's doing, some might find this disruptive, so don't call him over if you can't make time for him to do a thorough job. He is honest, hardworking, and extremely thorough - we are so thankful and will be calling Josh for any future heating or plumbing needs!

FANTASTIC FIVE STAR CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!  I called and reached Josh on a Saturday morning and he arrived ON TIME for my SAME DAY appointment!!!!  My shower was draining into my tub...not something you want to see.  Josh knew immediately upon my description what was going on and fixed the problem quickly and thoroughly!!!  Josh even cleaned my shower and tub!!!  I highly recommend Josh and would hire him again if needed!!!!!

Wow, I can't say enough good things about Josh; he's courteous, on time, silly, so knowledgeable in so many other fields  and to top it all off... with great rates! Josh is a true lifesaver & I can't wait for him to come back to help me with my  other disasters!!!!

Josh was timely, effective and very pleasant to work with. I highly recommend him if you have plumbing issues.

Josh came to our rescue and saved our water heater which became submerged in two feet of water following one of our recent California monster storms.  Blind luck lead me to go down into the basement that afternoon quickly before I left to pick up my boys from their respective after-school programs.  Instead of a quick task, I found myself staring at 2-3 feet of standing water in my basement and with the rain pounding with little indication of stopping I realized that 2-3 feet would quickly give way to several more inches/feet within hours.  Our sump pump had picked a poor time to surrender.  

I called my wife who was out of town on travel (in a particular application of Murphy's Law whereby home disasters seem to only occur when one or the other of us is hundreds of miles away) who gave me a few numbers including Josh's who as recommended by a friend of ours.  Josh was my second call and I got his voicemail (the first to-be unnamed plumber told me they wouldn't be able to come over for a couple of days).  I left a message and headed for the door to pick up my boys as quickly as possible in order to get back quickly in case he called back and was available to fix the pump, resolved to try calling a couple more plumbers from the car.  Josh called back before I reached the front door.  I explained the situation and he agreed to come over as soon as returned home with the boys (text me when you are 10 minutes away and I will meet you there.).

Josh arrived promptly and after spending some time assessing the situation and gathering information from me, Josh waded into the basement to start pumping water out with a portable pump while he checked out the outlet for the sump pump.  As it turned out, a recent power outage had surged the circuit the pump was plugged into and he merely had to reset the outlet and voila! the pump engaged and pumped the remaining water efficiently out.  Problem #1 solved (though I felt silly since Josh charges a $50 fee to come assess the problem and provide a quote if needed).  

Feeling like I had dodged a bullet, Problem #2 soon emerged as the water drained way: the water heater, set on the floor, had been submerged in the flood and the pilot light which sits at the base of the unit was extinguished.  Josh tried resetting the pilot several times with no success.  He suggested that the igniter might just need time to dry and suggested that I wake up early the next morning to try to reignite the switch (before leaving Josh made sure I knew what I was doing by making me demonstrate how I would relight the switch without blowing the house up).  When the igniter still wouldn't light the next morning, Josh returned to determine whether the heater could be salvaged though he suspected a new heater would be required given the circumstances.  

After trial and error and after essentially dismantling and reassembling the entire water heater igniter (while also ordering a new igniter as a back up option), the pilot light lit up and stayed lit (after some effort the pilot had previously lit but would quickly die out).  Many other providers would have given up and recommended purchasing a new heater - which seemed unfortunate but reasonable given the amount of water that had soaked the bottom of the unit.  But Josh seemed to take the challenge personally and would not give up until he had exhausted every possible way to save the equipment.  And it worked.  More impressively, Josh called me back several hours later that day to confirm the pilot was still lit (he insisted I go back to the basement while he stayed on the line to double-check even though hot water was coming out of the sink) as he was leaving another customer and could swing back by on the way home if needed.

Josh can be an acquired taste - he is gregarious and talks with a stream-of-consciousness that some could find annoying or others might find helpful.  I fall into the latter category as I appreciated hearing the thought process of watching someone good at their craft walk down the issues one by one until reaching resolution.  Further, Josh was fantastic with my two young boys who watched fascinated as he worked the night before in the sludge.  He even gave my older son a task of wearing a headlamp and having him point it where he was working, then allowed my son to keep the headlamp as payment for his fine services.  Way to build a clientele of the future! Josh's services aren't the cheapest, though he was certainly more affordable then having to buy a whole new water heater and then having to pay someone to install it.  And along the way, Josh found himself some loyalty and into my contact list.  Hopefully I won't need to see him any time soon, but if I do I feel like I am in good hands.

I just had a negative experience with Josh. My husband called him before we read about his questionable license status. He was responsive and helpful. When I called back to clarify whether he was licensed, he said his license was inactive. I said I wanted to clarify this with the State Board, but please to continue to follow up on the job. He agreed to do this.  When I decided not to use him 5 minutes later, I called him back and he said, That's all right, I already took your job off the board. When I noted that this was contrary to the fact that he had agreed to continue the job unless he heard that I was cancelling, he said, I could tell by your voice you were cancelling.  I said that  I had not cancelled initially and that wasn't cool as he had agreed to continue the job unless he heard from  me, he started arguing with me. I do not recommend his service. I was recently scammed by a company that was unlicensed and it left me with no recourse. Hard lessons.

Recommend! Had troublesome low water pressure in bathroom. Checked on pipes beneath the house and found a lot of corrosion in the galvanized pipe joints. Had one plumber look at things. He gave a $6500+ estimate to replace the galvanized with copper, replace the older water heater, replace fixtures in the bathroom which would mean opening up walls. Called another plumber, made an appointment, they never showed up, never called, never returned my call. Called Josh for a second opinion. He not only did trouble shooting in the bathroom and quickly fixed the water pressure issue without opening walls, but also determined I had copper already in the bathroom- so the whole replacement scare and construction was unnecessary. For a few hundred $$ he saved me thousands plus the misery of construction. I still need the galvanized replaced, but he took me though what I would need, explained the process and pointed out where the pipes had critical problems and what would be involved at  a much more reasonable price now that I don't need the bath fixed.  Josh returns calls promptly, shows up and/or calls when he says he will, and is customer service sensitive. Excellent communication, and kindly fixed a few other non-plumbing issues I had (on the clock but I was grateful he was even willing to do them).

Like someone said, Josh never stops talking.
He will explain what's wrong with your boiler, how it works, safety issues and even will test you at the end about his lecture.

He knows what he's doing and tries very hard to fix the problem with minimum replacement. I really liked that he said we should keep our 100 years old boiler and not replace with new one. Others would just want to replace the whole thing without looking.
Highly recommended.

Josh was awesome, I had a clogged kitchen sink due to broken garbage disposal unit and he came the very day I called - he even showed up after work- and fixed my sink and replaced my garbage disposal unit with a brand new one.  I'll definitely call Josh for any future problems that may occur and highly recommend him.