If there were a way to give 10 stars, I would! I'll use him for any project going forward.
I bid out a moderately small repipe project to several well-reviewed plumbers. I had copper horizontal supply lines under the house but the 3 vertical lines going up into the walls - supplying the toilet, the sink, and the shower - were galvanized with NO dielectric union. So, I decided to have them replaced with copper before I installed my new vanity. I also wanted to maintain the vintage 1930's shower and tub fixtures on the shower.
First - I had several plumbers tell me they wouldn't even take the job unless I replaced with modern fixtures. I explained that I wasn't opposed to modern fixtures if the vintage valves/cartridges/stems couldn't be replaced, but that I wanted to keep the vintage trim if possible. Second - I had a few plumbers tell me it was a 4-hour job and then bid me $2,500 - $3,500. I am not a plumbing contractor but those were the outliers from the majority of the bids, which were under $1,500.
But why did we choose Matt? First, we liked him the best. Matt didn't blink an eye when I asked about refurbishing the existing fixtures. He said he had done several in the area. Second, his quote wasn't fair. It wasn't the cheapest but it was within the reasonable range. He was straightforward, didn't speak down to me (many contractors do), and a timely communicator.
Now, why the 10 stars, you ask? Because first, Matt did quality work. Then, he pulled out every trick in the book to work on my vintage fixtures. He spent hours and hours, took parts home to soak them in special solution, used special tools, and did not once seem frustrated. He told me that sometimes valves are easy, and sometimes they're not, and that's just how it goes. Even though he spent more time on it (and he could have come to me and told me I needed to go with the new fixture), he stuck to his bid. I did give him some extra $ to make up for all the work he did, but he didn't ask me for it.
He also asked me if I wanted to save the old lath strips they were cutting out. My answer was resoundingly YES! For those of you who have had to patch lath-and-plaster walls, having the old lath strips is a lifesaver! The courtesy of asking this was very much appreciated. His assistant (?) was great and they cleaned up very well after themselves.