Alewife Company

Alewife has come through twice now, delivering excellent service throughout. They are clear about timing (same day, arrived earlier than expected both times, called beforehand) and go out of their way to solve the problem. Behaved very professionally, taking their time to properly diagnose the problem, fix it (running out to get parts where needed), and to explain what happened.

Importantly, pricing is very reasonable - they could take advantage of the situation (e.g., when something is leaking through your floor/ceiling) like other plumbers and don't. Tried a few other plumbing companies through the years and have been disappointed each time - Alewife is now the go to!

Excellent company Have  been using Alewife for over 20 years for many services and projects including plumbing and heating
All of the Alewife crew are very well mannered, professional and knowledgeable. Scheduling service is easy and the office does a wonderful job with keeping customers updated on arrival times. Pricing is fair
Also they offer 24/7 emergency service which is very comforting
I highly recommend Alewife and plan to continue using them in the future

Howard B
Cambridge

The charge was $155. an hour for labor, and an additional $104 for parts, whereas the task was to replace a gasket for a faucet that dripped even though shut off.  I think that rate was too high; there are just as good plumbers at lower cost.

Good job several weeks ago. Resolved problems, plumber was masked. replaced Toto toilet valve. Other plumber suggested replacing toilet for $$$$$.

satisfied customer. Will use them again.

I used Alewife Co to replace a leaking water heater that was out of warranty. Victor checked my current water heater for any applicable warranties and quoted me efficiently for replacement. Easily scheduled the install and was able to move up the replacement to an eariler available date. Phil installed the new unit quickly and answered all my questions throughout the process. Will definitely recommend Alewife Co for any plumbing needs.

Alewife has really gone down in their service but more importantly, their honestly.

We have used them for years and have freely referred neighbors and friends to them as well--but no more!

They did a plumbing job for us, fairly simple and straight forward, and within weeks had to re-do it and they charged us again.

This is utterly absurd and unethical.

I am wondering if they changed ownership or what has changed in the last 1-2 years because I have seen a drastic change in their service and honesty.

Alewife made a call on Saturday when water was coming into our apartment from the ceiling. Very knowledgable, professional, and great service to solve our issue.

Our zone valve was about 1/2 century old.  There was a question about whether the shut-off valves would hold.  Our plumber was able to get the old shut-off valves to work and was able to replace the zone valve in less than an hour.  The replacement zone valve that Alewife Company recommended has replaceable innerds so the next repair will be much easier, hopefully in another 50 years.  The plumber was very courteous and timely.

Plumber was on time and responsive, but they charged me a ridiculous amount for my service.   Nearly 4 X what the person said on the phone.   If you use them get a quote confirmed in advance.   For me, that was the last time I am calling them.

be using them for years...... had them go into tenants apartment and plumber literally spent 5 minutes and still charged $150...asked Victor for some consideration as they did nothing  being a long time customer and they could care less...

I was a loyal customer for years, but have seen them go downhill over the last few visits. Most recently, I described a simple job to them on the phone and they quoted me an hourly rate. However, once the job was done, I was asked to pay a ridiculously large amount of money and told that this particular work carried a fixed fee. It was a fifteen minute job for them. If I had known the cost to me, I would have done it myself even if it required a couple of hours.

Details:

(1) The job required one part. I could have purchased the exact same part myself for half of what they charged me.

(2) They did the job poorly and had to come back to fix it. Even worse, they tried to blame us for messing it up after they left, which is not true--we just turned on the water to make sure all was well.

(3) They left a big mess on both visits, which we had to clean up.

(4) They were rude.

I had great experiences with this company in the past, with their plumbers being courteous, skilled, and reasonable in cost. Unfortunately, it seems that era has passed.

It matters a lot who you get.

2 years ago, they sent Rob to fix my furnace and he did an excellent job both of diagnosing the issue and educating me about what he was doing.

This year, they sent Pat.  He misdiagnosed the problem, and recommended an expensive solution that would not have helped (a friend later successfully diagnosed the issue).  He was uncomfortable explaining to me what he was doing and became defensive when I started asking questions.

DO NOT USE! I had no heat in my home and was told on a Wednesday before Thanksgiving they couldn't come out due to traffic.  I was then  promised a call and service first thing Friday morning.   Never heard back until 130pm and when I called back and spoke with Victor he said all his guys were gone for the day.   No notice and gave me a 15 minute window to be home.  In my frustration as I have no heat he told me to find someone else and it wasn't his problem.  It's not how anyone should conduct themselves professionally or speak to customers.  I've never had a worse experience and unprofessional encounter in my life.  Now I have no heat for my family for a week because Victor doesn't care about his customers.  Be careful with this company.   It's folks like this that show they don't care about people.

*Follow up 12/7/16:  Victor is clearly delusional as he responded blaming the customer.  What company places blame on their customers begging for a service.   Most professional companies do not require a customer to continuously call back and chase down a company when they know the customer has no heat and has requested service.   You couldnt make it Wednesday due to YOUR schedule, didnt call me back as promised, gave me 30 minute window to be home on Friday.   Wow, Victor,  you are something else.   And rates were inapplicable as this service was provided through my management company.   Lie after lie after lie.   I will be sharing this with everyone i know in the Boston area.   There is a reason multiple folks have provided similar 1 star experiences.   I hope you improve your professionalism in a hurry.

Great guys. Hired them to help fix a mixer cartridge for my shower that was causing it to leak. Sent them some photos of the valve to Victor and he said he could have someone over the next day to get it fixed. Rob came in the next day and was great.

Hired them again for installation of a hot water heater filter. The installation went fine but the filter housing was too tight for me to change it. Called them a few times (was traveling a lot so it was hard to do a good follow-up) and they came back to help install a brace (no extra cost) so that opening the filter wouldn't break my pipes. Also helped me debug why the filter was so tight the first time they installed it.

The guys are professional and stand by their work which is so important to me as a customer. Would strongly recommend them for anyone looking for plumbing help.

Rob did a great job.  He checked out our boilers, replaced an overflow valve (years ago while fixing a gas leak he noticed the valve was leaking and said to keep an eye on it -- as predicted, the leak eventually got worse and needed to be fixed).  Rather than disassemble the boiler to see if there was any internal soot buildup he reached in with his cell phone to take a video -- saved at least an hour to confirm the boiler was clean.

Highly recommended.

I'm not normally one to give out 5 stars, but after dealing with Addario's 0-star quality, fat-ass-plumber-butt-with-skid-marks-included shit show , the service from the Alewife Company was like a getting a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, personally bearing a gift basket of beer and brats wrapped in bacon, showing up on my doorstep lookin' for a good time. No joke.

Now if they only actually had a real Dallas Cowboys cheerleader...

Seriously though, the service was not only beyond the call of duty, but also priced far far below what something of its quality should get. In other words, great service, even greater value. I gotta hand it to these guys, they know the Cambridge clientele and speak the speak. I think my plumber may have had a PhD, he was that intelligent.

I don't know what else to say - they were courteous, professional, punctual, and most of all, HONEST.

Til next time.

Used them to install a electric hot water tank that was under warranty.  They charged $1028 that is $200 more than I paid for the new tank and this one was under warranty.  It seems they have doubled the amount they charge for labor.  $774 in labor charges absolutely ridiculous.  Will not use them again!

My shower stopped working. The water didn't come out when I turned the handle. I thought the problem could be with some of the valve parts. I bought the replacement parts and called Alewife to replace them. I also told them, in case this doesn't solve the problem, we should go from there based on their advice. The appointment process was fairly smooth.

One plumber came. He showed up on time, and replaced the parts. This didn't solve the problem. He thought the problem could be with another part (which I hadn't bought). Based on his recommendation, I bought the remaining part and replaced it myself. That didn't solve the problem either.

After several trips to Home Depot, and several hours, I have identified and solved the problem myself. The issue wasn't with any parts at all. The water was blocked because of the accumulation of lime in one corner of the pipe. I bought CLR (calcium, lime, rust) cleaner from the local store. I cleaned the blocked area and put back the parts. The water started to flow again.

Based on this experience, my evaluation is that Alewife provides pretty average service. They will get basic tasks done, but they will not necessarily solve complicated plumbing problems. They might also misguide you. In fact, in retrospect, my problem was hardly complicated. I would expect an experienced plumber to identify (or at least, think about) this issue before sending me out to buy new parts.

Replacing boilers suck!  Especially when it's cold out (we did ours in April).  They did a great job of completing it quickly, professionally and we always had hot water when they left.  They had to fit a big thing in a tiny little closet space, and did  a great job of getting it to work all within the state requirements for safety, etc.  It only took them about 4 days to complete the process, including having the inspector come by.

It's always spendy to replace a boiler, but shop around.  At least contractors will call you back, since this won't be a measly paid job.  Also check your home warranty (if you have one)...ours reimbursed us for it.

I can officially comment on the cost now. One plumbing company (Boston Standard) told us it would be $1,200 to fix our leaky bathroom sink. Alewife came out, charged $85 an hour for labor (1 1/2 hours), and instead of selling me their new faucet (which was roughly $80), they gave me a heads up to go to Home Depot and buy my own ($30). They installed that one for me, and I escaped with a much lower bill than Boston Standard.

And again, everyone I've encountered there has been amazingly nice.

the office lied to us about the cost of this job and was dishonest when we tried to fix the situation. Not interested in solid relationship, Too bad...

Donald, was the awesome, friendly, professional guy sent to our house on first call.
He showed up 7.30am on the dot, all prepared for action.

And he was so kind in explaining what happened to our boiler (pilot light went out) and how easy it was for him to fix it.

The folks on the phone were really helpful as well, even though I didn't get a call-back the first day I called, and had to call in again. I probably messed up telling them my number, but it doesn't matter. They were upfront about their charges during regular and emergency hours, we waited 2 days (since it was so warm out and it was half as cheap during regular hours) to get someone assigned.

Another nice touch that I appreciated, he cleaned the soles of his shoes before trudging indoors with shoes on. We had a no-shoes policy at home.

When your heat went out or basement is flooded? Who you gonna call?

Alewife Company!!!!

They arrived on time, were professional and friendly, and did a great job in short order at a fair price.  I couldn't ask for anything more and I'll be calling the again the next time I need any plumbing done.

Prompt service with competent workers, but the billing practices are extremely worrisome. When we asked about the price of a hot water heater on the phone, we were told that it would be some X dollars, but then we were given an unitemized bill that was arbitrarily higher (expected, given labor) and when we asked for itemization they refused claimed that they don't do that. In the end, I'm not unhappy with the work, but I really feel as if I was treated as if I had no other options, and that's never a good feeling for the customer.

I called for an estimate and made an appointment at 7:30 am because I needed to get to work by 9 am. On the day of the appointment, 7:30 rolls around and... no plumber and no phone call. I call the office to see what happened, and the lady tells me that the appointment got pushed back to 12 noon because something came up. Um, okay. Couldn't someone have called me to tell me that and ask if 12 noon is an okay time for me? Do these people think that I have nothing to do all day except wait at home for a plumber to show up whenever it is most convenient for him?

They may be good plumbers but I do not want to give my business to a company that does not respect my time.

I've used Alewife Company a half dozen times or so over the past three years; they are very reliable, will do any job large (leaking furnace & flooded garage) or small (clogged garbage disposal), and are reasonably priced.

Last week during the blizzard, our heat started to blow cold air. I tried everything to fix the thermostat and furnace, all to no avail, then left Alewife a message the next morning. The servicemen returned my call within an hour. He said the office is closed, and if he were to come over he'd have to charge overtime (which I'd have been fine with), so he troubleshooted the situation over the phone with me, and we got the heat working again -- and they didn't charge me for their time. The next morning they called to see if it was still working. (It was.)

I've only had very positive experiences with this company -- they are reliable, honest, and have great customer service. I highly recommend Alewife Company.

Alewife Co may do a good job at fixing plumbing--in fact, as far as I can tell, that seems to be the the case.

This company has left me feeling very upset, however, because of the way that it handled my credit card information, putting me at risk of losing a great deal of money.

I have summer subletters staying in my apartment right now, while I stay in another city. A leak happened, so I asked if I could pay for something via credit card over the phone, and the friendly plumber reluctantly agreed. In the plumber's defense, he expressed hesitation about me paying over the phone. I suppose I should have just canceled the whole plumbing thing once the plumber sounded reluctant to have me pay over the phone. He eventually said yes, though, and I needed to get this leak fixed from afar, so I went ahead and paid over the phone. When I paid over the phone, the plumber wrote down all my credit card info on the receipt, which I find problematic because one ought to keep credit card information secret. The plumber left the receipt (and all my credit card info) with my summer subletters, and I presume he must have taken another copy of the receipt (also with all my credit card info) back to the office and left it laying around there. I guess, because the plumber usually takes payment in a different manner, he lacked training on how to handle credit card information. I forgive the nice plumber, but what happened next really bothered me. Two problems occurred:

First, right after I used Alewife Company, someone started using my credit card to buy lots of very expensive things online, and I got a message from the bank warning me that someone had stolen my card. I doubt Alewife Co itself would steal my credit card info. I do think, however, that someone unscrupulous probably ended up seeing my credit card info because of having it all written on the receipt. An honest mistake on the plumber's part, but still very upsetting for me.

Second, while on my bank's website examining the recent fraudulent charges, I noticed that Alewife Co had charged me THREE TIMES for the service! It seems the company accidentally charged me twice, and then, realizing the mistake, intended to credit me back one of the charges, but instead accidentally charged me a third time. Again, an honest mistake, but very upsetting to me. Because the plumbing cost a great deal of money, multiplying that money by three went far beyond my budget. When I called Alewife Co to point out that I had gotten charged three times, the person on the phone argued with me and insisted that I had only gotten charged once. I wish the person on the phone would have acted sensitive to how upsetting it feels to get charged so much extra money, and all this on top of having one's credit card info stolen. The person on the phone seemed rude and unconcerned. The person on the phone said that someone would follow up with me soon, but that never happened. I called myself to follow up and spoke to another rude person who refused to take a proper message about the matter. I then had to send a follow up email. Someone wrote back to my email, but, still, nothing happened to give me back my money. So, I contested the extra charges to my credit card company. My credit card company then called Alewife Co, and Alewife Co apparently told my credit card company (falsely) that it had paid me back via PayPal!? Then, finally, Alewife Co credited me back the two extra charges.

In the end, the lease got fixed, and I have all my money. But I feel very dissatisfied and mistreated.

Had Alewife come out to my place this morning to fix a leaky toilet and increase the temperature in my shower.  Showed up on time, fixed everything as requested.  Neat and timely.  would definitely use again and recommend!

After a fill valve in my heating system gave out on a weekend and flooded my basement, Robert from Alewife Co walked me right through the process.  They promptly returned my call, which isn't common in my experience with plumbers.  Based on a picture I emailed of the valve, they walked me through the problem and explained what I can do to shut off just hot water and still have running water in my house.  While they could have come out then, they explained all the options, billing rates, and set expectations of all the work that needed to be performed to fix the problem.

The following Monday Robert came out and spent about three hours fixing that issue and a bunch of others with leaky valves found in my old heating system.  Everything was explained; from the work that was done to what I need to do to look after my radiators in the future.  

So I'll absolutely use them again.  The best thing about my experience was that they were very responsive, set the right expectations from the beginning, and did exactly what they promised.  There weren't any surprises with the service or the final bill.

I dealt with Mike and Donald, when I remodeled a kitchen in Beacon Hill.  They were great.

We knocked down walls and needed Alewife to reroute the gas and water lines that were in the old walls.  Donald did the work, and he took extra time to hide the pipes.  When space is tight, that makes a big difference.

They also added plumbing for a new washer and a kick-space heater.

They were easy to deal with and responsive when small issues came up.  Plus, the price was competitive.  I'm very happy with the work and highly recommend them.

When my apartment's one toilet was clogged beyond my abilities, I needed fast and reliable service. I called Alewife one weekday morning (around 10am) and they had someone come out that afternoon. They were great about giving me a warning call about an hour beforehand so that I could run home from work.

The plumber who visited my house was friendly, polite and got the job done quickly. Their flat rate for a plugged toilet (including travel) is $135, which for Cambridge is definitely fair. They take check, cash and card.

Would definitely recommend, and will definitely return if I need any more plumbing done!

I had an ongoing problem with a leaky bathroom tub faucet. I had it fixed twice, but the drip would start again about 6 months to a year after each fix.

Mark from Alewife came and found the core problem and replaced ALL the right parts.

Both the office person and Mark the plumber were nice, professional and intelligent. I called on Wed and they came on Thursday.

Standard pricing, $92 for labor per hour plus parts; but it is worth it to have to job done right.

We had a great experience with Patrick on Veteran Day. We had a frozen spigot leaking water and tenants were unable to cut the water off. When we reached him by phone late on a Saturday night, he said he would go to our home with in a couple of hours when he finished another job and that he would call us on the way. That's exactly what he did.  He fixed the problem right away and was thorough in his explanation.  Of course, the charges reflected weekend late night hours but we felt they were reasonable and greatly appreciated the good service.  Does what he says he will and does it well. We really appreciate that!         Connie & John L.

No hot water from the boiler and I called different places that all had the closest appointment a week out.  I called Alewife and since they're close by, they sent someone faster than we could get home - within the hour.  It was a simple switch replacement on our water heater.  Not super cheap, but definitely worth it and reasonalbe given the headache it would've caused to figure it out ourselves or book another appointment so far out.  Great service.

Just had Jim from Alewife company check out my tenant's gas heating unit, he diagnosed the problem in no time and fixed it at a reasonable price, can highly recommend their services, Rob, another plumber there is fantastic as well.
When calling the office, make sure to ask for Victor, he is the best!

Excellent professional fair and competent service. They did a number of jobs for me as planned in time and with a minimum of fuss.  Good work would hire them again in a minute

I'm the victim of another Ecoflush, pressure-assist tank failure... Alewife came out right away, diagnosed.  I ran out, bought a new toilet and they scheduled to install two mornings later.  Dan arrived right on time, kept the floors protected, appropriate amount of time to replace, friendly.  Had a sink stopper problem that he quickly fixed as well. Disposed of old toilet for me.  Reasonable on all fronts, no bilking whatsoever -- wouldn't hesitate to call them again.

Excellent from start to finish. Talked me out of a total kitchen sink replacement.  Gave me all the info I needed to buy a good faucet.  Plumber on time and quick. Work well done.

I love Alewife plumbing, they are everything you'd want in plumber. Great response, clear explanation of the work to be done and the cost, on time, very fair on their pricing and professional!  
I had a different plumbing company out before them that said I needed a $260 repair, that Alewife did for $10, while taking care of another major problem.  
I can't say enough good things about them, after having all kinds of services on my older home, I wish they were all run like Alewife.

I have used Alewife over the past few years both at the business I GM as well as at friends' houses and my own. They have always proven to be timely, affordable, informative, and most importantly, good at what they do. They all seem happy, which proves that they are treated well and are all around a pleasure to work with!

I had one very good experience with Alewife Co. years ago, so I called them again when I needed help again. Unfortunately they could not deliver service this time at the agreed upon time. I agreed to a 4 hour , 9 - 1 service slot  today, 10 days ahead of time. It was no show, no call by noon, so I called to check and my appointment time was confirmed and I was promised a call back after a check-in with the assigned plumber, which I did not receive. Then I called back a few minutes after 1, the end of the time window, was put on hold for a couple minutes, and was told that the plumber might arrive in 30-40 minutes. When I asked why I had not received a call back as promised, I was told that the plumber might not have had service in the basement of wherever he was working when the message was originally left, and that they were waiting to hear back from him before calling me.  the plumber did arrive about 40 minutes later, but I no longer had hours to spare for him to do the work until the later afternoon.

My view is that a 4 hour window is large, and allows a lot of slack for scheduling delays, earlier appointments taking longer than planned, people out sick, emergencies and so on. By the same token, it allows a lot of time to notify your customer that you are running late and to ask whether rescheduling is warranted.

I will start over with another company which treats my time with more respect.  Because I had a very good experience some years ago and didn't submit a review then, I am averaging my old 5-star and new 1-star experience in the rating...

I, and our condo association (6 Units), have been using Alewife for years and we've always been happy with them.  (And I've said as much when they called later for a phone survey)

But they've likely just lost me as a customer in one fell swoop.

We had to get our hot water tank replaced.  I called and spoke to a very nice woman (Cheryl?) who quoted us a price based on our tank being under warranty (which she confirmed via phone after I read her the serial number off the tank).

Later that day she called back and said that she was sorry, but she was mistaken - the tank wasn't under warranty after all.  But she'd adhere to the quoted price even though she'd have to use a stock tank.  We agreed, scheduled an install and I thanked her.

Days go by and the morning of the scheduled installation I get a call from someone else at the office saying that they need the warranty information to get the quoted price.  I explained my conversation and he responded, I can't honor that price.

He dropped the price a bit, but it was still almost two hundred dollars over what was quoted.  I had already planed on being home for the day for the install, talked with the other members of the building about the details of getting the tank replaced and started to collect the reimbursement.

I was in a bind and had them do the work because if not we'd have to start all over again and it had already been weeks w/o hot water for the laundry.

They've always been really nice on the phone and the plumbers who come out to the house, which is why I gave them two stars instead of one.

But now I know I can't trust quoted prices from them and know that they don't review these things until the last minute, leaving the customer in a what do we do now? situation.  I felt screwed.

That few hundred bucks to them just cost them my business and potentially the other 5 units in my building.

I don't think Alewife is malicious or scamming people out of money - I think they just did the wrong thing when it came to taking care of their customers.

I'm planning on going to Banner Pipe next time.  I met the owner at a business meeting in Somerville and he seemed really nice and very customer focused.

awesome, Awesome, AWESOME!!! I wish I had found them sooner - would have saved me at least $2000 on my kitchen and bathroom renovation.  Bought my place in Cambridge 7 years ago and the boiler had a big sticker from Addario's Plumbing (now my ex-plumbers) on it so I called them when needed work done which wasn't often until the past year.  Did not hire a specific company to renovate my guest bath and kitchen so I called them when needed plumbing.  I was shocked when they charged me $600 to replace the old toilet with the new one I bought online and had delivered and waiting for them and another $770 to connect the new bathroom sink. They charge per task no matter how long it takes them and they bring a book with the prices listed for each specific task. The plumbers charge was more then the new tile, the sink, the vanity, new toilet, new fan, and lights all put together! The carpenter, electrician and tile installer worked way more hours their bills seemed reasonable.  
So I decided I had to look for a new option because I was going to need my new kitchen sink, faucet, disposal and dual-fuel stove hooked up and did not have several thousand dollars in my budget to spend on couple hours of plumbing work.  I swear, am not exaggerating about their prices.
So I turned to yelp looking for a plumber with excellent reviews and hourly rate and I found Alewife Company.  
This is where there should be an icon I could insert that would play the sound one hears in a cheesy movie when a miracle happens or an angel appears from heaven.  
I called them, told the guy on the phone I was getting countertops in the morning and wanted to know if they could come after 12 to connect everything.  He said no problem and to call him day before when I knew exact times for counter installer. I was skeptical because was a week away but when I called to confirm times, he remembered the job and made it happen. Donald - my new plumber sent from heaven - arrived 15 min early and had to wait for me because I ran out for coffee.
He was super nice, explained things to me and was done in 2 hours. Total price? $232!!!!!!!   If I had called Addarios, just hooking up sink would have been $770.
This review is already way too long so I won't go on about the emergency repair Donald did on pipes previously worked on by Addario's in a different part of my house.   I have told everyone I know about my new awesome plumber :-)  Now hoping for a second miracle because need a roofer... maybe Donald has a brother?

BEWARE!

For unclogging the sink which takes 10min they quoted the hourly $85 and when they do the work (in 15min), they want to charge $235, TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE!!! arguing that we quoted you for plumbing and not unclogging the sink.

I ended up paying the $85 but beware!!!

One of Alewife's plumber came to unclog my toilets 2 hours after my call. He was really nice. He explained to me what he was doing and what was the cause of the clogging.
135$ for 10 min of working is a bit pricey though, especially for a poor student like me. I was expecting less.

Rob was completely professional, friendly, and got the job done quickly. Arrived on time and called 10 minutes to give me a heads up. I would use them again in a heartbeat!

They are great! After dropping a pearl earring down the bathroom sink's drain, we had decided it would be safer to call a plumber to open the drain trap. When we called Alewife Company, they asked whether there was a drain trap plug and explained how to unscrew (with channel locks), and suggested doing that first, since it would be a straightforward DIY and would save us the cost of a plumber's visit if it worked. The guy was very nice and not rushing to get off the phone even though he was discouraging us from using their services.

It worked! We have the earring back and if we ever have an actual plumbing problem, we will call these guys.

Here I am on the morning of storm Nemo, with no heat in my house.  I checked the furnace myself but had no idea how to fix the problem.  After consulting Yelp reviews, I called the Alewife Company.  The first amazing thing was that they actually answered the phone.  My experience just got better from there.  Mike was incredibly nice and patient and was able to talk me through a short-term fix based on a photo of the furnace that I sent to his cell phone.  My heat is back on!  All this in a 10 minute telephone call.  So far, these guys are terrific.  I will update this review next week after Alewife repairs/replaces my automatic hot water feed.

We had an appointment with them for noon today, and they didn't show up until closer to 2:00 p.m. I understand that they probably have other jobs that they're working on, but it would have been common courtesy if they had called to inform us that they were running late. Or if they had called their dispatcher, if they have a dispatcher, who then could have contacted us. Instead, my boyfriend had to call them more than an hour after the appointment to find out their estimated time of arrival. Not all of us have the luxury to wait around an additional two hours for an appointment in the middle of the day in addition to the time it takes for the service to be done. Building management also used them earlier this month for our apartment. I cannot speak to their promptness for the first time they came out to do repairs, since neither my boyfriend nor I could be present for their first repair visit; however, they used our bathroom hand towels to mop up what I can only assume was toilet water. We had paper towels on the counter that they ignored. I would think that common sense would tell you to use paper towels and not the hand towel. There were also bits of plaster all over the bathroom floor and dirty footprints in the hallway. I would have thought that they would bring towels and other implements to clean up after themselves. Past plumbing services we have used in other apartments have not left such a mess behind.

I came home after a day away to a cold house and a thermostat that was turned off (who knew that thermostats have batteries that need replacing??!).

After replacing the battery the heat still would not come on so I called my regular plumber, who did not pick up the phone and who's mailbox was full, which brought me to Yelp (my failsafe resource) where I found Alewife Co.

They were at my door an hour after I called -- the culprit: frozen pipes. They fixed the problem and the heat came back on, but shut off again later that day after they left. After a second call, the same technician came back and stayed until he was satisfied the problem had been resolved. He also gave me his personal cell phone number to call him that night in case the problem returned.

I'm thrilled with their level of service. It's so nice to actually get a person on the phone and such a quick response time, not to mention such dedication and professionalism. A rare thing these days!

Thank you Alewife Co. You are now my #1 choice for all plumbing needs.

They're our go-to plumbers. We'd tried a few others, but we've found Alewife Co.'s promptness, quality of work, pricing, and willingness to explain options to us to be unbeatable. In the past year, they've handled drain issues, a Christmas morning boiler repair, and a water heater replacement for us, and we've been thrilled with the experience. Their professionals are exactly that, and we'd highly recommend them to anyone in need of plumbing or heating service.

We use Alewife for all of our plumbing repair needs and they are excellent. They can get things done quickly and are tremendously responsive.

These guys are fantastic! We've had nothing bad bad luck with other plumbers before - unreliable, seems like they don't need new work, etc. But Alewife responds quickly  - the same day on 2 of the 3 times we've called. Professional and courteous.

I can't recommend them enough!

Had trouble with our old cast iron hot radiators, although our furnace was fairly new.  The plumber was knowledgeable and quick!  Needed a new hot water circulator. He diagnosed the problem and installed the new pump in just over an hour.

Totally reasonable price.  Upfront about hourly charge.

BTW... I called yesterday, he was here by 8:00am (5 minutes early).  They will be our go to guys for all plumbing and HVAC!

Thanks Alewife Co. for great service!

I had Alewife come to fix my  3 year old furnace 2 weeks ago and it worked ok then yesterday it stopped working.  I had them come to fix again and it worked for about 5 hours.  It has been 45 degrees in my apartment for the past 2 days and they've gone dark.  I've been calling them all day and they are non responsive.  Do not use Alewife!

I used them recently for a very minor fix. They showed up late, had a quick look at the problem, left, came back over an hour later with the part. They cost almost $100/hour, charge for travel and take their sweet, sweet time. Ultimately charged me almost $300 (2 hours labor plus the part), couldn't have been at my apartment for more than 20 minutes total. Next time I'll use someone else, I have definitely had better, cheaper experiences.

SIMPLY THE BEST. I've probably done at least a dozen full or partial renovations of 5 different properties over the last 20 years. Rarely does it go smoothly...and some were the stuff of nightmares. It's just really hard to find good, reliable, reasonably-priced people. Working with Alewife Construction was a revelation, starting from the beginning when the owner himself answered the phone and I told him about my bathroom renovation project. Who knew that a major project could go so smoothly from start to finish? That all promises would be kept, all timelines met, all questions promptly answered, and all calls promptly returned? Victor, Bob and Mike are amazing. And it wasn't an easy job. The plumbing had to be rerouted, a new drain put in, new floor and tiling, etc etc. The speed with which they worked, their regular communication and daily clean-ups were unlike anything I've ever experienced. On top of all that, their price was absolutely fair (I got 3 bids). Bob is an extraordinary project manager. If only I'd known about Alewife 20 years ago I could've saved myself a ton of aggravation and sleepless nights. Many thanks guys for a job well done!

a great and reliable plumbing service. We've been using them for years and they are the best.

Alewife Co. has serviced my home gas heating system for the past few years. Every  year I am extremely pleased with their service, including convenient  and on-time appointments. The service technicians are excellent and provide very clear instructions for how to maintain the system between annual tune-ups. In fact he even took photos and emailed the instructions to me. The pricing is very reasonable too.

Had a great experience with Alewife Company. After being told the only fix was to replace my water heater, for over $2,000 from another place, I decided to shop around. I called and explained the issue, and that afternoon they came out, explained what the issue was, explained how much the parts were to fix it, how much labor was, and in two hours my water heater was repaired for just over $600. Will use them again if any issues come up.

It was a positive experience from the first phone call with the patient and courteous staff (I asked alot of questions) to the beautifully replaced faucet and stop values in our bathroom sink. Rob was fantastic. He was upfront about the costs and what would need to be done. He worked SO EFFICIENTLY and cleaned up after the sink repairs even taking the trash with him. At the end of his visit, he took the time to create an itemized receipt and explain everything that was done and what it cost. I'm making them a permanent contact in my phone--I wouldn't use another plumber!

Our old boiler was only providing heat to about 65 degree, and sprung a leak.  It chose the big snow storm to begin its demise.  The first quote we received for a new gas replacement boiler seemed high so we found Alewife on Yelp and called them. They came over right away and gave us a much more reasonable quote.  They explained everything in detail.  They installed the new system installed in just a couple of days.    Wonderful dependable service.  We also used them to replace parts in a shower valve.  They told us we could get free parts from the manufacturer even though we didn't have much documentation.  We called the manufacturer and received the free parts.  They then installed the parts.  Again, highly recommended.

Highly recommended.   Just bought a condo in an old house in Cambridge - needed someone to check out the boiler and the steam-heat radiators before the winter hits.  Made an appointment with Alewife based on Yelp.  The guy showed up 15 minutes early, did a thorough assessment of the boiler, draining it and checking it.  He waited for the steam heat to kick in and get to each radiator.  He replaced 3 vents, showing me in each case the steam leaking and thus the need for replacement.   He was very thorough, going through all the radiators.   And the total bill was $180.    So in summary:  prompt, professional, thorough, and reasonable.     Will definitely use them again.

Highly recommended, very honest, respond quickly and professionally to phone calls.  We talked to several plumbers about a pretty straightforward kitchen sink replacement job.  We got some surprisingly high quotes, but not from Alewife.  Will be calling them again for the next plumbing project!

I have a Utica boiler that produced no heat when I turned it on for the season. I am fairly new to this homeowner gig, female with no handy guys to tap in such situations so I did the next best thing, I called screened contractors. All were great. They gave me estimates that ranged from $4,600 to $7,000. I only called Alewife as an afterthought even though they are my regular plumber. For some reason I didn't realize plumbers handled furnace work (but of course I also didn't know my furnace was really a boiler -- hey I was raised in Florida). When my Alewife guy arrived he told me I didn't need a new unit, I needed a service call and arranged for someone to come out the next day. Rob showed me how to relight my boiler's pilot, which had blown out over the summer. Instead of spending $4,700 and ruining Christmas, I spent $85 and learned a bit of home maintenance -- along with a few valuable lessons.

I won't say the other contractors were less than professional, they were all very nice ...and perhaps they expected me to have tried all of the obvious solutions before I called them. But I also know that when I offered to turn on the furnace so they could hear what was going on and experience the lack of heat, Alewife was the only who accepted the offer.

This is the third time I have used Alewife and each time the job was well done and I learned a bit more about home maintenance.

I usually go to Macolm and Sons.  They quoted me $1200 to replace a water heater under warranty.  Alewife did the job the next day for $450.  I'm a fan now !

We were unable to control the temperature on our old steam heaters. (Being from the west coast, the system is just about incomprehensible.) I thought that maybe there was a way to set up a control/thermostat. The technician from Alewife came out and patiently explained that there was already a limited control on it. He also showed us exactly how to use it to control the heat, even drawing a diagram. He replaced (for free) the existing knob with a new one that was easier to use. He couldn't have been kinder and more patient. He charged a very reasonable amount for the time he was there. I would definitely use this company again!

Wonderful service. Needed water shutoff valve fixed to get new fridge installed... next day service, price just as quoted over the phone. Will definitely be calling them if I need a plumber in the future.

I don't use 'service companies' very often at all, as I am mostly a DIY/fix it on my own kinda guy. I have never lived on the east coast until three years ago, so when I got here I had NO IDEA how a boiler system/radiator heating system worked.

In late January of 2013, when the temps dropped to 5-10 degrees for about a week straight, my heat died (of course). I live in Dorchester, and started looking around cautiously for a place to come check it out and get it repaired, while keeping an eye out for the 'he came and looked at my boiler and said I needed a new one, so I paid him $2000 to install it!' reviews. Basically, I didnt wanna get ripped off.

I called Alewife Company on Thursday, and they said they would have someone at my place between 12-4pm. The tech, Rob, did not show up until about 5:30pm, but was in contact with me during that time to let me know his time frame. I do not fault them at all for running past the window because a lot of heaters went into working overtime during this week because of the freezing temps, so im sure Alewife was very busy.

Rob came in, talked with me for about 5 minutes about what the issue is that I was having, and then immediately pulled out a voltmeter and started checking for appropriate voltage at all the necessary spots. (Forgot to mention: prior to this my landlord had sent out his regular handyman guy, and had replaced two parts because he simply assumed they were broken. This did not fix the problem which then led the landlord asking me to call a 'regular heating/cooling' company to do the work since the handyman was making no progress after 4 visits). Rob found a problem that had been there since the boiler was installed a few years ago which was causing the problem but had not surfaced AS a problem until now. He also showed me two other things that he heavily recommended be serviced on the system, but he couldn't do it at this time due to it being 7:00pm and not having parts on him he needed. I now have an in-depth understanding of how my system works, thanks to Rob, which made me feel like he was being very honest with me and not trying to throw parts at my boiler in an attempt to make hundreds of dollars off of me during a service call.

Bottom line: I really like Alewife Company as of this experience. Window of time they said they would be at my residence was acceptable. The tech (ASK FOR ROB!) was VERY knowledgeable. I was happy with the price considering it was same-day service and when he left, the problem was solved ($192 for about 2 hours of work; all labor and no parts installed).

This guys are GREAT. I have had to use them twice just recently. I spent almost $400 to have Roto Rooter snake my pipes - problem not solved. I spent less than half that much to have Alewife do it - problem solved. Woke up to a flooded basement, water heater, called Alewife before 7:00 am, job completed by 10:00. So happy to support a local company in my neighborhood. Thanks guys! Also, good guys with great attitudes!

the plumber is nice and professional. The job was done clean. Their labor rate is good. But be aware they add extra time on your bill. I was end up be charged one hour extra.