Beacon Hill Plumbing & Heating

We have used Beacon Hill Plumbing for many years, for large and small jobs. They have always been helpful, responsive, and professional. However, it never occurred to me to rate them on Yelp.   However, recently we were told by an appliance repair technician that we should call a plumber, because of a suspected gas leak. The gentleman who answered the call seemed to take the issue far more seriously than the repair tech, and committed to getting someone over to check it out as quickly as possible. Less than 10 minutes later, the plumber arrived and checked the gas line. It turned out that there was in fact a gas leak. Within minutes he was able to track down the shut off. After assessing the situation, he called his assistant describing the materials needed and got to work removing the damaged pipe. After the assistant arrived with the parts needed, the pipe was replaced in no time. They fixed a potentially dangerous situation quickly and more importantly safely. I highly recommend Beacon Hill Plumbing for jobs both large and small.

Unluckily, I've had quite a few instances where I've needed to call Beacon Hill Plumbing and Heating. Luckily, they're great. They're quick to answer, easy to work with, quick to schedule (especially in emergencies) and I've never been anything less than 100% satisfied with their work. Highly recommended.

Had an emergency - water was everywhere in my kitchen and my unit's shut off valve was busted. Towels, diapers, pans - everything was in play to keep water from flooding my whole building... or at least that's how I felt. I jogged over at 8:30 AM (when they open) and asked for help. I was told they would send a guy as soon as they could. 9:20 AM - all fixed.

Huge relief and really appreciate they saw my desperation and changed up their schedule to fit me into their day. Josh, the plumber was friendly, efficient, and I would happily have him work on our place again (but hope we will not need to).

FYI: While it took less time, they charged me for an hour minimum which I think is fair and reasonable. Seems other reviewers don't - but professionals can't spend all day going to little job to little job and make a living.

I own a condo and my tenant reported that the toilet was leaking between the tank and the bowl. I called BHP and was told they would get there ASAP. Two weeks later I called again and was told they would be there within a week. 10 days later, the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, the problem became an emergency when water began to leak into the downstairs condo. BHP came out and charged for an emergency visit, over $1000, to fix what was originally a simple problem. In addition I now have to pay to repair the ceiling of the downstairs condo. Had they told me they couldn't come in a timely manner I would have called someone else and avoided all of this plus saved myself $1500. Do not use this company.

I was told that I had an appointment at mid-morning, and though they couldn't promise a time, they would call before they come.  After waiting all day, and not hearing from them, I called at 4:30, only to be told that they had another customer with a water heater issue.  
I told him that, while I understand that things come up, he should certainly have called to tell me that they couldn't make it.  Apparently he disagreed.  I was rude, he was rude.
Oddly, I've used them in the past, and haven't had an issue. However, that time has passed.
If you value your time, I would look elsewhere.
This is no way to run a business, and they should know better.
There are options, though Beacon Hill Plumbing and Heating is no longer one of them.
I've sending this to all my friends on Beacon Hill and Back Bay.

We called Beacon Hill Plumbing to deal with 2 problems that another guy hadn't been able to fix - a shower that wouldn't maintain a constant temperature and a drain stopper that wasn't working - neither of which was an emergency.  We got an appointment quickly and Shawn arrived on time.  He explained the costs, worked quickly, explained what he needed to do, and fixed both our issues.

I would definitely use them again.

Price gougers of the worst sort. Plumber calls up a second guy to run faucets on a different floor while he watches, and they charge full hourly rate for the second guy too. They were unable to replicate the problem, and it was impossible to schedule them for a follow-up, and they didn't send the plumber who worked on the problem last. Unpleasant to deal with on the phone, dispatcher Greg misrepresents the situation after the fact, blames the customer for his inability to return a phone call. This company is the worst. Do not hire them.

I had Beacon Hill Plumbing do some work for me last winter, and was very disappointed

They were asked to do a specific job, to repair my boiler. Rather than repairing the boiler at one time, in one visit, they stretched the job over several visits and billed me much more than I expected. Upon review of the invoices I realized that on a few occasions, when I knew that they came over for no more than 5 minutes because I had spoken with them upon arrival and when they left, they charged me a full 1 hour, at $130.

One of these visits was in response to my call, as I was notified that water was pouring out of my boiler, which they had fixed, to the best of my knowledge. It turned out that they had only partially fixed it and they had left the valve open. When the heating came on, water came pouring out. I received a $500 bill from my building for damage to the unit below me. I approached BHP and they did not and have not to-date, responded.

Additionally, BHP billed me $130 to go and close the valve that they had left open. Again, for not more than 5 minutes of their time, I was billed a full hour and this call was a direct result of something they had not done correctly.

I have phoned BHP several times and have sent a letter to them asking them to respond to the damage, and also to explain their charges. I have not received any response. I have paid the full invoice, minus approximately two hours, which they continue to invoice me, and for which I am now accruing interest.

I will not use BHP again, nor would I recommend them, under any circumstances.

Buyer beware.  The plumbing is fine, the people are nice.  They even tried to help over the phone before scheduling a visit.  However, the billing structure is horrible.  $180/hr for plumbing is high enough, but becomes unethical gouging when it includes vastly inflated travel time at the same rate.  I could have walked from their place in half the time that they charged me for travel.  It just isn't right.

I'm sorry to have to say this, but avoid this company if you possibly can. I switched to them last year from my regular plumber, and I regret it.

While the plumbers they send out to your home may do decent work, the owner, whom you may reach on the phone, is scary. He has a strange, robotic voice, which is how you can identify him.

If you have a problem after the work is done, and you hope to discuss and resolve it politely, he may refuse to listen and hang up on you.

In my case, I got charged more than $300 over two visits to replace a toilet flapper (a simple operation with a part most hardware stores carry -- but I didn't know it at the time.) But the cost and extra visit are not what bothered me most about them. Nor is the fact that two out the three repairs they'd made in 2009 failed within the year. Chalk all that up to a learning experience....

When he came to fix the flapper, I had the plumber also replace some hoses on my washer, since he was charging me for a certain amount of time and the toilet repair just took a few minutes.  He let perhaps a dozen or more small pieces of elastic fly all over my bathroom and bedroom when he cut them off the hoses. I found my kitten choking on one after he left; I had to pull it out of his throat. (We had to force-feed the kitten lots of goopy hairball remedy, which  he hated, twice a day for a week to help ensure that any other elastic he might have swallowed didn't cause a blockage, which could have killed him.)

Plumbers should clean up after themselves and never put kids or animals at risk.

When I called the owner and tried to find out how much elastic was used to wrap those hoses, to figure out how much was missing,  the owner actually told me he wouldn't listen to me or answer my question, was sarcastic and nasty, and hung up on me. (I kept finding pieces for months afterwards, behind furniture, in a vase, etc.)

It seems this company doesn't care if they cause problems for their customers and they don't want to hear about it if they do. I caution you to think twice about hiring them, in case they are as unhelpful and unprofessional to you.

Beacon Hill Plumbing provided excellent service to me.  I called them with an issue in my one bath condo and they accommodated me and sent someone over within a few hours (important when you have only one bathroom). The plumber was friendly, efficient and patient with my questions.  Highly recommend.

Be careful with this company's service.  I have the 2nd appointment scheduled for the day.   The 1st appointment was @ 8am (which was too early for me) but the repair person didn't come until 1:30pm.   When he showed up he said that they charge travel time also which I was not told so I immediately called Ted (the guy) I talked to previously.   He said yes they charge travel time unless it's the first appointment of the day.   I said how can that be, if the 1st appointment is two hours away why should I be stuck with two hours of travel time.   Since he didn't tell me about this he finally agreed to not charge me for travel time.    The repair persons that came are contractors and they did an ok job so they are not the problem but the main problem is with the Beacon Hill company people.   I will not work with them again.

Very overpriced, very much unimpressive talent.

They charged about 2x the going rate, and then they managed to hook my new garden spigot up to the HOT water. They never bothered to test it- the only way it was noticed was that i insisted on testing it before writing the check, they rolled their eyes, and i saw huge gouts of steam coming out...

This company charges an outrageous $190 an hour for an estimate or quick fix. Not even union plumbers charge that amount! It is price gouging. Oh and when they come to your home to fix something you will find out that alas they do not have the part and will have to come back. Thus necessitating a $190 an hour fee for the first visit and then again for the 2nd visit (if you are lucky enough to get them to fix your problem in under an hour). If you can even get them to call you back or show up. Never again!! a total rip off!

Beacon Hill Plumbing was recommended by two individuals. Though I can not comment on their specific plumbing services, their follow through with requests was surprisingly poor. On three separate occassions, I set up appointments for three separate issues to be addressed. Each time, Bob (who did seem nice and responsive) provided me with an appointment. Each time, no one showed, and no one called to state they were not coming.

I do not recommend Beacon Hill Plumbing, and did not find them to be honest.

Have lived in Beacon Hill for years and have experienced major issues (old pipe in basement burst) and minor (replacing fixtures) and the guys at Beacon Hill Plumbing have always responded immediately and provided excellent work.  

When I put in a new kitchen they were able to do the plumbing and gas work, even though this is not their general business. They priced better than other plumbers who really were not interested in a small job.  

Recently we had flooding in the basement without any idea of the source - turns out it was a boiler in the building next stoor which has burst and somehow (gotta love Beacon Hill!) the water seeped through one basement floor and up into another.  The only reason we knew that is because BHP had been considerate enough to contact us when they heard - thru the grapevine - about our mystery issue. This saved us an incredible amount of worrying and $$$.

I always ask up front for an estimate and take into account any minimal charge - a few of us in the building have on occassion coupled our plumbing requests to make it worth their while. When we were considering piping gas so that the electric stove could be replaced with gas, they stopped by, took a look, provided all the answers, no charge.

They are also happy to share information - for free at the shop or over the phone - just ask a question and they have been in the business on Beacon Hill long enough to know the answer or way to approach it.

Dishonest, price gouging business. Would not recommend to anyone, ever. Save your money and your sanity, call any other plumber.

Disclaimer: this is odd for a first post, but I feel the need to vent.  They were nice guys and did the job fine, but I gotta say I felt a little gouged... all that I needed done was to replace a valve cartridge on a shower handle - which I already knew, and could've done myself in about 5 minutes except that my building requires a certified, insured plumber to shut off the water. Fine.

The first plumber gets to my place, sees the problem and reaffirms what I told him I believed the problem was.  He doesn't have the right tool to remove the shower handle so he calls another plumber to come and 'help'.  They spend about an hour trying to figure out how to shut off the water in my building, which granted, isn't that obvious but the company has been here before...so it seems odd.  Then they remove the cartridge to find that they need to go buy a new one - 1 hr later, they return, and screw on the cartridge in about a minute.  Bill:  $465 - 2.5hrs of labor for plumber #1, 1 hr of labor for plumber #2 + $55 for the part.  

Obviously not what I expected... I was expecting to pay some ridiculous premium on man hours but didn't think I'd be paying for 2 plumbers to shut off the water (partially because one doesn't have the same set of tools), and for an hour of driving to the store - flame off.

My water heater was about to let go and my regular plumber had discounted it this morning because he obviously did not want to do the work.  As the heater began to leak, I called Beacon Hill Plumbing and Heating who had been recommended by my rental broker.  Steve was here within two hours, efficiently disconnected the old heater and installed a new one saving me untold distress and money had the heater given way and flooded  my apartment.  Steve was friendly, professional and a no-nonsense worker.  Beacon Hill will have my business from now on.  I couldn't be more appreciative.

I had a bathroom that was having issues.  I wasn't able to use our bathroom because we're in a one room house.  When they showed up, he had all the tools needed and he had his dog with him.  I was more worried that we couldn't use our bathroom...the dog mad everything OK.  My kids spent the whole time playing with the dog while he repaired the pluming.  

He was fast, very efficient and EXTREMELY friendly.  And the fact that he was knowledgeable, knew withing 10 minutes what the problem was and kept my kids entertained was worth every penny I thought I was going to spend.

I expected to to spend a set amount of money as was a weekend, and it was a few hundred dollars less than I expected.   I was told that if there was any issues after the fact, they would come back no questions asked.

I can't say too much about them...they were awesome and I'll use them again and again...you don't get this type of service from anyone else!!!!

After a little misunderstanding about whether or not I needed to wait for a plumber (turns out they had a key to my place via the landlord), the guys a Beacon Hill Plumbing did a great job fixing my toilet.  The plumber that came to my place was surprisingly well dressed (oh the disappointment when I realized I wasn't going to see any crack), professional, and really nice.  Plus he wasn't that annoyed when my cat crawled all over him during most of his visit (she is really interested in anything having to do with the toilet).  If you live in Beacon Hill and you need a plumber, this should be your place.  The cute dog they have sitting outside their place on sunny days is definitely a plus!

Never again. They sent a plumber. He said he'd be back in 2 minutes... he didn't return until 30 minutes later, and all he brought back was WD-40. Still didn't get the job done, and still charged $180 and demanded payment. $180. For nothing. Even if the plumber is there 10 minutes, they charge $180. Wrote a letter to dispute the charge; heard nothing back... until the other day, second notice of the bill for $180. They never responded to my letter because they could care less.

By the way, we then found a plumber in Woburn (Addarios). Addarios's dispatch/initial fee is $59.99, and if they get the job done, then they waive the fee and only charge for the labor and parts (if any). Oh, and they got the job done.

Addarios also gives 10 percent discount to senior citizens and veterans.

Enough said.

Very happy with their service. Reasonably priced and showed up on time and completed the work in a timely manner. Would definitely use them again!

Had to deal with them twice, one time was an absolute joke and waste of money and the other was fine, but still left me without completely resolving the issue.

I had spoken to them on the phone and to their credit they were open they might not be able to help because they might not be able to get to the pipes they needed to, but with my entire house frozen, I figured it was worth a shot and $180. When the plumber showed up, he just kept saying I don't know why I'm here, I have a flight and have to leave and from there walked around, looked at the pipes, kept having to call people asking them questions about what he should be looking for, spent most of his time talking to us about his real estate purchases and how much money he was making and then left. It was pathetic and a waste of $180. I called the company to complain that they sent me someone who was both disinterested in helping and also seemingly unfamiliar with their equipment and they told me they'd call me back in a few minutes...they never did. I had to leave a voice message that night and they called me back the next morning saying they'd send someone else.

Thankfully the next morning a different plumber showed up, very nice guy, was able to fix some of the pipes and told me the rest would free up within an hour or so. They of course did not, and I had to wait 3 more days before everything came back on its own. He also told me the first plumber definitely did not have a flight as he was working so clearly the first guy who showed up just wanted to leave.

It was a waste of money and while I get they don't care about one review, I hope this make people call a different plumbing company because this one really tip toes the line of reliability and professionalism.

Greg was awesome...The toilet in one of our condo bathrooms was running. After trying 3 different flappers with little success, we called BHP&P and found out that it was a much more complex problem requiring 3 hours of his labor and some new parts to install.

He installed a new part and tested the toilet to see if it worked--which it kinda-sorta did. The new part wasn't as great as it could be and Greg was sincerely awesome about calling to get another brand of the same part and installing that one in its place.

The toilet now works great-no running at all!-He also took an hour off his time because of the time it took to get the new new part, which was SO nice of him. The parts (which I recognized) were also top-quality and not overpriced on the final bill so I appreciated him not overcharging us and he was very conscientious about making sure that the toilet worked perfectly. Labor is $180/hr and definitely deserved.

Really disappointed with the professionalism of the dispatcher Greg...Had an issue with a leaky faucet and the plumber was there 10 mins and charged me $180.  Totally understand there is a $180 minimum but thought there would be a little give..

I really loved Greg's dentist analogy..If you went to see a dentist for 10 minutes do you think he would reduce his rate..

or..if you owned the unit and cared about it why didn't you fix the problem yourself  (p.s Greg..If I lived next door I would've)

classic stuff but total lack of respect for the customer..

It must be nice to have so much business that they never call you back. I've had decent luck with these guys in the past and they're reasonable. But I called them three times, left them three messages before I called a 4th time and got a human.  Bob was very nice and said they were booked but would call me at the end of the day (Tuesday) to let me know when the next day or that week when they could come. THEY NEVER CALLED EVER. Not a week later to apologize, not to call to say they just can't make it. NOTHING.  Very unprofessional and as a customer, it's clear they don't care!

There was water in our basement apartment. We weren't sure if it was the hot water tank or another plumbing issue. We called these guys and right from the start was told over the phone the job would cost $2500 and had to pay in cash! We called another plumber who was professional and got the job done for $1200 - hot water tank replacement.