Kook & Son

My old air conditioning unit broke and Kook & Son was one of 4 contractors I received a quote from. The tech that came out was very thorough and explained to me the challenges or replacing my unit (I live in a 750square foot apartment and the utility closet is tiny!). Their quotes (yes they gave me options!) were fair, and they offered to do the most service and testing.

The new unit was installed in April, they let me know it would need to be adjusted once the temps hit the 80s. They came out and did the tune up and it was great service as always.

Some people don't mind paying 3x for slightly better service.  I call those people suckers.  They charged me an hour in travel time each way from Jersey City and also charged an additional hour for sitting in the van to put the invoice together.  Ridiculous.

I CANNOT endorse this firm because of their billing practices and must warn anyone looking to use them about my experience.

I booked an appointment with Kook & Son in Jersey City to come to my JC home to re-install 2 bathroom facets in my master bath and install a new facet (plus a new set of flex hoses coming off the shut off valves) in my 2nd bath. They said their rate was $135 an hour which was reasonable to me.

2 service men arrived at my house at 8:45 am on the scheduled day (I was surprised that there were 2 guys for such a small job). During the visit worker No 2 was absent at least 1/3 of the time, and additionally for 10-15 minutes, both workers were also off site as they said they needed to get a part. When they were done just before 10 am I was given a bill for over $500.00!
I spoke to the Howard (owner or foreman) and said why was the bill so high, He replied that 2 men for almost 2 hours (oh yes, they charged for 15 minutes travel time each for these 2 men (that's more than $67 just to come to my house). When I complained he knocked it down to 1.5 hrs but the job still cost over $400.00.

I don/t mind paying a fair price for work but this was taking advantage of your customer in my view. Beware if you use them that you will be paying for dead time or more manpower than is actually needed in my estimation.

Not recommended. They charged me $800 to resolve one heating issues. After a one week, we had to call back they said another $800 will be charged.  It doesn't sound right another $800. Avoid them.

I called Kook and Son for a problem with my furnace.  A technician came out the following day and spent half an hour looking at the unit and testing different scenarios to see what the problem was.  He was unable to determine what was going on exactly and suggested I try replacing the thermostat at a cost of $325.  I thought that was excessive and decided I would replace it myself.  I was then told that I would have to pay $135 for an hour of his time diagnosing the problem (the hour included the half hour it took him to drive the 3 miles between the shop and my house).  I have dealt with several plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc. in the past and have never had to pay for their time putting together an estimate.  Be sure to ask up front if there will be a charge for them to provide an estimate.

Waste of time, almost a waste of money too. They csme over to see whats wrong eith my kitchen sink and instead diagnosed my wallet. These people actually have the nerve to try to charge you just for coming out to your house. Complete malarkey. I'm just glad I can try to let other ppl know about this company and their practices before they get ripped off.

Kook & Son did work in my house a couple of years ago. After they dug up the pipe line in the floor to the street, we found that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the line. The repair work was shoddy and the finish work to the floor was even worse. When the basement flooded a year later I found that they installed the connection incorrectly to the sewer line to the street. And for all this they charged me $8,000.

I called to get a diagnostic on my HVAC system and they stated my system needs an air handler part and gave me a ridiculous price quote for labor and part installation... They also stated that I should consider getting a new unit because it runs on r22 ....Furthermore, they charged me $250 for coming to my house and give me the diagnostic that took the technician less than 20 min to assess. These folks prices are ridiculous ... just because u live in JC does not justify being ripped off...

I called because I had an emergency leak. The hose in the yard wouldn't turn off, and was leaking pretty badly.

Pros: very friendly, polite, efficient guys. They said it wouldn't take long at all, and it didn't. They were very clean, and again, fast.

Cons: $328 for about 15 minutes of work. This is after he just told me he only charges $40 an hour labor, compared to a normal plumber rate of $165 an hour.  He was even surprised at the rate when he hung up with the main office.

So, if you're in a pinch, these guys know what they're doing. A bargain, they are not.

A pipe was leaking above my toilet. My building uses Kook and Son so they were the ones that got the call.

The response was fast and professional, nothing to complain about there.

They were able to get to the problem within a day or two and had opened my ceiling/wall and replaced the pipe.

Unfortunately they also left quite a mess on my walls, tiles, and fixtures. I did the best I could cleaning up afterwards and asked if they had someone to patch everything up, figuring this person would get everything back to normal.

They sent two separate guys, who both complained about what a mess the plumbers did with the work (they were both sent by Kook and Son), and couldn't even identify some of the stuff staining my tub (a big purple splotch in partucular).

So I scheduled the patch up and called back Kook and Son and asked what they could do. Again, prompt response as they had someone over immediately. They essentially tried everything I did, which was to use everything I had under my sink. When that didn't work (surprise!), they tried to blame it on the tub itself, telling me it hadn't been glazed right to begin with.

I've lived here for 2 years now, and I actually redid the bathroom before I moved in and I know those stains were not there before the work. The fact that they couldn't even tell me what the stain was of was really disappointing.

In summary: great response time, but the results will likely leave you with new problems that now have to be fixed. If there's anyone who knows a competitively priced and trustworthy plumber in the Jersey City area, please let me know.

My central air conditioning stopped working.  I called Kook & Son.  I spent just under $600.00 over 2 visits for 2 new filters, power washing my condenser, and labor.  My air-conditioning still did not work.  On the second visit they correctly diagnosed a leak in the system, but I was afraid to go broke trying to locate the leak with this company, so I went with another vendor.  They also charged me travel time.  I live .6 mile of a mile from their location.

It was like the people from 'This Old House were working on mine!
I have a 100 year old house with a water radiator heating system the same age.  After 2 plumbers from different companies came in and scratched their heads as to how to fix my heating system, Howard Kook came over and immediately knew about and could explain every little quirk of the system.  I was blown away with his knowledge.
Though he did not do the actual work on my system, his 2 workers were extremely knowledgeable and professional.  They knew how to fix every issue.  Now rooms where I thought the radiators were lost causes, are warm and toasty!
Kook and Son are not cheap, but hands down absolutely worth the money vs someone cheaper who 'thinks' he can fix it.  I'm happy to have found a company that knows how to work on an old house.  Would hire again with no hesitation.
Plus, they have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Howard and his team did a great job for me.  There was an issue that developed after the fact and Howard came back and fixed it without charge a year later!  Would recommend.

My husband and I called them to have a repairman come out and see what was wrong with our tenant's a/c unit. They told me they could take preventative measures on it and basically put a band aid on it. It would cost us $135. We had no problem with that.

When they saw the unit they told us taking preventative measures on it wouldn't do much good because we'd need to replace the whole thing. They gave us a quote for $5,450 for a new unit but a low end one. We told Howard that we'd be getting a 2nd quote and he lowered the price to $4,995. We told him we were still going to get a 2nd quote. Later that afternoon we got a call that they fixed the unit and it was going to cost us $950. We didn't tell him to go ahead and fix it nor at any point did he call and confirm with us if they could go ahead and fix it. So now I'm out $950 and it's our word against his.

Bottom line I will not be using Kook and Son ever again and will not recommend them to anyone.

Needed a water boiler to be replaced in my apartment in Union City, NJ. Mine was 12 years old which meant it needed to go.
I called three different plumbing companies, and Kook and Son seemed the most reliable (Mind you I based my assessment on a single phone conversation but well ... ). I asked for a price range for my 40L Gaz water boiler to be replaced. Note that there is a premium for weekend service and for non-elevator building. I talked to Howard, the great child of the founder of the company (it's over 100 years old)

I took half a day off and met the guys (2 of them) at the apartment - They waited for about 15 minutes downstairs in their running truck before coming up (Not sure what that says but I figure I'd mention it ...).
They looked at the old boiler, emptied it, brought the new one up, adequately protected my wood floor, were nice and explaining what they were doing. They were pretty knowledgeable and handy.

They came in at around 8:30am and left at 10:30. The final bill came to $1004.

You know that feeling that you are going to get ripped off no matter who you hire?
Give Kook&Son a try, they'll make you feel good

We've used Kook and Son exclusively over close to 15 years in multiple residences because of their professionalism, promptness and the quality of their work. The technicians are also trained in current equipment (tankless water heaters, high efficiency furnaces, etc)

In our most recent engagement our tankless hot water heater developed a leak overnight. I called Kook around 9 am and they were able to get someone there that morning even though the techs were already at another job (great in and of itself!). The technician then worked with the manufacturer to troubleshoot and determined that the unit needed to be replaced and was under warranty.

This is where Kook really shined: the manufacturer needed to review pictures of the unit, where the leak was, etc. before approving the claim and allowing us to get a replacement unit so there was no way to schedule an appointment with Kook since we didn't know specifically when we'd get that info from the manufacturer.  Kook worked with us over the two days it took getting the manufacturer the info they needed and made technicians available the minute I was emailed the return authorization. They arrived within a couple of hours with the replacement unit (again, without a previously made appointment), replaced the defective unit and had hot water up and running again in a few hours.  Howard Kook, the owner, also called me personally several times to let me know they were on the case, working with their staffing to ensure someone would be available when needed, etc. since he understood that being without hot water, even briefly, is a big problem and he didn't want us to worry that we weren't being attended to in the background even as we waited for the return authorization to take the next step.

We have and continue to give Kook and Son our highest recommendation.

I advise against using Kook & Sons. They run a travel time scam where they attempt to charge travel time even for jobs done within Jersey City, where they are based. Charging for travel time makes sense if the customer is asking the contractor to travel an unusual distance to the job. But it makes no sense when the service call is local. No other contractor I have used over the years has attempted to charge for travel time. They claim that this practice is acceptable because they disclose it in advance, but I beg to differ. Kook charged me $35 to travel 1.2 miles (the distance between my house and their offices according to Google Maps). And they did this after I had agreed to change my appointment time so that they could service another client.

1 star seems generous for these criminals over at Crook and Son...we asked them to come take a look at our garbage disposal and leaking toilet. The guy proceeded to look in the sink for 1 or 2 minutes, he reset the disposal and ran it with no water running which creating a burning smell. He then told me the whole thing was shot and needed to be replaced and it would cost 575. As for the toilet, he said they would have to pick up and place the toilet in a different area, costing 400. Seems legit, right? He told me if I didn't fix it would ruin the apartment ceiling below us...then he gave me some sob story about a fire in his apartment, like that would make him seem more human. I told him I needed to talk to my spouse, he said if we refuse services we would still be charged...for the hard work of coming to my house for 15 minutes and lying to me. It's tough work.

Later, on our own, we were able to get the disposal to run again using a simple kitchen knife by scraping inside around the disposal. I was told by a friend to fix the leak in the toilet by tightening the bolts or replacing the washers, which we will be trying.