Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Pittsburgh

Description

Benjamin Franklin Plumbing provides guaranteed, high-quality plumbing repair and installation in Pittsburgh. We know that plumbing issues are inconvenient. For that reason, we do everything we can to help you regain peace of mind with our skilled plumbing and excellent customer service. Our Pittsburgh plumbers are skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable in all things related to plumbing repairs and installations. We do more than make you promises; we back up our work with 100% satisfaction guaranteed. If you reach out to us, we can inspect your plumbing issue and provide you with an efficient and durable solution. We also provide you with straightforward and honest prices before any of the work begins.

HISTORY

Established in 1965.
Benjamin Franklin Plumbing is one of the fastest growing plumbing franchises in the United States. Our company ranked #130 on the 2011 Entrepreneur Franchise 500. At Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, we value our customers and make their complete satisfaction our main priority. We believe that our customers' time is valuable and therefore pledge to offer prompt, reliable service that gets the job done. Our plumbing installation, maintenance, and repair services are backed by our built-in guarantee so that when customers call on us, they get accurate results in addition to peace of mind.

ABOUT BUSINESS OWNER

Kevin started his plumbing career in 1980 as an apprentice plumber. He worked his way through the apprenticeship system to eventually become a Journeyman plumber and then a Master Plumber. His training covered all phases of residential and light commercial plumbing from minor repairs, to major overhauls and even new construction. Kevin purchased the Benjamin Franklin Plumbing franchise in 2003. At Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, all of the technicians are licensed, drug tested and background checked. We value our customers time and strive to show up when we say we will. Our warranties are the best in the area with most repairs covered for at least two years.

Reviews

Maria Emilia B.

Jul 8, 2020

How can this company be Google guaranteed?
They charge $100 just to show up, and anything they do, including the diagnosis, is charged extra.
I've had many bad experiences with plumbers in the past but this was by far the worst. I explained to them over the phone what the problem seemed to be: a water leak from the shower, problems with the tiles, and around and may be even in the drain itself. The plumber comes and tells me that it's a plumbing company so they don't do tiles. Then, the first question is why did you accept to come over in the first place? I can see with my bare eyes (and mind you, I wear glasses!) that some of the grout is starting to come off, so clearly some of the leak may be caused by that, but the Benjamin Franklin plumber wants to charge an extra $78 for telling me precisely that. This is a rip off. I do not normally write comments unless I have something good to say, but in this case, the best comment I can give is that the plumber showed up on time, that's it. As for the health protective gear they tell you about on the phone, the plumber was wearing a bandana instead of a mask and he wore it around his neck! That's why I'm writing this comment so that you are not misled, as I was, by all the positive reviews.

Cindy B.

Feb 7, 2019

Terrible. A frozen pipe on a mobile home. First told 450. Then spoke to supervisor, I was told 450.00 plus 615.00, total over $1,000!! to put a heating machine on a water heater pipe. I asked about snaking my toilet..375.00 !! Overpriced. BEWARE!!!°

A R.

Oct 28, 2019

I had an issue with a tenant's faucet. They were not forthcoming with how much the service would cost--only the initial call charge of about $60. The faucet cartridge repair was a flat fee of approx $250 on top of the call charge. They were in and out in 30 minutes.

I could have done this on my own for $25 but I didn't have time.

In fairness to them, their response time and communication were awesome, as was the job they did. I just wish they were more open about their flat fee billing policy--and i'd be surprised if it were flat fee if something major went wrong!

John T.

Jan 15, 2016

We had a wonderful experience with this company. Water heater leaking in our top floor. They came out immediately to drain it and replace. One technician did all the work. Very fair price, great service, and good advice. We will never use another plumber!

Howard K.

Dec 7, 2022

Very expensive. Needed to replace kitchen faucet as ours was broken. we bought a new one ourselves and just needed to have it installed. Simple job. First the charge $69 just top come to the house, and it is not included in the price if they do the job. It is on top of the job price. Since we were desperate (we have a holiday party this week) we had to have the job done. Took less than an hour. $638. This seems very expensive for less than an hour's work. Should have taken the quote and gone elsewhere but did not have the time to look for another plumber.

Landon C.

Mar 29, 2019

I warn you not to use this company. I was trying to find a company to tap into the sewage system for my town ship and my neighbor had the same thing done previously. When we were given an estimate it was thousands of dollars higher than my neighbor who had to dig up the road to get to his. he said we could use his system and the company charged us more than they my neighbor did and he had to do much more.

Mark W.

Mar 12, 2014

In process of working out disagreement on charges for a faucet replacement in a tenant's apartment. They originally repaired something else and charged $259. When that turned out to not be the cause (lack of water pressure continued even after the repair that they charged me for), they said they would replace the faucet and deduct the $259 charge from that bill. Then without providing me a quote for the repair replaced the faucet and now want to charge $620 for the replacement!!!

I am offering the oppty for them to adjust their price (fair market is in $300 range) and will adjust this post if/when they respond.

Ray A.

Jan 29, 2014

They came out in a reasonable amount of time, but charged $59 for the service call plus they wanted $180 to run a snake through a 10 foot piece of drain pipe to determine if it was frozen. It was a drain pipe (which shouldn't be frozen since it's non pressurized) and if it turned out to be damaged, they would have charged more to fix the problem. So here's the rundown:

$60 to drive to the house + $180 to run a snake for 3 minutes = $240

I sent them away and bought a snake at Home Depot for $27. Hopefully that clears out the clog in the drain, but either way I'm glad I didn't move forward with them since their prices are very high. If you're looking at having them clear your drains, I'd recommend going to a local plumber and not a franchise like this.

UPDATE: after reading this review, I was contacted by Ben Franklin (the company, not the man) and they refunded the service charge. So in response, I upgraded them to two stars from one.

Dan K.

Jan 12, 2014

Great company! During my one experience with them, they get top marks. During our most recent Polar Vortex where it went to -8 degrees here in PIttsburgh, I had a pipe burst in my tenant's unit. I had to shut down the water to the whole building. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing came out that same day, even though half of Pittsburgh needed a plumber, and he found the crack in the pipe and repaired it on the spot. I had initially thought they would just come out to give an estimate, but when he priced it out it was very reasonable. Not a cheap fix, granted, but came in a few hundred less than I anticipated. Will be my plumbers for life!

Cristina R.

Aug 31, 2017

They came to fix a faucet and didn't check to see if it was working properly after it was done. Once the bathtub was used for the first time, it leaked through the garage ceiling. They had a company come to clean and dry the leakage. After, they decide to paint the ceiling themselves. It looked terrible, had to call the cleaning company one more time to repaint. I am wondering if someday I will find mold in the walls...

Leo S.

Nov 30, 2021

We were having a new floor installed in the basement, and to make sure we would never have problems with septic backing up we have our tank cleaned on a more aggressive schedule. We got the tank dumped, flooring company came out and installed the floor-- 2 days later our son calls upstairs smells like rotten eggs down here. Septic had backed up after two consecutive showers. We have a plumber for small jobs we use and he brought out a snake. Snaked the line and said we should be good. Cleaned it all up and two days later same thing. Called original plumber buddy back-- we rented a heavier snake, few days later more liquids in the basement-- gross.

After cleaning the floor a second time, Instead of calling plumber buddy back called Benjamin Franklin. They sent two fully loaded vans out, both plumbers had solid expertise and the snake they used was significantly heavier duty than the bigger one we rented. They used a camera to help identify the issue and cleared the offending clog. Issue finally resolved. The invoice was less than what I paid my buddy for his two attempts and snake rental. Lesson learned, call Ben Franklin the first time... they also came out the same day, which was majorly appreciated.

Ron S.

Jul 16, 2023

Ryan, the plumber sent to complete the work, is experienced and very professional. I appreciate that BF has sent Ryan to work on my plumbing needs over the last 3 years. Positive relationships matter! Keep up the good work. RS

Jason M.

Oct 5, 2013

They showed up slightly after they said they would. However, the service was excellent and the drain was not just cleared, he expertly removed and disposed of years of gunk and debris. Will use again (but hopefully not too soon)!

Andrew B.

Mar 23, 2017

Very disappointed in this place. I would suggest NOT to even call them. My girlfriends water heater wasn't working. She called this place. They came for 5 minutes and quoted her an outrageous price for a water heater. Over $2,200. Obviously she declined service from them. They then have the nerve to charge her $59 for showing up. Outraging in my opinion.
I may start a business and just quote outrageous quotes and then charge 59 bucks for a 5 minute visit and quote.
I do not recommend this company whatsoever.

David H.

Jul 25, 2023

Avoid!!! Charged $800 to replace a valve ($20 part), a bathroom faucet (I supplied), and a regulator. They were here less than 2 hours and the parts they supplied were less than $100... Rip off!!!

Suzanne K.

Sep 19, 2015

I made an appointment for today (Saturday). I needed 40 minutes notice so that I could drive to the location that needed to be serviced. The operator when I called said that she could not give me a time, but that it would probably be early afternoon. I received a call at 8:30 am from the plumber asking me if I was available. This is an hour before they even opened. Needless to say, I was having breakfast and my teleportation machine was on the fritz, so I never got to have my appointment. The only service I'm willing to sit around all day for is a cable provider. Especially in a house with no running water.

Lin W.

Dec 5, 2016

We had a toilet replaced, a couple cheap parts replaced under sink and a new stopper put in for $600. The guy left twice to go to home depot for a part. Was gone an hour each time. When he left we had a leak under our sink, the toilet was not flush with the floor and I had to clean up after him.

Have called back and they are suppose to come out and correct. Beware.

Update- They did come back and fix the mistake satisfactorily. Changing to 3 stars.

Rachel C.

Oct 5, 2019

I can tell you if an item of clothing is overpriced or not, but plumbing is not my forte. While I don't want to be ripped off, it's also so hard to find someone who will show up on time, do the work right and not cheat you.

We had the house we were selling inspected and unfortunately found out that the sewer line was damaged right after it left the house. We had work done on our pipes just last March to replace them all underneath the house because they had crumbled, so we were still hurting from that big price after going with a big name plumber.

We needed a couple days turnaround and had to act fast. The guy who worked on our line was prompt and responsive. He was easy to communicate with, via text, and even came back a day later when we found out we needed a dye test done ASAP. These were not cheap jobs, AT ALL, but we honestly didn't have much time to shop around and felt comfortable going with them. Again, I appreciate they fast turnaround and that they showed up and did the work when they said they would.

Basically, when we needed them, they were there. Glad to have this behind us and wouldn't hesitate to call them again.

Susan T.

Apr 3, 2015

We needed our icemaker hooked up to our refrigerator, so we called Benjamin Franklin Plumbing. We live in a condo complex and were glad to hear that they were familiar with our complex. We scheduled a plumber to come out. He let us know that he'd have to come back because he would have to shut off the water. (This first visit went fine, though we were charged for it, even though he didn't do anything. I do wish he had thought to turn off the water for the first visit so that we wouldn't be charged twice).

The second visit was the nightmare. Benjamin Franklin never called us to schedule a visit. We found out that they were coming when we got a notice from our condo complex that our water was being shut off. They scheduled a time when I wasn't around. They let themselves into my house, apparently claiming that they had set up an appointment with us. We never got an estimate, but they were speedy about asking for payment afterwards.

When I got home, I found solder in the garbage disposal, the oven had been pulled out and not put back in, and I had to reconnect a drain stop myself. This was absolutely the worst experience I've had with a plumbing company.

Dan H.

Nov 19, 2011

I had a problem with an odor of sewage that I had several plumbers try to figure out. I called Ben Franklin Plumbing and they sent their team over with some high tech equipment, and cameras. It turned out to be a broken waste line under my concrete porch that was leaking into the foundation. This was one tough job but when it was done, the problem was fixed, odor gone, and you would never know they were there. They really did a professional job worthy of a 5 star recommendation no matter how tough the job is.

Amy W.

Mar 26, 2020

They are vey nice; I only got them once and they did complete the job but I did find them to be quite expensive and I didn't feel that they were able to explain why it cost so much. Cost me over $800 for a wall sleeve. So my suggestion would be to get multiple estimates first

Jackie M.

Aug 5, 2020

Called for emergency service (which I had just seen advertised on tv). Was told the earliest someone could come was in 6 days. Obviously went with someone else.

Timothy B.

Oct 10, 2018

I was very happy with the service I received. I just needed a vanity water valve installed but it was in too small an area for me to do it. The fella came out and put it in in a jiffy and was very pleasant. Market price.

Bernard A.

Jul 16, 2019

The only thing worse than plumbing issues is trying to sell an old house. Kevin and his team helped me out in both areas and made it as easy as possible. They had the equipment, they have the expertise. Thanks guys for going those extra steps. I'd rate this group 13/10

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Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Pittsburgh