HJ Pertzborn Plumbing & Fire Protection

Recently bought my first house and had to deal with the first plumbing problem I've ever had in my life. These guys were awesome, plain and simple. I was completely terrified, but from when I made the phone call to after the guys completed the job, I felt extremely comfortable and at ease. They were able to come out the next day (I called 30 minutes before they closed and was told they had an after hours emergency fee and if I could I wouldn't be charged for that) and were also able to finish the job in less than an hour! Great guys and great customer service! Definitely will be using again, but hopefully I won't have to!

Being a new-ish homeowner having to make your first call about a big home repair is pretty terrifying. You have no idea how much you're going to have to spend or what company you should use or if someone's going to take advantage of your lack of knowledge.

I'm so happy to report great service from the initial phone call to the follow-up. The guys were respectful, funny, sweet to my dogs and made sure I understood what was going on every step of the way. They took a lot of care to narrow down the problem as much as they could so the repair would be as cost-effective as possible.

We asked Pertzborn to check our current water softener and they said we needed a new one.  We had them do the new install.  After a few days I didn't think the water was soft so I bought a tester and the results were that our water was very hard.  I asked them to stop back over and verify that the new softener was working properly and they said there would be a service charge. I was amazed that after just a few days they were unable to stand behind their work and products.  I'll never use Pertzborn again!

I called them to fix my toilet. They sent a plumber as promised, Jake. He had to go back to get a replacement part and he did not even charge me for that. Great work and very reasonable price. I would definitely recommend them.

I set up an appointment to have a plumber come to the house and give everything a once over as well as get in writing some ongoing issues that my landlord didn't seem to find needed any repair.
They inspected everything and gave great details as to just how much damage the issues were causing and how much they could cause in the future which allowed me to have several major issues fixed and making my home safe once again.

I called with a basement flooding emergency and was told that Otto would get right back to me.  Never heard back - in the meantime I called Mark's Roto Rooter and they were here with two hours.

These guys are awesome. I just had my 2nd experience with Pertzborn, and it was as excellent as the first; I now will use no other plumber because their customer service and expertise is so top notch.  A previous plumber botched an earlier job. By contrast, Pertzborn was highly efficient, skilled, clearly explained the issues - and beautifully took care of it. I also appreciate that they have several plumbers - so they can usually send someone out soon. Finally, they explained the billing/charges up front when I first called, so there were no surprises. Icing on the cake: each person I dealt with was super friendly and professional. Great stuff!

Having used HJ Pertzborn plumbing in the past, I was disappointed that they now refuse to work on my newly plumbed house because they weren't the plumbers who did the work. We fired our previous plumber (that's a different review) and needed help with installing a couple of sinks. I called Pertzborn and they said they would not accept any work at our house in case the previous plumber did something wrong. So, basically, city of Madison inspection means nothing and they don't want to work on your house if they didn't plumb it initially. Good to know. Ironically, HJ Pertzborn himself plumbed our house n the 1930s, they just weren't hired initially for the job by our contractor.

I called them after discovering a horrible smell coming from the bathroom and basement. Their office staff was cheerful and polite, and they put me in touch with the service department immediately. I was told someone would be by within a couple hours and that they would call before they headed out. Maybe 45 minutes later I got a courtesy call saying a plumber (I think Greg) was on his way. I was SO impressed already! Then he discovered that the smell was coming from a sewer pipe from a toilet that was removed during a foundation repair. The pipe was never properly capped, but Greg fixed it in ten minutes. No more smelly house! He answered some other questions I had about our fixer-upper and he was so nice with our dogs that I sent him off with a bag of homemade cookies. HJ Pertzborn was worth every penny, and now I'm going to have them replace our water heater. SO impressed!

I HAVE HAD them install bathroom fixtures and do a whole new bathroom. this entailed breaking up concrete floor and installing new on demand hot water heater, toliet, shower etc. also cleaning floor drain.
they have been awesome to work with.
dont be a jerk to them and they will be nice to you.
i have been using them for 8 years and never a problem.

Ongoing Plumbing Issues with H.J. Pertzborn Plumbing and Fire Protection Corporation

Starting in 11/2013, I contacted H.J. Pertzborn for a leaking push-stop plastic supply valve underneath my kitchen sink. The water supply lines in my home are CPVC pipes. The plumber that came out replaced the supply valve with a metal compression valve. He told me these types of push-stop valves were no good and recommended at some point to replace the rest of the valves on the main floor of the house with metal compression valves. I decided to have him replace all of them at this time. The bill was $707.98.

In 05/2015, the supply valves in one of the bathrooms replaced less than two years prior started to leak. I had H.J. Pertzborn Plumbing come out again. The plumber recommended instead to install SharkBite couplings to new small copper pipes to new compression water supply valves. He thought that because there was no give between the plastic and metal was the issue. When replacing one of the valves, he pulled on the pipe too hard and the pipe broke within the wall. He had to cut into the drywall in two areas of the house to find the broken pipe. The pipe was blocked by a HVAC duct. He had to call the headquarters and contract out a HVAC company to come to my house to cut into the duct to get to the water supply pipe. The pipe was replaced with copper, the duct patched up, and a drywaller came four times to my house in the subsequent two weeks to patch up and retexture the wall. The original bill was $1592.08 covering the entire day of plumbing labor and parts, HVAC contractor, and drywall contractor. H.J. Pertzborn covered half of the total bill and the portion I paid was $796.04

On 01/18/2017, the kitchen supply valves started leaking. The rest of the valves not replaced in 05/2015 (but replaced in 11/2013) were heavily corroded. The H.J. Pertzborn plumber came out and agreed the rest of the valves were going to fail at some point soon. He replaced the kitchen supply valves actively leaking and replaced the remainder of the supply valves on the main house level with SharkBite male pipe thread adapters to water supply valves. The bill was $758.41

I contacted H.J.Pertzborn on 01/31/2017 after receiving the bill to discuss the issues I've had since 11/2013. I initially talked to an Ellie whom I described my previous service calls, what I had been told by the plumber. I was told she'd have to research my previous service and talk to the plumber. I offered to send before and after pictures I had taken of all the valves to her. I sent these to hjpplumbservice@hjpertzb…. She stated she would be in contact with me within a couple of days.

On 02/07/2017, I receive a call from Larry who said he was calling me back regarding my issues but didn't have any idea what my issues were and did not have the emailed pictures I had sent to Ellie. I repeated what services I had in the past and what plumbing issues I continued to have. I was told he would have to research this and talk to the plumber first. I did not receive a call back from him and I called H.J. Pertzborn on 02/15/2017. Larry told me he had been busy, hadn't had a chance to do any work on my issue. He said I would not be charged interest on my bill and would get back to me. On 02/21/2017, Larry called me back stating even though I had 100% failure rate on all the supply valves installed on 11/2013, that there was only a one-year warranty and little they could do about it. He also stated they were still learning what works well with CPVC pipes. He stated that purely as a courtesy for being a customer with them, they would credit only the kitchen work back in the amount of $152.09, leaving a total bill of $606.32.

So within less than 3.5 years, I spent $2110.34 on the same issue. It is important to note that the supply valves that I have in the basement and the secondary floor that were not touched or replaced by H.J. Pertzborn have had no issues in the six years I have lived here. I have had no issues with the water quality and also had the plumber on 01/2017 checked my water softener to ensure that there were no issues with this.

The estimate was quoted for about 24 hours work, finished in less than 18 hours, but still was charged for 24 hours. Out of all the jobs done, the laundry room sink was leaky, my new laundry room under board was all soaked and almost ruined. The new bathroom shower was leaking too. One positive thing was that they did honor their warranty and came fixed them.

I'm an idiot and someone from HJ Pertzborn came out and fixed something I should have figured out on my own.  He didn't make me feel stupid, was courteous, fast, and waived the travel fee as a courtesy.  These guys are great.

I've used HJ Pertzborn multiple times for multiple plumbing issues and every time it has been a great experience. They fit me into the schedule quickly, the person they send to do the service has always been very friendly and professional and the issue was solved efficiently each time at a very reasonable price. They have given me no reason to shop around for plumbing, they are the best in Madison!

I have worked with Pertzborn Plumbing for at least 5 years and have always been really happy with the work. The biggest things they did for me was replace a significant part of my pipes when they burst after my furnace went out. It was a mess but they did a great job and had referrals for the drywall replacement as well. The last job was replacing my water heater the other day. I split my time between here and Chicago and it's nice to have people I can rely on when there's a problem. They have always been really nice to deal with and I've had no problem with anything they've done.

So I had a leaky bathroom faucet and needed a drain cap...

Scheduling went fine, plumber came and was nice. He didn't have the drain cap needed, so had to be ordered. He fixed hot water gasket that made the faucet leak. As he was walking to his van, I noticed it was leaking again. Got him back into our house, it leaked at first, then stopped. He was nice said if we had any problem with it they could fix it when they return for the cap.

It stared leaking again. I called right away and the woman said I would not be charged for them to come and fix it again. She would call me when the cap came in. Super pleasant.

Two weeks pass...

I called them back. Now there is a new woman (Amy?) who could not honor what the 1st scheduler said because she was no longer with the company. She didn't' have any records from the 1st plumber that it started leaking again. She was quite rude conveying the message. I tried to plea my case. It was clear she did not care.  After all, as she said how do we know it is leaking because of the same problem? Hmmm...

2nd plumber came, different guy, still nice, and fixed the faucet (maybe another gasket?) and replaced the drain cap. It didn't leak for a day.

Interesting that the $400+ bill came really fast. Their accounting department must be good.

I got a different plumber. The faucet is fixed. 1st time. Too bad. Pertzborn helped us with a clogged drain 2 years ago and were great.  I will not be using them again.

I would have given a higher rating if their billing was done better. Their initial visit was back in September and the job wasn't done correctly.  When they came back the second time I was prepared to pay the bill from the first visit but the tech refused payment since the work wasn't done correctly and he believed there would be an adjustment. We ended up buying a new toilet and received a final bill at the end of October which was promptly paid. 6 weeks later I received a past due bill for the initial visit which wasn't adjusted. I called to ask why my final bill hadn't included all charges due and why they waited so long to ask for payment letting me believe the charges were erased. We don't add invoices together was a very lame answer. Receiving a past due bill for an account I had closed out created a hardship.  I've gone from never wanting to use another plumber to  never wanting to use them again. Pretty sad.

I needed to call HJ Pertzborn to have them come and take a look at my basement drain.  I had water in my basement, and it was not going down the drain. I called, and they were able to get someone out later the same day. I did ask that the techs call me 15 minutes before they were coming so I could leave work and get there on time, which the receptionist didn't relay. Two service techs came out. Only giving them a 4 as one of the service techs wasn't very polite with me and was annoyed when I asked him where the clog was. The other tech was very nice and informative. I haven't dealt with other plumbers in the Madison area so I don't know if their pricing was high, but I felt it was reasonable.  They were in and out a lot quicker than I thought they would be, which is nice because they charge by the hour!
I definitely would recommend them to my friends.

Brand new sump pump with battery backup system installed two months ago. First big rainstorm. Everything quits. Basement flooded. Everything ruined. Called emergency number an hour ago. Nothing. Two hours -- crickets.
Finally received a call back from a service rep. He said he'd be here after finishing the one person before us. Three hours later. It's 11pm. No service rep. No call. Still flooded. How long do we wait? Voice mail saysdo not leave a message. Call back later.  
I cannot imagine why they have trouble getting positive reviews.
Been waiting five hours for the guy to show up. No call, so I called the answering service and got a snotty man who said he can't tell me anything because the service guy will not answer his calls. Nice service. Really impressed with the all around unprofessionalism of all the people associated with these guys. So do we stay up all night waiting? Or do we assume he's not going to bother calling or showing up. Meanwhile, there's six inches of water in my basement because the brand new sump pump doesn't work.
I would give no stars if I could.

These folks are surviving on their old reputation. The plumbers are good but office staff is awful. Very rude on the phone when asking about a bill - even threatening a law suit! Yikes. Life is too short to deal with them. Try Fitchburg Plumbing where they are happy to have your business.

They came and looked at my pipes and said, you know, they're really not in bad shape. I wouldn't do anything to it, and left. No charge. I thought I needed new pipes and the Pertzborn plumber said not really, and did not charge me a penny. I call that honest, and what more can you ask for? Every other time I've had a Perzborn plumber they've done excellent work for what seemed like a fair price to me. Again, what more could you ask for?

I called this company for them to check my water heater last year. A representative from the company came to inspect my water heater. He said that it is a FREE inspection and estimate. He came in and inspected my water heater and gave me a quote for a new water heater. A month after, I received an invoice for the inspection which contained incorrect notes of the assessment. I called the company to question about the charge. I spoke to this rude ass woman and said Oh..I dont know if my manager is gonna like this. She put me on hold for a long time. When she came back on phone line, she slipped her tongue and told me something very interesting about the history of my house from reading their past notes. All of a sudden she retracted back her statements and said those were not true. She then said to me rudely Well dont call us anymore in the future for you plumbing needs. She abruptly hang up the phone.

So yes, I will remember that statement and how bad they treated me. Obviously, I still remember it today and took the time to write this rating. I want other people to be aware of my experience.

This is the worst plumbing company that I've ever dealt with. I dont recommend anyone to this company. Obviously, there are tons of choices out there. I got my water heater from someone else that treated me way better than they did. This company doesnt even deserve any stars. They get a lot of big business contracts that's why they think they're the shit!

We called HJ Pertzborn at 9pm on a Friday night to roto-root our basement drain after it backed up while we were having a housewarming party in our 91-year-old home. Not only did they respond promptly, they sent a crew over within 30 minutes after hours and they had our drain unclogged in about an hour. GRATEFUL!