Albuquerque Plumbing, Heating & Cooling — Attraction in Albuquerque

Updateing, 10/13/24 I have upgraded this to three stars from two in recognition that Albuquerque Plumbing reviewed my complaint and issued a substantial refund, bringing the charges back into line with industry norms.

Original review: I have used Albuquerque Plumbing for a dozen years. While their charges have always seemed on the high end, the quality of work was acceptable and they stood behind it. In a recent service call, however, I became convinced that their charges were not reasonable and the quality of work was not up to par.

I asked to have a shower cartridge replaced because of a dripping faucet. Because, in the past, a crew told me that they didn’t have the part and had to go out to Home Depot to get it, this time I went out to get the part before the appointment. When the plumber arrived, he gave me a verbal estimate of $390 for an hour and a half of work. When I said that was extremely expensive for a shower cartridge, he said that was a worst case estimate, that it could be less. He seemed surprised when I handed him the part and said he wasn’t sure how to bill it.

In fact, according to my security camera, he was at my house for 1 hour and 8 minutes. Part of that time was for doing an estimate for a hot water tank replacement. Even though he wasn’t at the house for an hour and a half, he still billed me $392. The bill itself says that the hourly rate was $300 per hour.

Now, this is a pretty audacious hourly rate. Estimates of plumber’s fees on the internet are about half that. This Old House gives $200 per hour as a maximum. Bob Vila gives $200 as the going rate for a master plumber. And this is Albuquerque, not New York City or Los Angeles.

There’s also the question of how long it took him. A shower cartridge replacement should take someone who knows what he’s doing a lot less than an hour. If I remember correctly, it took plumbers in past years less than 20 minutes.

The time it took may have indicated a deeper problem. I should have checked the repair thoroughly before he left. The faucet wasn’t dripping, so I figured it was fixed. Unfortunately, the hot and cold were reversed. That suggests a reason to me why it took him so long to do such a simple job.

I called the office to protest the size of the bill. The receptionist was very nice and promised to pass that concern on to accounting. I never heard back.

Finally, when I read through the warranty information, I learned that because I provided the brand new, manufacturer’s brand, in-the-original box cartridge, the warranty would not cover any damage to the faucet due to the installation. I guess that’s an inducement to the customer to have the crew, at $300 an hour, go to Home Depot to pick up the cartridge.

Needless to say, another company will do the hot...

Wallace Sterling is a great tech! He came out and went the extra mile to ensure I understood what my problem was, what caused it and best options for repair. He wasted no time and worked extremely efficiently to not waste time which is billable time! Not to mention the attitude he displayed for coming out an hour away to service my home made me feel very comfortable. I would recommend this company but more so Wallace sterling in particular. What a great technician!

This is a continuation of my previous review I accepted an estimate given by Wallace and was set to have my main sewer line repaired. After a full day of digging the line was not found and let me say this is extremely hard dirt. They returned a second day and dug more at least 10’ deep in weather that was horrible. After second day the line was still not found at no fault of theirs. By the third day they were growing concerned but never gave into the idea this was becoming very expensive in labor costs for the company and let me know there is several problems associated with the location of the line! They brought out several managers and an extremely knowledgeable tech named Ryan who was absolutely with the business of locating and repair work! On the fourth day line was located and repaired they backfilled the front yard they dig up as if there was never a hole dug, clean up was amazing! The important message to take from this is , I was bid for four hours labor for two guys not four days with 3 guys and several managers with several attempts to spot this line! This company stood by the original estimate and didn’t bat an eye at completing the job at the original estimate! They were extremely professional and Pam the manager went far and beyond to ensure this job price stayed with in the scope of the estimate! I seriously 100% am grateful for the hard work and professionalism of every single person I came in contact with! If there is ever a company I would stand with and by Albuquerque Plumbing is the company of choice for any and all my plumbing needs in the future! Pam, Wallace and Ryan are excellent and this company is very lucky to have them on the team! I wish I could fly a banner recognizing them for their expertise and excellence in the field they are in. Thank you to all who helped me and my family flush away the worries and stress! I appreciate this company and...

We recently required the service of a radiant heat boiler specialist. We selected Albuquerque Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling after reading several Google reviews. Based on our experience we would not hesitate to use Albuquerque Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling again and would unequivocally recommend them to others. The technicians, Peter and Kameron, took ownership of the job and exhibited a degree of autonomy that we believe reflects the trust that their management has in them. This speaks well of the company. Background: We recently had our boiler (for in-floor radiant heat) fail. The contractors we had used in the past have retired and we selected Albuquerque Plumbing, Heating and Cooling. Peter, the boiler technician assigned to our issue, called before coming out to give us an ETA and ask for some background on the failure so that he could make sure that he had the needed replacement parts. Peter replaced the failed parts. However, the system would not reliably operate for more than a few minutes. After exhausting all possible fixes, we agreed that the nearly 30-year-old system had reached the end of its life. Peter prepared a quote for a new system and became our advocate to work in our replacement job as soon as possible. This was very important to us as winter had already made an appearance in the East Mountains. As planned, Peter and Kameron showed up and replaced the boiler (and the equally old water heater). As promised, we had heat the day before Thanksgiving. The urgency of Peter working to schedule our job was validated with the sub-freezing night temperatures and snow the morning after the job was completed. But we had a warm house! Our gratitude goes out to Peter and Kameron for their dedication to get the job finished on time. This required them to work long days (in some cold temperatures) when factoring in picking up supplies before making their journey to the East Mountains. They both obviously take pride in their work as it is very neat and they took the time to explain their plan, progress, and how the new features of the system worked. Through it all Peter and Kameron remained pleasant, cheerful, and very professional. We appreciated their patient and friendly approach in all...