Hawthorne Plumbing, Heating & Cooling — Local services in Reno

We had a leak under the kitchen sink. My husband has been installing & repairing everything in the house his entire adult life. Now at 77 he is not able to get under the sink, lay on the 3 inch ledge on his back and work in the small space above his head, to his eternal distress. So, we realized we needed an expert Plumber. Ben Franklin had a convenient time for us 30 hours later. The time slot was 1:00 to 5:00, but they arrived at 1:40, which was nice. David introduced himself and his apprentice and was shown to the leak. He immediately diagnosed where the leak began and explained what was happening and why. He had 3 options for us to choose from. The prices were plainly written under each choice. When asked if this was the final price he assured me that no extra costs of any kind would be added, and we paid exactly that, as he had stated. I like a faucet with a separate Hot & Cold lever, which necessitated them leaving to pick one up, and they were back in a flash. They worked quickly and efficiently, & were professional and patient with any questions we had. David explained how to maintain the seal and took another moment to point out that where the counter meets the wall was also in need of new caulking applied all around. I have a quality cast iron & porcelain double sink, and the new chrome hardware looks beautiful. The faucet is high which is what I need and like, and unlike most of these styles, it does not splash at all. When they were finished he explained the further benefits of being a Ben Franklin customer such as having our hot water heater drained & checked annually at no cost for the 1st year along with check and maintenance on our new product, and a check on our entire home's water supplies for problems we might not be aware of. I can not think of anything more that an ethical, reasonably priced plumber could do. I will recommend Ben Franklin and David to anyone...

edit. March 24. ok so I tried to snake my kitchen drain myself. bought a $99 corded snake from harbor freight. I sent it down full 25ft. I did not clear the drain still totally plugged. soooo I called a company i've used for years and they came today and cleared the plug with their 60ft machine. I didn't know it but Hoffman had been sold to someone. ok. two hours $366. I consider this reasonable. Hawthorne plumbing quoted me $1200. this flat rate pricing they have gone to is unreasonable, as are they... I called hawthorne a couple three years ago and they snaked my drain from my garage to street for $59. this gives you some idea as to scope of work for a simple drain clean. I would not trust them. ever. again.

original review. I just got my $99 quote to snake my kitchen sink drain 15' and replace a $3 toilet flapper and fill value in a toilet. $1200!!! for one hours work and $20 total materials!!! 3 years ago I had Hawthorne come out and snake from my garage to the street. $59!!! it was a special but it really suggests the limited scope of work involved. I have had this same drain snaked before. last time it was $150 about 4yrs ago. Reno company quoted me $300 which is a ripoff too as they are on "flat rate" pricing scam. its a way to charge 3hrs for a 45min job. find a plumber that charges by the hour for $150/hr or less. you'll have to call around. these jobs I'm going to do myself. toilet parts are under $20 total and I'm going to buy a 25' cordless snake for about $50. So many service companies are now in the rape and pillage business. there are some honest ones but hard to find. for a plumber my job would take about one hour. I used to be an air conditioning and refrigeration...

We called Hawthorne Plumbing, Heating & Cooling to inspect our AC after it stopped working. Their technician came out, did an assessment, and quoted us over $8,000 to fix the issue. When we followed up to move forward with the repair, they suddenly changed the quote to $23,000, claiming we now needed to replace both the AC unit and the furnace, even though the furnace was working perfectly fine.

This massive price jump was alarming, so we decided to get a second opinion. Thankfully, we did. Another technician quickly diagnosed the actual issue: a single $10 component was broken. They replaced it quickly and the AC worked immediately.

We reached out to Hawthorne to raise our concerns. They offered no apology, no explanation, and took zero accountability. They quietly refunded our $100 estimate fee, but that was the extent of it.

At best, their technicians are completely incompetent and unable to diagnose basic HVAC problems. At worst, they are deliberately upselling expensive, unnecessary work to people who may not know better, especially during a heat wave when AC repairs are urgent.

This experience was extremely disappointing and could have cost us thousands. Do yourself a favor and avoid this...