Craig asks:
Trying to add a bathtroom to an old Church Hill house, second floor, back corner. Having had a hard time getting a plumber out to run supply/drain/vent lines. As soon as I tell them I don’t want to buy/have fixtures installed they see their profit margin shrink and walk away.
Any good plumbers in Church Hill, licensed and insured, you can recommend? Would be great to keep it kinda local on the labor…
8 comments
Andrew Venable
First, I HAVE NOT used their services nor am I associated with them in any way. But I do see their trucks in CH and Shockoe frequently and one of their team does live in Fulton (for whatever that’s worth) However they have decent reviews online. http://www.advancedplumbingllc.net/
some reviews: http://www.yelp.com/biz/advanced-plumbing-llc-richmond
As far as profit margin, plumbers are going to make most of their money on the rough-in. Running the drains and supplies is going to be more involved and time consuming than installing the fixtures, by far. My thoughts are that if other plumbers are not getting back to you, perhaps it has to do with the difficulty of running the pipes? Is the ceiling under the bathroom floor open? Are the walls in the bathroom and the walls under the bathroom open? How accessible is the attic for them to tie in to the exsisting vent? Will roof work be required for a new vent? If not, are you willing to open the walls/ceiling and then repair them when the work is completed? Hire a roofer to deal with the roof penetration if necessary? Where does the main drain line tie-in in the crawlspace? How accessible and crawlable is the crawlspace? Many plumbers hate doing that kind of demolition, and doing it cleanly and surgically seems to be a rare ability, especially when it comes to plaster and lathe. Crawling a crawlspace with 12″ of height is a nearly impossible proposition, only remedied by lots of digging or lots of floor cutting to deal with the crawlspace from above.
Anyway, you see where I’m going with this…good luck on your project and please let us know if anybody rose to the task. A good plumber, comfortable with renovation and old house scenarios is a precious and valuable commodity.
We have used Advanced Plumbing for our home, as well as, on commercial properties. They know what they are doing and have not let us down as far as appointment times, estimates, or getting the job done. Justin White is the owner is respected with the city and so inspections go smoothly.
I just used Mark Baush. Had a pipe in my laudry room crack. He came out on Sunday. Was fast and fair on price. I will definitely use him for future work. He lives in the neighborhood as well. Highly recommended.
Thanks for the input. I’ll follow up with advanced. Are Bausch and venable in the white pages? Just as an FYI, the space is totally open, ceiling and walls. I haven’t pulled the ceiling beneath to room but know that we will need to do some work in that room. Crawl space is 24-28″.
S.W.Head at 2221602. Done several houses for me. Known him for more than 20 years. Lives just off Nine Mile.
Craig, this post will probably be knocked off the preview pane by the Buzzy’s conversation before you see it, but I was just wondering if you found resolution with the plumbing project?
Sounds like you’re well prepared for the work to begin and hopefully the plumbers can knock it out quickly.
Sorry for the lack of follow up to this. I ended up using Advanced Plumbing. The owner lives over in Fulton, his employees were courteous and did GREAT work. I didn’t have any luck on getting other quotes…so I don’t have any price/value comments…but they did great work and the owner came for each inspection and the work was top notch. If I ever gut my kitchen…I would call these guys again in a heartbeat.