Albert Nahman Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling

Highly recommend Albert Nahman Plumbing! The customer service was excellent from start to finish—from the receptionist who handled my initial call to the knowledgeable technician, Deandre P., who arrived within two hours. Unlike several other plumbing companies I contacted, Albert Nahman did not charge for travel time. They were also offering a February promotion for free diagnostics, which was greatly appreciated. Deandre P. was professional, thorough, and patient. He carefully inspected the pipes and water lines and clearly explained his findings. Although no plumbing leak was identified and the issue appears to be related to a large rainwater stream under the house, I valued the honest assessment and the time he took to investigate the problem. I was not charged for the visit. Overall, Albert Nahman Plumbing demonstrated integrity and outstanding customer service.

Sal Garrido was absolutely spectacular in restoring my peace of mind when he stopped the running water in 2 of my 3 toilets. He expertly repaired them by needed replacement of parts that caused the problems. And he clearly explained and priced the job before starting. Given that my husband who recently passed away used to handle all of our home maintenance issues, I was particularly relieved to have such knowledgeable and gracious assistance from Mr. Garrido. He’s a true asset to your company and deserves special recognition for his excellent service. I have been a customer of Albert Nahman in the past and was again impressed.

This was my first time using Albert Nahman Plumbing and they were fabulous. The Technician, Christopher was truly an expert. Very knowledgeable and very clean in his work. He completely replaced my kitchen faucet unit and it looks beautiful and works great. He totally went out of his way to buy a new unit and it matched perfectly to the one that had to be replaced. I will be referring my neighbors to this firm and of course Chris. Thank you so much for making this job a complete success.

Plunged parent’s toilet $189. Five stars. Replaced parent’s broken single hole lav faucet with “like” faucet with no change to fittings $1010.95. ZERO stars. I was the contact person and they had the person with disabilities sign the contract. I would NEVER have approved that. I called Thursday. No return call yet.

We were so disappointed with this company. I made the appointment in November for 1/14/26. We traveled from Colorado for this appointment. We told them in November that we wanted our heater checked and our thermostat changed, since it wasn’t functioning and our house was 50 degrees. The day before the appointment I called to get a time window when we could expect the technician to arrive. They could only tell me 8am-4pm. We woke up and waited and waited. I called in at 10:45 to get a better idea of when they were coming. At that time they told me that one of their employees called out sick and that they would have to reschedule the appointment. At that point we asked to speak to a Supervisor and lodged our complaint. After some time in our explanation, she guaranteed that we would have service today 1/15 and that we would be the first appointment. No one was here at 9am so I called again. The receptionist gave me the same explanation of an employee calling off. I asked to speak to a supervisor again but she couldn’t transfer me and had no phone number to call directly to a supervisor again. At that point I was livid!!! They did send an employee after noon today and when he got here he didn’t have a thermostat, which I originally requested to help me. At that point we cancelled our appointment. I will never do business with them again and nd I hope people reading this review will stay away!!! This was so unprofessional of them!!!

if you're like me, you prefer working with local contractors that live in and serve our neighborhood, ones that know the nuances and history of Victorians in Alameda. I called this company as they advertise as "A family owned business serving the East Bay for over 40 years". This is NOT a family business, it's part of Pipe Dreams Ventures LTD. DBA Albert Nahman Plumbing Services, AKA Pipe Dreams, They are a slick, predatory, "Wham Bang Thank-you Mam" operation. Pipe Dream Ventures gobbles up small businesses up and down the West Coast, using the reputation and legacy these companies have built in their perspective areas. The reason for my call was a suspected leak from my neighbors. It would be their second leak running toward my property. This time it was surfacing through a hole burrowed by a creature living under our shared driveway. The area was dry when I'd leave for work and puddled when I came home. ( they work from home). When the technician "S" responded to the call, I showed him the leak and told him the history of my neighbors previous issue. He checked my meter to see if I had any running water to indicate a leak, there was none. He then set-up the camera, telling me if I "signed up today for repairs, he'd waive the $350 camera fee..." . When he ran the camera, he told me the seam on my cast iron pipe was compromised, and asked if I had any leaks in my basement or back-ups, which I did not. He ran the camera down both the sewer caps in the driveway and with permission, through the clean out drain of my neighbors kitchen drainpipe. From all directions, the camera wouldn't go past the area where the leak was. Instead of doing preliminary digging, to further investigate, he told me the leak was sewage and I needed a new sewer lateral. I smelled something from the leak, but after COVID my sense of smell is not 100%..I was alarmed by that with the health implications. Also, since we share a narrow driveway, our houses are less that 7' apart and their kids play on it, I was panicked and reactionary. The price was outrageous, but if there was indeed sewage leaking, I felt I didn't have the luxury of getting multiple bids, I agreed to the work. The work was completed the next day. When I inspected the work, there was a pipe that was covered with a plastic flower pot in my basement and a leak where they re-routed my sump pump. The original leak was still there so S was called. He came out and told me it was impossible to have a leak. It was sealed and I had an EBMUD certificate. He checked where the Sump pump was attached and it was leaking. Someone had to come and add a cap to replace the flower pot. The leak from the burrowed hole was still leaking. For 3 weeks I texted S sending him pictures. He kept making excuses, "oh it's ground water", "do you have an irrigation system under there?"..etc . Finally I called the office and demanded that someone come immediately. A different technician, Carlos came out in the afternoon and within 10 minutes of checking all the pipes in my basement and running the camera in my costly sewer, he ran a hose down all the sewer caps and lastly my neighbors clean out drain. Within 3 minutes the water was coming up from the hole. He also said it was gray water not sewage. I was $19,000 in debt over something I did not need at that particular moment. I was livid and called the office demanding to speak to a manager or I'd file a lawsuit. Carlos also called and let them know how angry I was, and as a senior citizen, I felt taken advantage of. The Regional Manager called and said he would discuss the situation with S, review the film and see what he could do for me. He actually came to my home when he was in town to see how decrepit of a senior I was. During our conversation, he implied they tape conversations with customers on site and had heard part of my conversation with Carlos. Why would a reputable company need to do that? Needless to say, he never responded to my latest text, my neighbors called a different company after the witness how I was treated, the company they called spent hours figuring out where the leak was coming from, fixed it and let them know they did not need a new sewer lateral, and cost considerably less. Do your homework before you call a " Family Owned Business, Serving the East Bay for 40 Years

BEWARE OF THIS NEGLIGENT COMPANY!!! Albert Nahman Plumbing used to be a family owned company with a 30+ year reputation, however Albert Nahman himself retired, and in 2021 this plumbing company was sold to an investment firm PipeDreams Ventures founded by Dan Laufer in Alameda. They are banking on the company's past 4.8 star rating, but if you sort by lowest reviews, you'll see countless negative reviews in recent years. I've never written a negative review before, but I'm adding mine here as a warning to others. We had an emergency plumbing situation because the sewage line underneath our house suddenly broke. The sales rep came right away and quoted a heaping total of $16,000 to replace the main sewage plumbing and connecting flanges in the bathrooms and kitchen. I made a point to understand and clarify that the old sewage pipes would be removed and new pipes would be put in, which the sales rep logically confirmed, and it's also stated in the written contract. The price tag was high, but I had assumed they were a reputable company from seeing advertisements and trucks everywhere, so hired them because I thought I could trust them to do the job right. But it turns out... A week after the plumbers were finished, there still was a horrendous smell in our house, particularly in the area of our daughter's bedroom and bathroom. We were shocked to open the crawlspace hatch to see that the broken old sewage pipe pieces were NOT removed and were left scattered underneath the house!!! A large number of old sewage pipes, perhaps all of them, were not removed. This was extremely negligent and had been imposing a health hazard to our family, as the toxic sewage odor had been causing us all to have respiratory symptoms. The manager Alfonso was not immediately responsive, but luckily the sales rep had a conscience and called for the manager to urgently get the plumbers back the next morning to remove the smelly broken old sewage pipes from underneath our house. I requested for the plumbers to take photos under the crawl space to prove the work was finished, but I haven't received anything. But moreso, I've heard NO follow up from management, NO explanation or remorse, despite trying to reach them by phone and email.The degree of gross NEGLIGENCE by this plumbing company is appalling! It's evident with the price gouging and unresponsive management that they are driven by profiting off people in emergency plumbing situations.  As others have mentioned, avoid this company to save yourself a headache. And if you've had a negative experience, consider reporting to the Better Business Bureau and Contractors State License Board.

This company operates on a bait-and-switch scheme designed to exploit customers in vulnerable situations. Here is what happened: The Quote: Our toilet was clogged. I called Albert Nahman and, on a recorded line, was given a clear quote: a $95 "first technician" fee, plus $195 per hour. For a two-hour job, the maximum cost should have been around $500. The Reality: The reality was stark: the technician worked for less than two hours. Upon finishing, he presented me with an audacious bill for $1,004.82--more than double the maximum quoted price. Critically, the invoice contained no itemized breakdown and no listed tax. It was simply a single, unjustified number, precise to two decimals. Additionally the invoice incorrectly states the technician used a video camera for inspection. The Runaround: When I demanded an explanation, the technician shrugged and said, "I'm not involved in pricing." I then called the office and spoke to a manager. He also refused to provide an itemized list or justify the charge, repeating the same line that "technicians have the list." This is not a misunderstanding; it feels like a scam. The initial phone quote seems designed just to get a technician through your door. Once the work is done, they hold your plumbing--and your home--hostage until you pay whatever arbitrary number the technician decides. How the Scam Works: The technicians are incentivized to charge whatever they want because they take a percentage of the total bill. This incentivizes them to inflate charges dishonestly. The responsibility ultimately lies with management, which upholds this misleading pricing structure and fails to ensure that initial quotes are honored. Labeling this practice as merely "dishonest" would be an understatement; it represents a pattern of misleading customers. You would not tolerate a grocery store that advertised apples for $4 a pound and then charged you $8 at the register. Why would you tolerate this from a plumber? A review of the other comments confirms that this is not an isolated incident, but a concerning company practice. Potential customers should be aware that the hourly rate discussed by phone is not reliable. During a time of need, I found their pricing to be opportunistic and not aligned with the initial quote. My final bill of $1,004.82 serves as evidence of this lack of transparency. I would advise anyone considering their services to explore other local options to avoid unexpected costs.

The response time is amazing. A tech was dispatched within hours of calling. However, the tech arrived for a sump pump gurgling noise which was on the left side of the house. He then went over to the pump that's on the right side of the house and spray water, the seal then came off, and told us that the pump is broken, it doesn't work. Then we (not the tech, and immediately just stated the pump is broken) realized that the circuit breaker was flipped. He started filling the pump with water with our hose. We got the pump started, but the tech said, but the seal is now blown off from the water that I sprayed, and it now seated in the very small canal. In order for him to fix it, he will then need to dig up the whole pump and install a new one. The pump on the right side of the house was never the issue. When we called him out that he's the one that actually broke the seal by spraying the water, he said, well, it shouldn't come off. Then he goes on to say, I have a camera that I can feed into the sump pump to see what's wrong, but that's my personal camera, so if you want me to use it, you'll have to pay me, "on the side"!!! We thought it was a snake camera that feeds all the way to the end of the pump, but no...it was only a foot long (tech claimed that he got it at Temu!). We asked for the footage but there's no recording, so he only showed us what was only a foot deep, we could see a foot deep with our naked eyes! But since he used his camera, he needed to charge, the consultation was $79, and the tech said, just give me $200! We didn't even have that much cash on us, so we offered we only had $110. The tech said, fine, $110 is good. But if you want me to come back to fix the real problem, you can just call me and I'll do the job for you "on the side"! This company's way of doing business is something else! Mind you, most plumbling company gives "free estimates"! But more alarming was when we called to report on the tect, the dispatcher said the tech is one of their best~! I would hate to find out how the other regular techs operate with this business, let alone trying to just steal all of their jobs to do "on the side"! We ended up calling another plumbling company out a few hours later and the tech fixed our original issue and found a new leak and fixed that for us too! Steer clear of this company at all costs!!!

I hired Albert Nahman Plumbing to install a heat pump water heater in July of this year, due to a) positive experience in 2015 b) their excellent reviews, and (most importantly) c) they are a BayREN authorized installer. To qualify for the $1000 rebate for replacing my old gas water heater, the installer has to be authorized and listed by BayREN. The installation was completed and paid for on July 25th; On July 20th I submitted the paperwork to Albert Nahman's then-rebate coordinator Diane. Life happened and it wasn't until early October that I realized I had heard nothing about the rebate status, so I called on 10/4 and was told Diane had left the company and I should talk to the new coordinator, Joyce. I did so, and she assured me that she'd take care of it and should just forward her all the paperwork I'd originally sent to Diane. Which I did. I heard nothing and contacted Joyce again on Oct 10th and then again on Oct 23rd. On 10/30, I called in and asked to speak to a supervisor. Marcus Mosley (General Manager) contacted me and after listening to my complaint asked me to sum everything up and follow up with an email to him, which I sent the same day. Marcus responded that he'd spoken to his coordinator, who would push the rebate further and they just needed to find a picture of the old water heater. "Give me until tomorrow" he said. Tomorrow came and went, and I called and left messages for Marcus several times. None got a response. I emailed him on Nov 9th, which he responded to by saying he'd been busy and would get an update from "Jeff". Once again I heard nothing and tried calling multiple times to no avail, and sent another email on Nov 16th demanding a response and progress on my $1000 rebate. I also said if I didn't hear back in a week that I'd look into other options, such as bad reviews, state board complaints, and legal action (which would need to be small claims) And here I am. Stonewalled and ignored. And to add insult to injury, I just found out that BayREN lowered the rebate to $250 in August. I hate writing negative reviews and this is the last thing I want to be spending my time doing, but they've left me no choice.

I don't normally write reviews for contractors who don't get the contract, but I'm making an exception in this case because the General Manager asked me four times for a review. My old tank water heater sprung a leak and needed urgent replacement, so I asked several plumbing and HVAC companies to bid on the work. The Field Supervisor from Albert Nahman who came to inspect the project was friendly and knowledgeable, and generated several estimates on the spot for tank or tankless water heater replacement. The bid costs were higher than for other contractors I met, but I was presented with an option to lower the price significantly if I enrolled in a service "membership", which included a home inspection and discounts on future contracting work. I'm pretty handy and not a "membership" or extended warranty kind of person, so this was of little interest to me. Upon presentation of the bids, the Field Supervisor said that I could schedule the work right away with a 10% down-payment. I replied that I still had another company coming to bid on the project and I'd get back to him. Five minutes later I got a phone text message from the General Manager asking if I could help them reach their goal of a large number of reviews by the end of the year, which I thought was a bit strange since they weren't contracted to do the work yet. I also received the same review request via email. The next day I contacted the Field Supervisor to inform them that I had chosen a different company for my water heater replacement. Over the next few days I was contacted two more times by email with requests for my review. Although I'm fairly confident that Albert Nahman Plumbing would have done a good job with my project, between the higher bids than their competitors, the push to submit a review before the job was even awarded, and the "membership" drive, I was put off a little, and decided to award the project to a different company. I'm going to leave my three-star review here for the process of just getting estimates.

Albert Nahman installed our Heating/cooling system 9 years ago when we first bought our house and they were awesome then. Today, I experienced the "new" Albert nahman post-acqusition. Although the timeliness and service I received was good, it was expensive and the "process" left a bad taste in my mouth. My Carrier system started sending me warning messages about a motor issue for the furnace in the afternoon. Albert Nahman was able to send someone first thing in the AM. Within 30mins they were able to confirm that I needed a new motor. This is where the "upsell" started. First, they noted that I don't have a "membership". membership would give me a 15% discount on the needed fix (the fix was ~$3.5M so the discount was chunky). Second, they noted that if I don't have a membership, I may not get the last of the motor that's in inventory nor get the fix scheduled within the day (fix might not happen this week) . which is a lot of words for "pay to play" .... in other words, if I didn't pay for the membership I wasn't going to get my furnace fixed today. This felt sooooooooo icky. why make the poor service guy act like a friggin scam artist instead of letting them do what they're best at, install and fix things! What does the membership do? it gives you an annual maintenance checkup and 15% discount on services/purchases. The checkup doesn't cover actual service, just checking to make sure that things are working (which of course translate to a potential service call!). So if they're marking up all their services/purchases by 15% to sell membership, then "membership" is just free money for AN to extort out of potential clients who are very likely in a difficult situation (unlikely to call unless it's an emergency like the heater is not working when it's cold!). While AN got my system fixed today.... I'm not going to trust AN going forward but will start looking for alternatives to support our annual checkup/maintenance of our heater/cooling systems

My hot water stopped working, so I called this company. They sent a man out who said my boiler needed a new thermal fuse, but he couldn't do it. I waited for them to schedule another guy. He showed up late, but then refused to do the job because he couldn't park DIRECTLY outside our house. He just drove away. When he returned many hours later, they sent his supervisor along to apologize for his behavior. The technician then spent hours fitting the fuse, but when he was done the system still did not work. He seemed to have no clue why, and just shrugged when I asked what he thought it could be.... They then sent another guy round a few days later, he said he didn't think that it was the thermal fuse, and took the old one away. He said he would test it and let me know if it was blown or not (he didn't, and never has). He returned later to fix the system according to his diagnosis. He was supposed to arrive at 9am, but he eventually turned up at 5.30pm (not acceptable). He worked late, but then needed to return the following day, and we still had no hot water overnight. He completed his work by 3pm the next day and left. I tried the shower last night, it ran hot for 5 minutes or so, then went cold. The water pressure is also significantly worse than before. Other showers in the house performed similarly. I rang to complain yesterday and contacted the technician directly, but no-one has got in touch at all... The showers still do not work this morning. I have now spent over $5000 with this company, waited for days on end for appointments, waited for hours for technicians who have shown up sometimes six hours late, occasionally behaved incredibly rudely and unprofessionally.... and the system is still not fixed, over two weeks later. They charge the earth and deliver nothing.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS - THIS BUSINESS WILL NOT FIX ANY ISSUES THEY CREATE. They are happy to take your money, but do not take full responsibility for their poor workmanship. In mid-August, I hired Albert Nahman to clean out a sewer line blockage (which is a relatively easy thing to do). The technician came and completed the job, which took less than an hour. He gave us an invoice, which we paid on the spot. Within a couple of days, I noticed an awfully strong smell in the house. I went to check the basement where the clean out was done and there was dirty sewer water flooding the floors. I personally then went to check where the work was done, and the sewer clean-out cap had come off (meaning the sewer blockage was never done correctly). There was toilet paper and waste saturating the dirt, and it leaked into the main section of our basement where we have a concrete floor storing many valuables. We spent the weekend having to clean out and dispose of a large amount of items we lost, due to their negligence. Soon after, another technician was sent who did a good job. Due to the spillage, the terrible stench took over our whole house and lasted for nearly two months afterward. Albert Nahman agreed to test the soil for any hazards, but charged me for half the cost of the test. The soil was "remediated" by basically sprinkling cat litter on the, what turned out to be, contaminated soil. The initial verbal estimate is tens of thousands of dollars. For over one month, I have tried multiple times through emails and phone calls to discuss them fixing the issue correctly. They have gone SILENT. I would not use this company for anything, for any reason, again. Anybody can have a problem, it is how they fix it. And this company did NOT fix it.

Albert Nahman used to be great until they got bought out by a venture capitalist group called Pipe Dreams. I had someone come out recently to look at my one-year old tankless which wasn't working properly. The proposal to fix the problem added up to $5000(!). Aside from the expense, this would not have fixed the problem, and would have left a gaping hole in the wall that would have been my responsibility to fix. Needless to say, I called another plumber and they diagnosed the problem completely differently. He knew the tankless company had manufactured a bad batch of faulty check valves because he had fixed so many this year. I got a remanufactured one for free under warranty from the company and paid the plumber $300 to fix that and install a crossover valve that I bought online for $80 to reduce lag time for hot water. Albert Nahman was going to charge me $658 for the same crossover valve! The check valve issue - the actual problem - wasn't even on Albert Nahman's list. Also A. Nahman wanted to flush the system for $540 when other places charge $250 at most. At the recommendation of the plumber I ended up hiring, I bought a kit online (good for multiple uses) for $120 because he told me it's super easy to do on your own. $1680 from Albert Nahman was to replace the entire shower head, faucet, etc., that automatically came with the pipes (that don't actually need to be replaced). $800 to open the wall for no reason. This plumber saw that I do have copper pipes already, so no need to break open the wall for $783. Honestly, I'm stunned. But also happy to now have hot water on demand for $380 instead of no hot water for over $5000 and a hole in the wall!