Capelli Plumbing

Had to call James again for a different problem than the one he fixed three weeks ago. This time it was a a distraught toilet in the upstairs hallway bathroom. Within 20 minutes Kyle and Barrett arrived and found that basically almost all of the parts in the tank needed to be replaced. This they did professionally, personably, courteously ,and within an hour. Our dogs even liked them! Have recommended James to our neighbor without hesitation. Their price was reasonable and we enjoyed their company and the great job and service they provided. Thanks, Capelli Plumbing. Greg and Cheryle 12/27/16

Phenomenal job! They were super honest, informative, professional and quick

Capelli Plumbing has been my go to for years. Recently, I needed a new garbage disposal and was having electrical problems with the old unit. James promptly scheduled the job for the next day even though it was not an emergency. Edward did an efficient job installing the unit. My house has older wiring issues and they had one of their members (Alex) come and help rewire the unit to fix the electrical issue. They were able to quickly purchase the needed parts and accomplish the job in under an hour. Great work, quick communication and friendly service!

Your drivers need to be more careful and avoid cutting people off on the road, as it can almost cause accidents.

A pipe broke and I needed a plumber fast. i expected to pay a premium and didn't have time to get bids. Help came fast, and far as I can tell the repair was made well. The cost was extortion. I can only feel better thinking perhaps some day James will need a drink out in the desert, and I come by with a bottle of water.

Our toilet flooded and left a message on Sunday. I thought of supporting a local small business and called Capelli. I followed up with another call on Monday morning. They dispatched Rick Chaves. Rick was nice. They charged $205 for toilet clog auger. This didn't work. So they removed the toilet and used a toilet clog cable as they had go 10 ft to clear blockage they charged an additional $585 for this service. He said that it need a couple of closet flange spacers as the closet flange was 3/4 inch below tile grade. He quoted $40 for this but ended up charging $50. $840 for the the 1 hr 15 mts he was at the job. Rick spoke well. He left saying everything works and that he had flushed 6-7 times. When the bathroom was used it started to drip from the ceiling below. When the office was notified, Rick called back promptly and said it would be $205 for diagnostics. I had no choice but to pay. He came back cut a hole on the ceiling and said everything was alright. There must have been some water from the previous issue and that when installed the spacers it must have got trapped and that came to the ceiling. No issues to report and everything works fine. In short there was time and $1045 to plunge. Seems excessive and their whole billing system is debatable. Ricks service was good the rating is for how they charge. The problem didnt end here. a few days after the clog was still there. This time Rick said he didnt know what people can stuff the toilet with there is no warrant. He charged me another $ 710 for snaking it and going with a camera to see what the issue is. The problem is still not solved. This has been nothing but a nightmare. We are about $1800 down and still havent fixed the issue and my ceiling is cut open. For a colg that should have been fixed on the first attempt.

Do not hire!! On Nov 19th, they came to fix a toilet clog. The guy had to remove the toilet and thought putting it in the shower would be an appropriate location. He put nothing underneath it and did not clean the shower afterwards. Not only that, but he left the bathroom floor a complete mess. It was horrifying. On Nov 27th (Thanksgiving morning), the clog returns somehow after only flushing tp and nothing solid at all. Due to the holiday, we had to just shut off the water and vacate the apartment. The plumbers arrive the following day to fix the clog. My neighbor had to let them in since I was not home. When I arrive, my bathroom mat is soaking wet and they put it on my bedroom carpet. Preston has no respect for the cleanliness of your home. He left his shoes on despite me telling my neighbors the apartment is no shoes on. It is incredibly disrespectful to do this to people. Preston could not figure out where the clog was. He told me it was under the kitchen and they would have to dig up the floor. James comes and inspects my apartment and the neighbors and tell both of us both kitchens need to be completely emptied out. Turns out the clog is in the complete opposite direction and not even under the kitchen. This entire fiasco forced me to vacate my apartment for multiple weeks while they tried to figure this out. On top of all that, they broke the oven when moving it and that later had to be fixed. Getting the job fixed the first time around is a complete lie on their behalf. These bozos have no idea what they're doing. *Photos show the two separate times they had to cut into the wall. After each cut, the drywall guy had to come and repair their work. It should have been fixed after the first time! Also note the mess on the floor. They left it like that!

Update for 2014: We had a leaky toilet, something that James had fixed before (wax ring replacement) and he had done a great job. This time two new guys came over and fixed the toilet but left it wobbly, charged a lot for the shoddy work, and were rude, whereas James was a perfect gentlemen. It was a weird experience. Looking at recent reviews, it seems that maybe Capelli Plumbing had a big change in how they operate in the last year. New management perhaps? It is absolutely not the five-star service it once was, and that's a shame because we really loved James and his perfect track record of solid, reliable work. Old review in 2011: James came over to check out a leaky bathtub and clear a clogged drain. He had a lot of good advice, worked quickly, and gave a modest estimate for the leak repair. A few weeks later we went ahead and got the leak fixed for the exact same estimate that was quoted -- no hidden costs. James and his assistant had to cut through the ceiling to get under the second-floor bathtub, clean out the mold, and fix the pipes. Sounds like difficult work, but they did this with no mess in just a few hours. Likewise he did a great job patching up the ceiling after the interior had been sufficiently dried out. Since then, there's been no leaks, no mold, and everything works (and looks) great. It can be hard to find an honest plumber, but James is the real deal. He's a very nice guy and didn't mind answering all our questions, plus there was no pressure on the getting the bigger repair done soon. So we're definitely satisfied with both jobs, and highly recommend Capelli Plumbing.

The team is polite, responsive, and easy to work with. I do believe this company is great and perhaps missed the mark on this job or may be busy, etc... I had very poor water pressure coming out of my bathtub and Capelli plumbing came to diagnose the issue. I paid for one hour of labor, (which is fine), however, I was told I'd be getting an estimate for them to come complete the job/ look for other issues when they could send a plumber with "more experience" with showers, etc. The initial interaction was great and understandable. Almost 3 weeks after they initially came - I've called twice and politely asked for an estimate and it still hasn't been sent to me, no followup, etc. I finally ended up calling another plumbing company and the issue was fixed within 1.5 hours, during their first visit. Thank you to the Capelli team, however, I don't feel comfortable using them again as I am confident the initial triaging of the main issue should not have taken a full hour when it only took the other company 5 minutes to explain what he'd be doing and fix it. I would reconsider my review of Capelli Plumbing if they hadn't spent an entire hour at my place & charge for labor only to tell me they'd send an estimate that never came. After seeing how quick the other plumbing company fixed it, I sincerely feel Capelli Plumbing did not need to spend an entire hour at my place and could've left after 10 minutes if he didn't know how to fix it. That, I would respect far more. Leaving an honest review and best of luck!

The team is polite, responsive, and easy to work with. I do believe this company is great and perhaps missed the mark on this job or may be busy, etc... I had very poor water pressure coming out of my bathtub and Capelli plumbing came to diagnose the issue. I paid for one hour of labor, (which is fine), however, I was told I'd be getting an estimate for them to come complete the job/ look for other issues when they could send a plumber with "more experience" with showers, etc. The initial interaction was great and understandable. Almost 3 weeks after they initially came - I've called twice and politely asked for an estimate and it still hasn't been sent to me, no followup, etc. I finally ended up calling another plumbing company and the issue was fixed within 1.5 hours, during their first visit. Thank you to the Capelli team, however, I don't feel comfortable using them again as I am confident the initial triaging of the main issue should not have taken a full hour when it only took the other company 5 minutes to explain what he'd be doing and fix it. I would reconsider my review of Capelli Plumbing if they hadn't spent an entire hour at my place & charge for labor only to tell me they'd send an estimate that never came. After seeing how quick the other plumbing company fixed it, I sincerely feel Capelli Plumbing did not need to spend an entire hour at my place and could've left after 10 minutes if he didn't know how to fix it. That, I would respect far more. Leaving an honest review and best of luck!

Discovered a plugged drain line servicing our kitchen sink, dishwasher and clothes washer. Water from kitchen back flowing from the drain on the washing machine. Contacted our favorite plumbing company. In short order a technician arrived (Preston) and had things well in hand and the obstruction cleared. Each time we have the opportunity to have Preston as our tech, we are impressed with his attitude and thoughtfulness. 14 August 2025 More issues with our plumbing. This time a leak under our bathroom sink and a damaged cartridge on the hot water faucet. Called and set an appointment. Team that handled by issue was prompt and empathetic. The technician arrived earlier than anticipated and got to work. The job turned out to be one that seemed easy, but troublesome. As an elderly man, I could have done the repair myself, but would have used most of my “sailors vocabulary” and add to that, a few human sacrifices. Jessie Martinez gave the job his best attention. The proof of the pudding was that my wife inspected the job, the condition of the work site, and ran water to test everything. She was pleased… and with that, I was ecstatic. January 6, 2026 Called Capelli Plumbing for warranty work. Technician arrive precisely at the appointed time frame and repaired that part that had failed. Jessie was pleasant and again, efficient with the repair. Highly recommend Jessie. Try him… you will like him…. “A lot”!

Beware another flaky contractor in San Leandro. Had a sewer repair at my inlaws house, James sent out their workers to unclog pipe and do a video inspection 600.00. They said the pipe was broken ok got a estimate 3600.00 it had to get fixed so we agreed to there price they removed approx. 8 ft. of concrete and patched in a piece of abs pipe. They did a crappy job on the cement, all over they splattered the brick wainscote with cement. James the owner never came by to check the job. Heres the best part 6 months later sewer backed up through the cleanout 400.00 later his worker said theres another break and he wanted more money to fix it. Again wheres James? Well my mother in law got screwed so we installed a trenchless sewer cheaper than Capelli plumbings job, we called James to come over our house to see what they had to do to make it correct. All James said is those guys dont work for me anymore because they screwed me, we demanded some kind of refund from him, he said ill i can pay is the 400.00 for when the guys went back to clean the pipe again. Long story short we havent got our 400.00 yet this is what gives good contractors a bad rap. We are going to report him to BBB. Another note our new plumber provided the sewer permit. James still kept all the money and never got a permit, think twice of this plumber.

Capelli plumbing took care of all the plumbing needs in my 63 year old home. James was very responsive and came out and looked at my broken tub drain and leaking bathroom sink and determined what was wrong with both, explained what needed to be done, gave me a reasonable estimate and set up an appointment. He showed up promptly and fixed the sink with an increased water flow to the sink after James I stalled the proper materials. James and David had to work together to replace the tub drain and pea trap so now my tub/showers drains! While James was under the house, he discovered several pipes were corroded and there was a small hole in one pipe. He also discovered mold in the crawlspace and I had been smelling mold/mildew for a while. James quoted me a reasonable price to tear out the damaged pipes and replace them and we set up an appointment. David and Ron came out to replace the pipes and once the old pipes were cut off I got to see how severely they were corroded and also see the holes in the pipes. David and Ron finished all the work, picked up after themselves and double checked to make sure everything worked. Im so thankful I called Capelli plumbing...Thank goodness for James - he fixed the sink & bathtub and then caught the pipe problems early - this could have been a nightmare.

During the home inspection before we closed on our new home, the home inspector mentioned that the laundry hookups were suspect and we should hire a licensed plumber to come take a look. We called several plumbers and James at Capelli Plumbing was the most responsive and most professional of all of the individuals I spoke with. He came out to take a look and quickly identified what work needed to be done. We also discussed gas versus electric dryers and he highly recommended gas. So we decided to also have him run a gas line to the laundry room in addition to fixing the washer hookups and washer drain. He came out early on a Saturday to do the work. It took him and his helper about 2 hours to make all the repairs and run the gas line. When it came time to hook up the dryer . . . he informed me that Lowe's had actually delivered an electric dryer . . . which was obviously not the gas dryer I ordered. Oops. I called Lowe's to sort out the issue and James offered to come back to hook up the gas dryer once Lowe's swapped the appliance. He stopped by the following Monday and hooked up the gas dryer in under 5 minutes. Super awesome service. We definitely plan to call Capelli Plumbing again when we need any additional plumbing work done.

Called James at Capelli on Monday to request a repair on a kitchen faucet and an estimate for some minor repair work in the bathroom. He came out promptly at 8 the next morning and was definitely more interested in selling me on a repipe job and when he got to the bathroom, he barely listened to the issue and told me I'd need a new toilet because parts were no longer available. That's his standard response when he comes to these older homes and he quoted me just under $10K for everything! He even tried to infer that the damage to my rusted through bathtub downspout was caused by my cat! Made an appointment for Friday at 7:30 a.m. for just the repair on my kitchen faucet estimated at a couple hundred dollars. He never showed up and never responded to my 5 phone calls...and yes, James it was YOUR voice on that answering machine. Their website advertises "no job too big", but apparently some ARE too small when he can't talk you into a bigger investment. As a woman, and older, I refuse to be taken advantage of. Don't bother with these guys. One star, but only because it won't let me do none