The Plumbinator

We live in the Lantana area and called The Plumbinator. Mickey is amazing! Had some issues with a leaking hose bib. I really appreciated how he walked me through the issues and fix it efficiently. Was a great experience, 10 out of 10, would use The Plumbinator again!!

We'll never use another plumber after working with these guys. I was worried we'd need to replace our bathrooms after two separate leaks started happening. These guys came, drilled holes and tried to recreate the leaks but concluded that the leaks were just a result of excess water going through the grout and not faulty pipes. They spent ages with us and never charged us since there was no leak to fix. They even gave us tips to protect our pipes in the freeze and prevent them breaking! A really genuine and trustworthy company with knowledgeable plumbers. We will definitely use them when we do decide to replace our bathrooms!

Plumbinator gets the job done right. The crew is reliable—they show up on time, they’re patient, and they’re genuinely personable. They kept me up to date throughout the process and were flexible with scheduling while I sorted things out with my insurer where possible. They worked hard to track down a difficult leak in my master bathroom. In the process, they also discovered an additional issue under my slab and made sure I understood what needed to be done next. They take care to clean up after themselves and are respectful of your home. They work diligently until the problem is solved, and if something falls outside their scope, they’ll recommend someone trustworthy who can help. Highly recommend.

I've now had this shower going for about a year, and it's my only new plumbing in the entire house. After 1 year of use, the pressure stopped on just the hot side and just in this section of new pipe. The hot sinks further down the line worked fine. New cartridge didnt work, there was a clog in the new hot line. Called plumbinator and they said they couldn't come look for 2 weeks. My house is on the market and I couldn't wait 2 weeks. 4 other plumbers came in to look within a couple days and it wasnt even their original work. Sure there's a chance something got stuck and had nothing to do with the install, but to not backup your own work in a reasonable time to at least check is not cool.

I had read good reviews on NextDoor.com, but when it came time for the work, they fell short. First, I called one evening when our hot water heater was leaking, and never got a call back. Second, I called not long after to get an estimate. Two plumbers came out, one of them took my email to send an estimate. A couple of days later, I spoke to the woman at the office and she asked for my email address to send the estimate. I told her I gave it to the plumber, but he said she didn't have it. I gave her the email address, but she sent it elsewhere. Today is Monday and I called because it never arrived. She asked me for my email address again. I asked her, where did you send it? And she read it back to me, incorrectly, and told me I was in a hurry when I gave it to her on the phone. I never gave her the email address she read back to me; also, I did give it to the plumber. When I told her that, she got defensive and said, well, plumbers lose things. She followed up by saying "again...if you give me your email address, I can send you the estimate." Very defensive and with even more attitude than when the conversation started. I told her I think I'm going to hold off. She disconnected the call. I guess business is so good that you can afford to selectively reject customers when your employee is wrong and doesn't want to own up to her mistakes. She was not even the least bit sorry for making mistakes and being rude. We were already inconvenienced by a broken water heater. I don't need more frustration in the form of unprofessionalism and bad attitude from someone who clearly sounds old enough to know better. I'm going with a different plumber for this and future jobs. I hope she compensates well for the income she has cost this company. Don't worry I won't tell anyone. ***RESPONSE TO MANAGER: Your comment is incorrect. Once again, I gave our email address to two employees of yours. They failed, their mistake. And your comment about your "free gas" and your "free time", means nothing; you offer the same to other folks, so it's nothing special that you did for us, and certainly nothing we're going to feel guilty for, but nice try. All you needed to do was your job, and yet you couldn't do that. I'm told it was your sons who were the techs that came out, and one of them had my email address. I can see now why you're defending him. I'm guessing Wendy the Rude who set up the appointment is a relative of yours as well. I gave her our email address as well, after she said the plumber tech didn't have it. She STILL sent it elsewhere. She's almost as rude with her comments on NextDoor's website. I guess this is what folks have to expect from your family business: right or wrong doesn't matter, just stick by your family and don't take ANY responsibility. If you can't clean up your messes before the job, imagine the nightmare afterward. No thank you; we went with a professional.

(A novel of a review follows. The short is: The Plumbinator was more affordable, honest, faster, and friendlier than any plumbing company I've ever used. They saved me $60,000 on a problem that didn't exist. They didn't try to sell me on things I didn't need, and they truly stand behind their work. This is one of the best small businesses I've ever interacted with.) For years I struggled and failed to find a go-to plumber. First, I tried big companies I knew from billboards and trucks around town. They were painfully expensive and always sent out a kid with minimal training. One advised me to "just use chemical drain cleaner" on my 60-year-old cast-iron pipes. Pass. Then, I tried a couple of little guys. They were always hard to schedule/communicate with. And one, who showed up to my job excessively stoned, also thought it was a savvy business move to literally scream at me when I asked for an explanation about a line item on the bill. Next, I found a mid-sized company that came out and gave me the worst of the worst news in the world of wastewater: there was a break in our cast-iron pipes and we needed to get them (all) replaced. They quoted us $60K for the work. Given I didn't have tens of thousands of dollars burning a hole in my pocket, I said I'd have to think about it. In the meantime, I stopped using our washing machine and became intimately familiar with the laundromats in my area. After nearly a year of hauling the family's dirty duds and unmentionables to the laundromat, I finally decided to call another company to see how much this whole plumbing replacement nightmare would run me. I figured best-case scenario I could find someone who would do it for less. I was ready for the worst. (RIP, life savings. Did my kids really need to go to college, anyway?) So imagine my total surprise when The Plumbinator came out and not only told me my cast-iron pipes were fine for their age, but removed a pesky clog that the bigger company told me was a break in the pipes when they scoped my house. After Steve and Eric (two all-around excellent guys) snaked the heck out of my old house, everything ran fine. I could wash my clothes from home again! Still, I asked if they wouldn't mind running the camera to see if they could find any problems in the pipes, knowing that my plumbing was in its golden years. Mickey, the Plumbinator himself, showed up for this. He walked through my house and pointed out potential spots to look out for. He didn't try to sell me on anything. He sat down and talked to me for at least an hour answering questions and talking me through what he saw. And he shared his honest assessment of what he would do if it were his house: wait to replace the plumbing until we start seeing problems. Mickey and his men could easily have just told me I needed to have my pipes replaced. I already knew I was going to have to at some point. But that's not the kind of guy Mickey is. I'm not sure at what magical point in the past it was the default that people stood by their work and would steer you straight with the kind of advice you'd give to your own family, but whenever that time was, Mickey and his guys feel plucked straight from it. If all that weren't enough, you get the bonus that communicating and scheduling with them couldn't be easier. You just text and hear back right away. When a couple minor things popped up that required follow-up around some of the additional projects I had them tackle, I got an immediate text response and the guys were back out within an hour -- even though I said it wasn't urgent. No charge. No bad attitude about being called back out. Just a quick fix and they were on their way. Thanks to Mickey, Steve, and Eric, I finally have a go-to plumber. And when my plumbing does finally meet its inevitable end, there's only one company I would consider calling.

A long review follows. The short is: The Plumbinator was more affordable, honest, faster, and friendlier than any plumbing company I’ve ever used. They saved me $60,000 on a problem that didn’t exist. They didn’t try to sell me on things, and they truly stand behind their work. This is one of the best small businesses I’ve ever interacted with. For years I struggled and failed to find a go-to plumber. First, I tried big companies I knew from billboards and trucks around town. They were painfully expensive and always sent out a kid with minimal training. One advised me to “just use chemical drain cleaner” on my 60-year-old cast-iron pipes. Pass. Then, I tried a couple of little guys. They were always hard to schedule/communicate with. And one, who showed up to my job excessively stoned, also thought it was a savvy business move to literally scream at me when I asked for an explanation about a line item on the bill. Next, I found a mid-sized company that came out and gave me the worst of the worst news in the world of the wastewater: there was a break in our cast-iron pipes and we needed to get them (all) replaced. They quoted us $60K for the work. Given I didn’t have tens of thousands of dollars burning a hole in my pocket, I said I’d have to think about it. In the meantime, I stopped using our washing machine and became intimately familiar with the laundromats in my area. After nearly a year of hauling the family’s dirty duds and unmentionables to the laundromat, I finally decided to call another company to see how much this whole plumbing replacement nightmare would run me. I figured best-case scenario I could find someone who would do it for less. I was ready for the worst. (RIP, life savings. Did my kids really need to go to college, anyway?) So imagine my total surprise when The Plumbinator came out and not only told me my cast-iron pipes were fine for their age, but removed a pesky clog that the bigger company told me was a break in the pipes when they scoped my house. After Steve and Eric (two all-around excellent guys) snaked the heck out of my old house, everything ran fine. I could wash my clothes from home again! Still, I asked if they wouldn’t mind running the camera to see if they could find any problems in the pipes, knowing that my plumbing was in its golden years. Mickey, the Plumbinator himself, showed up for this. He walked through my house and pointed out potential spots to look out for. He didn’t try to sell me on anything. He sat down and talked to me for at least an hour answering questions and talking me through what he saw. And he shared his honest assessment of what he would do if it were his house: wait to replace the plumbing until we start seeing problems. Mickey and his men could easily have just told me I needed to have my pipes replaced. I already knew I was going to have to at some point. But that’s not the kind of guy Mickey is. I’m not sure at what magical point in the past it was the default that people stood by their work and would steer you straight with the kind of advice you’d give to your own family, but whenever that time was, Mickey and his guys feel plucked straight from it. If all that weren’t enough, you get the bonus that communicating and scheduling with them couldn’t be easier. You just text and hear back right away. When a couple minor things popped up that required follow-up around some of the additional projects I had them tackle, I got an immediate text response and the guys were back out within an hour — even though I said it wasn’t urgent. No charge. No bad attitude about being called back out. Just a quick fix and they were on their way. Thanks to Mickey, Steve, and Eric, I finally have a go-to plumber. And when my plumbing does finally meet its inevitable end, there's only one company I would consider calling.

This review is long overdue. I have called on Mickey more than once to help me fix some plumbing issues. Let's start with the back story that led me to call Mickey: I reside in a home that was built in 2003 (so its not old but its not new). I am the second owner of this home and the previous owners left many of the builder grade facets in the home when I purchased it. There is nothing wrong with that BUT just like anything else after 15 years upgrades need to be done to meet new codes and for esthetic and efficiency purposes. Round One: 2019- I phoned Mickey because it was taking FOR-EV-ER (said in the Sandlot tone) for my hot water in my master bathroom to heat. I had to run my shower for several minutes before it even got warm. What I discovered was that I may need a circulation pump installed. This is because the distance hot water needs to travel is the reason cold water comes out of a shower/sink first. When the faucet is on, hot water is drawn to the sink through your plumbing. Turning it off stops the water but doesn't return it to the water heater. It stays in the pipes and gets cold. The more piping between the water heater and the faucet, the more cold water there is and the longer it takes to get that hot shower water that I needed. My hot water heater like most folks is in the garage and my master bath is all the way on the opposite side of my home (for reference my home is about 2,600 sq. feet but the water heater is outside of the house in the garage, so... add another 355 sq. feet to the 2,600 to account for the garage space) so the water has to travel a bit to get to my shower and get hot). Accordingly, Mickey put in a recirculating pump in for me. Round Two: Fast forward to 2020, I redid my second bathroom because (a) it was outdated (b) I needed to change the shower tub combo to make it a stand up shower to accommodate my house guest for whom the tub is a problem and (c) I required something easier to clean than the current set-up, which was back breaking labor --bending and scrubbing the low profile bathroom tub. Mickey and his team removed my toilet and vanity and moved the drain in the bathroom and piping to accommodate a stand-up shower. The team then put my toilet and new vanity in as well as replaced my broken closet flange. But wait there's more (said in my infomercial voice)...there was an issue with my hot water AGAIN. Mickey and his crew were able to deduce that the thermostat element on my hot water heater was broken. Mickey and his crew have not only taken care of my issues but have educated me on common household plumbing issues. This crew has done great work for me and are honest, trustworthy and reasonably priced. #supportlocal

It is a breath of fresh air of Honesty and Integrity you will experience using this women owed plumbing business in Round Rock and surrounding areas. We had an issue with a tenant occupied property where they experienced random sewer smell in an 1100 sf house with one bathroom. 2 years ago when the complete remodeling took place new electrical , new water line, and new fixtures were upgraded . They gave the remaining partial cast iron sewer line under the house to be in good integrity. Moving forward two years to now September 19-024 we were scratching our heads what could be the cause of the random sewerage smell. We had 4 plumbers to come out and each offered different ways. Two of them said just rip everything under the house out at cost of over $12,000.00 and it takes us 2 days. Others wanted us to tell them which test we wanted them to perform! Like do you want a smoke test at $980.00 or a camera inspection at this and that . You got to be kidding me they are so called experts and yet we should say to them what to do!!? We are older retired age too and they did offer a 10% off their deal too. It seems like a big scam to go to as many properties and just see what sticks and collect money without really providing anything of substance. From all these we get this company The Plumbinatoraustin from Round Rock two technicians arrived very quiet listening and looking not talking too much , inspected the drain system over and under and came out saying nothing they can see is wrong. They suggested to let the tenants be aware that during these hot days the AC is running more often and the pea traps may dry up the water inside of them therefore the pea traps need some water with a bit of bleach once awhile to block the sewer gas randomly get in to the house. We were so surprised that the cast iron leakage was not there as the other 2 plumbers claimed . To make sure after the Plumbinator’s technicians left I got the courage to crawl under the house to verify their findings and sure enough there was no evidence of any leaks or smell or muddy wet soil. I videotaped my journey under the house and showed it to the tenants and my family and we were so blown away from their integrity and honesty in Business. What else one can say than cheering them on to greatness. PS : Two of the parties came out were from the Angies list it’s a words of caution just because they are members of this and that it’s a marketing strategy do not fall for that and search small family run businesses and first of all Read their NEGATIVE reviews before reading the other ratings. Cheers.

Beneath The Slab... The Final Frontier... These are the voyages of our home-shaped spacecraft. At least, during the pandemic, that's how I've explained it to my kids. We're on a ship, we have limited ability to take shuttles to places, and only at great need. Our food is delivered via Underway Replenishment, and we're on patrol until further orders come in from Starfleet. Or something. Well, we had a minor problem in engineering. To the tune of 30 gallons an hour. The 3/4" pipe between our utility room and our guest bathroom had ruptured... under the slab. Enter Eric Stolle Plumbing and The Plumbinator. This amazing tag team of technical experts in the plumbing profession put us right, quickly and without the need to crack into our foundation. I cannot say enough about the timeliness, courtesy or professionalism of both of these companies, and how they exchanged information and expertise to take what might have been a much more extended (and expensive!) process and get it down to a couple of visits and a minimal disruption of water services. When we're telling the kids to pretend we're on a spaceship to make the quarantine more bearable, we kind of need to avoid as much, um, "life support" failure as possible. And these enterprising engineering entrepreneurs made sure the problem was fixed with as little of that as was practicable. My night owl son pretty much slept through what little water disruption there was. Folks, if you spring a leak in your... umm... warp core... or something... you can't go far wrong than to employ either or both of these outfits to come put you right again. Mickey The Plumbinator helped us solve a massive issue when we were two weeks in as foster parents, and Eric from Eric Stolle Plumbing has handled issues for us for years as well. In this day and age, it's rare to find companies you can trust who will not steer you wrong. Both companies are dedicated to ensuring you have the best fix for the minimal price, they've got the kind of integrity that gives peace of mind when the rest of the world is going crazy. I'm grateful to these two companies for getting us back to where we needed to be, when home becomes office and schoolhouse, and we can't afford to be without the necessities of life in our little pretend spaceship. Now, off to the galley to feed the crew. Live Long and Prosper, and may the Force be with you!

Beneath The Slab... The Final Frontier... These are the voyages of our home-shaped spacecraft. At least, during the pandemic, that's how I've explained it to my kids. We're on a ship, we have limited ability to take shuttles to places, and only at great need. Our food is delivered via Underway Replenishment, and we're on patrol until further orders come in from Starfleet. Or something. Well, we had a minor problem in engineering. To the tune of 30 gallons an hour. The 3/4" pipe between our utility room and our guest bathroom had ruptured... under the slab. Enter Eric Stolle Plumbing and The Plumbinator. This amazing tag team of technical experts in the plumbing profession put us right, quickly and without the need to crack into our foundation. I cannot say enough about the timeliness, courtesy or professionalism of both of these companies, and how they exchanged information and expertise to take what might have been a much more extended (and expensive!) process and get it down to a couple of visits and a minimal disruption of water services. When we're telling the kids to pretend we're on a spaceship to make the quarantine more bearable, we kind of need to avoid as much, um, "life support" failure as possible. And these enterprising engineering entrepeneurs made sure the problem was fixed with as little of that as was practicable. My nightowl son pretty much slept through what little water disruption there was. Folks, if you spring a leak in your... umm... warp core... or something... you can't go far wrong than to employ either or both of these outfits to come put you right again. Mickey The Plumbinator helped us solve a massive issue when we were two weeks in as foster parents, and Eric from Eric Stolle Plumbing has handled issues for us for years as well. In this day and age, it's rare to find companies you can trust who will not steer you wrong. Both companies are dedicated to ensuring you have the best fix for the minimal price, they've got the kind of integrity that gives peace of mind when the rest of the world is going crazy. I'm grateful to these two companies for getting us back to where we needed to be, when home becomes office and schoolhouse, and we can't afford to be without the necessities of life in our little pretend spaceship. Now, off to the galley to feed the crew. Live Long and Prosper, and may the Force be with you!

So, I am new to the Round Rock area. Just bought a house. Less than a week into the house and I have sprung a leak in my front yard. Not sure who to call, I do what every other reasonable person does - I turned to the internet to find a plumber. I read all the reviews ... from well known names to unknown names. But the thing that made me call The Plumbinator was that the reviews were very favorable ... and they are local. So, I called. I talked to Mickey and got an appointment for them to come out Saturday morning at 9:30am. It was 9:46am by the time they arrived - Tim and Cord (?) - not Mickey. These guys looked like they could be maybe 21 yrs old? I thought oh great ... will they know how to help me. Well, first off - they apologized for being late. Whew, that was nice! And then they set about finding the leak. They did that pretty quickly - digging up some of the yard, showing me where on my water meter it would indicate a water leak (a little spinning triangle) and honestly, had to dig through some mud to get to the sprinkler system piping that was leaking. The whole time Tim kept me updated on their progress. At one point they needed to go get some parts but they came right back. They showed me the leak, then showed the replaced piping and showed how they replaced the piping with even better, stronger piping. Wow. They went above expectations there. But the part that I must say that I really appreciated was that Cord (again, not sure I am spelling his name right but he was a good guy) was on his hands and knees filling the muddy hole with the mud clods and grass to make it look as good as it could. And honestly, when he was done, it looked pretty darn good. My age probably reflects why I think these guys were far younger than I expected, but they were courteous, straight forward on what was happening, helped me understand the leak, fixed the leak in a solid fashion, and I truly felt like they did the very best job for me. I will call them and use them again for any future plumbing issues. I will also recommend them to friends. Good company. Fair price. Expert work.

These guys have twice been an excellent experience for me. While the first job a year ago was a simple water heater issue (super affordable), this time I had a sewer line back up on New Year's Eve, a MUCH more serious issue! Around 2am, with guests at my house, a toilet overflowed and suddenly no water in my house would drain. Definitely the worst timing for a worst case scenario (though the champagne made it funnier than it really was!) Mickey came out on New Year's Day at about 10:30am, less than an hour after I called. He snaked my cleanout and got it to drain a bit so it was less of an emergency. After running a camera through my pipes he quickly located a break in the pipe in my yard, and scheduled a time with me to come dig it up and make the repair. He didn't charge me extra for working on a holiday, and it was a Sunday. That was unexpected and awesome. I live in Round Rock, which means my house sits on crazy boulders and such. It was an unusually difficult dig, but they threw a couple jackhammers and muscle into it and removed huge rocks which had finally shifted down low enough after so many years, crushing my sewer pipe. I'm sure the longstanding drought and then some sudden rains recently played a role in that. They made the repair, and then while testing the integrity by running all my sinks and flushing toilets, we all suddenly saw the pipe back up again, this time from on the city's side of the street! The Plumbinators stuck around for another 2 hours or so while the City of Round Rock water department came out to make their own fixes, which was the original issue all along. This was definitely a tough job, with several unexpected issues thrown at them along the way, and Mickey's crew sliced through every obstacle like pros. And they're just plain nice guys, that's important, too! Highly recommended for small and large jobs, I won't call anybody but The Plumbinator.

Mickey and his team did a great job for me and my wife on a property we purchased in central Austin. A pre-purchase inspection revealed that the main waste water line from the house to the connection in the yard had to be replaced. Some incoming water and gas lines under the house (pier and beam) needed to be properly strapped down and a new waste water line run for the kitchen sink and the washing machine. We got three quotes and Plumbinator was the best (about $3,000 cheaper than the highest quote). Mickey's team consists of family members, including Corey, Tim, Nigel and Wolfgang. All of the young men were friendly, respectful and well informed on plumbing issues. They also worked hard. Mickey himself will tell you as much as you want to know about the work to be done, how it is to be done, and why. He takes pride in being a man of his word and believes in doing things properly. He will not cut corners or try to evade city plumbing codes or requirements. He explained clearly the work to be done and told me up front that they would have to knock a couple of holes in some sheet rock to install new pipes and that I would be responsible for getting the sheet rock repaired. We also had them re-position a toilet (turn it 90 degrees and move the pipe over a few inches). The toilet got damaged in the process but Mickey replaced it with a better one at no cost to me. He also actually re-re-positioned the toilet after my wife and I decided that we wanted it "just a little bit to the left." No complaints, no remarks, no big upcharge. We plan to add a bathroom to that house within a year and Mickey and his team will be the guys we call to do the plumbing work for that and for work we plan to have done on our personal home. I found these guys to be honest, hard working and dependable and will recommend them to anyone.

It's been about a year since the Plumbinators worked on our shower drain, but I intentionally waited to review, because I couldn't believe they actually fixed the problem. Our shower drain used to clog up every couple of months. My husband would use a little hand snake to dig around until the drain started working again. This continued for years, until I finally thought this was not normal shower drain behavior, and perhaps a professional could diagnose and solve the problem. I was imagining an experienced plumber with a fancy camera or a robot or some other expensive tool that could finally get to the root of our problem, no matter the cost. So I was a little surprised when two young guys showed up at my door. And even more surprised when they plugged in an electric snake and shoved it down the shower drain. Five minutes later, the drain was working, and they were done. I paid them about $120, which I felt was entirely too much money for these two youngsters to come and do the same thing my husband had been doing for months, albeit with a slightly larger snake. And I was 99% sure I'd be calling them out to fix the drain again in a matter of weeks. But here we are, a year later, and the drain has stayed clear. I don't even know where our hand snake is anymore; we haven't needed to use it since the Plumbinators came out. I think it was money well-spent. Goodness knows how much more expensive it might have been if they had actually used all the high-tech gadgets I had imagined. Sometimes brute force and a professional-sized tool are all you need. My only real complaint was that the Plumbinators showed up at my house several hours earlier than their scheduled appointment. Being a little bit early is great, but being that early can be an inconvenience on par with being really late.