VanDerBosch Plumbing Inc.

My experience with VanDerBosch was extremely positive. I reached out to convert an electric water heater to a tankless gas unit, and the job was fairly involved. The quoting technician arrived on time, was courteous, and took the time to think through exhaust routing options and confirm code requirements before we settled on a plan. He even made a second trip out. Installation day was just as smooth. Andrew and Nick showed up exactly when expected, were professional throughout, protected the floors, worked cleanly, and only opened up what was necessary. They cleaned up thoroughly and left the area looking neat. I also appreciated how receptive they were as I researched models and asked about upgrades (recirculation options and a newer unit with additional features). Each change was quoted clearly, and they were accommodating as the scope evolved. Overall, a great experience - on time, thoughtful, and high-quality work.

We called VanDerBosch and they were able to come fix our broken shut-off valve sooner and for considerably less money than another plumber I was using previously. They made us feel like a top priority. Our technician, George, did fantastic work. He was professional, friendly, very skilled and knowledgeable. We won't hesitate to call VanDerBosch the next time we need plumbing work done at our condo.

George came out and assessed a leak for me, as well as let me know if I needed additional venting for my laundry tower. He was very thorough, knowledgeable, and friendly! I had a really great experience working with George and he is an excellent representation of this company!

Paid $300 to get our drain unclogged. They were friendly and fixed the drain, but way overpriced for what amounted to a half hour of work. Made the mistake of calling them back recently when we needed the leaky hot and cold valves replaced in our bathroom sink, and a small metal piece of the drain replaced. They quoted me $536.34 for the valves, and $436.94 to replace a broken piece of the drain...IN WRITING. "You're kidding me." I said. "How long will this take, a day?" I asked. "45 minutes" was the reply. Yep, that's almost $1K for 45 minutes of work! I got two other estimates after that, and both were under $300. Finally went with Rocket Plumbing, who fixed the valves for $285, and theb replaced the broken drain part in about 2 minutes for free. ***update 12/30/2014*** VDB contacted me (see below) about this review justifying the estimate w/step-by-step detail. I give them one more star for friendliness and sincerity, and I have no doubt their plumbers are very well-trained. However I stand by my review and that $950+ for this work is exorbitant. Also, my understanding was that the 45 min. was for the total amount of work, not just the drain. In fairness to VDB, it took Rocket over an hour to do the both jobs, but again the work cost a fraction of what VDB wanted to charge.

Crooks. Work was performed on September 01, 2011. We had some clogged water supply pipes after having to replace our building's water heater (turning back the water dislodged sediment, which then was pushed up against various valves and connections in the system. I called the previous Friday, and talked to Hugh, the owner. He said he couldn't get anyone out until the following Wednesday. He also told me that his people no longer work weekends, as his website claims. One of his people shows up on Wednesday shows up to scope out the work, explains the worst case scenario for each issue, then quotes prices for each item. We swallowed hard, and agreed to have them do the work. Then they say they can't come back until the following Tuesday. My building neighbor persuades him to get someone here the next morning. My neighbor tells Hugh that he has a business meeting out of the building and might not be back in time to give the guy the check, and Hugh says to just mail it. They show up at 11:45 and start to work on the clogged shower line. I was asked to show one of the guys where the water cutoff was in the basement. By the time I get back upstairs (10 at the absolute maximum), the water is running. Clearly this is not the worst case scenario (where they would have had to open up the wall). Cost: $435. For 10 minutes work. The other two issues were handled almost as quickly, and they were finished in 60 minutes. Total cost: $1342.54, strictly for labor, no materials. Then the guy says that he needs a check. I explain that the building was paying for this, and my neighbor was told by Hugh that if he wasn't back in time that he could mail the check. The guy says "Why can't you pay, then get reimbursed?" Given that the project was being paid for by the building and my neighbor negotiated the pricing, I wasn't about to do that. We paid the bill, because we agreed to pay the prices they quoted, but we clearly were taken for a ride. Van der Bosch claims their approach of a fixed price for a job is fairer than time & material, but that's not true for for at least some plumbing issues. They clearly emphasized how difficult and costly the job could become, but purposely avoided saying that there was a high probability that the fix would as easy as it turned out to be. They took advantage of their experience in this type of repair and our lack of same. We got ripped off by Van der Bosch.

28 April 2025 If I could award 6 or 7 Stars, I would -- everyone associated with the VDB team is magnificent. We live in a 120+ year old building; last week, we experienced a leak in the drain for our washer -- and water found its way into the apartment of our downstairs neighbor. I immediately phoned VanDerBosh, who had previously completed a project for our condo association. The VanDerBosch team was superb. I took some photos and shared them with Hugh, who walked me through the likely and necessary repairs; I appreciated that he understood the complexity of older buildings and pipes, etc. Our appointment was scheduled for later this week. Still, the office team -- knowing that we would be without laundry service in our apartment -- phoned me late Friday to say they could make some adjustments to their schedule and could be available at 8:00 am this morning. Andrew and Nick arrived this morning and completed the work by early afternoon. They kept me informed throughout the project, inviting me to see their steps and explaining the course of action to fix the leak in the drain line that ran from the washer to the stack. I learned a great deal as the patient walked me through each step. The half-bath/washer room is just off my home office, so I greatly appreciated how much they covered and protected the office space during their work—superb attention to detail. And, while undertaking this project, they noticed that the P-Trap under the sink had a crack in it -- and, as they were wrapping the project up and moving things back into place, they opened the cabinet draw and said, "we just wanted to let you know that we took care of that for you. It would have been a problem at some point." That's customer service. Repairs are never inexpensive, and when we're all working hard for each dollar we earn, it's essential that the places we work with value this. Superb value. A to Z, a terrific experience. This is why we trust VanDerBosch for our plumbing repairs. Gerald Doyle

Our HOA contacted Van Der Bosch Plumbing to do some type of repair on our plumbing for the entire condo. They came early in the morning, sometime before noon, and had all our water shut off for more than 8 hours and when the technician left, my kitchen sink water was not turned back on. Not only that, but I wasn't getting the same amount of hot water I was receiving prior to the repair for the shower. The water is now lukewarm at best rather than it being the normal hot water from before the repair. I called the company and a woman picked up the phone, and while I was talking to her, all I got was silence on the phone and I had to keep asking if she was still on the line. She was rude and never addressed what was going on or what the problem was. The first thing she asked for was my full name and phone number and said a technician will call and get back to me, instead of just contacting the technician who just left. She didn't try to be helpful at all, just asked for my contact info and told me to wait for a call. HOW is that being helpful and what are you doing to help solve the problem??? I was willing to provide her the address where the repair was being made so at least she could quickly look up the technician and notify him from her end to come back and turn the water back on since he just recently left the site. Shouldn't they have a log for each day of which technician is scheduled for which repairs??? I'm not about to sit here and wait for them to call me back for who knows how long, when she could have easily contacted the technician on their work phone to resolve this. It's frustrating because not only did we have our water shut off for several hours, the technician didn't even turn it back on properly. I had to get my landlord involved and now still waiting for this issue to be resolved.

Van Der Bosch Plumbing are the best plumbers I have ever worked with. Every person I have worked with from the owner Hugh, back office staff, and service technician have been great. We are a small self managed condo association so we rely on good service companies to make sure all of our buildings systems run properly. Our condo association has starting using these guys to handle nearly every plumbing service need we have. They now contracted with us to clean kitchen drain lines and grease traps for us as well as service and maintain our water booster pumps. We no longer use different companies for each of these things like in the past. These guys can do it all. I have found all of their prices to be fair and the quality of work exceeds any other company I have hired. One thing I really like when they clean a line is they then camera scope it to verify that the job has been successful instead of assuming. This camera scoping definitively determined that only one of the two drain lines had a sag in it which was what causes the backups and the need for it to be power-jetting twice a year. By finding this out we now save money every year not jetting the properly pitched line as often just because we need to jet the sagging one more often. This reputation of excellent work on the building has lead to them being hired by the unit owners themselves. Van Der Bosch has been hired by many of the unit owners including myself to do work within their units for things such as replacing old hot water tanks. You are usually not happy when you need to call a plumber but if you need to, these are the people to call.

I highly recommend this company. I first used them to remove my grease trap in the basement. Giron arrived promptly on the date of service, informed me step by step of what he was doing, and completed the job without issue. Additionally, he reassured me that there were no other issues that needed to be addressed despite my frequent questioning and concerns. Given how phenomenal BanderBosch’s service was the first time, I sought them out again to give me a quote for drain tile. The technicians, Jordan and Giron, arrived comfortably in the middle of the window I was given for their arrival and placed on their shoe covers without being asked. I explained to Jordan that I wanted a quote for drain tile because it was recommended to me. Jordan, like a true professional, then asked me follow-up questions to ensure the drain tile would be a worthwhile expense. After about a 3-5 minutes conversation, he concluded that there were other ways that would be more beneficial for me to prevent water from my basement; I note that the water in my basement always came from above ground. Jordan did a quick scan of the basement after our conversation, and then proceeded to recommend other suggestions for me that could prevent any water issues in my basement as well as routine maintenance I was unaware needed to be addressed, such as having my tankless water heater flushed out. VanderBosch’s honesty as a company is what will keep me coming back and a lifelong customer. They definitely earned their 5 star rating from me.

These people are the worst "plumbers" ever! Actually, I doubt that the workers are actual plumbers rather just workers. I contracted with them to clear a clogged main drain. Guy came out said it would cost $647.00 and guaranteed that the job would be done. Well after 4 hours he could not clear the main and did not understand why. He kept telling me to, "bear with him while he tried to figure it out." Well, he called his office and got a guy to bring out an additional 25ft of rod. I live in the city and it is only 45ft total from the house to the street, yet this guy apparently did not know this. Without my approval he added $200.00 to the bill. After an additional 2 hours he still did not have the line rodded! So, after a total of 6 hours and a still clogged drain, he decides to tell me that they need to put in an additional clean out station in the middle of my front lawn! (I had one already) He wanted to charge $1700.00 to do this and again guaranteed that the line would be clear after that! Thank goodness I called another plumber after he left and the new plumber came immediately. The new plumber got the line open in 40 minutes, put a camera down there and determined that there was a shift in the main pipe on the city side. Pulled a permit the next day, had an inspector out to look at the camera view and within 3 weeks the city repaired the entire thing. Needless to say, VanDerBosch is the WORST PLUMBER IN THE CHICAGOLAND AREA!

*BEWARE* VAN DER BOSCH PUTS THE "CON" IN CON ARTIST! If you love getting ripped off, rude employees and the bait 'n switch, these guys are for you. Here is how they operate. They will not give you an estimate over the phone, which is not that uncommon I know, but they tell you its for your "own good." They do tell you if they come out, give you a quote and you don't use them they will charge you a "fee." However, THEY WONT TELL YOU HOW MUCH THE FEE IS!!!!! So when they get there, they look over your job and quote you a HUGE PRICE. They figure that most people are clueless to plumbing (and they are right) and most figure that plumbers over charge anyways, so odds are you will take them up on their offer. HOWEVER, if you don't take them up, they still get their fee. For us it was $80 for 10 mins of consultation. NICE WORK HUH?????? THEY ARE COMPLETE RIP OFF CON ARTISTS!!!!! They were going to charge me $1500 to reconnect my sink. I have called 2 other places who estimate it will cost $200-$300. Yes...you read that right. They play the odds, maybe you take their high price and they win, or if you dont take their offer they still get their fee. They are rude, insulting and liars. BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE!!!. Look at my other Yelps. I am pretty fair, these guys are bad news

We have used Van Der Bosch Plumbing over the past year for various problems in our house ranging from a broken outdoor hose, to new garbage disposal, to replacing sump pumps, to sealing a leaking toliet. They are very prompt and curteous and do professional work however they are RIP OFF artists. The hourly rate they charge for labor is a crime!! For example we had a sump pump replaced and got charged $1000 for it. After the work was done I spoke with family and friends and I felt like we got charged to much. So I investigated the charges and found that the actual sump pump cost was $350 so we were charged $650 in labor for 3 hours of work!!! I then looked back at the other work they had done for us. We had a garbage disposal placed for a grand total of $850 and when I later researched that I found out that the disposal cost was $250 and we paid $600 in labor. The leaky toliet fix cost us $425 for 1/2 hour of work. When I confronted Hugh the owner about the charges and asked if it was a mistake he got irrate with me and gave me some song and dance about paying his workers, paying plumbing insurance, using standard pricing for the area, etc. BOTTOM LINE..... RIP OFF ARTISTS!!!!!! I will never use Van der Bosch again and would never recommend them to even my worst enemy

I had a slow shower drain that wasn't improving after trying half-a-dozen different chemical solutions, and many attempts of rodding it with a hand-crank snake. I learned that my neighbor had the same issue - and when they called in a plumber, he had to replace the trap (we have ancient pipes in our building). So I called Van Der Bosch to do this in my unit, since my building manager highly recommended him. I was on the phone for about 20 minutes discussing the problem, my rodding attempts, etc. He was incredibly informative about the likely cause (we have drum traps that are difficult to snake) and recommended that I try sodium hydroxide crystals before replacing the drum trap with a p-trap. He told me where I can get a bottle (its not exactly widely available), I tried it, and it worked. I spent $10, and my neighbor spent over $1000 for a guy to tear out the ceiling underneath (our traps have been tiled over), replace the trap, re-drywall, etc. Incredibly knowledgeable, and incredibly honest (he could have done what my neighbor's plumber did, or he could have came out, used the crystals, and charged me his hourly fee). I will never use a different plumber in Chicago. I signed up for a yelp account just to write this review.

On Monday 8/11/25, I hired a handyman to fix a few things such as change a bathroom vanity fixture, tighten my loose shower handle and to stop my toilet from constantly cycling. This was a complete disaster. The handyman busted a valve, did not fix the toilet and caused a leak in the vanity which delayed our cabinet painting project. I found Vander Bosch Plumbing and I was obviously anxious and on edge considering the handyman experience. Vander Bosch was immediately accommodating and had someone come out first thing next morning. Wilfredo was my plumber and seemed very knowledgeable and friendly. He looked at everything and assured me they were repairable. A few hours go by and Wilfredo was still hard at work and 100% determined to repair the handyman’s damages. A short appointment turned into an all day appointment but this really shows Vander Bosch Plumbing strives for customer service, they don’t rush over to the next job until the customer is completely satisfied at the current job and more importantly, Wilfredo treated the bathroom job as if it were his own home. Amazing 5 star experience and I now have a new go-to plumbing company I will happily recommend. Thank you Wilfredo!

I had some water leakage problems on a toilet in my Rogers Park Condo. I'm not home often and my roommate didn't know what to do. I contacted VanDerBosch as they had done a fantastic job for my partners home a few months back in Andersonville with fixing (2) sink leaks and replacement of some faucets all done at a reasonable price and relatively quick amount of time. Upon calling VanDerBosch, Lauren helped get me scheduled for a tech to come out within a couple hours. Upon arriving at my home, Joe, my technician, was able to figure out what the problem was and called me to explain what was happening and gave me a free quote on the spot. Since it was a minor fix and we had a temporary answer to our water leak problems, I chose not to have them do the work as I can do it myself but I know that I have a trusted "guy" that I can call on for any future problems. I feel confident in referring this plumbing company to others since I had a good experience and I have seen completion work performed at my partners home and the tech was polite, low pressure and the area was left clean. Thanks Lauren and Joe for your help and advise without the pressure. You have earned a new customer today.