Morningside Plumbing & Heating

I am a landlord and one
tenants called Morningside to check out a hot water heater that was not working on a «free estimate «before calling me.
Morningside quoted $ 1800. To replace the water heater. My regular plumber replaced the heating element and some other work on the unit for $ 325.

I had a backed up shower and tub. My home was built in the 50’s and still has cast iron pipes. I called a plumber from another company who tried to snake the shower. Instead he broke his snake. He explained that although my shower and tub were separate, the pipes joined in one place. He quoted me $ 850 to get under house and do new pipes… uh no. I waited for a few hours to think about what to do. So I called Morningside. They went straight to the roof through the pipe and flushed the pipes. Needless to say they fixed the problem. They are now my go to household plumber. They were thorough, clean, and offered sound advise.

We used Morningside for 10 years and, up to this time, got reasonably good prices and service from them. Good enough to call them when we needed our water heater moved as well as a handful of smaller projects. On the day the plumber was supposed to come and give us an estimate, we got a message from Morningside saying that the originally scheduled technician could not come out, but David would come and give us an estimate. David arrived and did the estimate, but he seemed tentative and the price seemed high (4.5K – we already have a much lower estimate, actually). However, based on our previous good relationship with Morningside, my husband wanted to give them another chance, so he called, told them that we had a lower estimate, and asked if they would be willing to send a supervisor to look at the work and consider whether they could do better. «Sure,» they said «Thursday between 4 and 6». My husband left work early to be at home, but no one showed up, so we called to ask what was going on. At first, the employee said that he had left a message saying he could not make the appointment (if so, it did not go to either of our phones or my husband’s work); then, he said that his phone wasn’t working, the battery was dead, etc, etc. Fine, we rescheduled for Friday, between 5 and 7. And, now it’s Friday and we’re sitting here like suckers and, of course, no Morningside employee and no call explaining why. Morningside has changed hands, and the quality of service is not what it used to be. We won’t call again, and will recommend our friends and neighbors avoid Morningside as well.

No

This company’s phone listing was a disconnected phone number, so I called the number on their Web site. When I told the operator about their wrong phone number in their Google business listing, she challenged me at first, and didn’t seem to understand.
We needed help fixing some bath and shower faucets, and they came at the time they said. They did not charge for the estimate, but the young man refused to give me a copy, and they failed to show up the next day, as he promised. The activity on the valves triggered a rapid leak — so we had to call somebody else.
It was very strange — how the Morningside Plumbers representative responded to my question about part; he would not tell me how much, but suggested that I buy the parts myself. Then he neglected to provide part numbers. No business card either.
A lot of car service and home contractors in Inglewood /​Westchester are horribly dishonest, incompetent beyond understanding. Do not use their services; and if their phone number is out of order, assume that everything else in their operation is also our of order.
When consumers in the South Bay stop tolerating the horrible quality of many of our local contractors, the overall quality of services will improve. Demand professional plumbers, carpenters, etc — and we’ll get them.
Streaming Mad

It was pouring with rain and just after 7am when I called. They had someone come out within an hour! He was helpful and realized that the outdoor drainage was backed up probably because the pipe was broken (based on what was coming out of the other end). The plumber called to let me know what was going on and gave some ideas of what to do next. They gave me a small discount at the end of it all. I will definitely call them again!

Work Completed Date: July 17, 2013 (incomplete)
Hire Again: No
Approximate Cost: $ 3,000.00
Description Of Work:
Plumbing rough-​in for a bathroom remodel. All existing copper plumbing was there but sink was being relocated 6″ and tub controls were being relocated to adjacent wall. Shower was being retiled so new valves and showerhead were required. Toilet was not moved. Owner provided sink, sink faucet, tub, tub mixer, tub control trim, tub overflow, tub spout, shower thermostatic mixer, shower control trim, shower head. Basically everything was pre-​ordered and on-​site by owner, walls were opened up and rough-​ins were measured and marked in walls by owner. The plumber provided 10 feet of ½″ copper and soldered it in place, installed the tub and shower controls and the shower and tub pipe nipples. Also relocated the shower drain a few inches. Two guys were at the house for a total of 9 hours for one day and the next morning.
Comments:
The labor took 9 hours. Morningside was charging me $ 3500. Being generous, take $ 500 off for material and the helper’s time that leaves $ 3000. That is about $ 330 an hour for the plumber. When I called their office and asked what their hourly rate was the manager did reduce the price to $ 3000 total. That’s about $ 275 an hour.
The helper installed the shower valve crooked. I had the plumber straighten the valve which he did by muscling it leaving tension on the copper connections.
During the rough-​in the plumber wanted to charge me extra for the shower drain. I had sent them an email with a complete list of owner furnished parts, they had walked the job and I had explained the shower floor was being demolished and the drain would need to be replaced/​relocated. I wrote in my email that their quote should include all items for a complete plumbing system. Needless to say they did not charge me extra for the shower drain.
They quoted $ 1000 labor to finish the plumbing fit-​out which seemed fair. Basically install the sink faucet, tub trim and shower trim plus the tub, sink and drains. I told the plumber that the drop-​in tub had already been fitted for the deck, a platform was provided for the mortar to support the drop-​in acrylic soaker tub and the tub framing had already been modified to accept the overflow. The plumber stated that final placement tub overflow was not in his $ 1000 quote and that because I negotiated him down on the rough-​in work he was firm on that. He wouldn’t give me an additional price to install the tub and tub overflow. He didn’t argue when I cancelled the remainder of his contract. I hired another plumber to finish the bathroom plumbing including the tub and tub overflow install and they finished the job beautifully for $ 782.16.
PS. My wife and I have used Morningside Plumbing for nearly 20 years on our home. The previous work was good and priced fairly plus the plumbers were polite. Morningside ownership has changed hands and we have heard from multiple friends and relatives in the View Park/​Windsor Hills area that Morningside Plumbing’s new owner prices are high but the service and attitude is poor.