Yama the Plumber

All plumbers should be like Roy.
He helped with 2 toilets. My downstairs toilet periodically fills up with water though there has been no usage, so he changed out the flapper only, telling me the the balcock looks fine. For the upstairs toilet, which would have a constant slow leak into the tank, he changed out both the balcock and flapper. This all took only 45 minutes.
While he was working he showed me how to change out the flapper myself as it’s an easy fix rather then paying for a plumber. Also, when I asked about what it would take to fix the overflow cover for the drain. Instead of fixing it (would mean making a big hole in the wall, etc), he suggested instead a $ 3 rubber sink/​tub stopper.
After I paid him, he came back to the front door and said that I gave him too much and gave me back the $ 20 tip. Wow — how many times does this happen?

Several family and friends have lived in Marina del Rey /​Culver City areas since 1975 and have used Yama the Plumber (father and son) and they are both hardworking, knowledgeable, respectful of your home, busy, competitively priced, clean and punctual. They have replaced/​repaired water heaters, water softener tank, toilets, faucets, leaks, garbage disposal, etc. They are worth the way.

Yama is the bomb! Good guy. Does the job right every time and is very reasonable with his rates. I’ve been calling him for years now and am always pleased with his work. He’s very courteous and he smells good too.

Honest, fast, friendly service. What more can you ask for? He diagnosed our problem and took care of it without complications. He gave us advice on how to prevent it from happening again and what changes to the pipes may need to be made in the future. Thanks for the heads-​up! Hopefully no other problems arise with these older pipes, but we know who to call now.

Yama, you bastard, I don’t know you, but I’m very jealous. It must be nice to run a business (in this crappy economy) and be loved by your customers so much that you don’t need more business and that you don’t want them to write good reviews. I hate you
Don’t call Yama!
But if and when I have a plumbing problem, I’m definitely calling you, because you’re obviously really good, honest, and most importantly you are kind to dogs.
Don’t call Yama!

DON’T CALL YAMA!
I saw the great reviews on Unilocal so I called him. He was very nice and took his time with me on the phone, but he said in no uncertain words that he is definitely not taking on new customers. He’s a one man show and he already has way more work than he can handle with his current customers (thanks in part to Unilocal). So save your time and his, don’t call Yama.
I thought about giving him a low rating just to help him out, but that seemed unfair. So instead, I’ll just say one more time DON’T CALL YAMA!

Yama the Plumber is the best plumber we’ve ever had. Unfailingly honest, conscientious, thorough, clean, and really nice to our dog. We’ve had problems with tree roots in our drains, water backing up into our kitchen sink, a garbage disposal that clogged, a faucet that needed replacing, an earthquake shut-​off valve that needed fixing, a hot water heater that needed a drain installed, and he’s always fixed everything quickly and reasonably. When a job was too big or something that he didn’t specialize in, the people he’s recommended have been equally reasonable and reliable. A good plumber is something everybody who owns a place is going to need sooner or later. I like Yama!