Ideal Plumbing Heating Air Electrical

Charles C.

I am giving Ideal a 2 star rating because of their business practices.
The staff were mostly competent and the job eventually got taken care of.

About a week and a half ago I had a drainage problem in my main line ... there was very little flow from all my drains to my septic tank. I had a guy from Ideal come out and he used his plumbers auger from my roof to snake the drain. I wasn't as involved in the work being done as I should have been. The drain seemed to be fixed, everything was draining.

I went on vacation for about a week and came back to the same problem but worse, no drainage. Called again had them come out and then next technician used a bigger auger. I was there and made sure that all my faucets were on and that I could hear and see it drain into my septic tank.

Now here is why they only get 2 stars; I was told that the second technician would come out and it would be a continuation of the job. Meaning no new fees just labor costs, which it was. However the labor costs for the second technician were about $50 per hour more than the first to do the same job. Seems like they are very greedy over at Ideal and are training their technicians this way.

Suzie H.

We have used Ideal for electrical, plumbing and A/C service calls for the past 9 years. On the hottest day of the year (so far) our A/C stopped blowing cool air. Less than 5 minutes after scheduling an appointment for service Melissa rang us back; said she reviewed our service calls from when the home was being rented out and found the condenser breaker was tripped last year. When everything else is running why would I think ""breaker""? Sure enough, that breaker was tripped again and Melissa saved us the trouble of suffering through a hot holiday weekend. Thank-you Melissa for the reliable, friendly and proactive service!

Chris S.

I was looking for a plumber in the Del Cerro area and found Ideal online with a number of good ratings and a limited number of poor ratings so decided to get them to come and do some basic works that were needing done around the house.

They were very helpful on the phone and gave us a Saturday appointment with only a couple days notice. They called to say when the plumber was arriving and he did so spot on time.

Rob was courteous, polite and very helpful giving us his candid opinion on a couple of queries we had. There was no attempt to up-sell anything to us and he used most of the parts we had bought. Rob did a great job.

Really impressed with the level of service from these guys and next time we will be using Ideal again.

Thanks for the great job.

Paulette W.

First of all, Ideal plumbing has mine and my families business for all heating,air & electrical needs for life. Second of all, I had Gary, one of the technicians, out today to work on my a/c and he was a-ma-ZING! He was professional, efficient, clean and friendly. He took time to complete the job but did not use up my morning. Simply cannot say enough good things about Ideal. Perfect name.

D C.

Should have done this long ago, a review below reminded me to do it. Bill in the showroom/HQ has been a tremendous resource over the last few years. I can't remember the number of small issues where he has basically drawn me a roadmap to fix my own plumbng problems, often without buying anything from Ideal. I use (and my parents before me used) Ideal and their record is perfect. On-time, competent, friendly service. No expert in this area, but it seems to me like Ideal represents that sweet spot of a true family business, with the best that implies, that has grown enough to offer a full range of services.

Robert C.

I just want to praise Bill at the front desk for his great helpfulness. I have lived in San Carlos for 28 years and have come into the Ideal showroom many times to buy a fixture or part. Although I could have gone to the Home Depot, I knew that I would be sold the appropriate (and high-quality) part by Bill. Along with the parts, he freely offers advice from his long experience as a plumber. This is invaluable to me as one who does most of his own repairs for financial reasons. Bill has always been honest, knowledgeable, friendly, patient and anxious to do right by me, qualities which are not common nowadays. As one of the public faces for your business, he does great credit to your company.

Richard H.

Two and a half years ago a plumber from Ideal unnecessarily replaced the 70-year old facet handles in my shower. I thought it was broken because I couldn't get the shower to work, only the bathtub fill. The house had been rented and I'd forgotten how it worked, thinking the middle handle closed the drain. Stupid, I know. Anyway, I contacted Ideal and one of their plumbers came around. I explained the problem whereupon the plumber said I needed a new valve. The plumber started work by busting open the wall and destroying the tiles around the faucet handles. After he had destroyed the tile and busted a large hole in the wall I noticed him switching the water from the shower to the bathtub fill. I realized immediately that nothing had been wrong and he had destroyed my bathroom wall for no reason. I was furious. I called Ideal and Don, the owner, came over. He apologized and offered that there was nothing he could do now, but said he wouldn't charge me for busting up my bathroom wall or installing a modern replacement set of faucet handles.

Fast forward two and a half years I'm already having corrosion problems with the modern replacement handles. The original handles lasted 70 years and would have lasted a lot longer had the plumber not destroyed them. I'll be lucky if the new ones last 5 years. This is obviously going to be an ongoing problem. After seeing my complaint here, Don contacted me again and came back to my house with Erin, another plumber. They agreed that the faucet handles were corroding already and were jury-rigged when they were installed earlier. This time they said they did a better fix, but confirmed that corrosion would be an ongoing problem. My only real recourse, according to Don Teemsma, the owner, is to install a new set of valves and taps at some point in the future, but this would be a major job, entailing opening up the wall.

Just as a good auto mechanic would verify the customer's complaint before tearing into a car engine I think the original plumber should have verified my complaint about the faucets and could then have quickly pointed out that I was mistaken. This would have saved everyone a whole lot of grief.

Update 11/19/2018
Cold water began leaking from the handle of the cold tap when I turned the hot tap on. A guy at Lowes directed me to Valley Industrial Specialties. They carried replacement valves, including the diverter valve and seats, for the 70-year old Briggs valves. I replaced all this hardware myself, confirming that Don Teemsma and Ideal Plumbing are a bunch of thieving liars. Even if the diverter valve had been bad, which it wasn't, there was absolutely no need to replace the entire set up. Ideal's goal is to do the most work, and charge you the most, that they can get away with.

Adrienne K.

Ideal Plumbing saved the day!!

Vanessa was so professional and helpful on the phone, and quickly expedited one of her best, (Aaron, our plumbing super hero!) out to snake our main line. He was quick and efficient, and not to mention cost effective and affordable. No extortion here!

Love this family owned business! Been around since 1960 and definitely have generations of success ahead of them!

Thank you Ideal Plumbing!

Jim B.

My air conditioner went out and one of my friends recommened Ideal after they helped her with an a/c problem. I called them and set up an appointment for today at noon. Not only were they early, but Dan had my a/c up and running within 20 minutes of getting there. Dan was super helpful, explained everything in detail, and showed me how to make sure the problem doesn't happen again. Dan didn't try and up-sell me or talk me into anything I didn't need, which I really appreciated. Thanks Ideal, and Dan, and I will be recommending you!

Nina H.

I called for an estimation of a commercial building's restrooms upgrading job, but never got ""any"" response after the estimator showed up. I called the office at least 2-3 time to check, still never got anything back. Very disappointed!!