Experiences with Gateway Plumbing?

We have found Gateway fair in terms of price, easy to deal with, and extremely generous with all the thinking that needed to be done in terms of our own radiant heat/water heater/boiler system.

He costs more, but you get what you pay for. John cares about what he does has a lot of experience, and has a big-picture view and will discuss options and be creative with you.

Posted by: guest at October 15, 2007 12:21 PM

"very reputable provider, often praised on this site"

I'm in the hunt for a good plumber as well.
Please share the name of the firm that you did use.

Posted by: guest at October 15, 2007 6:53 PM

Excellent post, MP. I love Gateway!

I have used them for a small job (thanks for the dry basement...) and look forward to working with them on getting radiant heat and hot water hooked up. (ideally soon, before winter!!!)

I don't have much money and build things for a living myself. So when I hire someone to do do work for me, I am willing to pay for things like creativity and understanding the big picture problems like longevity and efficiency. I know from my own experience with my own clients that it is much more efficient to pay to get the job done very well once.

We got a lot of quotes before we went with Gateway, and we chose them because:

1. They didn't try to scare us or sell us things we don't need
2. They understand that we don't just pay for things like hot water when we install them, and are willing to talk at great lengths about the most efficient solution.
3. They do efficent, great, thoughtful work.

(And for what I was getting done, they were also right in the middle of the range of bids)

I have been ripping out a lot of our old plumbing lately, and I have to say that it's really nice to go downstairs and see plumbing that makes sense. I trust that I will not have issues with the work Gateway does, and if I do, they will be honest with me.

Posted by: guest at October 16, 2007 11:01 AM

They are definitely more expensive than most, but in my opinion worth it for any serious job as things get done correctly the first time. I've used Aladdin plumbing and had to have them come back several times to correct things they did incorrectly - nothing catastrophic, but pretty darn annoying and time consuming. The Gateway work has always been top notch and clean.

lp

Posted by: guest at October 16, 2007 1:15 PM

All true- Gateway rocks!

Posted by: guest at October 16, 2007 3:19 PM

I used Gateway Plumbing to install a new furnace and hot water heating system in my Brownstone. I shopped long and hard, studied books such as "the lost art of steam heating". Spents months learning about these things on web sites devoted to steam heat. I chose them carefully. They did a wonderful job, were very professional answered every question and I felt were very fairly priced. You do get what you pay for.
Irene Reed

Posted by: guest at October 16, 2007 10:16 PM

OP, I only want to say that it would be difficult for anyone to post less-than-postive comments about a company, if they were afraid of getting into a back and forth with the owner of the company. So you may get somewhat lopsided recommendations. It's sort of like reference letters to college. They're more honest if the writer knows that they will not be seen by the person about whom they're written. Because even if one has one's facts right, or an honest opinion about something, sometimes, one tends to avoid giving it if one prefers to avoid conflict.

Posted by: guest at October 17, 2007 7:06 PM

You know, maybe this is getting too meta, but 7:06 I have to ask you, so what?

I don't know anybody who has never pissed anyone else off. Conflict happens--life is imperfect.

I agree with you. If I had a negative opinion about Gateway, I would not get into it here, because I know that MP is a valuable part of the community, and I think that the term for that kind of behavior is "pooping in the well."

But you seem to be saying that it's not good to trust people's word on this site because he is a valuable part of the community, and that doesn't make sense. The fact that he is generous with his time and knowledge here

(instead of acting like most contractors who hang here... stay anonymous and post weird nonsequiturs that are mostly intended to scare people and slam competition)

and that he has done the work to build a community makes me trust him more, not less.

And I can think that without doubting that MP has *surely* had negative experiences with people in the past, as we all have.

In this way, your analogy is right. It is like recommendation letters. But so what? Nobody is perfect and nobody only interacts perfectly with other perfect people, and so *of course* everyone is free to shape a pool of testimonials that reflect the best one has to offer.

What's your point?

Posted by: guest at October 18, 2007 11:28 AM

Yes, this is meta, but I am trying to say something that is specific and important for the OP in response to his/her question. Here's my point (I am 7:06).
Hypothetically, say I had a negative experience with MP, I would be less than likely to post it here, not just because he often helps out people here (which could theoretically have nothing to do with the way his company provides services), but because he is reading those posts and is likely to challenge my opinion, and then I have to get into an adversarial position. So for that reason, the collection of testimonials here is likely to be biased and not representative.
It's like exit polls: people often say face-to-face what they think is socially appropriate or safe, instead of what they think in private.
Also sort of a groupthink. E.g, after brownstoner himself recommended MP, the group norm has been set by what one could call the group leader, and you are unlikely to hear very divergent opinions.
And I think that may be important.

Posted by: guest at October 18, 2007 1:54 PM

This is lp from the 1.15 post. Another good thing I can say about Gateway is that with all the jobs they've done for me (just 2 jobs actually), they give you the price up front. It's not a time and materials quote, it's a fixed quote for the job. Again, they're not cheap, but they do things correctly in my experience.

As for the idea that no one will bash them, I don't think people would have an issue with doing that. It's easier to make accusations than for a contractor to defend their reputation if it is indeed good...

Posted by: guest at October 19, 2007 4:28 PM

DEAR SPINTOTO:

WE WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHO YOU ENDED UP WITH AND IF YOU WOULD RECOMEND THEM OR YOUR NUMBER 2 AS WE ALSO NEED A NEW BOILER.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INFORMATIVE POST. WE HOPE TO BE ABLE TO RETURN THE FAVOR.

PS - WE DONT KNOW THE PLUMBERS YOU MENTIONED, BUT IT DOES SOUND ACCURATE THAT IF YOU WERE CONVERTING GAS/OIL AND TYING IN HEAT AND HOT WATER THAT THERE WAS A LOT OF ROOM FOR DESIGN AND EFFICIENCY SYSTEMS WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN OPTIONAL ON YOUR JOB. IT SEEMS THAT SO MANY PLUMBERS SAY EVERY JOB IS SIMPLE WHEREAS IF THEY REALLY TRY TO GO STATE OF THE ART IT MAY NOT BE SO SIMPLE AND SOME MAY LITERALLY NOT KNOW HOW OR WANT TO KNOW HOW TO PROVIDE A MORE COMPLEX SYSTEM WHICH HOPEFULLY WILL BE MORE EFFICIENT AND HAVE SPECIAL CONTROLS TIED PROPERLY IN TOGETHER.

"We recently had four companies come and give us an estimate on a oil-to-gas conversion on our heating and hot-water system, one of which was Gateway.
The four estimates were as follows: $4K, $7K, $9K and $14K, for same size system in all respects.
While the man that came from Gateway was the most professional, their proposal was the $14K proposal, which was clearly off-market, IMO.
We went with the $9k proposal from a very reputable provider, often praised on this site, and we are very satisfied.
It is also worth mentioning that of the proposals, Gateway didn't cover asbestos removal or removal of the old oil tanks. So, not only were they the most expensive by far, but that didn't even cover all the necessary work to get the job done.
While I do appreciate the advice Master Plvmber gives on this site, I didn't appreciate the off-market pricing he gave when he came to my home".

Posted by: guest at November 1, 2007 2:34 PM