Dan Mac Plumbing & Drain Service Ltd

My pedestal sink in the main bathroom was clogged. I used baking soda and vinegar to unclog it many times and it worked until it stopped working. In late January 2011, a DanMac plumber was doing other work in my house paid through my insurer. I contracted with him to look at my sink. It needed to be snaked and the pop-up sink drain and p-trap needed to be replaced. The pipes coming into the pedestal sink are in a tight location, but the DanMac plumber did a fine job with skill and patience. I was very happy at the time except that a few months later I was experiencing sink clogging again. I called DanMac and they said that I would be charged again for someone to come out. The problem was that I couldn't remove the pop-up in the sink drain like I could with my old one to remove any debris. The DanMac plumber installed a cheaper model pop-up that was fused. I would have gone for a more expensive one that could have been removed but I wasn't offered the choice nor did I know to ask. So I had to spend more money to fix this again but I used another plumber. So I wasn't completely happy with DanMac.

I hired DanMac because they were recommended by a company that was doing a waterproofing project for me. They had to install a sump pump for me and feed a pipe through a joist to the exterior of the house.

The owner of the company (Stewart) is a good guy. He came on site and we discussed some other possible projects and I never felt like he was pressuring me to do work or trying to squeeze out extra money from me. He recommended doing some things and holding off on others.

Unfortunately, the day the job was to be done, the plumber who was coming to take care of it arrived closer to noon when he was supposed to be there between 9 and 10:30. When I followed up just after 10:30, the dispatcher was unaware that he was not on site. Now, the property is a rental property, and I was not able to be there to let them in, but my tenant was on site. When I arrived in the evening to inspect the work, I was surprised to see that two holes had been punched into the ceiling drywall i n the main basement area. One was so far away from where the pipe was supposed to be directed, I couldn't conceive of why the plumber had made that decision.

The pipe was supposed to have been fed out through the furnace room, but it ended up being fed along the wall that was waterproofed (not a big deal), but I was not consulted about the change in location or the punching of holes in the wall. I would have appreciated a phone call.

Stewart dealt with the complaint promptly. He met me on site the next business day and has agreed to compensate me for the damage. We have yet to settle up, so I will amend this review (positively or negatively) depending on how things go.

Update: Stewart kept to his word and discounted the invoice to compensate me for the cost of the repair work.

Had my old porcelain laundry tub replaced and old walls in surround removed. Job was relatively quick and now we have a functional tub without leaking taps. They hauled away the rubble and cleaned up after the job. Will be using them again for future home repairs and maintenance.

Stewart's team did the plumbing work in our basement when we had the basement lowered. They replaced all the basement drains, installed a sump pump and a backwater valve. They were easy to work with, friendly, and answered a few follow-up questions promptly. The work was done professionally and no problems with inspection. They even moved a section of our main stack to accommodate where a new bathroom shower stall would be installed -- they noticed this would be a problem and offered to move it, no charge. I'm very happy with their service and plan to call them back when we're ready to actually put in the new basement bathroom.

Jason just came for a leak and turned out we had an enormous crack in our toilet. He quickly replaced the toilet and he did a fantastic job. He was efficient, honest and professional. We'll definitely be recommending DanMac to our friends and neighbours.

Had our shut-off for our washing machine start to leak. Called Danmac and they came same day to fix the problem. Price was very fair and they also have a seniors discount.

A faucet of mine broke and started gushing uncontrollably, and I made the mistake of calling a plumber instead of figuring out how to fix it myself. The repair turned out to be extremely simple, and although the fellow they sent was friendly and fixed the problem properly, it seemed rather too convenient for me that he had to "go buy a part" that it seems he should have already had in his truck, and take exactly the right amount of time to do so that he could bill me for a round number of hours. And (criticism of plumbers from time immemorial, I know) the bill was way too high.

Of course, I know that most plumbers do this, so my advice isn't so much to avoid Danmac as it is, if you are an able-bodied person, to first search the Internet for a how-to repair video, if your problem isn't an extreme emergency. Chances are, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to do yourself.