Abacus Plumbing Heating and Gas Fitting

As some of you may know, February 2, 2015 we had a wonderful snowstorm hit us from the wee hours of the morning and, as I write this, is still going strong. All in all, we’re at about 8 inches of snow on my property in Roxbury, Boston, MA.
Here is a log of my morning (bear with me through the details — if you don’t want details, just skip to the bottom line):
5:30 AM: I awake to prepare myself to head into work and notice the water is acting funky. I did a small bout of Googling and was NOT pleased with what it told me could be the problem.
6:20 AM: I descend three flights, lock up behind me, trek through about 3 inches of fresh snow, and head to the basement. As I approach the back porch, I hear a strange noise before I even arrive. «Oh no…»
6:23:00 AM: I unlock the door and see the sputtering. I turn on the light and see half my basement is flooded and the pipe that leads into my water heater is spewing water EVERYWHERE.
6:23:01 AM: I call the fire department because I am a first time homeowner, have been here for just over 2 months, and am totally freaked out. I have no idea where the water shut off valve is (note to self: be more prepared in emergency situations about crap like this).
6:30 AM: Fire department arrives in full gear. They shut off the water and gas valves to the heater.
6:40 AM: I frantically Google «Emergency plumbing Boston» (that was literally it) and I called the first number which popped up.
6:41 AM: I call Abacus Plumbing. Rings for one minute and I leave a voicemail.
6:43 AM: The snow is about 4 inches by this point. Pete calls me back and estimates he’ll be here in about 1h45m. He explains that it’s $ 125 for the service call, but if I choose to get services, that fee is waived. Seems fair, so I agree.
6:44 AM: My friend and I start wet-​vaccing the area.
7:10 AM: When it rains, it pours! The wheels on the wet vac break. :(Still 1 – 2 inches of water, but most is gone.
7:27 AM: Pete calls me to say he is en route to my place, but it may take him a little longer than he estimated because, SURPRISE, nothing is really plowed yet.
8:30 AM: Pete arrives, pretty much exactly on time!
8:47 AM: I get a price quote & vote for the cheaper option (which was more of a quick fix to hold me over). He has all the supplies he needs in his truck and is ready to go. The price to do the work is fair and actually less than an almost identical job I had quoted in the past month.
10:10 AM: Bad news. Although the piping is fixed, the water destroyed the power blower. We must now enact Option 2. Originally he said he’d do option 1, and if that didn’t work because of the power blower, that he’d take half the price off for that option but would still add it to the total price. It was a risk I was willing to take. Luckily, and to my utter relief, he took off that price entirely and did the work for only the second option cost. He explained to me ALL of my options and we make a purchasing decision.
10:13 AM: Snow on my property is upwards of 7 inches at this point in some areas. Pete is off to pick up a replacement water heater and hopefully another technician on his way.
12:32 PM: Pete is back with another technician to replace the heater.
3:11 PM: The work is complete! Pete comes upstairs and we discuss what happened. At the end, he asks me for a paper towel. He felt bad for trekking snow into my condo and cleaned up after himself. How nice and very unexpected! He then also showed me why the water wasn’t coming out of my faucet in the bathroom (turns out it gets all gunky over time — I watched him clean it out, so now I know that I can regularly clean out my faucets without any problems!).
BOTTOM LINE: His pricing and time estimates were fairly spot on. He’s incredibly thorough and happy to answer all questions you may have (and trust me, I had a LOT of questions). All in all, I had a really great experience with Pete. He owns Abacus and is a truly courteous guy. His ability to come out during a snow storm to an area where the roads weren’t well plowed truly made today a better day for me. This was a jolting experience as a new homeowner. The price was a slight bit more than I was expecting to pay, but honestly considering how much time he spent here, how well he explained everything, and the fact that it was done at the drop of a hat during a snow storm was truly more than I was expecting and well worth the extra pennies.
I am extremely satisfied with Abacus. If I have more plumbing work to be done, I’ll definitely be giving Pete a call!