Shanks A & G Plumbing & Heating Ltd

Shanks was called for a leaky, very old bathroom tap on a Sunday. It turned out that it was very hard to take out but the worker did - but could not budge the cold water (which was not leaking anyway). The worker commented about what "looked like" some dripping on the intake pipe from the outside - he initially claimed he could not touch the city=installed meter. It turned out he could and the water was simply condensation on a very humid day. All in all the worker traveled from Oshawa on a Sunday afternoon, so one way was one hour! The tap was repaired and the meter was adjusted in some way, the price was huge (550.00) but that's what you pay for weekend emergencies. Nice chap.

I had Shanks out to repair a leaking water pipe on a Saturday afternoon in a rental unit. I was out of town. I paid "emergency" rates - which was extremely expensive. I had not used Shanks previously, but knew they were local, and I was no where convenient to research other options (such as Homestars). When I returned to inspect I was dismayed to see that the repaired pipe was not securely fastened. When you pay someone $600 plus HST for a small repair you don't expect to have to go in to finish the job.

Shank plumber on Aug 5 2015, in removing an old dishwasher and installing a new one:
- said he wanted to put in a new plumbing connection under sink; couldn't give me an explanation of why he couldn't use current connection (through floor); I asked that he use the existing hookup.
- said there was a problem that the old dishwasher wouldn't slide out under the counter. I looked and said I thought it would (and it did)
- said I would likely need an electrician because plug wasn't likely long enough; turned out plug was long enough
- broke off the drainage hose off from larger pipe in basement - said would need to replace the larger pipe or he wouldn't guarantee it
- said the new dishwasher wouldn't go all the way in under the counter, that I would need to get counter rebuilt as it was sticking about an inch out in front. I looked and saw a screw (from the old one) still sticking down from under the counter - once he removed it, the new one went in all the way.
When we tried turning on the new dishwasher - no water was coming in at all; so then he said he wanted to replace the main water valve into the house. But water was coming fine out of the kitchen sink tap, so I said no to the new water valve. He opened the bottom area again and clearly had forgotten to open the inlet valve or connection to the dishwasher. It was a 2 minute fix but he had wanted to replace the main valve to the house to fix the problem.
To top it off, the job cost approximately double the estimate that I was quoted on the phone, and the time (1 1/2 hours was the same as the estimate).
Update: I spoke with Neal at Shanks Plumbing about this installation and the related issues, and he was quite helpful. He was very interested in hearing my feedback, and said he would follow up with the installer about it. He also refunded half the cost of the installation, which seemed quite reasonable (and so reduced the cost from $340 to $180).

Jason appeared within three hours of call. He installed a new faucet, repaired a leaky pipe in another and inspected 2 other drippy faucets--all within 60 minutes! Jason's advise on the last two saved me money as another plumber had been here and had suggested replacing the cartridges. This saved me about 200$.

I have called Shanks many times for repairs and have always been satisfied with the results--never needing a call back to touch up a job incomplete for some reason.

Shanks gives speedy and efficient service, and the person manning the phones has excellent recall of customers.

We now have a word for overpaying for what ends up being simply horrible service and/or workmanship - it's called, 'being Shanked'. We called Shank's for a small overflow problem in our basement sink. It turned out the overflow was caused by the exit pipe sloping upwards. My husband discovered this himself after we had already paid Shank's over $10,000 to replace the pipes under our floors, which they insisted was the cause of the problem. They ripped up our washroom in the process, and, even though, after much correspondence back and forth, they finally agreed to repair the mess they'd made, they did not finish the job and the washroom ended up looking much worse than before they ever started their 'work'. They gave us a verbal warrantee for this work, but then, upon deciding to not finish the job, refused to give us a written one. One of their contractors said, "If you didn't like the work, you shouldn't have paid us!" The problem was that we only discovered the overflow was still happening after they had replaced our floor pipes and said the problem was solved. They sub-contract almost every aspect of the job ("Duh … I only deal with below ground." "Sorry, I only do pipes above the surface." Etc.) and no one seems to know what the other contractors are doing. Calling Shanks was the biggest mistake we've ever made. No … trying to get them to fix what they'd broken was bigger. I wish I had been warned about them beforehand. I highly advise you to look elsewhere if want quality workmanship and professional conduct and integrity. Don't set yourself up for getting Shanked!

Finding a plumber with old radiator experience is hard to find - and we tried a few! Shanks did an incredible job and went where none of the others did. Thanks for returning heat in our home! Thanks Jarrett

Punctual, pleasant service that went somewhat beyond the call of duty. The plumber took the time to explain to me future work that needed to be done, and even took the time to collaborate with another workman on the phone. My house needs a major plumbing job which I was not in the position to start right away - the plumber made suggestions that would tide me over in the meantime and not cost me too much. I can't think of a single negative comment to make about my experience with Shank's -from the initial phone call to the final payment.