Extreme Plumbing

Lose your heat at 10pm on a Friday when it's two degrees out, and this is the crew that turns up at 8:30 the next morning — then drives to three stores to find you space heaters for the weekend because the boiler is past saving. That February review captures how Extreme Plumbing gets used: the no-heat, no-hot-water, water-in-the-basement calls that cannot wait until Monday. The shop works out of 38 Railroad St in Haverhill and covers Essex County and southern New Hampshire, running plumbing alongside heating, boiler, furnace and air conditioning work. It describes itself as family-owned with 35 years behind it, and its Massachusetts plumbing license is active on the state registry. Hot water and heat dominate what customers describe. In May a homeowner with a leaking 11-year-old water heater called in the morning and had the tank and valve replaced the same day; in March another got a next-morning tank swap at the quoted price, no surprises. In April a sewer backup in a basement had a crew there inside an hour. Reviewers name the same people over and over — Ernie fielding the call and quoting, Sal, Paul, Dom, Mike and Charlie doing the work — which is a small outfit's tell, and part of why the write-ups read as personal rather than dispatched. Price is the thing to pin down. A February reviewer said the flat rate quoted was three times what two other plumbing companies charged, and got the reply "we can make it take as long as you want"; a second unhappy customer called communication poor and the price a ripoff. They are the exceptions in a mostly glowing Google page — 4.7 stars across 64 ratings — and plenty of others say the invoice matched the estimate exactly. Both things can be true, and the fix is the same: get the number in writing before work starts, and ask whether it is flat rate or time and materials. One more wrinkle for the record: the directories disagree about who runs the place and how long it has been around. The Better Business Bureau lists Ernest Cioto as president and 42 years in business dating to 1984; BuildZoom names a different owner and says over 20 years. The BBB grade is A+, and BuildZoom's permit file shows 22 permitted jobs, mostly residential plumbing and gas work around Lowell, Groveland, Byfield and Haverhill. Call them for the emergency — the burst pipe, the dead boiler in January, the sewer line backing up — where speed is the whole job. Confirm the quote and its scope before they start, and you have most of what has gone wrong for other customers covered.