Martel Plumbing & Heating

Martel Plumbing & Heating is a Lincoln, Rhode Island plumbing and heating company that traces back to 1926, when Adelard J. Martel struck out on his own after an earlier partnership. The company says it's now run by his descendant James Martel Jr., with other family members handling the office and service side — a fifth-generation operation built around boiler work, water heaters, and HVAC installs. The reviews across HomeAdvisor, Angi, and BBB lean heavily toward emergency and replacement calls. In a 2020 review, a customer said Martel was the only company that answered the phone and fixed a boiler problem the same day; in a 2023 review, a new customer had a gas water heater installed within a day of calling. Boiler installs come up again and again — in a 2021 review, a homeowner picked Martel for a new oil boiler after collecting three competing estimates, and in a 2020 review another customer replaced a 29-year-old unit after calling roughly a dozen companies for quotes. Technicians get named directly in several accounts: Mark and Shane for a faucet repair in a 2024 review, Jacob for an HVAC and boiler tune-up the same year, and Chris and Tyler for a water heater install. In Rhode Island Reddit threads, a 2023 commenter wrote "I love Martel Plumbing and Heating," and a 2024 commenter described it as "great pricing and honest." In an August 2026 thread, a commenter who asked Martel and another company for quotes wrote, "They haven't gotten back to me." In a June 2024 r/rhodeisland thread, another commenter said Martel's estimate for replacing old units came to nearly $18k, which seemed pretty expensive to them. The record isn't spotless. In a 2019 Angi review, a customer said nobody discussed billing rates before the crew arrived, and the final bill came as a surprise. A BBB review describes a rougher experience — two replaced water tanks that both kept leaking, with repeated calls afterward going unanswered. In a 2023 Reddit thread, a commenter said Martel finished the job they were hired for only after being told it had replaced half of what was agreed, and that the completed job flooded their basement, ruining the floor. For boiler and water heater work — the jobs this shop's history centers on — the track record runs deep. Rhode Island lists a plumber licence, MP000882, held by James P Martel Jr, and an HVAC licence, 00006448, held by Robert E Martel, both as active.