Paul E Martin Plumbing & Heating

Paul E Martin Plumbing & Heating has 192 permitted projects behind it, and eleven of them landed in the last three years — seven in 2024, four in 2023 — mostly gas boiler and water-heater replacements plus bathroom and kitchen re-pipes and fixture swaps around Methuen, with a few larger bath-and-kitchen remodel permits in Boston and Dorchester. That is the clearest thing about this business: it is busy, and it is busy with everyday heating and plumbing work. The company is a New Hampshire corporation at 6 Meridian Dr in Salem, working the Massachusetts side from a local Methuen address, and BBB records it as incorporated on 1 July 1998 under owner Paul E. Martin. Its own HomeAdvisor page claims 37 years of experience, which does not square with that 1998 date — worth asking about if longevity is part of why you're calling. What is thin is what customers have written. There is one review on file anywhere, from February 2009: a homeowner who had faucets, fixtures and pipes repaired called him neat and professional, said he does good work, and recommended him. One line, seventeen years old. The 0.0 headlined over '1 Reviews' on HomeAdvisor is a zeroed counter — that review's star rating is marked N/A — not a zero-star verdict, and BBB lists the company as Not Rated because it says it lacks enough information to rate it. Licensing is where to press. BuildZoom lists a Massachusetts plumber licence #12380 and a plumbing business licence #2961, both shown as active, alongside an untyped Massachusetts record #33648 whose stated expiry was May 2012, an inactive construction supervisor licence CS-055444 and an inactive security-systems licence SSCO-000851, the last two described as at one point cancelled by the Department of Public Safety. Every one of those is that directory's own unverified listing, and several carry expiry dates that have already passed, so ask for the current plumbing licence number and check it against the state yourself. For a boiler swap or a water heater in the Merrimack Valley, this is a shop with a long and still-current permit history behind it. Go in knowing the written customer account is a single sentence from 2009, and settle the licence question before work starts.