Rich Mathews & Son Plumbing & Gas Heating Inc.

Rich Mathews & Son is a Lynnfield, MA outfit built around one recurring call: the furnace, boiler, or water heater that failed at the worst possible time. The company says its family's plumbing and heating work goes back to 1928, when the owner's father Ed Mathews Sr. got into the trade, and that the business itself has been running for about 30 years — though BBB's own file lists the corporate entity as registered in 2004, so the longer number reads as family history rather than this specific business's age. Rich, a state-licensed master plumber (MA license 12276-PL-M, verified active against the registry), does most of the hands-on work himself. On Google, the company holds a 5-star average across 34 ratings, and every one of the full-text reviews pulled — stretching back to 2019 — comes back positive, with nothing negative turning up on BBB or anywhere else checked. The pattern that repeats: permits pulled, work brought up to code, and a follow-up call to confirm everything's still running. As recently as May 2026, a homeowner needing a water heater replacement described exactly that — a reasonable quote, a permit pulled, the installation brought up to code, and a thorough job from Rich and his associates. Heating emergencies are where the reputation gets built. Reviewers describe furnaces and boilers failing in winter and getting a callback within minutes, sometimes on nights or weekends, with the same code-compliance habit carrying through the actual repair. That responsiveness is the throughline across nearly every account of hiring them. Worth knowing before calling: BBB has no accreditation or rating on file for the business, and its records show a small operation — just 3 employees. That's not unusual for a family-run heating and plumbing shop, but it's worth confirming lead times up front for a bigger installation or during a winter cold snap when emergency calls spike. For a straightforward water heater swap, boiler replacement, or a furnace that quit overnight in the Lynnfield/North Shore area, this is a licensed, consistently well-reviewed call — just ask directly about current scheduling given the size of the crew.