Spencer Contracting Corp.

Spencer Contracting Corp., doing business as Spencer Home Services, works out of Peabody and takes on the kind of plumbing job that starts with a backed-up line or a burst main. The company says it has been running since 1981, is now in its second generation of Spencer family ownership, and has broadened over the decades into heating, cooling, and electrical work under one license. The clearest recent example of what they actually do: this spring, a customer needed nearly 200 feet of main water line replaced and had the whole job finished in a single day. A few weeks before that, another customer described a technician named Mike walking them through a video inspection and explaining the fix before any work began. Local word of mouth backs that up — a Peabody firefighter is among the neighbors who recommend them by name. That said, the numbers behind the reputation are thin. Google shows only 13 ratings at 4.4 stars, and the most recent one, from May, is a one-star complaint about a subscription that kept getting charged despite repeated calls to cancel it — worth asking about directly if any service plan gets added to your bill. Some third-party directories tell a very different story: one claims 952 reviews at a 4.9 average, which doesn't square with what's actually verifiable on Google, and another puts the company's age at 23 years against the 45 the company itself claims. The flashier numbers are worth taking with a grain of salt. On the equipment side, technicians are certified on Lennox, Carrier, Generac, Rheem, and Bradford White gear, and the company says it's authorized for Mass Save's instant rebate — useful if a heat pump or water heater swap is part of the job. For a plumbing call, especially a sewer or water line repair, Spencer looks like an established local option with real recent work to point to. Before booking anything recurring, get the terms of any service plan in writing, and treat review counts from directories you can't verify with some skepticism.