Why You Should Support Your Local Chicago Plumber

I want to talk to you about something that matters to me, and I think it should matter to you too. The difference between calling a local plumber and calling a big franchise is bigger than most people realize. It affects the quality of work you get, the price you pay, and the health of your community.

I have run Burris and Sons from our shop on South Colfax Avenue since before most of the franchise plumbing companies existed. We were here in 1917 when my family started this business. We were here through the Depression, through the wars, through every economic boom and bust that Chicago has seen. We are still here, and we plan to be here for the next hundred years.

That should matter to you, and I will explain.

You Get a Real Person, Not a System

When you call a franchise, you get a call center. They dispatch whoever is available, often a technician you have never met who has never seen your home. That technician is following a corporate checklist. They are graded on how many additional services they upsell during each visit. Their job is not just to fix your plumbing. Their job is to sell you things.

When you call Burris and Sons, you talk to a real person. When a technician comes to your home, he knows these neighborhoods. He has probably worked on homes just like yours hundreds of times. He is not following a sales script. He is diagnosing your problem, explaining it in plain language, and fixing it. That is the whole transaction.

Burris and Sons is not a salesman. Burris and Sons is a repairman.

Honest Pricing

The franchise companies spend millions on television ads, wrapped vans, branded uniforms, and marketing campaigns. Guess who pays for all of that? You do. It is built into every service call.

A local plumber has lower overhead. We do not have a marketing department or a corporate office in another state. We do not pay franchise fees. That means our prices reflect the actual cost of the work, not the cost of a Super Bowl commercial. When I give you a price, it is honest. It reflects the parts, the labor, and a fair profit that lets us keep the doors open and take care of our families. That is it.

Accountability

If a franchise plumber does a bad job, you can call the corporate office and maybe, eventually, someone will send another technician to look at it. Or maybe they will argue with you about the warranty. You are fighting a system designed to protect the company, not you.

If I do a bad job (which I work very hard to make sure never happens), you know where to find me. I am at 7850 S Colfax Ave in South Shore. I have been there for years. My name is on the business. My family's reputation is on the line with every single job. That kind of personal accountability produces better work. Period.

Community Investment

When you pay a franchise plumber, most of that money leaves your community. It goes to the corporate parent company, to shareholders, to a headquarters in another city or state. When you pay a local plumber, that money stays in your neighborhood. We spend it at local businesses. We pay local employees. We support local causes. We are part of the economic fabric of Chicago's South Side.

Supporting local businesses is not just a feel good sentiment. It is a practical economic choice that strengthens your own community.

Experience That Matters

Franchise technicians come and go. They move between companies, between cities, sometimes between trades. The average franchise technician has a few years of experience. I have over 60 years of experience. Three generations of my family have practiced this craft in Chicago. We have worked on homes built in every decade from the 1890s to the 2020s. We know Chicago plumbing and Chicago homes in a way that no franchise technician can match.

That experience matters every time we walk into your home. We know that the bungalows in Chatham have different plumbing challenges than the greystones in Woodlawn. We know that the old clay sewer lines in Roseland are prone to root intrusion. We know that the high rises in Hyde Park have their own set of issues. This is knowledge built over a lifetime of work in these specific neighborhoods.

Customer Service Is Not a Department

I say this all the time: customer service is not a department. It is an attitude. At a franchise, customer service is a phone number you call when something goes wrong. It is a complaint form. It is a case number. At Burris and Sons, customer service is the way I answer the phone. It is the way I treat your home when I am working in it. It is the way I explain the problem and the solution. It is the way I clean up after myself before I leave. It is not a department. It is everything we do.

The Awards Speak for Themselves

Burris and Sons was voted Best of Chicago 2020 and voted #1 Plumber by US Metro Report in 2019. Those awards were not bought. They were earned through decades of honest work, fair pricing, and genuine care for our customers. When Harriet N. says we have been her plumber for 30 years and her friend, that is the kind of recognition that matters most to us.

Make the Call

The next time your pipes are leaking, your furnace is not working, or your AC dies in the middle of July, you have a choice. You can call the number from the television commercial, or you can call the family that has been fixing plumbing on Chicago's South Side since 1917. We are at 773-375-4123, and we are ready to help.

Do not call the Wright man. Call the Right man.