Question 1

What areas do you serve?

Accepted Answer

We serve Powell and the surrounding northern Columbus suburbs: Dublin, Lewis Center, Delaware, Worthington, Westerville, Hilliard and Plain City. Powell is home base, so response times are shortest there and get longer toward the edges of the map.

Question 2

Are you licensed and insured in Ohio?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Koehler Plumbing holds OH License #23683 and carries full liability insurance. We pull permits where Delaware County, Franklin County or the municipality requires them, and the work is inspected.

Question 3

Do you work on commercial buildings?

Accepted Answer

We specialize in residential plumbing - single-family homes, townhomes and condos. That focus is deliberate. For commercial work we are happy to point you toward a central Ohio contractor who does it every day.

Question 4

Who will actually show up at my house?

Accepted Answer

A Koehler Plumbing plumber, not a subcontractor and not a rotating cast from a franchise dispatch pool. That is the practical difference between a small local company and a national brand with a local phone number.

Question 5

Who pulls the permits?

Accepted Answer

We do. Water heater replacements, gas line work, repiping and most drain line replacement need a permit and an inspection in Delaware and Franklin counties, and pulling it is the licensed contractor's job, not the homeowner's. Work done without one tends to surface later, at the worst possible moment - during a home sale, or when an insurer asks who did it. If someone quotes you a job cheaper because no permit is involved, that discount is a liability with a delay on it.

Question 6

How hard is the water around here, and do I need a softener?

Accepted Answer

It depends on which utility serves you, and the honest answer is often no. Del-Co Water, which covers Powell, Lewis Center and much of the surrounding townships, runs about seven to eight grains per gallon - moderately hard. Columbus water lands in a similar range with some seasonal movement. Westerville is softer still, because the city runs its own lime-softening plant and treats the water before it reaches your meter, so a whole-house softener there mostly buys you a salt bill. The real outlier is private well water out in Delaware County, which can test 12 to 20 grains and genuinely warrants treatment. For most homes on city or Del-Co water, flushing the water heater once a year and checking the anode rod every three to five years does more good than a softener would. If you are seeing scaled shower doors, spotted glassware and heaters dying at year eight, that is a different conversation - and we will tell you which house you have, given we are not the ones selling softeners.

Question 7

What are your hours?

Accepted Answer

Regular hours are Mon-Fri: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Emergency calls are answered 24/7 - burst pipes, sewer backups and no-heat water heater failures do not wait for Monday.

Question 8

How quickly will you get back to me?

Accepted Answer

We'll call you back within 15 minutes. For true emergencies, call (614) 204-5532 directly rather than using the form - the phone is always the fastest path.

Question 9

Can you come the same day?

Accepted Answer

Often, yes - particularly in Powell, Lewis Center and Dublin. Emergencies get priority over scheduled work, so the honest answer depends on what else is on the board that day. We will tell you a real window rather than an optimistic one.

Question 10

Do you charge for estimates?

Accepted Answer

Estimates for non-emergency work are free. For a service call where we are diagnosing a live problem, there is a trip charge, and it is applied toward the repair if you go ahead with it.

Question 11

Will I know the price before work starts?

Accepted Answer

Always. You get a number before anything is opened, ordered or removed, and nothing gets added to it without a conversation first. No hourly meter running while you wonder what it is costing.

Question 12

How does after-hours and emergency pricing work?

Accepted Answer

The same way daytime pricing does: you get the number before the work starts. Emergency and after-hours calls carry a higher rate than a scheduled weekday visit - that is true of every plumber who actually answers at 2am - but you hear the figure up front rather than discovering it on an invoice afterward. Nothing gets opened, ordered or removed until you have agreed to a price you have already been told.

Question 13

What payment methods do you accept?

Accepted Answer

Cash, Credit Card, Check. Payment is due when the work is finished, not before it starts - we do not ask for money up front on a repair.

Question 14

Do you have any current offers?

Accepted Answer

Yes - there is a current offer for homeowners in the Powell area. You will find the code and the details in the request form on our contact page; mention it when you call or note it on the form and we will apply it.

Question 15

What counts as a plumbing emergency?

Accepted Answer

Anything actively putting water where it should not be: a burst or leaking supply line, a sewer backing up into the house, a water heater dumping its tank. No hot water in an Ohio January counts too.

Question 16

What should I do before you arrive?

Accepted Answer

Shut off the water. For a fixture, use the stop valve underneath it; for anything bigger, use the main shutoff where the supply enters the house. If you do not know where yours is, we will walk you to it on the phone.

Question 17

Where is my main water shutoff?

Accepted Answer

In most homes around here it is in the basement, on the wall facing the street, within a few feet of where the supply line comes through the foundation - usually just before or after the water meter. On a slab home, look in the garage, a utility closet or near the water heater. It will be a round wheel handle or a lever; a lever turns a quarter turn to close, a wheel takes several full turns clockwise. Worth finding on a calm afternoon rather than at midnight with water coming through a ceiling - go turn it off and on once so you know it works, because a valve that has not moved in fifteen years sometimes will not.

The questions Powell homeowners actually ask us.

Who shows up, what we take on

Hours, timing and how fast we can get there

What it costs and when you find out

When it cannot wait until morning

Every service page answers its own

Have a plumbing problem? Talk to Keith.