- Home
- No-Surprise Guarantee
The No-Surprise Guarantee
Anyone can promise. We sign. Every First Call Contracting contract carries three plain promises — about your price, your plan and our work — and each one is backed by a written guarantee. Here they are, in plain words.
Licensed & insured · 2,000+ NJ projects · 7 years · a real person answers 24/7
Three promises. Three guarantees. One contract.
Each promise below is backed by the guarantee next to it. All three are printed in your contract before you sign anything.
The number you sign is the number you pay. Nothing gets added without your approval. Backed by the Price-Lock Guarantee.
Clear scope, a start date and a finish date before work begins, a photo update every workday, and a walkthrough with you before the last payment. Backed by the Sign-Off Guarantee.
If something we did is not right, we come back and make it right. Anything we install that carries water is covered for 5 years. Backed by the 5-Year Watertight Guarantee.
Guarantee 1: the Price-Lock Guarantee
Your itemized price is fixed before work starts. It cannot change without your signature on a written change order.
If we find a hidden problem — a cracked drain line behind a wall, rot under a floor — you get photos and priced options first. You choose. If you say no, the number on your contract stays the number you pay. We can promise this because we inspect before we quote, not after.
Guarantee 2: the Sign-Off Guarantee
You hold the final payment until we walk the finished job together, item by item, and you sign off.
Anything that is not right gets fixed before we call the job done — not "scheduled for later." Our incentive and yours point the same direction: a finished job you are happy with.
Guarantee 3: the 5-Year Watertight Guarantee
If anything we install that carries water — pipes, valves, drains, showers, tubs, water heaters, sump pumps, roofs, gutters — leaks, cracks or fails within 5 years, we fix it free. We also repair the damage it caused: the ceiling below, the drywall, the paint.
You never chase us. Few companies can offer this, because it only works when the plumbers and the finish crew are the same team. Ours are.
The everyday rules, also in your contract
These are the short version of the 14 First Call promises. The full list, and the one-star chain reviews each promise answers, is on the Why First Call page.
- No deposit on most jobs. You pay as the work gets done, and you hold the last payment until sign-off.
- One written, itemized price, good for 90 days. No "tonight only" discounts, and nobody is asked to sign the same day.
- Price approved before any work starts — even at 2 a.m. on an emergency call.
- One licensed crew with the same lead every day. No rented subcontractors.
- A photo update text every workday, and your start date in writing.
- Dust sealed off and the site swept every night. Nail sweep, haul-away and a final walkthrough at the end.
- Permits pulled and inspections passed by us, not left to you.
- Photos of your home before we start. Anything we damage, we fix at our cost.
- Warranty calls answered within two business days. No trip fee, no per-visit charge.
- A plain-English warranty that transfers with the house.
How it plays out on a real job
You book a free consultation. We measure, inspect behind the access panel, and hand you an itemized fixed price with a finish date before we leave. That is the Price-Lock Guarantee starting.
Work begins. The same crew shows up every day and you get a photo text every workday. In week two we find a cracked drain line nobody could have seen. You get photos and two priced options that evening. You pick one and sign a one-page change order — or you say no, and the price stays where it was.
The job ends with a walkthrough, item by item. A cabinet door rubs; it gets fixed before we call it done. Then you release the final payment. That is the Sign-Off Guarantee.
Three years later a shower valve we installed drips into the ceiling below. You call the number on your contract. We fix the valve, repair the ceiling and paint it — free. That is the 5-Year Watertight Guarantee.
Straight answers
What does "covered by your guarantee" actually mean?
Your contract spells it out, and in plain terms it means the work we did, the way we did it. Anything we install that carries water — pipes, valves, drains, showers, tubs, water heaters, pumps — is covered by the 5-Year Watertight Guarantee: if it leaks, cracks or fails within 5 years, we fix it and repair the damage it caused. Any workmanship issue on the rest of the job is covered by promise 03: we come back and make it right. If you're unsure whether something is covered, ask before you sign. We'll tell you straight.
Can the price really not change?
Not without your signature on a written change order. If you add scope, or we find a hidden problem, you get photos and priced options first and you decide. If you say no, the number on your contract is the number you pay. That's the whole point of inspecting before we quote.
What if I find something wrong after I've paid?
Call the number on your contract — it rings the owner. If it's a workmanship issue covered by your guarantee, we come back and make it right. If it's something we installed that carries water and it's within 5 years, we fix it and the damage it caused. No chasing, no "scheduled for later."
Do the guarantees cost extra or require a deposit?
No. They're printed in every contract at no charge. There's no deposit either — you pay as the work gets done, and you hold the final payment until the item-by-item walkthrough. The guarantees aren't an upgrade. They're how the company runs.
How long does your workmanship guarantee last?
Your contract states the term in writing before you sign, and anything we install that carries water — a shower pan, a roof, gutters, a water heater, a sump discharge — sits under the 5-Year Watertight Guarantee on top of it. Manufacturer warranties on the products run their own terms alongside ours, and we tell you which covers what. However long it runs, a warranty call gets a real appointment within two business days, with no trip fee and no per-visit charge.
If I sell the house, does the guarantee go with it?
Bring us the buyer and the address and we'll tell you exactly where you stand in writing — that's a better answer than a brochure promise. Most manufacturer product warranties on roofs, siding and windows are transferable, usually within a set window after closing and sometimes with a small fee, so register the transfer rather than assuming. Either way you hand your buyer the itemized contract, the permits and the passed inspections, which is the file their attorney and inspector actually ask for.
Get it in writing.
Every guarantee, printed in your free written quote before you sign anything.
Or call Alex direct: (201) 676-3099
Burst pipe. No heat. Roof leaking. We answer at 2 AM.
A real person picks up every hour of every day. We tell you what to shut off first, then send the nearest crew.