Trusted Plumbing and Heating Expert in Devon James Toms

Are you looking for a Trusted Plumbing and Heating Expert in Devon? Then look no further than James Toms.

James is local being located in Plymouth and hopefully this meant a quick response.

We have a downstairs cloakroom which has not been updated since the house was built 32 years ago here in Ivybridge Devon. As can be see from the pictures it is a very old fashioned green suite of toilet and separate sink.

Back at the end of October 2025 we discovered a leak coming from the water tank of the toilet. The leak also highlighted the soil waste pipe at the base of the toilet which was plastic was cracking and breaking up. I called the plumbing firm I have been using for the past 8 or so years who attended and stated I needed a new soil waste pipe and at the same time they would fix the leak from the tank.

Cutting a long story short I had numerous visits by very young plumbers who looked as though they had only just completed an apprenticeship who could not find a soil waste pipe to fix. After many visits and numerous different parts tried they eventually managed to fix the part. However a couple of days later the toilet again began to leak from the same place.

I called them back and they took it to pieces again and fitted a new “doughnut washer”. It still leaked. Eventually they sent an experienced plumber who spent the morning stripping everything down and fitting the “correct” doughnut washer.

Guess what, yes it leaked again. By now I had completely lost faith in the firm.

So I decided to bite the bullet and replace the whole toilet suite with new. The next problem was what to buy and who to use. Karen and I did a tour of the local plumbing merchant showrooms and settled on a 2 unit vanity suite from Plumbase in Plympton. The next dilema was who to use to fit it and remove the old suite. Immediately we thought of Steve Miller who fitted our kitchen last year who did an amazing job. Sadly he was fully booked for the immediate future. Next I tried a plumber who we had once used as a one off a couple of years ago.

I had obtained a written quote from Plumbase for the units so when he called I was able to show him the quote. He checked measurements and went away and a couple of days later he emailed a quote but the units he quoted for were from another supplier and his quote did not break down into individual items for parts and labour. The quote was for an all inclusive price and seemed very dear. I contacted him and asked for him to breakdown the quote so I could compare the cost of the units to those from Plumbase. He declined saying he did not break down his quotes as they were all inclusive. This set alarm bells ringing so I promptly declined.

We had now been without a working toilet downstairs for months. I went back to plumbase and asked who they would recommend to fit the units. They gave me three business cards and stated anyone of these would do a good job. The first two came and assessed the work and went away stating they would send me their quotes. Days passed and I heard nothing.

I then contacted the third James Toms. I emailed him at 1815 on the 20th February 2026. I had an email reply one hour later arranging a visit 2 days later at 0900 on Thursday 22/02/2026. He arrived dead on time Thursday morning. He checked all my measurements which was more than one of the others did. He came up with some creative suggestions of his own and left Karen and I feeling confident he would do a good job. At 9pm the same day I received an email quote from him. It had a full breakdown of all the parts and labour and stated he could commence the work on Monday 9th Ferbruary 2026.

The best thing was his quote was £900 cheaper than the only other quote we received. I knew I was being had over when the other plumber refused to separate his quote.

I removed everything from the cloakroom ready for his visit.

He arrived dead on time on the Monday and was joined by his colleague and the two of them got to work at removing the old suit. By the afternoon of the second day he had completed the work and cleaned up all the mess both inside and outside where he had been working. We inspected his work before he left and we were both very pleased with what he had done.

I can highly recommend James. He was polite, professional and efficient. He arrived as he said he would and his charge was very reasonable compared to the other only quote I had (Only one of the other two came back to me but that was after James had already finished!).
So if you are looking for a Trusted Plumbing and Heating Expert in Devon I can wholly recommend James Toms. James is also a Gas Safe registered heating engineer so I shall be using him for my future boiler service in November.
Below is the finished article.

Trusted Plumbing and Heating Expert in Devon James Toms