We are not a general home services company. We are not a national chain. Focht Johnston Plumbing is a plumbing only company based in Uptown Harrisburg, built for the homes in this city: their old pipes, their cold winters, and the combined sewers running under their streets. We founded this company in 2011, and plumbing is the only thing we have ever done.
Harrisburg isn’t an average plumbing market. Many homes in Allison Hill, Midtown, and Shipoke were built before 1940 and still rely on galvanized steel, cast iron, or copper pipes, with some connected to lead service lines. Years of corrosion often cause low water pressure, brown water, and hidden leaks.
The city’s aging combined sewer system also increases the risk of basement backups during heavy rain. Many sewer pipes are over 100 years old, and homeowners are responsible for maintaining their water service lines and sewer laterals.
That’s why we built our plumbing company for Harrisburg—specializing in older plumbing systems, sewer laterals, frozen pipes, and aging infrastructure, with solutions tailored to local homes.
We do not do heating. We do not do cooling. We do not do electrical. Every tool on our trucks, every hour of training, and every part on our shelves is plumbing. A company that does one thing builds a depth of knowledge a general contractor cannot match.
Plumbing in Harrisburg PA does not break only during business hours. We answer the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including weekends and holidays. When you call on a Sunday night with a sewer backup or a burst pipe, a real local plumber picks up and comes out the same day.
You get a flat rate price in writing before any work begins, with no hidden costs. The number you approve is the number on your invoice. There is no hourly meter running while someone is in your basement, and no surprise charges at the end.
For drain and sewer work, we run a camera down the line before we quote or dig. You see the real problem on screen, and we base the price on what is actually there. No guessing, and no paying for work you do not need.
A drain that backs up every few weeks does not need another quick snake. It needs a camera and a real diagnosis. We find the root cause, whether it is root intrusion, a broken lateral, or rusted pipe, and we fix that, so the problem does not come back next month.
We know that pre war row houses in Allison Hill and Midtown often run on galvanized supply lines and clay or Orangeburg sewer laterals. We know many older city homes still have a house trap. We know which streets sit low and flood first in a hard rain. That knowledge comes from working in this city, and only this city.
Most of our calls come from homeowners who have lived with a problem too long: a drain that clogs every few weeks, a water heater that sounds like a rock tumbler, or a water bill that jumped with no clear reason. We take those calls seriously because we know what those signs mean in an older Harrisburg home. We arrive knowing what to look for.
In a city where most homes are rentals, you cannot be on site every time a drain backs up at night. Your tenant calls you, you call us, and we coordinate access directly with the tenant. You get a written report before we leave. Pennsylvania rules also bar owners from pulling permits on rentals and flips, so our licensed work keeps your units rented and legal. For managers with several properties, we keep your reporting organized by address.
Restaurants, shops, and offices lose money the moment plumbing fails. We offer fast service, drain care, backflow testing, and repairs that keep your doors open. We work around your hours so a fix does not cost you a full day of business.
A sewer camera inspection is the best money a buyer can spend on a pre 1950 Harrisburg home. We run sewer scopes for buyers, sellers, and agents and provide a written report with footage you can use in negotiation. We also do pre listing checks, so sellers can fix problems before they become buyer objections.
We are based in Uptown Harrisburg and serve the city and the towns around it. We do not try to cover all of central Pennsylvania. That focus means our plumbers know the neighborhoods, the common pipe types by era, and the soil and sewer conditions in each part of the city before they arrive.
We cover Harrisburg and Dauphin County ZIP codes, including:
You can find us and our reviews across the web. We keep our name, address, and phone the same everywhere, so you always reach the right local plumber. Our customers rate us five stars for honest, prompt, and fairly priced work.