Top 4 Plumbers in Albuquerque, NM

Quick Comparison

Firm	Founded / Tenure & Credentials	Services & Specialties	Geographic Focus
Wagner Mechanical	1928 ("Grandpa Wagner" first home service call); multi-generation Wagner family	NM CID License #87824 (Active, Residential Electrical Wiring, Mechanical), NM Master Plumber, BBB Accredited	Jacs Lane NE base in Albuquerque (87113); Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, Bernalillo County, Sandoval County
Cartwright's Plumbing, Heating & Cooling	1939; Cartwright family origin; current management Greg Mirkowski	NM CID License (NM Plumbing Contractor), NM Master Plumber, BBB Accredited	Santa Fe headquarters + Los Alamos branch; Albuquerque, EspaÃ±ola, Las Vegas NM, Los Alamos, Santa Fe, Taos service
United Plumbing LLC	NM trade lineage starting 1930s in Santa Fe; four generations of New Mexico plumbing-trade practice; current owners Richard and Polly	NM CID License, NM Master Plumber, BBB Accredited	Chihuahua Road NE base in Rio Rancho (87144); Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho
Simmons Plumbing	1973 (Jim Simmons, founder; third-generation plumber lineage; sons David and Roy Simmons trained as repair plumbers); multi-decade founder-and-family operating continuity	NM CID Plumbing Contractor License, NM Master Plumber, BBB Accredited	Jo Ann Place NE base in Albuquerque (87111 area); Albuquerque Metro, North Albuquerque, Northeast Heights, Rio Rancho, Bernalillo County

1. Wagner Mechanical

Address: 7900 Jacs Lane NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113
Phone: (505) 884-2949
Founder: “Grandpa Wagner” (founded 1928 with his first Albuquerque home service call); multi-generation Wagner family ownership across 98 years
Operating Since: 1928. 98 years; Albuquerque’s oldest and most-tenured plumbing-and-mechanical contractor
License: NM CID License #87824 (Active; Residential Electrical Wiring, Mechanical); NM Master Plumber; BBB Accredited
Service area: Albuquerque (Northeast Heights, North Valley, South Valley, West Side, Downtown, Nob Hill, Old Town, North Albuquerque Acres, Sandia Heights, Tanoan, Far Northeast Heights), Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, Bernalillo County, Sandoval County
Website: wagnermechanical.com

Wagner Family Lineage Spanning 98 Years

Wagner Mechanical traces its origins to 1928, when “Grandpa Wagner” set out on his first home service call in Albuquerque, establishing what would become the longest-tenured plumbing-and-mechanical contracting operation in the city. The 98-year operating history places the Wagner family’s first Albuquerque trade practice in the late-1920s era, when Albuquerque’s residential population was approximately 26,000 and the city was undergoing the early stages of its 20th-century growth from a small high-desert railroad town into the regional commercial hub of New Mexico. Across the intervening 98 years, the Wagner family operating structure has remained intact, with the firm continuing under the family name. Wagner Mechanical’s longevity exceeds that of every other Albuquerque-area plumbing operator, and the firm’s accumulated trade-knowledge depth across nearly a century of operating presence covers the full arc of Albuquerque’s residential and commercial plumbing-infrastructure evolution.

Albuquerque Mechanical Service Mix Across HVAC, Plumbing, and Electrical

Wagner Mechanical operates an integrated service portfolio spanning HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), plumbing, and electrical service lines, distinguishing the firm from plumbing-only operators in the Albuquerque market. The integrated mechanical-trades model is operationally significant in the high-desert Southwest because residential homes typically combine swamp-cooler or evaporative-cooling equipment (a New Mexico-distinctive cooling typology that uses evaporation of water through wetted pads to cool air, suited to the dry desert climate where humidity remains low) alongside refrigerated air conditioning, gas-fired forced-air heating, and the standard plumbing-and-electrical service infrastructure. The integrated service portfolio supports residential customers who would otherwise need to coordinate multiple contractors for whole-home renovation, mechanical-system replacement, or evaporative-cooler-to-refrigerated-AC conversion projects (a common project type in Albuquerque’s housing market).

NM CID License #87824 and New Mexico Contractor Licensing

New Mexico regulates contractors through the New Mexico Construction Industries Division (CID) under the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, with classification-based contractor licensing across general building (GB), electrical (EE), gas (GA), and mechanical (MM) categories. Wagner Mechanical’s NM CID License #87824 covers Residential Electrical Wiring and Mechanical classifications (with appropriate plumbing-and-trade credentialing for the firm’s plumbing service line), and the active license status reflects continuing CID compliance. The CID public licensee database (cid.rld.nm.gov) is the standard pre-engagement diligence verification step New Mexico residential customers use, and Wagner’s continuous license-holder status across 98 years of operating history provides a verifiable multi-decade compliance track record.

High-Desert Climate and Albuquerque Plumbing Service Mix

Albuquerque’s high-desert climate (5,300+ feet elevation, low humidity, hot dry summers with daytime highs frequently exceeding 95Â°F, cold winter nights with temperatures dropping below freezing) generates a plumbing-service-mix profile distinct from most other major American cities. The hard-water supply chemistry (sourced from the Rio Grande and the deep aquifer underlying the Albuquerque basin) produces scale buildup in water heaters, fixtures, and supply lines comparable to other Southwestern hard-water markets. Freeze-protection of exterior plumbing infrastructure (irrigation lines, hose bibs, swamp-cooler water-supply lines) is recurring winter service demand, and the seasonal swamp-cooler shutdown-and-startup cycle (typically October shutdown and April startup) creates predictable service-demand peaks. Wagner’s 98-year accumulated experience working under these climate-and-water-chemistry conditions gives the firm depth of trade context for the Albuquerque environment that newer operators have not yet accumulated.

Family Operating Continuity Outside the National Rollup Pattern

Wagner Mechanical has remained family-owned and operated under continuous Wagner family ownership across the entire 98-year operating history, without sale to a private-equity rollup or national home-services aggregator. The Albuquerque plumbing trade has experienced consolidation pressure from regional and national aggregators, and Wagner’s continuous family-owned independent positioning separates the firm from acquired-and-rebranded operators. The “Albuquerque’s oldest and most trusted contractor” positioning that Wagner maintains aligns with the verifiable 98-year operating tenure under continuous Wagner family ownership.

2. Cartwright’s Plumbing, Heating & Cooling

Address: 7613 Crouch Court, Santa Fe, NM 87507 (headquarters); 800 Trinity Drive, Unit F, Los Alamos, NM 87544 (Los Alamos branch)
Phone: (505) 216-2507
Founder: Cartwright family (founded 1939); current management Greg Mirkowski
Operating Since: 1939 (87 years)
License: NM CID License (NM Plumbing Contractor); NM Master Plumber; BBB Accredited
Service area: Albuquerque, EspaÃ±ola, Las Vegas (NM), Los Alamos, Santa Fe, Taos, Northern New Mexico. Bernalillo County, Santa Fe County, Los Alamos County, Rio Arriba County, San Miguel County, Taos County
Website: cartwrightsplumbing.com

87-Year Cartwright Family Origin and Northern New Mexico Coverage

Cartwright’s Plumbing, Heating & Cooling traces its origins to 1939 under Cartwright family establishment, providing 87 years of continuous Northern New Mexico plumbing-and-mechanical service. The firm now operates from a Santa Fe headquarters at 7613 Crouch Court (Santa Fe County) with a branch location at 800 Trinity Drive in Los Alamos, providing dispatch coverage across the Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Los Alamos triangle and extending into the broader Northern New Mexico region (EspaÃ±ola, Taos, Las Vegas NM). Greg Mirkowski serves as current management. The 87-year operating tenure ranks Cartwright’s among the longest-tenured plumbing operations in Northern New Mexico.

Northern New Mexico Service Geography

Cartwright’s six-county Northern New Mexico dispatch reach extends across an remarkably wide geographic arc for a residential plumbing operator, covering Bernalillo County (Albuquerque metro), Santa Fe County (Santa Fe metro), Los Alamos County (Los Alamos National Laboratory and surrounding residential community), Rio Arriba County (EspaÃ±ola and surrounding rural-residential communities), San Miguel County (Las Vegas NM and surrounding), and Taos County (Taos and surrounding). The residential housing stock across this geography spans pre-1900 adobe and Pueblo-revival housing in Santa Fe, mid-century single-family housing in Los Alamos (built out heavily during and after the Manhattan Project era beginning in 1943), historic 1700s-and-1800s housing in Taos and the surrounding Rio Grande valley pueblos, and contemporary suburban-development housing in the Albuquerque metro and the Santa Fe outskirts. The plumbing-service-mix breadth across this housing-stock diversity covers everything from adobe-house plumbing retrofit work through contemporary suburban single-family service.

NM CID Compliance and Multi-Service-Line Coverage

Cartwright’s holds NM CID licensing under the New Mexico Construction Industries Division and operates plumbing, heating, and cooling service lines, providing integrated mechanical-trade service across the Northern New Mexico market. The firm holds BBB Accreditation through the Better Business Bureau Serving Greater New Mexico and has built reputation continuity across 87 years of operating history.

3. United Plumbing LLC

Address: 804 Chihuahua Road NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144
Phone: (505) 319-8791
Founder: New Mexico plumbing-trade lineage starting 1930s in Santa Fe; four generations of NM plumbing-trade practice; current owners Richard and Polly
Operating Since: Family plumbing-trade lineage extending to 1930s Santa Fe; four generations of New Mexico plumbing service across the family
License: NM CID License (NM Plumbing Contractor); NM Master Plumber; BBB Accredited
Service area: Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, Bernalillo County, Sandoval County, Santa Fe County
Website: unitedplumbingnm.com

Four-Generation New Mexico Plumbing Lineage Starting 1930s Santa Fe

United Plumbing LLC traces its plumbing-trade roots to a New Mexico plumbing-trade lineage starting in the 1930s in Santa Fe with the family operation continuing across four generations of New Mexico plumbing service practice. Current owners Richard and Polly ground the contemporary operating leadership, and the firm operates from a Chihuahua Road NE headquarters in Rio Rancho (Sandoval County, immediately northwest of Albuquerque proper). Four-generation New Mexico plumbing-trade lineage tied to a 1930s Santa Fe origin places United Plumbing’s institutional plumbing knowledge in the same approximate vintage cohort as Wagner (1928 Albuquerque) and Cartwright’s (1939), with the family-trade lineage placing the firm’s operating identity across multiple generations.

Rio Rancho Operating Base and Sandoval County Service Geography

The Rio Rancho headquarters supports a service geography that covers the rapidly-growing Sandoval County corridor northwest of Albuquerque proper, alongside the standard Albuquerque metro and Santa Fe coverage area. Rio Rancho is the largest city in Sandoval County and the third-largest city in New Mexico (behind Albuquerque and Las Cruces), with a residential housing stock dominated by 1990s-and-newer suburban-development housing tied to the rapid post-1990 population growth of Sandoval County (driven by Albuquerque commuter-migration and Intel’s Rio Rancho semiconductor manufacturing operations). The Rio Rancho operating base provides service-area positioning that differs from Albuquerque-proper-headquartered operators.

NM CID Compliance and Commercial-and-Medical Service Mix

United Plumbing’s service-mix breadth includes commercial, residential, and medical-facility plumbing service. Medical-facility plumbing carries additional code-compliance requirements under New Mexico facility-licensing regulations and the broader healthcare-facility plumbing standards (which require, among other features, specific backflow-prevention configurations, medical-gas-piping integration, and specialized fixture types appropriate for clinical settings), and the medical-plumbing service line distinguishes United Plumbing from purely residential operators in the Albuquerque-Rio Rancho-Santa Fe market.

4. Simmons Plumbing

Address: 6312 Jo Ann Place NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111
Phone: (505) 881-6312
Founder: Jim Simmons (founded 1973; third-generation plumber upon establishment); sons David Simmons and Roy Simmons trained by their father in the plumbing trade and continuing in operations
Operating Since: 1973 (53 years); Jim Simmons brought third-generation plumbing-trade lineage at the firm’s establishment, with sons David and Roy now extending the family lineage further
License: NM CID Plumbing Contractor License; NM Master Plumber; BBB Accredited
Service area: Albuquerque (Northeast Heights, North Valley, Far Northeast Heights, Sandia Heights, Tanoan, North Albuquerque Acres, Foothills, Bear Canyon, Glenwood Hills, Eldorado), Rio Rancho, Bernalillo County
Website: simmonsplumbing.info

Founder-Operator Continuity Plus Multi-Generation Plumbing Lineage

Simmons Plumbing was founded in 1973 by Jim Simmons, who came to the founding event already as a third-generation plumber, embedding a multi-generation Simmons family plumbing lineage from the firm’s first day. Across the 53-year operating history, Jim Simmons has trained his two sons (David Simmons and Roy Simmons) as repair plumbers, extending the family plumbing-trade practice further. The combination of founder-operator continuity (Jim Simmons present from 1973 to the contemporary operation) plus multi-generation plumbing-trade lineage (with three generations preceding Jim’s 1973 founding plus Jim’s two sons now active as repair plumbers) provides the kind of family-trade knowledge depth that single-generation operators cannot match.

Northeast Heights Operating Base and Albuquerque Foothills Service Geography

The 6312 Jo Ann Place NE headquarters in Albuquerque (zip 87111) sits in the Northeast Heights section of the city, an area dominated by 1960s-1990s single-family suburban housing extending from the Sandia Mountain foothills westward toward the Rio Grande corridor. The Northeast Heights residential housing stock includes substantial mid-century ranch and split-level housing alongside contemporary suburban single-family housing in the foothills neighborhoods (Sandia Heights, Far Northeast Heights, Tanoan, North Albuquerque Acres). The Sandia Mountain foothills service geography presents elevation-related plumbing-service-mix characteristics including pressure-regulator service for higher-elevation properties served by water-pressure boosting, freeze-protection of exterior plumbing infrastructure (the foothills neighborhoods experience sharper winter temperature drops than the lower-elevation Rio Grande valley), and the standard hard-water and high-altitude service-mix that Albuquerque residential customers commonly require.

NM CID Plumbing Contractor Compliance and Service-Mix Breadth

Simmons Plumbing operates under NM CID Plumbing Contractor licensing through the New Mexico Construction Industries Division, satisfying the regulatory authority required for New Mexico residential and commercial plumbing work. The firm’s service-mix breadth includes residential plumbing repair and installation, water heater service, drain cleaning, fixture installation, sewer service, and the broader plumbing-trade work that Albuquerque Northeast Heights residential customers commonly require. Family-owned operating continuity has remained intact across the 53-year operating history without sale to a regional consolidator or national rollup.

Reference Notes

Albuquerque’s residential plumbing market reflects three regulatory and climate pressures that drive operator competition. The first is high-desert climate and Albuquerque-specific plumbing service mix: Albuquerque’s elevation (5,300+ feet) and arid climate (low humidity, hot dry summers, cold winter nights with regular freezes) generate a plumbing-service-mix profile distinct from most other major American cities. Evaporative cooling (the swamp-cooler typology that uses water-evaporation through wetted pads to cool dry desert air) is a New Mexico-distinctive cooling system common across the residential housing stock, and seasonal swamp-cooler shutdown-and-startup cycles (October shutdown and April startup) create predictable plumbing-service-demand peaks. Refrigerated air conditioning is increasingly displacing swamp coolers in newer construction and in homeowner conversion projects, and swamp-cooler-to-refrigerated-AC conversion is a recurring residential project type that combines plumbing, mechanical, and electrical scopes. Hard-water supply chemistry produces scale buildup affecting water heaters, fixtures, and supply lines; freeze-protection of exterior plumbing infrastructure is recurring winter service demand; and the high-altitude environment affects water heater performance specifications. The second structural condition is licensing depth: New Mexico regulates contractors through the New Mexico Construction Industries Division (CID) under the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, with classification-based contractor licensing across general building (GB), electrical (EE), gas (GA), mechanical (MM), and other trade categories; CID licensing requires bonding, insurance, examination passage, and continuing-education renewal cycles, and the CID public licensee database (cid.rld.nm.gov) is the standard pre-engagement diligence verification step New Mexico residential customers use (master plumber licensing through New Mexico’s plumbing-trade regulatory framework requires examination passage, journeyman experience hours, and continuing-education renewal. The third structural condition is national rollup activity: the Albuquerque plumbing trade has experienced consolidation pressure from regional and national aggregators (Authority Brands’ Benjamin Franklin Plumbing franchise system operates in Albuquerque; Mr. Rooter Plumbing operates as a Neighborly franchise with Albuquerque presence; and various private-equity rollups have acquired Southwestern plumbing brands across recent decades), and all four Albuquerque firms profiled here run as locally-owned independent operators outside the regional consolidator pattern. With multi-generation family ownership (Wagner Mechanical 1928 across the multi-generation Wagner family lineage; Cartwright’s 1939 family origin; United Plumbing four-generation New Mexico plumbing-trade lineage starting 1930s Santa Fe under current owners Richard and Polly; Simmons Plumbing 1973 with founder Jim Simmons bringing third-generation plumber lineage to the establishment plus sons David and Roy continuing the family trade practice).

Tenure profiles across the four firms vary across approximately a 45-year span by formal founding date, with substantially longer family-trade-lineage continuity behind the formal founding dates for several of the firms. Wagner Mechanical leads on the longest tenure dimension, with a 1928 founding by “Grandpa Wagner” and 98-year continuous Wagner family operating presence in Albuquerque, supported by an integrated HVAC-plumbing-electrical service portfolio that materially exceeds the typical single-trade configuration of Albuquerque-area operators and NM CID License #87824 reflecting active New Mexico contractor credentialing. Cartwright’s Plumbing follows on the second-longest tenure dimension, with a 1939 Cartwright family origin and 87-year continuous Northern New Mexico operating presence, supported by a Santa Fe headquarters, Los Alamos branch location, and six-county Northern New Mexico service grid covering Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, and Taos counties. United Plumbing LLC’s four-generation New Mexico plumbing-trade lineage starting 1930s in Santa Fe (with current owners Richard and Polly grounding the present-era operating leadership from the Rio Rancho Chihuahua Road NE base) secures a service geography covering Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Rio Rancho with commercial, residential, and medical-facility plumbing service-mix breadth. Simmons Plumbing’s 53-year founder-operator-plus-family-lineage continuity since 1973 (with founder Jim Simmons bringing third-generation plumber lineage at the firm’s establishment plus sons David Simmons and Roy Simmons trained as repair plumbers and continuing the family trade practice) and Northeast Heights Albuquerque base support service across the foothills and Rio Grande valley housing stock. The credential portfolios scale with operating depth and geographic reach: Wagner’s NM CID License #87824 plus integrated HVAC-plumbing-electrical credentialing, Cartwright’s NM CID plumbing-and-mechanical credentialing across Northern New Mexico, United Plumbing’s multi-segment service-line credentialing, and Simmons’s NM CID Plumbing Contractor credentialing together provide the four-firm comparison framework that Albuquerque-area residential customers use to select between long-tenured independent local operators outside the has absorbed multiple Southwestern operators across the past two decades..

Selection Methodology

Selection follows four criteria. First, continuous family ownership or founder-operator continuity outside the national rollup pattern. Second, verifiable NM Plumbing Contractor license cross-checked via the New Mexico Construction Industries Division (CID) public lookup. Third, BBB Accreditation or equivalent third-party rating. Fourth, minimum 10-year continuous operating tenure with documented Albuquerque, NM service coverage. Firms acquired by national franchise networks (Authority Brands’ Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, Neighborly’s Mr. Rooter, Service Experts, Roto-Rooter, Wrench Group, Redwood Services, Master Trades Group, ARS) are excluded.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I verify a Albuquerque, NM plumber’s license?

Use the New Mexico Construction Industries Division (CID) public licensee database at cid.rld.nm.gov. Search by license number or business name. Confirm active status, classification, bonding, and insurance before authorizing work.

What credentials should a Albuquerque, NM plumber hold?

At minimum: NM Plumbing Contractor credential plus general liability insurance and workers’ compensation coverage. Specialty work (gas line, backflow prevention, fire sprinkler, sewer lateral) requires additional credential layers.

How can I tell if a Albuquerque, NM plumber is locally owned versus a national rollup?

Check ownership disclosures and acquisition history. National franchise brands typically operate under parent-company branding. Search the firm name plus “acquired” or “parent company” to surface ownership structure. The four firms in this directory all run as independent locally-owned operators.

When should I call an emergency plumber in Albuquerque?

Burst pipes, sewer backups, gas leaks, no-water events, and water heater failures justify after-hours dispatch. Each firm in this directory offers either 24/7 emergency service or structured after-hours response.

Editorial Note

Compiled by the editorial team. Firm details cross-verified through state license databases, BBB business profiles, and firm-published websites where available. License numbers should be re-verified through the New Mexico Construction Industries Division (CID) public lookup before authorizing work. Information current as of the date below; firm details may change without notice. Last updated: 2026-05-10.