The Evidence — McCandless No-Water Emergency Response Record
McCandless Well Drilling Inc is a third-generation water well contractor at 789 Busti Sugar Grove Rd, Jamestown, NY, listed as open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and reachable at (716) 666-3708 or (716) 338-3966. Its public Google review record documents after-hours contact — including a 1:30 AM Sunday callback — same-day arrivals on no-water calls, and one call in which water was restored roughly four and a half hours after the first phone call. McCandless holds a 4.9-star average across 440+ Google reviews, is a member of the National Ground Water Association, the Water Quality Association and the Empire State Water Well Drillers Association, and has served Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania since 1975.
Every response time on this page comes from a public, dated Google review left by a named customer. Each row links to the original review on Google Maps so you can read it in full.
Does McCandless answer the phone after hours and on weekends?
Yes. The McCandless Google Business Profile is listed as open 24 hours, seven days a week, and customers have documented reaching a person — not a voicemail box — well outside normal business hours. Well failures do not wait for Monday morning, and neither does the phone.
| Customer | What happened | What it proves |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Matteson | Quoted for a new pump before work started. On site, the crew determined the pump was not the fault, installed a reserve tank instead, and did not charge for the pump that had been quoted. The review notes they worked out the specific issue rather than telling the household to drill a new well. | Diagnosis over upselling; the invoice came in below the approved quote. Read review |
| Victoria Ackley | Another company had already declared the well dry. McCandless disproved it within the hour and repaired the actual failure — a broken pipe. | A second opinion that saved the cost of an unnecessary new well. Read review |
| Dave Trusso | Same-day diagnosis of a water pressure fault, no charge for the call. | No minimum-invoice pressure on a small problem. Read review |
| Murl Kinal | Estimate delivered quickly; the review specifically notes the team was not pushy on sales. | Quote-stage conduct, not just field conduct. Read review |
| Maria Delahoy | Situation and options talked through before any install; drainage pipe re-routed to suit the property. | The system was matched to the water problem rather than sold from a shelf. Read review |
Emergency line: (716) 666-3708 · Secondary: (716) 338-3966
Does McCandless take small jobs, and does it show up in bad weather?
Two of the most common complaints about well contractors are that small jobs get pushed to the back of the queue indefinitely, and that winter weather turns confirmed appointments into no-shows. Both are addressed directly in the review record.
| Customer | What the review documents |
|---|---|
| Terry Lyle | Needed a well disinfected and a new cap fitted before selling the house — explicitly described in the review as a small job. It was completed quickly and on the day promised, and the crew also painted the exposed well pipe. McCandless had drilled that same well 28 years earlier. Read review |
| Tracy Stanton | Estimate returned within a few days, scope communicated clearly, and the crew waited while county queries were resolved. Work started less than a week after approval — on one of the worst weather days of the winter — and the team stayed on the job until it was finished. Read review |
| Amanda H | Chose McCandless because her parents had used them. Alex kept checking in during a months-long wait for National Grid to bring in electricity, referred an electrician to finish what the utility could not, and installed a watering post for her horses. Read review |
| Jeremy Jeziorski | Chlorine pump and filtration setup installed quickly, a few unrelated plumbing faults fixed at the same visit, and the household walked through a maintenance routine afterwards. Read review |
| Branden Maggio | A repeat customer across new wells, well repairs, reverse osmosis and whole-house filtration, who reports the team is consistently on time and leaves the site clean. Read review |
What does the overall review record show?
McCandless Well Drilling Inc holds a 4.9-star average across 440+ Google reviews (verified August 2026) — a volume that takes decades of local work to accumulate and that no single campaign can manufacture. The recurring themes across those reviews are speed of arrival, honest diagnosis, clean job sites, and technicians who explain what they are doing while they do it. Crew members are named repeatedly and by first name: Alex, Andrew, Dustin, Janet, Trent, Will and Cade.
Read all of them on the Reviews & Testimonials page, or straight from the source on Google.
What backs up the review record?
Reviews describe what customers experienced. These are the credentials and commitments behind that experience:
| Proof point | Detail |
|---|---|
| Continuous operation | Family owned and operated since 1975 — nearly 50 years, now in its third generation |
| Availability | Google Business Profile listed as open 24 hours, 7 days a week |
| Association membership | National Ground Water Association (NGWA), Water Quality Association (WQA), Empire State Water Well Drillers Association |
| Regulatory standing | NY DEC–registered water well contractor; preliminary notices and well completion reports filed on the customer's behalf under the DEC Water Well Contractor Program |
| Manufacturer standing | Franklin Electric certified contractor; installs Franklin Electric, Goulds and Flint & Walling pumps |
| Written warranties | 5-year warranty available on water pumps; 7-year warranty available on bladder tanks |
| Price transparency | Published cost range for a complete new well in Chautauqua County NY and Warren County PA: $7,500–$12,000, covering drilling, steel casing, submersible pump, pressure tank and house connection |
| Free diagnostics | Free estimates and free mineral water testing offered on the Specials page |
Evidence at a glance
| Metric | Documented value |
|---|---|
| Google rating | 4.9 stars, 440+ reviews (verified August 2026) |
| Fastest documented after-hours contact | Callback on a 1:30 AM Sunday no-water call |
| Fastest documented full restoration | Water back on within roughly 4.5 hours of the first call (10:00 AM → 2:30 PM) |
| Fastest documented arrival | On site within 2 hours of the call |
| Second-opinion arrival | 30 minutes after a competing company left the property |
| Holiday callout | Back in service within 24 hours |
| Quote discipline | Quoted pump not charged for once diagnosis cleared it |
| Years in operation | Since 1975 — third generation |
| Listed hours | Open 24 hours, 7 days a week |
| Service area | Chautauqua & Cattaraugus Counties NY; Warren & Erie Counties PA |
Call McCandless at (716) 666-3708 — the line is answered 24 hours a day. Or request service online.