Home services across Southeastern PA
Sharpline is a general contractor in Delaware County, PA, and most of what we get called for here comes down to age. Eastern Delco went up as streetcar suburbs: stone twins in Drexel Hill, porch-front rows in Lansdowne, 1920s colonials in Havertown and Swarthmore. Good houses. They break in patterns.
Media · Springfield · Swarthmore · Prospect Park · Ridley Park · Ridley Township · Folsom
What actually breaks here
The housing stock decides the work.
Most of eastern Delaware County was built between about 1900 and 1955, and built dense. Upper Darby, Lansdowne, Aldan, Clifton Heights and Drexel Hill are twins and rows sharing party walls, so your neighbor's roof and gutter problems become yours. Havertown, Springfield and Broomall filled in around the war. Media, Swarthmore, Wallingford and Rose Valley hold older stock still wearing slate. Head west to Glen Mills, Newtown Square and Chadds Ford and the lots get bigger, the houses get newer, and public sewer stops being a given.
Nearly all of it has a full basement. That is the biggest difference between working here and working in a slab market. Down there you find stone or block walls, a cove joint that weeps, an old coal chute, asbestos-wrapped pipe insulation nobody should touch, and a cast iron waste stack rusting through at the floor line. Galvanized supply pipe closes from the inside until the upstairs shower runs to a trickle. Out at the curb the lateral is often clay, and the street trees find it.
The wiring tells the same story: knob-and-tube still live in pre-1950 houses, spliced into by four decades of owners, 60-amp fuse boxes, two-prong outlets, and the panel brands electricians flag on sight. Heat is radiators more often than ducts. Plenty of these houses went coal to oil to gas, and the chimney never got relined for the last step.
One number covers plumbing, electrical, heating & cooling, roofing, handyman work and the wet basement under all of it. That matters more in an old house, because the problem is rarely one trade. Water on the basement floor could be a downspout, a cove joint, or a cast iron stack that finally let go.
We've spent years keeping apartment portfolios and commercial buildings running, every trade, one accountable company. We're bringing that to homeowners here. Call 610-550-3248.
What we run here
Services available in Delaware County
Our service mix differs by market, partly because the housing itself is different.
Plumbing
Galvanized supply, cast iron stacks and clay laterals, the three Delco classics.
See plumbing →Electrical
Knob-and-tube, 60-amp fuse boxes and panel upgrades in houses wired before 1950.
See electrical →Heating & Cooling
Boilers and radiators, oil to gas conversions, cooling for houses with no duct space.
See heating & cooling →Handyman
Doors, hardware, mounting, assembly and the settlement punch list.
See handyman →Roofing
Slate repair, flat roofs over rear additions, and gutters dumping at a stone foundation.
See roofing →Painting & Drywall
Plaster and lath as often as drywall, plus the ceiling stain that started elsewhere.
See painting & drywall →Windows & Doors
Original wood sash, storm windows, and doors that stopped closing when the house moved.
See windows & doors →Basement Waterproofing
Full basements are standard here, so seepage, sumps and drain tile are everyday work.
See basement waterproofing →Tile & Flooring
Hardwood refinishing, tile that keeps cracking, and old basement tile you never dry-scrape.
See tile & flooring →Need someone in Delaware County today?
Call 610-550-3248 and tell us what is happening right now. Four jobs we treat as urgent here:
Water coming up through the basement floor drain during a storm.
No heat in a freeze, especially a house running on one boiler.
A burning smell at the panel, a scorched outlet, or a breaker that will not reset.
Sewage backing up in the basement, which here usually means the lateral, not the toilet.
Gas smell or a CO alarm? Leave the house and call the gas utility or 911 first, then call us. We will tell you honestly when we can get there.
Why do Delco basements take water in a heavy storm?
Because the water had nowhere else to go. Delaware County drains through small, fast creeks: Cobbs, Darby, Crum, Ridley and Chester. Anyone here for the remnants of Ida in 2021 saw what they can do. Saturated ground and older combined sewers push back through basement floor drains, and roof water landing at the base of a stone wall does the rest.
So we check the cheap causes first. A downspout discharging two feet from the foundation will flood a basement every storm, and correcting that costs a fraction of an excavation. If you do need interior drain tile and a sump, we will say so. Any outside digging starts with a PA One Call locate, which is free and required by law.
What we actually get called for here
Grouped the way jobs come in, not by trade.
Under the house: sump pumps, interior drain tile, cove joint seepage, crack injection, vapor barriers, and rotted sill plates over a damp basement.
Pipes: galvanized replacement, cast iron stack repair, camera inspection on clay laterals, water heaters, frozen runs in exterior walls.
Wire: service and panel upgrades off old fuse boxes, knob-and-tube assessment, grounded outlets, kitchen and basement circuits, smoke and CO detectors.
Heat and air: boilers and radiators, oil to gas conversions, chimney relining after a high-efficiency swap, and ductless or high-velocity cooling for the third floor nobody can sleep on.
Shell and surfaces: slate and shingle repair, flat roofs over rear additions, gutters, plaster and drywall patching, painting, windows, doors, hardwood refinishing.
This might actually be a different problem
A lot of calls name the symptom, not the cause. Worth knowing before you book anyone.
A brown stain spreading on a ceiling is a Roofing or Plumbing problem before it is a Painting & Drywall one. Painting over a live leak is malpractice.
A door that suddenly starts sticking after years of working fine is movement, not a door. That is a Foundation Repair question as much as a Windows & Doors one.
A soft floor near a toilet or dishwasher means an active leak with rot under it. Start with Plumbing, finish with Tile & Flooring.
Air conditioning that runs constantly in a 1930s twin is usually the envelope. Original sash and no insulation will beat any Heating & Cooling system you buy.
Water on the basement floor after every storm is a Basement Waterproofing conversation, but we look at your gutters first. Small job in any of these? Our Handyman team picks it up.
Who is licensed to do what in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania has no statewide plumbing or electrical license. Those are municipal, and they do not transfer. Someone registered in Upper Darby is not automatically registered in Haverford Township or Media Borough. That matters twice. Permits and inspections happen where the job is, so Nether Providence rules are not Ridley rules. And any contractor claiming a Pennsylvania plumbing license is describing something that does not exist. Home improvement work is a separate thing again: a state registration with the Office of Attorney General. State law requires that number in any advertising distributed in Pennsylvania, including this page.
Where we work in Delaware County
These are the boroughs and townships we cover. A few have their own page. Most do not yet, so they are listed here rather than linked. If your street sits on a line between two of them, call and ask. Coverage varies by service, and we would rather say so before you book.
Tell us what your house is doing
Describe what you are seeing and we will tell you which trade it actually is. One number, one team, one company that stays accountable when a job crosses two trades. Call 610-550-3248, or send the details and a couple of photos and we will come back to you.
Towns we cover
Everywhere we work in Delaware County
Swarthmore · Prospect Park · Ridley Park · Ridley Township · Folsom · Holmes · Norwood · Glenolden · Sharon Hill · Aldan · Clifton Heights · Lansdowne · Morton · Rutledge · Wallingford · Rose Valley · Nether Providence · Marple Township · Newtown Square · Chadds Ford · Brookhaven
Common questions
Straight answers.
Do you cover all of Delaware County?
We cover the boroughs and townships listed above, from Upper Darby and Lansdowne out to Glen Mills and Chadds Ford. Not every service runs in every town, and availability changes. Call 610-550-3248 and we will tell you straight.
My house still has knob-and-tube wiring. Is that an emergency?
Not on its own. Intact, undisturbed knob-and-tube in a pre-1950 house can still be serviceable. The danger is what got added to it: modern splices, buried junctions, blown insulation packed over it in the attic, or a 60-amp fuse box feeding a kitchen full of appliances. Some insurers also will not write a policy on a house that still has it, so it tends to surface at settlement.
Why is my water pressure fine downstairs and terrible upstairs?
In a Delco house piped before about 1960, that is usually galvanized steel. It rusts closed from the inside over decades and the upper floors lose out first. Replacing the visible basement run often does not fix it, because the restriction sits in the risers inside the walls.
Should I waterproof the basement or fix the gutters first?
Gutters and grading first, nearly always. Roof water landing at the base of a stone foundation is usually why a Delco basement is wet, and it is the cheapest thing to correct. If that does not solve it, then interior drain tile and a sump are worth discussing.
Can I get central air in a house with radiators?
Usually yes, with ductless mini-splits or a high-velocity system. Older Havertown, Drexel Hill and Swarthmore houses have plaster walls, no duct chases and finished third floors, so conventional ductwork either will not fit or costs you a closet on every floor. We will walk you through both options and what each one takes.
Do you work in Philadelphia or Chester County?
Our Pennsylvania coverage is Delaware County. A few towns on the list sit right on the Chester County line, including Chadds Ford and Glen Mills, so ask if you are near the edge. We also work in South Jersey and in Hampton Roads, Virginia.