At what point do you fire a plumber???
Recently bought a new house that needs extensive work. We hired a plumber to install a new boiler and basically re-do the entire house from a plumbing stand point. We started out on a good foot with the plumber that we hired but I have gotten increasingly frustrated with his late arrivals and no shows…he…
Recently bought a new house that needs extensive work. We hired a plumber to install a new boiler and basically re-do the entire house from a plumbing stand point. We started out on a good foot with the plumber that we hired but I have gotten increasingly frustrated with his late arrivals and no shows…he doesn’t even call but when we call him he always has an excuse – his guys didn’t show up, we changed the locks on the house and didn’t give him a new key (we didn’t). I have an extremely low tolerance for this sort of behavior but my husband thinks I’m being too harsh.
Is this common practice in plumber-land and do I have to relax on this matter? In terms of the schedule of payments, he has probably done the amount of work we have paid him for if not a tiny bit more but have two floors left to complete if that makes a difference.
Unfortunately for your budget, I have to agree with Master Plumber. It’s not so much that you get what you pay for (often you won’t) but in the case of plumbers, the good ones are always pricey. While I usually do my own work, half of the times I’ve hired bargain plumbers I had to call Sessa to fix the job. It goes without saying that it would have been cheaper if I’d called them in the first place.
I’ve narrowed down my “next life” ambitions to three:
Rock star
Formula 1 driver
Plumber
John, Don’t you also have Oprah? Erik
Feel better!!
“Sad but true. This is the standard here.”
Pay the right price up front and you plumber will respond. Go with the low bidder and read the testimonies over and over again.
Standard? No. Common? Unfortunately, yes.
I see this all too often. I looked at a job in Bed-Stuy a few weeks ago where the plumber absolutely destroyed these people financially with the work he did, which was about 60% of what he was contracted to do.
He was asked to install two boilers (owner and tenant), 1 or 2 floors of baseboard radiators, plumbing to 2 kitchens and 3 baths.
They closed the walls and floors around most of his work, but it’s a complete nightmare that will never function properly and is actually filling the house with carbon monoxide while burning buckets of fuel for no reason. National Grid came and shut off their gas and locked it until it is made safe again.
I’ve stated many times I don’t want to discuss anyone’s pricing here, but the owner said these words to me: “I don’t understand! He charged me $23,000 and this is what he did?”
Folks, when you add up that work, it’s closer to 4 times that amount to do it properly.
The boilers off the shelf, by themselves, are about half that amount.
Then you can double or triple the boiler material costs for all that goes with the installation.
Start there and add a house full of new plumbing and it’s not difficult to understand the plumber has set himself up to lose money and the client up to be left stranded…or he can ask the client for more money, in which case he will be called a thief.
Sorry, for the rant, but I’m home with a cold and a 102˚ fever.
Soup and internet are all I have.
Best
John
Sad but true. This is the standard here. I usually do my own work so I rarely hire out. When I do, this happens. You can replace him but chances are the next guy will be the same.
They hold you hostage and waste your time. Most of these guys are either lazy or try to overlap jobs.
It’s hard to get someone that just works a job right through. I do.
if you are unhappy with a contractor fire him…it will probably cost you 5-10 thousand extra to have someone else take over the job, but you should always feel at ease with your subs
I’m sorry but it won’t get any better. Just hope that the work that he has done thus far is solid and part ways . The next plummer you hire make sure a time frame is in the contract , and be clear with work expectations . they may have other jobs that their doing ,but they should let you knnow up front where your job stands in order of inportance.