When You Need a Plumber
There are times in your life that you need a licensed plumber for your home. You might need a small job done such as replacing faucets in your kitchen, or you might need a full plumbing job done to replace all your pipes. Either way, you are going to need a licensed plumber to do the work for you.
A licensed plumber will make sure that the job is done the right way. You could do it yourself, but you might end up making things worse. A plumber will also know all the codes and regulations that you need to know in order to do it legally.
You need to know the codes in your town because they are different throughout the country. You would call a plumber Pflugerville ,Texas to get the codes for that city. You wouldn’t call New York City to get the codes in Pflugerville – they wouldn’t be the same at all.
This article will help you learn what you need to know about hiring a licensed plumber. It will give you some ideas of questions that you should ask. You could also do more research to find the answers you might need.
Hiring a Licensed Plumber
- Licenses – You need to check for the licenses first – check to see if the company has licensed plumbers that you can hire. You could check the local plumber and pipefitters unions to see who they would recommend. They can recommend licensed ones for you so that you know that your work is done correctly. There are unions in most cities and towns around the country.
- Insurance – Make sure that your plumber also has the proper insurance for the job. Accidents happen and with plumbing they can be costly. Your home can be damaged, or even ruined by a small mistake. If they have insurance, the repairs could be paid for in full.
- Check the Website – Check out the website of the company that you want to do the work. Make sure that it has been updated recently and can answer questions that you might have. If the website doesn’t look like it was updated in the last year at least, then you can search for another plumber. It is okay to choose someone based on a website – the website can share a lot of information if it is done the right way.
- Online Reviews – Read all the online reviews that you can find: https://broadly.com/blog/review-websites/. These reviews can tell you a lot about a company. They can tell you what others have thought about them, and they can tell you how well they worked with their customers. You can also check the Better Business Bureau to see if they have reviews there.
- Details on Estimate – Make sure that the contractor can give you details on the estimate that they provide. You need to ask plenty of questions about it so that you understand it completely. Ask for a breakdown of each cost that is written in the estimate so that you know all the costs and what they are for. If things are too expensive – or not expensive enough – you might want to call another contractor.
- Experience – Ask about how much experience they have. If they have only a few months, or even years, experience, find out if they will have a master plumber oversee the work. If they don’t, look somewhere else. You want them to have the experience they need to do the job right.
- Finances – There are many contracting companies that are only there to take advantage of the customers. Make sure that you aren’t one of those customers – check to see how they treat you. If they try and find ways to save you money during their estimates and tell you which repairs you can do now and which can wait, they might be a good contractor. This is just one small thing to look for when choosing someone to do your work.
- Check Customer Service – Every time you call the service, you want to be treated as if you were the only customer they have and give you all the time that you need. You don’t want to be rushed off the phone or given poor advice just to get you off the phone. If they treat customers badly on the phone, you can only imagine how they will treat you in person. You want someone that will treat you like they want to keep you as a customer.
- Rates Should be Clearly Established – Most plumbers will have their rates clearly published – if they don’t, they have something to hide. See here to see some common rates for most jobs. Make sure that you know the rates up front before you choose them to do your work. If they are hidden, choose someone else.
- Make Sure They Know What They are Doing – A plumber should know what they are doing and there are ways to check this out before you hire them. You might be able to go see some work that they have done elsewhere. You can also watch them as they do their work to see if they are doing things right. Ask lots of questions about what they are doing so that you know they are doing the job right.
Conclusion
There are many things that you need to know about plumbing before you hire someone to do the job for you. You need to check online reviews and see if you can see previous work that they have done – this isn’t always possible because plumbing is often hidden by walls and floors. You also need to make sure that they are licensed and insured.
Check to make sure that they can answer all the questions that you have, before and during the job. If they can’t answer your questions, it might be best to choose someone else to do the job. They should be happy to answer your questions and should treat you as a valued customer.
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