Plumber- evaluating

[Blue]

How do I evaluate a plumber before giving him the job. Any certificate I should look for? Is just licensing and bonding the best I can hope for. References seem impractical but ....

[Main Man]

Don' know what cntry you're in but references are always good source/is he a mameber of one of the professional plumbing bodies? They often have listing of their members in yellow pages.

[Travis Jordan]

Many states, counties, and local municipalities have online systems where you can check for complaints that may have been filed against the license holder.

Check the BBB records:

Call a plumbing inspector at your municipality's building department, give him/her the names of three plumbers, and ask which one they'd use in their own home.

[Bob G.]

================== I have used "my" plumber for close to 30 years and he Still DOES not advertise.... I would suggest you ask a few friends at work, some neighbors, etc who they use.... That's how I discovered "Charlie" ...

Bob Griffiths

[Sacramento Dave]

comp. insurance. (If he is the owner may not need W C for himself ) You can also contact the state contractors board try and get some info. definitely get 3+ bids. What size job is it? If it's a repair they might try to sell you other repairs, some guys get a commission on service calls.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Best way is to find out from a friend that has used a plumber and use one that has been around the neighborhood for a number or years.

While Dave's advice seems to be the right thing to do for a large job, for a simple repair some of the best plumbers won't show up to give you a price knowing that they have to go through a bidding process, have all sorts of paperwork, be lower priced than others, etc. They just don't have the time to bother as they are very busy. Taking an hour to quote your $100 job is counterproductive and too costly. If it is an hour or two job, they want to show up, do the work, get paid a fair price, and get on to the next job.

My plumber is charging $65 an hour. He may have a minimum but I've never seen it, nor have I asked. For small jobs (say $1000 to $1500) I don't even ask for a ballpark price. In an emergency, I can get him in an hour, for larger projects, he is booked for weeks.