Barry Jolly is the owner of Jolly Plumbing in Wilder, KY. He was named the Kentucky Small Business Man of the Year in 1997, and now has more than 31 years of experience serving clients in the greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area. In this article, Jolly explains whether homeowners can expect to save any money by buying plumbing fixtures and parts on their own.
Sometimes people think they might be able to save a little money by buying the parts for a plumbing project on their own and then having a plumber install them. But I really would not recommend that anyone do that.
The only time that I can picture when that might not be a bad idea is if you were remodeling a bathroom and you wanted to pick out your own toilets, faucets, and other fixtures. In cases like that, maybe it’s not so bad. Buying your own fixtures if you were remodeling a bathroom with the help of a plumber would probably be fine.
But I think as far as general plumbing repair parts and pipes go, I think that homeowners really ought to let their plumbers provide those pieces. I say this for a reason: The parts that a plumber provides are probably going to be better quality pieces than what you could buy on your own at a hardware store, and they will have a warranty attached as well.
That is the real disadvantage of buying your own plumbing fixtures and things like that — the warranty issue, or lack thereof. If the plumber is not buying the parts that he’s using on your project, then he is not going to warranty that fixture. So if you buy a fixture on your own, then you are really on your own in terms of its lifespan and quality if something should go wrong.
Here at Jolly Plumbing we typically provide our own fixtures to clients, and everything we offer has a good warranty that goes with it. So the homeowners who we work with have no problems getting coverage on the parts that we repair or replace. In terms of the length of those warranties, it can differ from fixture to fixture. If you are talking about a faucet, then everything included with a faucet repair or replacement is guaranteed for one year — both labor, as far as if the faucet is leaking or dripping, and the faucet itself, in case you have any problems with the finish or mechanisms. Everything with that faucet would be covered by us for one year.
With water heaters, for example, different warranties are offered through different brands or companies. However, a typical water heater warranty is usually around six years. So if your water heater starts leaking within six years of its installation, then you can get a new water heater. If a water heater does start breaking down within that six-year time, all you as a homeowner would have to pay for would be the labor to install the new heater. So that is a great deal, and a great assurance.
However, all different fixtures have different warranties, and that is something that the homeowner should definitely ask his plumbing company about to find out for sure what’s included. But certainly, the warranty issue is the biggest reason why I really don’t recommend that homeowners try buying their own plumbing fixtures on their own.
