David Carter is a home renovation and plumbing expert located in Philadelphia, Mississippi. The CEO and owner of Handy Man Repairs, Inc., he has more than 50 years of experience in the industry. Carter is also a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the National Kitchen & Bath Association. In this piece, he explains the best way for homeowners to find a plumber, should the need arise.
The biggest thing that a homeowner needs to look at when hiring a plumber is “Is this person going to be there when you need him?” Plumbers have a reputation for being hard to find and constantly booked, which can make finding someone who is willing to take on your job, especially if it is a small job, a challenge.
Especially when you are talking about some plumbers who handle plumbing jobs exclusively, you just can’t get them to come to your house or return your phone calls when you need them. So that is a kind of niche I am proud to fill for people.
Because I am a handyman, and not just a plumber, I do more than just plumbing jobs. I make all kinds of repairs in that area though, including fixing sinks, faucets, pipes, and water heaters. All types of things like that fall into my realm, which is a great benefit to homeowners who might not have a job big enough for some of the major plumbing companies to take on.
If you do decide to go ahead and hire a plumber, you need to really look at whether this is someone who is reputable. Are they going to be there when you need them? Are they going to call you back when they say they will? If you need a plumber on Tuesday, for example, and the person you call does not take the time to call you back until Friday or Saturday—well, then that is probably not the best plumber to hire for the job.
If a plumber is not returning your calls for a particular job, then that probably means that he has got too much money and he does not want to be bothered by your small job. On the other hand, though, if a client calls me with any size job, I will get to it right away. That is the difference between hiring a handyman to fix your plumbing issue or strictly hiring a plumber for the job.
To give a great example of something that happened recently, an elderly woman called my company on a Sunday and said that her water heater had gone out and she needed for it to be fixed. Now, I don’t typically work on Sundays. But a person needs a have hot water, especially since she lived all the way out in a remote part of the country. So I went over there and fixed her hot water heater for her right away.
That is the kind of service that you are going to get with a handyman like myself that you might not be able to get from some of these big-time plumbers who are always busy and take forever to call you back. So that is just something to think about when you are looking into finding a person to fix your plumbing issues.
if you hire anyone but a licensed plumber to do a plumbing job than you are potentially jeopardizing the health and welfare of our society.I have spent my life fixing problems that so called handymen fixed, which created health hazards or property damage that would have been less expensive if a plumber were called out to fix the first time.
Chris Ranallo – January 22, 2010 , 12:23 AM
If you knew anything about plumbing you wouldn't be a handyman. In Georgia we seek companies like you out and take them out of business. Hire a professional and get it done right the first time and you won't have to worry about an inexperienced handyman ruining your home and endangering your family.
Atlanta Plumber – January 22, 2010 , 3:48 AM
yea so you can charge 200 per hour
victor – April 11, 2010 , 8:32 PM