Plumber's Helper

[debodun]

A while back I wanted a plumber to look at a dripping faucet in the kitchen sink. I called a local plumber and made an appointment. However, who actually came was a man who introduced himself as the plumber's assistant and it was his job to assess the situation and determine if the job was one that they wanted to accept. He looked at the faucet and turned it on and off. It dripped. They he said that all faucets drip a little because they contain a "reservoir" of water and until that's gone, they drip. Now I have two questions - 1) is what the plumber's helper said true, and 2) it a common practice for handymen to send advance men to look over a job and determine if it's one they want to do?

 

[jujube]

1) I can understand a few drips after the faucet is turned off, but a continual drip from a "reservoir of water" in the faucet? Nope.
2) I've never found a plumber who wasn't eager and willing to take my money to fix anything. A dripping faucet may not be considered an emergency for them, but they will come eventually.

 

[Cookie]

Perhaps they wanted to assess the job to see if it was worth the plumber's time to do, according to either how much money they would make from the job, then they would schedule it by urgency. A drippy tap is not as urgent or lucrative a job to the plumber as is a broken toilet and replacing washers is something people can often do themselves.

 

[Don M.]

I've fixed the plumbing in our various houses for years/decades. In the vast majority of cases, the repairs are a minor issue. Something like a dripping faucet is usually a fairly quick repair, needing only a few dollars in parts, for a bad seal, O-ring, diverter, etc.,etc. Do you know what brand/model faucet you have...I can probably tell you how much the parts would cost, and how long it should take to fix it. Plumbers usually charge Way More than necessary to fix something.

 

[Butterfly]

A while back I wanted a plumber to look at a dripping faucet in the kitchen sink. I called a local plumber and made an appointment. However, who actually came was a man who introduced himself as the plumber's assistant and it was his job to assess the situation and determine if the job was one that they wanted to accept. He looked at the faucet and turned it on and off. It dripped. They he said that all faucets drip a little because they contain a "reservoir" of water and until that's gone, they drip. Now I have two questions - 1) is what the plumber's helper said true, and 2) it a common practice for handymen to send advance men to look over a job and determine if it's one they want to do?

This sounds weird to me. I've never heard of coming ahead of time to see if the job is one they want to do, and I've had WAY more than my share of plumbing problems with this old house. Sometimes, like when my water heater sprung a huge leak this spring, the plumber came out, determined the water heater was in fact leaking in a way that was not fixable, turned off the water to the WH, and left and came back later with the right replacement WH. If it was a HUGE job, like when pipes under my house broke, they'll come out and see if it is one they CAN do, and what it will take, but to come and see if it was one they wanted to do, no. Plumbers always want to take whatever work they can get, at least in my experience.

Just sounds weird. Was it a plumber you knew of or had a reference for? I'd call another plumber. I always use the same company, and I request the same guy, because I trust him. I'm always a bit leery of strangers in my house (I live alone) and if I get the least weird vibe, I call someone else (and keep my big scary looking dog by my side till the weird guy is gone).

 

[debodun]

There aren't that many plumbers in this area, but everyone recommended this guy, that's why I called him. Maybe he's so busy that he has an advance man go and look at potential jobs. One time I called Ben Franklin Plumbing. The guy came, took one look, said "I"m not touching that can of worms!" and charged me $100 for having to come out.

 

[Ken N Tx]

There aren't that many plumbers in this area, but everyone recommended this guy, that's why I called him. Maybe he's so busy that he has an advance man go and look at potential jobs. One time I called Ben Franklin Plumbing. The guy came, took one look, said "I"m not touching that can of worms!" and charged me $100 for having to come out.

IMHO that advance man could have fixed the problem..Did he charge you for his time??

I have never heard of this before..Someone has to pay for both plumber and "advance man"..

 

[debodun]

The Ben Franklin incident and the "advance" man incident are two separate occasions. The "advance man" didn't ask for any money.

 

[jujube]

We once lived in a 75-year-old house whose plumbing must have been done by Rube Goldberg. Every time the plumber came out, he started out the visit by saying "I've never seen anything like that..." which usually translated into him thinking "oh, boy, I can go buy that 60-inch TV tonight!". One time he said "I know you have hot water in the kitchen, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how it's getting there."

 

[NancyNGA]

....One time he said "I know you have hot water in the kitchen, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how it's getting there."

A plumber came to my house and said the exact same thing! Tried once and had no hot water to the kitchen so he had to redo it.

 

[SifuPhil]

Sounds shady to me.

My dad was a self-employed plumber and never charged for "coming out to look". That's how you get - and KEEP - clients.

Especially for a leaky faucet, this sounds totally wrong. Any plumber worth his plunger could tell you over the phone what the likely problem is and estimate the cost.

 

[Butterfly]

Jujube, I've got that old Rube Goldberg plumbing, too. This house was built about 1942, so I guess it's close to that same age -- That plumber really got around.

 

[AprilSun]

I have found that unless the job is big enough so they can make good money, they won't touch it "with a ten foot pole". I called a Handy Man business for a small job and he kept putting me off with the excuse he was so "behind with his work". Obviously, he never "got caught up". I never called him again even for the big jobs and I don't recommend him either. Another example, my sister-in-law had a leaking roof so she called a roofer and was told he would be out there the next day to look at it. Well, the "next day" never came and still hasn't. If it's a small job, they don't want it and they better hope they don't need it later on.