A Simple Homeowner Checklist for Hiring a Qualified, Professional Plumber!

If you're facing an emergency with your plumbing at home, you should quickly find a qualified professional plumber to repair the issue. Here are a few ways to find a professional plumber:

Consult your family or friends to get a referral.
Ask a local real estate agent for an experienced plumber that she has used.
If you've used a different contractor in your home, ask the contractor for a reference.
Contact your local plumbing supply store for a recommendation for a reputable plumbing firm.
Check online for reviews of plumbers in your area. If you seek out plumbers in your area on one of the popular search engines such as Google or Yahoo or Bing, you'll find on the engines "Local Listing" of plumbers nearby to you, web links for their sites as well as customer reviews about their work.

When you locate a plumber in your region What are you looking for before you hire them? Here's a list of things to ask an experienced plumber... prior to you hire them. Are you licensed by the state to do plumbing? Always check that you are working with a licensed plumber. inquire about his license from the state! Licensed plumbers have the work background, knowledge and are conversant with current state and local plumbing codes. Alongside taking an exam for their license, they need to complete yearly continuing education courses to keep up to date with any modifications to codes or new Plumber in Newbury products as well as new developments in the field of plumbing. In Georgia, there are many skills you must master to become plumber. In the end, there are many steps an apprentice plumber must go through to become a journeyman as well as a Master plumber. These procedures and the guidelines for obtaining the designation of master plumbers are set by the state. You must have at least three years of primary plumbing experience in addition to references, and then be able to pass an examination in order to obtain the Journeyman or Master Plumbing license. To get the Master Plumbers license part of your experience must encompass industrial or commercial plumbing. In addition, they should have additional certifications to test and verify backflow devices and work on Septic systems. How many years do you have been the business? A good guideline is to look for plumber's that have been operating for 8-10 years. This can give you a clue on how viable and stable the business is, and whether they'll remain in business long enough to support the work they do for your home. Are Service Technicians background verified? Would you be comfortable having Service Technicians working for them in your home? A plumber should conduct a full background check and random drug tests to all of their employees. Professional Service Technicians who work in your home need to be uniformed and have personal identification tags. The Service Technicians you hire are employees of the company and not sub-contractors. Do you have capabilities and experiences working in the field of plumbing? Plumbing demands specific technical expertise and skills. Plumbing companies use specific tools which aren't available to homeowners or the local plumbing handyman. The advantage of working with an experienced, qualified plumbing service can be... the fact that they have all the required training, expertise in plumbing, plumbing tools, as well as experience to handle all sorts of plumbing emergencies within your home. Does your plumbing company have insurance? A plumbing business that provides services at your home must have General Liability Insurance and a current Workers' Compensation Insurance certificate. If you ask, the plumber is expected to provide you with proof of his insurance. General liability insurance covers damage that can occur to your home directly caused by the plumber. If the plumber does not possess a general liability policy, all damages will be covered under your homeowner's insurance. Typically the plumber should carry a minimum of $500,000.00 as general liability insurance. However, it is not unusual for plumbers working in commercial plumbing to carry $3,000,000.00 in insurance coverage. Workman's compensation insurance covers an injury to the plumber that occurs while working in your home. Therefore, as a consumer you will not have to be concerned about being held responsible for a plumber who has an accident while working in your home. Do you provide Emergency Service after hours? A plumbing service that states that they offer "24/7" plumbing service should have a customer support representative available to answer your call after hours. In addition, the plumber must be able to provide after hours or on-call plumbers available to repair your plumbing problem. Do plumbers use Quality Materials? Does the plumber install top quality known, well-known, brand name fixtures and other materials that come with warranties by the manufacturer to the buyer? What brands do they stock and use on their service trucks? manufacturers of plumbing parts appliances, fixtures, and fixtures generally offer a limited replacement warranty on their products. Does my work require authorization from the city or county in which I reside? Typically, you must be a Master Plumber who is licensed to obtain a plumbing permit. The county or city will examine the plumbing periodically during the installation to insure that the work is completed to the local and state plumbing code. Unlicensed plumbers aren't able to obtain the required permits while the work is in progress and is likely not properly trained in the current requirements for plumbing codes. What is your plumbing cost? Service Plumbers charge for their work by using two different methods: Time & Materials Pricing as well as Flat Rate Pricing. Let me clarify the distinction and why this is important. When using the Time & Materials method; the plumber charges a tiny "Service Fee" to mobilize to the jobsite, an hourly rate for the time he's working and the material used to repair the plumbing. Most often, there is a minimum one-hour cost for labor, and you will be charged per quarter hour. With this method you only be charged for the actual amount of amount of time and materials employed on the job... not less and no more. A plumber who uses Flat-Rate Pricing may bill a "Diagnostic Fee" to determine your plumbing problem and then will provide you with an estimate at a flat rate to fix the problem. You will know upfront what the cost will be for your repair. If you decide not to proceed on the repairs, you're only bound by the Diagnostic Fee. With Flat Rate pricing it isn't easy to determine what the plumber will be charging per hour. I can assure you that the flat rate price is based on the worst case scenario for the plumbing firm... how long is most time it will take an unreliable plumber to resolve the issue. If, however, the customer has been off work for a while, waits until the plumbing technician arrive and has already agreed to paying for the diagnostic, he is hit with a whopper cost to repair the small plumbing issue. While the Flat Rate pricing approach looks attractive, in most cases , a skilled licensed plumber can resolve the plumbing problem on a Time & Material basis for less than. In addition that, with Flat Rate pricing technicians are typically paid a commission on the cost of their ticket. Typically, the technicians have been taught by professional experts to make a sale and close an expensive sale. This could lead to problems as the technician working in your home can become an salesperson rather than a plumber. Do you guarantee or warrant the quality of your work? A professional plumbing business is focused on safety and quality of their work. They should provide the homeowner with the homeowner a guarantee on their workmanship as well as a security assurance on their work. Can you provide me with referrals from customers you have done work for? A reputable plumbing business will have no problem giving testimonials from their customers, plumbers, business bankers, or supply houses. Ask them if they are a member of any state or national plumbers' associations or local chamber of commerce, and been awarded any awards or honors from the community. Scott Roberts is a Master Plumber and owner of Roberts Plumbing, Inc. located in

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