Plumbing Tips From A Female Plumber
Welcome and thank you for reading my post, as I wanted to provide plumbing tips from a female plumber’s perspective to help people, especially women, wisely navigate their plumbing repairs in California without being overwhelmed and taken for a ride.
Let me introduce myself. I am Rickie Moore, President and female owner of Coast View Plumbing. Although I have been a plumbing contractor for only 7 years, my late husband has been operating our plumbing business for more than 30 years now, and I inherited it upon his unfortunate death.
At that time, I knew nothing about plumbing. Now I understand the ins and outs of the business and have seen both sides of the coin; as a woman homeowner and a plumbing contractor. With that experience, I will be publishing a series of plumbing tips that will help people understand how plumbers think about a plumbing job or project. I will begin with “Getting Plumbing Quotes”.
Get 3 To 5 Plumbing Quotes
To start, I decided to look up “how to find a (good) plumber” to see what the industry said about this. The first thing that came up was: “Get 3 to 5 quotes”. Well, that sounded simple enough, but is it really? Does each plumber really quote the same things for the same problem, because the price is really different? How do you know if you are comparing apples to apples, because it’s not exactly like shoe shopping where it’s the same shoe, but in different sizes and varying prices from store to store?
With plumbing repairs, you can’t try it out and return the plumbing work if you don’t like the result. The cost of labor, material and time will be charged, as the plumber or plumbers did provide a service when they worked on your property. So it’s necessary to get good quotes and understand what the proposal for the work will include prior to making the buying decision.
How To Get Accurate Quotes
Finding an experienced, honest plumber looking to build long-term relationships with you is key to ensuring a trusted team will care for your commercial or residential plumbing needs, rather than those focusing on the immediate fix to make a quick buck and move onto the next job. Here are some tips to help narrow down the search for the right plumbing company.
Do not get quotes over the phone, because the plumber can’t accurately assess what the problem or its depth is until they have inspected it. Most customers calling about a plumbing issue can only describe it as my pipes are clogged because water isn’t draining, or there is water leaking under the sink or on the floor, etc., but have no idea what the source of the problem is. Schedule an appointment for the plumber to come in and thoroughly inspect the problem.
Some companies will charge a reasonable fee for coming out to see
what is actually going on. This fee can be applied to the job if the client decides to hire the plumber.Coast View Plumbing provides “free estimates” to local calls after screening the calls with some basic questions. Then we will go out to inspect the situation, and provide a written proposal to explain the work proposed and its cost. Our estimates include parts that are durable to minimize plumbing work beyond the regular maintenance and green to protect our environment.
Be leery of those quoting low to get their foot in the door, then end up charging way more than what was initially proposed. Once they start the work, they can say that we can’t finish the job unless we repair this and that. So you have to have them do what’s suggested or get another team to finish it.
That’s why it’s wise to get 3 or more quotes in order to see if you’re comparing apples to apples, and question if a proposal is within the ballpark of others.
A thorough bid lets you know what the cost will be before the job begins to minimize any unpleasant surprises.
Having the right team on the job from the get-go will help move things along faster to reduce the construction zone in your business or home.
Always get a written proposal and have the plumber explain what work needs to be done, why and the timeline for completion. Get clarification of the final cost and understand what can happen to change that cost.
Find out what they do to minimize dust and dirt being scattered all over the place. Basically, how well do they contain their mess and clean up after their work so you don’t have a lot of cleaning to do afterward.
Do you feel comfortable allowing these plumbers into your home, especially if you are a woman? Are they professional and do they take time to explain things to you, because that will demonstrate that they are concerned about your satisfaction and being your plumber for the long term.
Having been a woman plumbing client before, I was always cautious about letting strange men into my house and sometimes I felt they were condescending because of my sex. So I understood how some women may be intimidated by that. For this reason, I attend inspection calls with my team to make sure that female clients feel comfortable with the process. As women, we have an innate sense to nurture and take care of people in need. I bring this quality to all my clients and treat them as I would family. Additionally, I take the time to explain what would be the best solution for the long haul and for temporary fixes to help contain costs. But remember that the lowest bid isn’t always the best option, as the quality of products used and service received maybe compromised. Contact us at (714) 957-4087 for your next plumbing repair and maintenance.
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