When a plumbing issue goes beyond changing out a toilet float or fixing a leaky faucet, it’s often time to call a professional plumbing service. But you don’t want to be hasty and call the first service that pops up in a quick online search. Instead, you’ll need to make sure the plumbing service you contact is one that will do the job right the first time — for a fair price. Keep reading to find out important things you should look for when hiring a plumbing service.
1. Plenty of Experience
Only hire a service that has years of experience to its credit. It’s not to say that a brand-new plumbing service won’t do a perfectly fine job, but years of experience does make a better plumbing service. The more experience a plumbing service has, the more likely it will be able to diagnose the issue correctly the first time and take care of it properly.
2. Upfront Pricing
Look for a plumbing service that charges by the job instead of one that charges by the hour. According to Fix-It Right Plumbing, a plumber in Canberra “Because we charge by the job and not by the hour, you know exactly how much your plumbing job will cost before we start.” By knowing how much it will cost to fix your plumbing issue upfront, you won’t have to worry about getting a nasty surprise that you might get if the plumbing service charges hourly.
The plumbing service should prepare a service contract before any work every begins that you can review and agree to for best results.
3. A Good Reputation
A good reputation is also important when you’re hiring a plumbing service — or any type of professional. One way to find out whether a plumbing service has a good reputation is check out reviews online. You can visit a home services website, such as Angie’s Place or HomeAdvisor, or you can simply search online for the plumbing service’s name and location + reviews. It’s not uncommon for a business to have some negative reviews. What you should pay attention to is whether the service has a majority of positive reviews — and very few negative ones. Another way to find out if a plumbing service has a good reputation is to talk to people you know who have used its services.
4. Parts and Labor Guarantee
It’s always good to have a guarantee when you’re paying for expensive repairs due to parts and labor. When you call, ask the plumbing service if it offers such a guarantee on its work and the parts it installs. If it doesn’t, then you may want to look elsewhere. A plumbing service should stand by its repairs.
5. Emergency Service
Sometimes, such as if a pipe bursts, you just can’t wait for a plumber to arrive the next day or the following Monday. You need a plumber pronto. In that case, you’ll need a reliable plumbing service that provides 24-hour emergency service. You can expect to pay a premium for this type of emergency service or at least an additional fee on top of what it would normally cost. It’s up to you to decide if the cost is worth it.
6. A Local Company
While there are plenty of reputable, fair nationwide plumbing services, it may benefit you to hire a local company. First, local businesses stake everything on their reputation. In any type of business, if you don’t run a fair, honest and reputable service, everyone in the community will soon find out. Also, local services may be able to get to your plumbing problem more quickly than a nationwide branch that must send a plumber to your location from miles away. Local companies may also be more affordable, too.
7. A Professional Website
Although this isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker, being able to go to a plumbing service’s professional website and see what it has to offer can give you some peace of mind. Often business websites will also have customer testimonials, so that you can get an idea of what the plumbing company’s services are like. Plus, there may also be a customer pledge or promise on the site that will give you an idea of how the company strives to do business. You may even find that the company has a variety of helpful blog posts on its site, which could aid you in solving a problem you currently have or help you prevent a problem in the future.
You made a good point that prioritizing a local business when hiring plumbing services will make me not worry much about travel time. I’ve been borrowing my neighbor’s bathroom for two days now because my bathtub is currently clogged. I think that this will take a while to fix so maybe it would be best if I just call in a plumber on the weekend when I can supervise the whole job.
My mother has been upset about the clogged drain in her house since it has made it inconvenient for her to complete the chores she had planned to do. Thank you for mentioning that a plumbing service’s ability to correctly diagnose and address problems improves with experience. I’ll be sure to let her know about this so she can consider it while choosing plumbers. I’ll also look into any knowledgeable plumbers in the area who might be able to assist her.