Tips for Choosing the Best Plumber
Whether it’s some minor maintenance work or a major plumbing problem that requires immediate attention, nearly every homeowner will need to call a plumber someday. Without proper training, skills, and experience, you may wind up causing massive damage to your home or hurting yourself if you try to fix these issues by yourself. Plumbers are easy to find, but ensuring that you select someone qualified, professional, and within your price range is more complicated. To ensure that you find the best plumber to resolve your plumbing problems, follow these tips.
Gather a Variety of Options
Search online for plumbing companies that offer service in your area. Make a list of at least five options that seem the most appealing to you. First impressions aren’t everything when it comes to choosing a great plumber, but they’re still incredibly important. Professional plumbing services will have a well-designed, informative, and user-friendly website. If they don’t have a website, then they should at least be active on a few social media platforms. Read some interactions to see if they respond to clients professionally, take note of how frequently they post, and see if they’re currently running any sales or special offers.
Ask Friends and Family for Recommendations
If any of your friends or family members have had plumbers resolve plumbing issues for them in the past, ask them who they recommend. This allows you to get trustworthy opinions on options you already have on your list or haven’t considered yet. They can also help you avoid any unprofessional or shady plumbers you might come across.
Compare Reviews
If your friends and family can’t provide any suggestions, or if you simply want some additional opinions on prospective plumbers, it’s a great idea to look up online reviews about the company. Don’t just focus on accumulative star ratings. Read some individual reviews to see what people liked about the service, what they disliked about it, and if there are any red flags about the technician or company, like price gouging, incomplete jobs, or rude employees.
A fantastic resource to check is the Better Business Bureau website. The Better Business Bureau provides users with high-quality reviews from real customers and accreditation from the bureau itself that checks for legitimacy, quality of service, integrity, and transparency.
Check How Long They’ve Been in Business
Being new isn’t a bad thing, but companies that have been around for years usually have a solid reputation within the community. You can maximize your chances of hiring experienced and skilled plumbers by working with an established business.
Verify Their License
Once you have narrowed down your list of options, visit the websites of each company and see if they have proof of their licensing available on their website. If they don’t have it publicly available on their website, contact them through email to see if they can provide it to you directly. You can also go directly to your state’s license board and request an inquiry on the licensing status of the company or individual plumber. If they don’t have a valid license, don’t even consider hiring them.
Validate Insurance
Never hire any plumber without checking if they have insurance. Without insurance, you could be left footing the bill for any damages caused during the job or as a result of faulty repairs and installations. The company should be able to provide proof of insurance. When they provide it, verify it with the insurance company to ensure that it’s legitimate and up to date.
Compare Prices
Every job is different, and you won’t know exactly how much everything will cost until you get a quote, but comparing the base prices of each company is very helpful in determining if some companies are charging more than average and if any are offering good deals. While it’s important to avoid price gouging, you should be just as wary of companies that seem like they’re undercharging by a steep margin.
Get an Estimate in Writing
A professional plumber will have no issue providing you with a full breakdown of what they expect the job to cost with labor and parts. They’ll also usually provide you with some rough estimates on possible additional expenses they may run into. However, many shady plumbers will give a vague estimate verbally and then pile on extra expenses once they get on the job. Most professional plumbing companies will honor price estimates and won’t sneak in additional fees or expenses at the last minute.
Never trust price estimates over the phone since they’re mostly guesswork based on a simple description of the issue. A professional plumber will always want to analyze the situation with their own eyes and draw up an estimate at your home.
Ask About Warranties
Even if you hire the best plumber in your area and they use the best parts on the market, repairs, and installation work may still develop issues for a variety of reasons. The best professional plumbers stand by the quality of their work and the products they install by offering and honoring warranties. You don’t have to worry about spending money on another round of repairs for the same job. You can simply call them up, explain what happened, and schedule an appointment without hassle.
Take Note of How They Present Themselves
The most skilled and experienced plumber in the world may still be unprofessional when speaking to customers. Being personable is an essential factor to consider because their interactions with customers can reflect in how carefully they handle the rest of their job. The best plumbers fully listen to your problems, kindly discuss options for the work involved, are punctual when they make appointments, and are respectful and polite when conversing with you as well as their coworkers.
Ask About Their Usual Practices in Cleaning Up
One aspect of plumbing repairs and installations that many people don’t consider is the task of cleaning up after everything is done. It’s common for plumbing repairs and installations to cause big messes, and you don’t want to be the one who has to clean it up at the end of the day. A good professional plumber will ensure that they clean up after themselves thoroughly to take that burden off of your shoulders.
If you need a plumber for repair, maintenance, or installation work in your home, you can count on our highly skilled and experienced plumbers at Christian Brothers Air Conditioning Plumbing Electrical to provide you with the best service available. In addition to repairing and installing water heaters, sewage lines, toilets, and many other plumbing fixtures, we also provide repair and installation work for HVAC systems, breaker panels, surge protectors, ceiling fans, insulation, UV air sanitizers, and much more.
Christian Brothers Air Conditioning Plumbing Electrical has proudly served the Glendale area since 1976, and we always strive to deliver five-star service with our upfront pricing, highly experienced and friendly team, and honest service. To learn more about any of the services we provide, contact us at Christian Brothers Air Conditioning Plumbing Electrical today.
