Plumbers, handymen, and scam artists.

Posted by stimsonm on with 0 Comment
Last week we received a desperate call from a woman who had just been the victim of a low-life scam artist.  The lady owns a duplex, and when a toilet leak, turned into a floor replacement, and then ultimately a complete renovation, she found herself in need of some help.  She decided to turn to Craigslist as so many people seem to do these days.  We have found Craigslist to be very beneficial ourselves to reach a large number of customers.  The problem is, so do a large number of unlicensed, unprofessional, and unscrupulous con men.  The main reason for this is that it is free to advertise there.  Anybody can post anything they want, everyday.  She claims he quoted her $400 in plumbing work.  She gave him $200 up front, saw him “piddle around” for a few hours, and never heard from him again.  This is when we came into the picture.  She had us out to take a look at what needed to be done, and we gave her a quote of $950 to do exactly what the last guy said he was going to do.  She was quite shocked with that number, which is not surprising given the first estimate she received.  She was equally as shocked when she came by the next afternoon while we were working and saw the progress we had made and the professionalism in the work.  I think she suddenly realized the value of the money she was now spending.  There are a few morals or warnings to this story.  The first is as old as money itself: You get what you pay for.  There are many legit and quality contractors on Craigslist, but unfortunately, there may be an equal number of fly-by-night bums.  Don’t go with the lowest or highest bid.  You should generally try and take somebody in the middle.  The lowest bid has probably forgot something, is inexperienced, or will try and cut corners.  Also, plumbing is not painting, it is not carpentry, and it is not flooring.  Plumbing is a live working system!  There is much more to it than just appearance.  The function of the system and the safety of your home and family are at stake!  This is no time to be frugal and try and save a buck or two.  Even if you were to hire a handyman to do something very simple, is he going to have the knowledge and skills to resolve a bigger problem that may arise?  In the State of Michigan, it is illegal for any unlicensed person to alter a plumbing system.  By law, a handyman cannot cut into your water or drain lines anyway, this includes water heaters.  They can only fix things, such as a faucet or toilet. Another thing to keep in mind, you can always ask for and check the credentials of any contractor claiming to be licensed at http://www7.dleg.state.mi.us/bcclicense/ Our license information is listed on our homepage, and in every Craigslist ad we post.  Lastly, don’t give anybody money up front!  No legit contractor will ever ask for money up front.  It is a nice thought, especially since we as contractors can be victimized ourselves by homeowners that will not pay after the job is completed.  By providing excellent service, and always being honest and fair, we hope to keep those types of situations few and far between.

Best Wishes!

Picture

Now your in hot water!

Posted by stimsonm on with 0 Comment
Death, taxes, and water heater failures.  Those are certainties we know for sure.  We have sloshed around in a few basements recently replacing water heater tanks that over stayed their welcome.  There really is no telling when your tank will decide to “spill it’s guts” all over your floor.  Two of the water heaters that we recently replaced were only 5 years old and 7 years old.  Unfortunately for the latter, the brand they had, and the brand we also install, Bradford White, offers a 6 year warranty on their tanks.  There was one similarity in both circumstances, well water.  Water heaters holding well water will almost always fail before their city water fed counterparts.

There are a few things you may wish to consider either now, or on your next water heater replacement.  Preventative maintenance is always a nice option if you just take the stance that your going to spend it anyway, might as well do it before it causes a problem and a mess. You can always replace the heater BEFORE it floods your basement.  From my experience, (this is not an official statistic) the average life expectancy of a water heater is about 8-12 years.  If you are over the 12 year mark, you are on borrowed time, ESPECIALLY, if you are on well water. Sure, there are tanks out there that are 20-25 years old.  Those are the exception to the rule, and very impressive. If you would like to gamble, or your heater is in an area where it won’t cause much of a mess or damage, you can simply maintain it.  Two things that will give the tank longer life would be annual, or semi-annual flushing of the tank and changing the anode rod every 3-5 years.  The anode rod is a piece of metal designed to sacrifice itself to the conditions of the water, thus protecting your tank. This may need to be done by a plumber.

Another option you have is to install a water heater pan and run a drain line to a floor drain.  If your water heater fails, or if the T&P valve opens, the pan will catch it and it will drain into your floor drain and not cause a mess. 

One last thing you can do is to install a water alarm.  The water alarm is a valve that is installed on the cold water inlet of your water heater and is designed to close when it detects water on the floor.  Keep in mind, when your water heater blows, it still has incoming water at FULL PRESSURE.  This means that if you are away from home or sleeping, if can potentially give off MUCH more than the 40-50 gallons that it holds!  The water alarm shutoff will prevent this. 

If your heater does decide that it has had enough of this life, turn off the water feed at the top of the tank, turn off the gas valve, attach a hose and let the draining begin! (And give us a call)

Do you hear water running??????

Riddle–Answer is up

Posted by stimsonm on with 0 Comment
A farmer challenges a physicist, engineer and plumber  to fence off the largest area of land using the least amount of fence.

The engineer declared that making the fence in a circle would be the most efficient.

The physicist said that a fence that followed the equator around the world would fence off the greatest area (half the earth).

The plumber laughed at the others, and with his design, won the contest.  What did he do?

The plumber simply made a small fence around himself and said he was on the outside. 

Sometimes you just gotta think outside the box, er, fence! 

Flat rate or hourly?

Posted by stimsonm on with 0 Comment
Recently, there seems to be a paradigm shift in the service plumbing industry in regards to how companies charge for their work.  It wasn’t too long ago that all plumbers and plumbing companies charged for their services on an hourly basis.  Now days, there seems to be a movement within the plumbing community to utilize a flat rate pricing model.  This sort of pricing is very similar to how most auto mechanics charge for their labor.  The companies that use this method of billing have a master pricing book, which is about 4 inches thick.  This book will show almost any possible plumbing scenario that could reasonably exist, and what it will cost you.  The advantage to this, is that you will know exactly what you are going to pay for the service performed ahead of time.  For some people, this is a must.  The disadvantage to this sort of billing, is that it will probably be more expensive at least 90% of the time.  Since there are almost no plumbing problems that will take the same amount of time to repair every time, the flat rate pricing book will account  for the worst. Simply put, you will pay for the worst case scenario of your particular repair EVERY TIME, no matter how long it took the plumber.   This is almost always a winning formula for the plumbing companies, and an expensive repair bill for the customer.  While most of our repair and service work at All Area Plumbing is done on an hourly basis, we do have a few of the most common jobs listed on our website with a set price.  The reason for this is to make it easier for our customers, and to help save us some time on the phones. 

The main advantage of an hourly plumbing company would be the add-ons or extras you may think of while we are there.  If you suddenly remember that your toilet is constantly running upstairs, or that you had a little drip coming from a shutoff valve, we aren’t gonna stick you with an additional charge of $100 or more.  It may actually cost you NOTHING!  Since we are already there, and either of those two things would most likely take less than a minute to fix, it wouldn’t even reflect on our time and your bill.  Obviously, our hourly pricing plan is not nearly as profitable on a job to job, or house to house basis as the flat rate companies.  We are confident that we will make up for that with many, very satisfied, repeat customers.

Watch where your swinging that thing!

Posted by stimsonm on with 0 Comment
This past weekend we had an interesting situation.  We got a call from a homeowner about a very bad leak coming from the upstairs bathroom that caused the ceiling to cave in onto the kitchen.  This was a manageable situation, which we promptly remedied.  About 3 hours after my arrival back home, the phone rang again.   The number looked very familiar, and when I answered it, I realized why.  The number was fresh in my head because I had seen it just 4 hours ago.  It was the same customer, with ANOTHER problem.  This time, they were attempting to remove the wet drywall on the kitchen ceiling in preparation to be repaired.  The tool of choice was a high speed Dewalt sawzall, and you guessed, it found a water line.  This is not uncommon to do, you just need to be VERY careful.  When water lines and a sawzall have a brief encounter, the water lines are always the loser.  When a slight lack of concentration causes you to need a second service call on a Saturday, YOU, are almost always the loser (to your wife, not to us). 

If you are attempting to cut a section of drywall out to be removed, you must always be aware of what may be in the wall, whether it be plumbing or electrical.  If the hole does not need to be too big, I like to use a keyhole saw or a jab saw.  This will obviously not be as fast, but you will be able to “feel” anything you may encounter inside the wall cavity.  If you have a larger cut to be made, or you are just impatient, try and notice where things may be in the wall.  If you are around a kitchen sink or a bathroom sink, there may be a drain and vent pipe running up and down one of the stud bays very close to where the drain comes out of the wall.  There will also be a drain “arm” running horizontal at the level of the drain.  Usually you can look into the drain and see which way the “dirty arm” is going and plan accordingly.  Water lines USUALLY, BUT NOT ALWAYS go straight down from where they are.  If it is in a basement, they most likely will go straight up. 

No matter where you are cutting, if you are using a sawzall, it is always a good practice to keep the blade as shallow as possible.  This will also ensure that if you are using a blade long enough, you don’t pop through the other side of the wall!! 

Want a bathroom in the basement?

Posted by stimsonm on with 0 Comment
This week we are working on putting basement bathrooms in both sides of a vacant duplex.  Even with all of the up front cost, this certainly appears to be a no-brainer for a landlord.  This particular landlord is expecting to increase the rent in both sides at least $225.  This project also included cutting in a daylight window and adding another bedroom as well.  This job will pay for itself in very short order.  Keep in mind that every dollar spent, is tax deductible.  

As far as the plumbing is concerned, adding a bathroom in a basement can be anywhere from a simple project, to a VERY extensive project.  The major factor in determining the degree of difficulty, and the cost, has two very important components.  These are whether or not the drains were placed in the floor for a future bathroom at the time the house was built, and, whether or not your sewer goes UNDER the foundation or THROUGH the foundation.  If you have drains roughed in under the cement for a future bathroom, you are in good shape.  If you do NOT have drains roughed in under the cement for a future bathroom, but you do have pipes under the floor, it will be a little more extensive.  You will know this if you have any drains going from the main floor down into the cement.  If this is the case, concrete will need to be broken up to find a drain under the floor, tied into, and new drains placed in the proper location.  Now, the worst case scenario would be if you have NO drains under the cement AND your sewer exits the house THROUGH the foundation.  There are a few reasons why this is a much more extensive process.  First, since we all know that (pardon my language) sh!% rolls downhill, the system is not going to work very well if your toilet, sink and shower are LOWER than the drain going out of your house.  To remedy this, a big pit with a powerful pump must be installed and your bathroom must drain into the pit.  Once the water level gets high enough, the pump kicks on and discharges it UP to your sewer going through your foundation.  The second problem with this installation is that a vent must be ran up into your attic, and either tied into another vent going through the roof, or it must go through the roof separately.  This can be VERY tricky, especially in a two story house. On most newer homes, even if the sewer goes through the wall, there may already be a pit and drain lines roughed in. 

While it is true that a bathroom in the basement will increase a homes value, it is the convenience that will be most appreciated! If you would like a quote or even some advice, we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.  Between the two of us throughout our careers, we have installed hundreds of basement bathrooms with many satisfied customers!

Below are pictures from our duplex project that did not have any drain lines roughed in for a bathroom, but it did have a main drain under the cement that we were able to tie into. 

Freezing pipes…..revisited

Posted by stimsonm on with 0 Comment
Over the last 72 hours or so, we have received about 5 calls for frozen pipes.  This made me realize something. In a previous posting, we had talked about what to do in case you find yourself with frozen pipes.  Unfortunately, we never mentioned how to prevent frozen pipes.  The advice is fairly obvious, it is just forgotten about.  Keep windows closed, keep the furnace or any other heat source on, and try and stop any drafts that may be close to your pipes.  If you have not ventured into your basement in quite some time, you may want to go reacquaint yourself with it.  Check around the perimeter for any windows that are open or cracked even a little, and shut them.  Check for any direct openings to the outside and put something in front of it.  Do not turn your furnace down too low if you are leaving.  Remember, if you set your heat at 50 degrees, that is the temperature at the thermostat itself, it may be MUCH colder down in the basement or crawlspace.  Today we worked at an auto body shop that had a few separate buildings.  They had one building dedicated to their painting with a few vacant offices in it.  The problem occurred when they closed the doors to the vacant offices, which contained the water meter, and did not heat that part of the building.  This resulted in a frozen water meter, frozen faucet, but luckily, no split pipes.  This time of year, when the temperature starts flirting with zero degrees, extra attention should be placed on vulnerable water lines throughout your home or business. 
Picture

Frozen pipe rupture

College isn’t right for everybody? Blasphemy!

Posted by stimsonm on with 0 Comment
I recently watched a news program discussing the pros and cons of “the ‘ole college try”.  This is a very interesting subject to me.  First, I will start by saying, of course I think college is great idea for many people.  I am not going  to devalue the cost of college for everybody, that would simply be stupid.  I will, however, state that I do not feel college is a wise choice for all people. 

Before I carefully navigate my way through the financial discussion, I will  start with the basics of my stance.  The first, and most important factor in your career decision should always be the likelihood of long term happiness.  I know, it is cliche, but it is very true.  I know far too many people who seem to just barely hang on until the end of the week!  Anybody that looks at a Facebook news feed on a Wednesday or Thursday can attest to this phenomena.  People are not meant to sit for 8 hours a day, staring at something (computer screen).  This is why blue collar work can be very satisfying.  There is something uniquely rewarding about being able to see the work you have done at the end of the day. 

There is also little dispute that all people learn in different ways.  Not everybody is the classroom type.  I know quite a few people that would not enjoy playing a game of trivia with me, but would take great delight in fixing a busted hydraulic line on a skid-steer, replacing the blower motor of their furnace, and adding a tankless water heater for in floor heat in their basement.  These are not things you learn in school.  You learn them on the farm, on the job and in the real world.

The financial side of this is a little more murky, with a lot of variables, and I will not go too deep here.  Everybody knows the ever increasing cost of tuition, that is a no-brainer.  Tuition is rapidly outpacing the rate of inflation.  It can be a very heavy burden to enter the work force with no guarantee of a good job and a pile of debt.  http://www.smartonmoney.com/controversial-statement-of-the-day-not-everyone-should-go-to-college/  The earning potential gap disappears when you compare college grads to holders of certificates or licenses such as  welders, metal fabrication, die makers, electricians, HVAC and mechanics.

Again, I am not saying college is a bad idea.  I am just saying NOT going to college is not necessarily a bad idea either.  There are many viable options out there in vocational and trade schools, as well as apprenticeships.  The percentage of skilled tradesmen is decreasing every year, and this may pose a very serious problem in years to come.  Having a trade is also a very powerful hedge in an economic downturn.  Yes, I write this after having been laid off a while back, but I was also able to start my own company with the skills I had acquired over the years.

https://allareaplumbing.net/