Part II
After due consideration of the material and labor involved in the job, Long Beach Plumber – Mr Fix It Plumbing’s bid was $3,100.00. Low and behold, the customer, observing the tried and true expert advice of getting multiply bids, informed me of their other bid for the exact same work, $300.00.
When I asked if perhaps whoever prepared this other bid had put the decimal point in the wrong place or left off a zero, they said, no, for sure that is not the case. The other “bid” was an oral bid. No decimal point necessary. They sarcastically thanked me for taking the time to bid their job. My best persuasive efforts failed me and I was unable to explain the situation to the customer’s satisfaction.
The job involved running a new water pipe from the water meter to the house. The existing water pipe was under a concrete driveway and the new pipe was to be under the concrete driveway. By the time of our involvement, the customer had paid to have the existing concrete driveway cut, broken up, and hauled away. The plan was to install the new water main and then have a company put in a new, beautiful concrete driveway.
The customer used the low bidder for the main water line. They had their concrete company install the new beautiful driveway. All was well. The customer was happy and they felt very clever since they completed the job for less money then they had budgeted for the job. They had a nice show piece, bragging rights, and some money left over. And, of course, they had the story of how they were almost taken to the cleaners by a devious plumber but due to their quick thinking and clever minds, they outwitted the fox.
Approximately eight months later, they called me back. Water was leaking out from underneath their driveway; a lot of water. They called the $300.00 man. The telephone number was disconnected. Mr. Fix It Plumbing was the next phone call. “Yes, I will come take a look but I am pretty sure I know what the problem is.”
At this point in the story, I bet even some of you none plumbers have figured out what happened. So, the new, beautiful driveway had to be torn up again. It turns out Mr. $300.00 plumber installed used schedule 20 PVC sprinkler pipe that he had removed from another job. Even brand new schedule 20 PVC sprinkler pipe is not legal, not to code, and just plain not advisable for this job.
So, let’s take a look at how the numbers worked out for this customer.
What is that old saying, “Penny wise and pound foolish”.
Okay, so what is a homeowner to do? Go to plumbing school? Spend years working in the field to learn how to avoid being ripped off in a plumbing related scam?
Well, let’s think this through. One could spend years learning plumbing, years more learning auto mechanics, years more learning medicine, law, teaching children, politics, and a number of other fields that are all very important in our lives. In theory, a very determined person could complete such a task and then, would not be a likely mark for those who would like to take advantage.
However, the financial and time costs of such an undertaking are quite high. We specialize in one thing, plumbing. Our solution for finding quality professionals in all the other areas of life can be found in Long Beach Plumbing Bids, Part I.
By the way, once you find an honest to goodness professional, thank your lucky stars, handcuff him to you and throw the key away!
