Making Big $$$ as a Plumber Woodworker

[Anthony Whitesell]

On a previous endevour to have my windows professionally replaced I had written into the contract that the exterior trim will be replaced because it was rotten. They called back a week or so AFTER the contract was signed and said they needed $200 more per window to complete the work as specified. I measured the trim it was 1 3/4" wide and 3/4" thick and per their installation agreement (not my addition) all trim would be wrapped in white vinyl coated tin. I told them no, you signed the contract you're stuck with it. She told me $200 more per window for the materials. I told her I wanted to talk with HR. At $200 per window to install a tin wrapped 2x4, I'll work for them for the $200 per window, buy the materials from my own pocket, and install it in February in shorts.

THEY cancelled the order.

I found better windows for 40% the cost and did the job myself with my fathers help in about 20 clock-hours total.

[John Gornall]

I'm not a plumber but I do hotwater tanks for my friends and family. I keep a spare tank ready to go. Tanks are about 250 bucks. I've done about 2 a year since I was in high school. All my friends and family's tanks are plumbed with brass unions and drains to make it easy to change the tank. If all goes well it takes me about half an hour. I write the install date on the tank with a felt pen. I laminate the receipt and tape it to the tank and I put the manual and warranty in a ziplock and tape it to the tank. Tanks in this area last 5 to 7 years on a warranty of 5 years, however the last few tanks have a 10 year warranty - I'll see.

[Pat Germain]

What's really disappointing about these situations is I really want to respect trade professionals. Sometimes, I really want to hire a pro to do a job quickly and correctly while adhering to all codes. Why can this be so hard?

Obviously, there are still many good plumbers and other contractors around. But boy, they seem hard to find if you don't already know one. Time and time again I hear of lousy work, bad attitudes, overcharges and a big mess left behind.

Last week someone tried to steal my license plate. It would have come off easily by using a Phillips screwdriver to remove four screws. Instead, the thief just grabbed both sides of the plate and pulled. One side broke off. He left the other side at a 90 degree angle. Sheesh, even the criminals these days don't know what they're doing! (I'm wondering if he actually wanted to steal my car, but couldn't drive a stick. Seems a manual tranny is now the ultimate anti-theft device.)

I know there's a web site called Angie's List where people can report on lousy contractors as well as good ones. I think that's a great idea because it will reward those who do a good job. Too bad Angie's List isn't set up for Colorado. I'm pretty sure it is set up for SoCal.

[Eric Haycraft]

For 800 bucks I would have flown down, purchased tools locally, installed it for you, and still cleared enough money to make me happy.

[Carl Fox]

try to keep it family friendly!!

(but I'm still laughing just the same....)

Oops, sorry.

[Ken Werner]

Great story Travis G. I've sometimes wanted to pull a stunt like you did, but haven't had the nerve.

[Paul Simmel]

Old pipes… not the installer’s business… hmmm.

Please excuse **my** sarcasm, but since it is the only installer at the Riverside CA Home Depot, wouldn’t it be easy enough to get his side of the story at this point?

[Rob Russell]

Oops, sorry.

Not a big problem. Just imagine that you're a conservative family and ask yourself if you'd want your 8 or 9-year old daughter to read the post.

My personal sense of humor is a LOT different than what I'd post here .

[Bill Jepson]

Or the lack of education! I'm not very old, yet when I was in school we had to take a shop class (wood or metal) in high school. It seems like today the most technical thing most high-schoolers learn is how to send text messages on their cell phones. I don't want to hijack this thread for a rant, but why don't we have technical (trade) schools anymore? Many people aren't really cut out for college, and those people could usually make a respectible living as an honorable tradesman. Now all the yupster corporate lawer types want a perfect job in their house beautiful, and wonder why they can't find anyone to do the job! Or they wonder why the "imported" labor don't do it right.
Bill Jepson

[Dave Norris]

You will never (well, almost never) go wrong avoiding the borgs and buying from the hardware/plumbing/lumber/guy down the street. Odds are he is knowledgeable, he cares about his craft, and he cares if you come back. Just talked to a contractor who used to buy his tools at the borg. They would of course burn out early because they were made to the borgs price point, and not the usual manufacturer's specs. Seems there is a letter in the serial number to denote a borg power tool. He now buys his tools at the local tool center, pays about 8% more per tool, and saves about 92% a year because they last more than one year.

[Dave Stuve]

I second that 'buy local' - I hear nothing but good things about our local hardware store and our local appliance sales/service shops, and a never-ending stream of horror stories about our local Borg.

A friend of mine bought a water heater and waited three weeks for their 'installer' (who was from out of state) to arrive. He finally gave up and cancelled the install and had a local guy do it that afternoon.

Dave

[Jamie Munn]

We had to replace ours about three weeks ago too. Ours was still under warranty and I got a big story how I was still going to have to pay $300 because our model wasn't made anymore and I needed to buy a new one. I called the orange place back up and they confirmed it for me, yup have to buy a new one. I asked what the warranty was for then? To make a really long story short, about three weeks long. I took the old one out with a hammer and sat outside the orange store with a sign on it that said "this is what my lifetime warranty" It only lasted for about an hour before the police came and told me I was loitering and had to leave. I kindly explained to them that I was not loitering, I was a paying customer of the big orange store. I also explained that due to my warranty issue I was still a paying customer, even while talking to them in the parking lot. They went inside and about five minutes later they came back out, told me to have a nice day, and left. Then the manager came out and offered to fix this by giving me the new water heater at cost. I told him no thanks and that I had just taken a week of vacation in order to prevent as many people as I could from making the same mistake I did. He then replied with the right answer, and I have a new water heater, installed, with a lot of new pipes and hardware to repair my removal job of the old one. I still haven't heard anything on the invoice I sent them for wasting my time. I'll update the post if I do get a response.

Dude - you are awsome. COME SHOPPING WITH ME!

[Eric DeSilva]

No more installs from the orange store for me... At my old place, I had to have the front door replaced, and was in a bad spot at work, so I plunked down the cash to have it done. The installer showed up, I went back upstairs to work, and came down a few hours later...

To fully comprehend, you have to realize my "entryway" was at the far right hand side of my townhouse, looking from the front lawn. Upon opening the door, you entered a small "entryway" and were nose to nose with a coat closet less than 3 feet from the door opening. To your immediate right was the exterior wall. But, to your left was the living room.

Well, when I came down, I kinda looked at the left hinged door, which was installed, and asked him if he'd actually tried it... The way the door opened, you would come in the entryway and find the way into the living room was blocked by the then-open door. Not having sufficient room to get around it or open it further, you had to open the closet bi-fold door, step into the closet, close the closet door most of the way, close the front door, open the closet door, then go into the living room.

Even though they actually ultimately replaced it with a right hinged door, I've done my own work every since. Just hard to believe he got all the way through the install missing something that obvious...

[Bob Hallowell]

I still can't get over the fact you paid over $800 for a couple hour job. I am to cheap to hire anyone to do anything. I have taught myself how to tackle most all home repairs.

Bob

[Peter Quinn]

The Borg is not the place to buy your electrical or plumbing supplies unless you are in a hard spot. There are lots of specific shortcomings with their stock but the details are boring and the list is too long. Stay out of that hole, its a false economy at best and a nightmare at least.

I figure the best way to avoid being scammed on work is to stay out of the BORG. They don't treat their subs very well, they go through them like a dime a dozen, this is no way to run a business. Chances are the Borg is stiffing the sub, so he's trying to pass on the favor to you. The Blue borg is no better. I can tell you that in my area the guys who wind up talking those sub jobs from the Borg are not the cream of the crop...they're more like the ooze that settles at the bottom of your old water heater.

Growing up my grandfather and uncle were both plumbers, so I learned a thing or to as a teenager being taken to job sites. I do most of my own plumbing and know enough not to get duped by some hack when I hire some one else. Last summer I switched from an electric water heater to a tankless propane unit. The company doing the install took one look at my old pipes and said no way. The gas man's license covers only limited residential water line work. To meet the necessary volume tankless heaters require a rather direct 3/4" line uninterrupted from the main. The pipes in my old house were a labyrinth of ad hoc 1/2" copper resembling a Sousaphone connected with dubious old gate valves and innumerable crusty couplings. I was knee deep in a window job with a rapidly approaching deadline. I got the B- tank (acetylene torch) from my dad then decided to call a pro at the last minute.

This guy cut my pipe at the main line in, ran 65' of new 3/4" copper, connected the tankless heater, installed a beautiful boiler drain system, re-plumbed the entire house backwards from the new heater to my kitchen and bathrooms, replaced every old stop and waste valve with a new ball valves and built in stubs with valves headed to my unfinished second floor to make that project go better when its time. His work was some of the most handsome plumbing I have ever seen. Its beautiful, logical, neat and solid. He did all this for less than $1200. I guess the guy from the borg would have charged me $5000?

My guess from what you said (old pipes, special fittings?) is that you have galvi steel water lines? These require a dielectric union to connect to a copper coil, which costs about $1.75 and takes about 2 minutes to install for your average orangoutang, a real plumber can do it even quicker. If I had chosen to just replace my existing unit I could have done it myself in about 25 minutes, drain the tank, two fittings, rewire, pipe the new over flow release valve, done.

I special ordered (prepaid) a bath tub from them when I remodeled my bathroom because they were the only local vendor of the brand I wanted (though they did not of course stock anything decent by that company, just the bottom end of the line). I was told one month for it to come in. I called after a month and was told it had not arrived. Two weeks later I got a call that if I didn't pick up my tub that day it would be reshipped to the ware house and I would be charged a reshipping fee. When I asked why they hadn't call me, I was told the tub had been there for 5 weeks! I told them gentleman on the other end of the phone I was on a job and would be there with in a week, and if they restocked my tub I would drive my van through the contractors entrance and park it on the contractor services manager's desk with him still sitting at it, so check with him before sending anything with my name on it back.

When I went to get my tub several days later it was in fact still there, and they asked me if I would like to arrange for instalation! I nearly pee'd myself laughing out loud. I asked laughing still,"Who exactly are you going to send? Will they arrive three weeks early, sit outside my house, then call me two weeks late to demand payment? Do I look like a guy who needs a moron in an orange shirt in his home?"