Hi, i`m new to this forum but think this may be helpful to anyone needing, in particular, a plumber or tradesman in general.
Two years ago I and my wife and kids moved house. We got the keys a month or so before we planned to move in and thought we had plenty of time to do the things you usually want to do in such a case. The bathroom was old fashioned and needed to be brought up to date so whilst trying to get a plumber we had a wall knocked down and bought the bath, sink and shower and quadrant tray and cubicle.
However try as hard as I could I couldn`t get a plumber to fit the bathroom out for me as they were all really busy. (Merseyside is being practically rebuilt and plumbers are in very high demand and in fact can practically demand their own price for work).
Whilst working in the front of the house a neighbour was asking how things were going and I mentioned the problem with the bathroom. Imagine my jubilation when he told me his son was a plumber and he was sure he`d do the job for me. He was at present"out of work" (That should have told me something.
He even took me into his home and showed me the bathroom his son had fitted for himself. I was suitably impressed and awaited the commencement of the fitting of my new bathroom. I should have realised things weren`t going to go well when he didn`t turn up the first day. In fact it was after midday when he turned up the second day. I left him with a key to get in as I was working in Liverpool and so couldn`t get to the house every day. I went to the house probably the Thursday of the first week and found my back bedroom(an area about 5yds by four completely copvered with tools, the floor could not be seen). Very little had been done but he was there and his tools so I wasn`t too concerned. He asked me for £240 for piping and some other things for the job, so I gave it to him. From the outset I had been assured by him and his dad that a month was plenty of time to do the work. He offered to get a tiler for the wall which again was most helpful.(I thought).
Over a period of about a fortnight things were moving on , but slowly.
The tiling was being done the bath and sink were in so I was reasonably pleased.
Then I arrived at the house to find a big whole in the kitchen ceiling which is immediately below the bathroom. The plasterer had put his foot through the ceiling because the plumber had lef the floorboard out when he was doing some piping. I was assured this would be put right, in fact a new ceiling was promised me at no more cost.
Three weeks had now passed and my wife had asked the plumber if the job would be finished for our moving in date. She was assured it would not be a problem. We had planned to move in on the Tuesday of the next week which left about six days to complete the job.
My wife and I were sitting in the garden having a rest from cleaning the house when she asked me where were the outlet pipes for the toillet and bath . They were not to be seen at that time. The plumber said he had that in hand and not to worry. The next day I heard a drill being used in the bathroom and popped my head in to see him trying to drill a hole for the toilet waste pipe with a small drill. I realised something was wrong with the guy then. Upon arriving at the house the next day I was asked by his dad if we really need to move in on the day we`d said we were as they had a problem. Upon asking what the problem was I was told the plasterers had plastered the shower pipes over and he couldn`t find them. When I had left the previous day they were all talking to the plasterer as he plastered in the room. So they`d watched him plaster the pipes in. Idoits!
I told them to seal all the pipes and take themselves and their tools out of the house. It took them half a day to get all the tools out. I asked the plumbers brother to get him back to check all the pipes were water tight.
He never came back so I myself checked the pipework whilst my wife stood by the stop cock in order to turn it off should a leak appear.
All seemed ok so we continued cleaning the house and I found a friend who was a jobber to finish off the mess the other guy had left.
I was by now up at the house most of the day every day and all seemed well.
About three days later(on the Monday before we were to move in) I opened the front door and all seemed very dark. I couldn`t think why but getting into the kitchen found my ceiling on the floor. There was a leak and it had eventually gathered in the ceiling and the weight of the water and the massive peice of plaster used by the plasterer to plug the hole had brought the ceiling down.
Two years on and here I am today working in my bathroom taking my shower cubicle out and having to pull the heavy stone shower tray away from the wall as the plumber had set the tray too far into the wall which caused the quadrant shower cubicle not to sit properly on the tray which in turn caused it to leak all over the bathroom floor. A small leak at first but getting progressivly worse over the two years until now i`ve had enough
The morale of this sorry tale?
Don`t take on an out of work plumber. If he`s out of work there must be a reason and it`s usually not because he`s the best at his job.
It`s cost me a substantial amount but if it helps others to hear of others misfortunes then at least they may learn from it as I certainly have.
Ron
Two years ago I and my wife and kids moved house. We got the keys a month or so before we planned to move in and thought we had plenty of time to do the things you usually want to do in such a case. The bathroom was old fashioned and needed to be brought up to date so whilst trying to get a plumber we had a wall knocked down and bought the bath, sink and shower and quadrant tray and cubicle.
However try as hard as I could I couldn`t get a plumber to fit the bathroom out for me as they were all really busy. (Merseyside is being practically rebuilt and plumbers are in very high demand and in fact can practically demand their own price for work).
Whilst working in the front of the house a neighbour was asking how things were going and I mentioned the problem with the bathroom. Imagine my jubilation when he told me his son was a plumber and he was sure he`d do the job for me. He was at present"out of work" (That should have told me something.
He even took me into his home and showed me the bathroom his son had fitted for himself. I was suitably impressed and awaited the commencement of the fitting of my new bathroom. I should have realised things weren`t going to go well when he didn`t turn up the first day. In fact it was after midday when he turned up the second day. I left him with a key to get in as I was working in Liverpool and so couldn`t get to the house every day. I went to the house probably the Thursday of the first week and found my back bedroom(an area about 5yds by four completely copvered with tools, the floor could not be seen). Very little had been done but he was there and his tools so I wasn`t too concerned. He asked me for £240 for piping and some other things for the job, so I gave it to him. From the outset I had been assured by him and his dad that a month was plenty of time to do the work. He offered to get a tiler for the wall which again was most helpful.(I thought).
Over a period of about a fortnight things were moving on , but slowly.
The tiling was being done the bath and sink were in so I was reasonably pleased.
Then I arrived at the house to find a big whole in the kitchen ceiling which is immediately below the bathroom. The plasterer had put his foot through the ceiling because the plumber had lef the floorboard out when he was doing some piping. I was assured this would be put right, in fact a new ceiling was promised me at no more cost.
Three weeks had now passed and my wife had asked the plumber if the job would be finished for our moving in date. She was assured it would not be a problem. We had planned to move in on the Tuesday of the next week which left about six days to complete the job.
My wife and I were sitting in the garden having a rest from cleaning the house when she asked me where were the outlet pipes for the toillet and bath . They were not to be seen at that time. The plumber said he had that in hand and not to worry. The next day I heard a drill being used in the bathroom and popped my head in to see him trying to drill a hole for the toilet waste pipe with a small drill. I realised something was wrong with the guy then. Upon arriving at the house the next day I was asked by his dad if we really need to move in on the day we`d said we were as they had a problem. Upon asking what the problem was I was told the plasterers had plastered the shower pipes over and he couldn`t find them. When I had left the previous day they were all talking to the plasterer as he plastered in the room. So they`d watched him plaster the pipes in. Idoits!
I told them to seal all the pipes and take themselves and their tools out of the house. It took them half a day to get all the tools out. I asked the plumbers brother to get him back to check all the pipes were water tight.
He never came back so I myself checked the pipework whilst my wife stood by the stop cock in order to turn it off should a leak appear.
All seemed ok so we continued cleaning the house and I found a friend who was a jobber to finish off the mess the other guy had left.
I was by now up at the house most of the day every day and all seemed well.
About three days later(on the Monday before we were to move in) I opened the front door and all seemed very dark. I couldn`t think why but getting into the kitchen found my ceiling on the floor. There was a leak and it had eventually gathered in the ceiling and the weight of the water and the massive peice of plaster used by the plasterer to plug the hole had brought the ceiling down.
Two years on and here I am today working in my bathroom taking my shower cubicle out and having to pull the heavy stone shower tray away from the wall as the plumber had set the tray too far into the wall which caused the quadrant shower cubicle not to sit properly on the tray which in turn caused it to leak all over the bathroom floor. A small leak at first but getting progressivly worse over the two years until now i`ve had enough
The morale of this sorry tale?
Don`t take on an out of work plumber. If he`s out of work there must be a reason and it`s usually not because he`s the best at his job.
It`s cost me a substantial amount but if it helps others to hear of others misfortunes then at least they may learn from it as I certainly have.
Ron
Pass the Luger 