As I've mentioned, I'm a plumber, and plumbing contractor. I run a tiny little shop, just myself and two employees. My focus is on new construction, tenant improvement, and remodeling. I prefer to deal with general contractors rather than homeowners, which is one of the big reasons I am not in the service-and-repair market.
I got a call Friday from someone who was referred from someone I had done work for. He had a rental with drain problems, and had called a local company who said they were unable to clear the drain, and it would cost X amount of thousands to break up the slab and replace all of the waste piping. Could I look at it? I explained that I'm not in the drain cleaning business, but I could look at it Saturday afternoon. When I got to the house, I found out that three plumbers had been there before me. There was obviously a main line stoppage, and the plumbing was pretty much unusable. I realized that the tenants (large family) were now going to have to make it through the weekend being able to flush the toilet about twice a day, if they didn't take any showers. Ding-blast it, I'm going to go rent a machine and see if I can clear this.
Rented the machine. There's an exposed main line cleanout in the front yard. I run the cable about six inches upstream and hit a stoppage. Cleared it in about five minutes, and the sewage starts flooding down the drain. Then, oh [censored]. Literally. There's also a stoppage down the line, and the sewage is coming up. So I run the cable down the line and clear that one, though it's considerably tougher. Roots all over the place.
So now they can flush, and shower, and wash dishes until we make repairs. I gave the landlord a bid, considerably lower than his previous bid, since it looks like we're not jackhammering the slab.
I'm not claiming to be some sort of super-genius plumber. Any experienced plumber worth his salt would be able to do this. I know a couple of people who aren't plumbers who could have figured this out.
Vincent Bugliosi said that in any job field, the majority of people are incompetent. I'm starting to agree. There are plenty of good plumbers, auto mechanics, and counter people out there, but they're way outnumbered by the bad ones.
I got a call Friday from someone who was referred from someone I had done work for. He had a rental with drain problems, and had called a local company who said they were unable to clear the drain, and it would cost X amount of thousands to break up the slab and replace all of the waste piping. Could I look at it? I explained that I'm not in the drain cleaning business, but I could look at it Saturday afternoon. When I got to the house, I found out that three plumbers had been there before me. There was obviously a main line stoppage, and the plumbing was pretty much unusable. I realized that the tenants (large family) were now going to have to make it through the weekend being able to flush the toilet about twice a day, if they didn't take any showers. Ding-blast it, I'm going to go rent a machine and see if I can clear this.
Rented the machine. There's an exposed main line cleanout in the front yard. I run the cable about six inches upstream and hit a stoppage. Cleared it in about five minutes, and the sewage starts flooding down the drain. Then, oh [censored]. Literally. There's also a stoppage down the line, and the sewage is coming up. So I run the cable down the line and clear that one, though it's considerably tougher. Roots all over the place.
So now they can flush, and shower, and wash dishes until we make repairs. I gave the landlord a bid, considerably lower than his previous bid, since it looks like we're not jackhammering the slab.
I'm not claiming to be some sort of super-genius plumber. Any experienced plumber worth his salt would be able to do this. I know a couple of people who aren't plumbers who could have figured this out.
Vincent Bugliosi said that in any job field, the majority of people are incompetent. I'm starting to agree. There are plenty of good plumbers, auto mechanics, and counter people out there, but they're way outnumbered by the bad ones.
