For the average homeowner nothing can be as unsettling as a pipe bursting and spraying or leaking water all over your home. Nothing screams emergency quite like water pooling around your ankles and you're not having a clue on how to make it stop! To top it off you're deeply concerned and frightened about the permanent damage all of the water could be doing and the escalating bill… What's a homeowner to do?
Learn how to hire a plumber in an emergency, of course! If you don't want to get gouged by exorbitant plumbing rates then your only option is to get educated and learn what your best options are when a plumbing emergency arises.
Unfortunately in most plumbing emergencies the average homeowner will run to the phonebook in the middle of the night on a holiday weekend and call the first plumber that answers their desperate call for help. This, my friends, is a recipe for disaster and I'm not talking about the plumbing disaster! You see not all plumbers bill in the same manner (some bill by the hour; some bill by the job) but most, if not all, plumbers charge a lot more (and that's being nice) when you come-a-calling on a weekend in the middle of the night and god forbid you have a plumbing emergency on a holiday weekend…
The important thing in an emergency plumbing scenario is to stay calm and relax.
Stop. Take a deep breath. Step away from the phonebook.
TrustedPros has a few tips to that you need to heed before you start looking for a good plumber and we've got you covered there as well!
Now the natural thing to do when you have water gushing out of your floor is to call a plumber and get him to your house ASAP to prevent any further damage. While that's the right thinking; it's the wrong execution if you're not trying to pay for the plumber's retirement…
In a plumbing emergency the first thing you want to do is turn off the water supply to your leak and that's actually easy enough to do for the average homeowner. And the added benefit to turning off the water yourself is that it buys you time; Time to take a quick look at several plumbers and time to make a good decision on who to hire rather than just hiring the first guy that answers his phone and paying whatever he charges.
If you have busted pipe or water spewing from the floor somewhere, your best bet is to shut off the main water supply to the house. The average home has a shut off valve provided by your local water department and can be used to shut off the water supply to your house. The valve is typically located underneath a rectangular lid that usually also contains your water meter. In most modern homes today the water meter is found in front of the house located somewhere on the sidewalk or pavement to the street. You will need a wrench to shut off the water valve and in most cases even a crescent wrench will do the job.
On the other hand if your toilet or water heater has a leak then you can turn those off individually. A toilet has a shut off valve that is typically located at the base of the toilet at the wall and is usually in the shape of an oval. The water heater will have a shut off valve usually located adjacent to the water pipes leading to and from the water heater.
Once you shut off what you believe is the water source to your leak, it's time to check and make sure that you have stopped the leak. Once you have confirmed that you have stopped the leak you can move onto finding and hiring a reputable plumber at a reasonable cost.
If you want to hire a good plumber at a good price, the best way to do that is to review and evaluate several bids from several well-qualified plumbers. We recommend you start with a list of about 3-5 plumbers. You want to start off with more plumbers then you'll need because you'll inevitably have to get rid of a few along the way.
To come up with the three to five plumbers most people turn to their friends, families and neighbors and that's a good start. More and more folks are also using social networking websites like Facebook as well to reach out to their social network and ask about reputable plumbers in the area. Just make sure you take it a few steps further and look into their backgrounds (we'll show you how ahead) and check their bids with a couple of other bids from other plumbers to ensure that you get a good plumber at a good price.
You can also look to real estate agents and general contractors to get some referrals for plumbers. You may even want to try the local home improvement store or a plumbing materials supplier in the area. To round out your list we strongly recommend using the Handy American contractor directory. It's free to use and all of the reviews on this website are 100% verified for authenticity.
When hiring a plumber in an emergency time is of the essence so we have to make use of all the resources available to us to pre-qualify the plumbers prior to considering them for a bid. One of the resources you can tap into is the internet.
There are thousands, if not millions, of reviews online for various home improvement and home repair contractors such as plumbers. Your best bet is to type the plumber's name or business name into a Google search to see what comes up. Google is very good about returning results with reviews and feedback from past users for service oriented results so it's a great resource. If you get too many results you may want to get a bit more specific and type in the plumber's name and add words like review, feedback or complaint to the search query.
You can also find reviews for plumbers on local websites like www.insiderpages.com and www.yelp.com but be aware that, to our knowledge, these websites do not authenticate their reviews so if something looks suspicious proceed with caution. Unfortunately more and more contractors and plumbers are discovering the power of positive reviews online so they're recruiting their friends and family members (and paying people in some instances) to post positive reviews of them online.
You should also check for complaints for the plumbers that have made it this far. Some good places to check for complaints are the Better Business Bureau and your local state licensing board.
And last but no least when you have the plumbers giving you a bid for your repair project make sure to ask them for references. Most good plumbers will have several references for you to contact. Make sure to contact any past client references any plumbers may provide you with. Speaking with past client references is one of the best ways to avoid hiring a bad plumber that will lead to even bigger problems.
One last thing you'll want to consider before you make a hiring decision is the matter of plumbing rates. Different plumbers use different billing systems so it may be something you want to talk over with your prospective plumber. You see some plumbers charge by the job and some charge by the hour. And while some plumbers may seem to have a really high hourly rate it may be that he only charges you for the time that he's at your house working while the other plumber may have a low really low rate and be charging you the minute he steps out of his door and for every minute he's on the road as well. As you can see it may be in your best interest to determine how you will be billed so you can make the best assessment as to who the best plumber at the best price really is.
Knowing how to hire a plumber in an emergency is the difference between getting the job done right at a reasonable price and getting ripped off for a repair job that doesn't last by a plumber you can't get a hold of anymore. Follow the steps outlined above and you'll greatly increase your chances of hiring a good plumber in an emergency.
Posted by: TrustedProsSuggested Reading For You
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