Plumbing Bloopers

[Guppy]

Did they wreck the cabinets

[Rmarsh]

Customer calls the office and says toilet in new home is "rocking"......original plumber (who I have judged to be incompetent and has been fired since then) goes back to fix.....customer calls back after a few weeks and says toilet not flushing completely now. So another more professional and experienced plumber was sent to check on the problem. The wax ring that is used to seal the toilet was improperly done with an excessive amount of wax was blocking the drain.

[FishermanTim]

makes you wonder how they got their job and license?

The kids, unfortunately, are being taught by an idiot and unless they get better, more complete instructions, are going to end up perpetuating those same bad work skills.

My brother and I built his house in NH.
The only things we didn't do were pour the foundation and do the heat/hot water piping. That was left to a competent licensed plumber. We were able to do the wiring ourselves and when it was inspected my brother was told we did a professional job.
Heck, my brother opted to go with a 2x6 framing for the exterior wall framing instead of 2x4 for more insulation.

Having a father who was a carpenter for BU and the opportunity to learn basics from him and my brother help make some projects easier and less expensive when you could do some of them yourself.

Still, when you hire someone for a job you should be able to expect that they do know their stuff and will treat each job as if they were working on their own house.....unless they live in a sh*thole.....

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by FishermanTim

makes you wonder how they got their job and license?

The kids, unfortunately, are being taught by an idiot and unless they get better, more complete instructions, are going to end up perpetuating those same bad work skills.

You nailed it Tim....The guy is a hacker, his work is awful, and his young apprentices will be as bad or worse than he is. He is also a part time inspector.

I was fortunate to have learned my trade from two of the finest craftsmen I have ever met, both were Wentworth graduates and had many years in the home building trade. They showed me methods I may never had learned on my own.

My company hired a young carpenter, very nice kid, hard worker, humble, and very willing to learn. When I see him having trouble with a certain task, or not sure about something, I show him how its done. It makes my day when he comes back later and says
"Thank you for showing me that"

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

You nailed it Tim....The guy is a hacker, his work is awful, and his young apprentices will be as bad or worse than he is. He is also a part time inspector.

I was fortunate to have learned my trade from two of the finest craftsmen I have ever met, both were Wentworth graduates and had many years in the home building trade. They showed me methods I may never had learned on my own.

My company hired a young carpenter, very nice kid, hard worker, humble, and very willing to learn. When I see him having trouble with a certain task, or not sure about something, I show him how its done. It makes my day when he comes back later and says
"Thank you for showing me that"

Came back to haunt me, ended up competing with a couple of them :-)
All good!

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

You nailed it Tim....The guy is a hacker, his work is awful, and his young apprentices will be as bad or worse than he is. He is also a part time inspector.

I was fortunate to have learned my trade from two of the finest craftsmen I have ever met, both were Wentworth graduates and had many years in the home building trade. They showed me methods I may never had learned on my own.

My company hired a young carpenter, very nice kid, hard worker, humble, and very willing to learn. When I see him having trouble with a certain task, or not sure about something, I show him how its done. It makes my day when he comes back later and says
"Thank you for showing me that"

Great stuff!

[bloocrab]

Just like with any other trade, not everyone should be a plumber.

If you weren't taught good work ethic while growing up...or didn't figure it out soon enough on your own, you'll probably never "get it".

That toilet obviously slid while they were positioning it...and they KNEW it, but decided to just slide it back INSTEAD of doing the right thing by removing it and checking. They didn't want to waste another wax ring...so they flushed and walked away.

Some companies grow to the point where the contractor's original passion for quality diminishes as he has to hire on more people than he can supervise... then the added income totally blinds him into believing that he can sacrifice quality for quantity. That's when the spiral affect begins...it takes time, but word gets out and he joins the circle of "hacks".

[Rmarsh]

Dont get me wrong...there are many good plumbers out there.
But the company I work for pays the minimum to a lot of the subcontractors.....they are told what the job pays and they can take it or leave it.
Guy at work likes to say "You pay peanuts...you get monkeys"
I'm not sure that makes sense but it does make me laugh.

[FishermanTim]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Dont get me wrong...there are many good plumbers out there.
But the company I work for pays the minimum to a lot of the subcontractors.....they are told what the job pays and they can take it or leave it.
Guy at work likes to say "You pay peanuts...you get monkeys"
I'm not sure that makes sense but it does make me laugh.

That make PERFECT sense!

We're lucky enough to know people we can call that we trust, so if repairs need to be done they will be done right the first time.

Unfortunately many don't have that luxury and have to do their own search. What really sucks is that some of these hacks have learned to "pad their resume" by having friends and relatives give them great online reviews, even though they had no work done.
Sadly, the internet can be (and has been) manipulated by computer-savvy hacks who can create impressive websites and reviews when they are complete boobs in their respective fields.

[Rmarsh]

Got a new plumbing sub.....personal friend of mine who is a real professional. Does all the work himself...has a helper who he never leaves unsupervised. This guy should have been a finish carpenter.....very fussy.....says his name on the job means it has to be just right. Might be the end of this thread for a while.