When it comes to the value and comfort of your property, few things are as important as finding a strong, reliable Fremont home improvement plumber. When choosing your Fremont home improvement plumber, it’s crucial to pick a professional who will do things the right way so you can avoid the headaches and nightmares that arise from bad plumbers.
We realize basically every plumber will tell you they’re the best choice, and it can be difficult to judge them until at least some work has already been completed. To help demystify the process, we’ve prepared these 5 best practices for identifying a quality plumber and effectively maximizing their value in your home improvement plumbing project.
Start With a Plumber Who Has a Strong Reputation
Making the right choice up front is possibly the most important aspect of ensuring your home improvement plumbing project goes smoothly.
Start by doing some research — choose a plumber who has a strong reputation and a positive track record of customer satisfaction. Online review websites like Yelp are a powerful way to see a plumber’s body of work, which may be a reflection of how they perform on the job.
Just as a company wouldn’t want to hire someone with a failed background check or bad references, you should hold the plumber you hire to the same high standard by checking their work history.
At Performance Plumbing, we’re proud to have one of the highest overall ratings around with plenty of positive endorsements on Yelp, so we think you should settle for nothing less.
Make Sure the Plumber is Fully Licensed
To some people, this is obvious, but to other consumers, this is an afterthought or something that gets completely overlooked.
Stay away from unlicensed freelancers or temporary laborers who may not know what they’re doing or have low standards of quality. Look for an official license, which proves some level of professional dedication to the craft and also suggests good standing with the law.
For big home improvement plumbing remodels, this goes double. Finding a fully licensed plumbing team like Performance Plumbing is a guarantee of at least a certain level of quality that unlicensed workers can’t provide.
Be Sure to Go Over Your Requirements in Detail
Before any work happens, make sure you discuss the requirements of your project in detail. Try to outline your needs as fully and clearly as possible, to avoid any miscommunication as to what the deliverables are.
Some home improvement plumbing projects inevitably change in scope as people realize they want to make changes on the fly or discover they don’t like something they originally planned, however having a clear agreement in place as to what the scope of the project should be from the outset is a good way to avoid confusion.
Check Work Frequently and Know How to Evaluate Work
Don’t feel like you’re being nosy if you check work regularly to evaluate progress. You don’t need to be constantly watching every move or distracting the plumber from the work, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t make sure things are going to plan.
How can an untrained property owner know how to evaluate plumbing work? It’s actually not too complicated.
First, set mental milestones like completing a set of preliminary tasks, followed by core tasks and finishing tasks. Next, check up on the work as these milestones are completed and ask basic but important questions. Is everything going according to schedule? Is everything on budget? Were there any problems or challenges? Does the work look and function as expected and agreed upon before work started?
Don’t be afraid to ask these questions directly — there’s no need to dance around the subject of making sure the project is on the right path.
Get a Free Estimate
Also before any work happens, make sure the plumber provides you with a free, no-obligation estimate the way our team does at Performance Plumbing.
The estimate should clearly outline everything you need and the cost up front, so you can evaluate what you would be committing to before you agree to anything.
Be sure to also ask any questions you may have — it’s important to get your questions out of the way earlier rather than later, as they sometimes can influence the way a plumber should handle or approach your home improvement plumbing needs.
If you’re ready for a free estimate or simply have questions to ask, give us call or send us an email today and our friendly team can gladly help you out!