Whether you’re a first-time homeowner in Mansfield, TX or you’ve been living in your home for 20 years, you’re going to need a plumber to visit your home at some point. That’s why it’s a good idea to find a quality plumbing professional well before you need one, as that will enable you to make the best decision for your home’s needs. If you’ve got a burst pipe, you’re not going to have time to worry about searching for the right plumber, which means that if you don’t have someone in mind, you’re likely to spend extra time and cash to repair the same thing more than once.
Taking the time to search for a plumber can take all of the guesswork out of solving problems that arise from the drains and pipes in your home. If you can take the time to look for a few signs, you can really get to know the person you’re hiring. Learn what you can and should look for here!
24-Hour Emergency Services
We’ve all been there: something at home breaks at the worst possible time and needs an immediate response to fix. A good plumber understands that pipes, water heaters, faucets and other plumbing-related issues don’t work on a schedule, so they’re happy to offer real service at any time of the day. It doesn’t matter when you call this plumbing company; you’ll be able to talk to a real person at all hours of the night and get someone out to your home so that you can prevent a real disaster.
If that’s not the case, don’t even bother engaging with that plumber for any serious work, because they won’t be there when you really need their assistance. Eventually, you’re going to need help in the middle of the night, and if your plumbing expert isn’t available after hours, you’re going to have to turn to someone who will. Rather than have to bring in a plumber that you don’t know anything about, it’s best to use a 24-hour expert for your home from the beginning.
Transparent and Sensible Rates
One of the worst possible business experiences comes when you’ve been overcharged for the service you paid for, or at least, if you think you’ve been overcharged. That’s why customers like it when they’re given a free estimate for the work before any work is done, and it’s why a reasonable plumber will be happy to explain exactly why everything is needed and why it costs what it does.
First, any plumbing expert who’s worth using in your Mansfield, TX home will be more than happy to provide a free estimate for the work they plan for your home. Plumbing jobs can get very complicated very quickly, and if you’ve got a really big task on your hands, it’s easy to get confused as to what needs to be done and why. A reasonable plumbing expert will be able to explain exactly why something needs to be done in order to fix your home’s problems, as well as why it costs what it does and how long the job will take to complete.
It’s OK if your plumber doesn’t have all of the answers right away, as long as they’re honest with you about why they might not be able to give you an answer. For example, not every plumbing problem takes place on your visible pipes, and your plumber of choice might think that the problematic pipe sits inside one of your walls. Obviously, they can’t take a look at what’s behind the wall without you giving the OK, so it’s not a problem if they have to take their best estimate before getting into your wall. When you need to worry is when a so-called plumbing professional won’t tell you exactly why something needs to be done or why they can’t explain the reasons for a specific task. If they are being secretive with you and can’t give you any more details once you’ve asked them, find someone else to come to your Mansfield, TX home for this task. Any plumber with something to hide probably isn’t someone you want to trust with your pipes.
Full Insurance Coverage
One of the basic rules of plumbing is that sometimes, things have to get worse before they get better. Unfortunately, given the location of many pipes in your home, that’s often proven true with many plumbing jobs. For example, the problem might be located behind your walls. This would require your plumber to intentionally create damage to the home in order to get to where the problem can be fixed.
Fortunately, homeowners don’t have to worry about such an instance, because plumber’s insurance makes sure that any damage that a plumbing expert causes in the name of fixing a problem in the home is covered. When you hire someone for a plumbing problem and they have to create a hole in your walls to get to your pipes, their plumbing insurance will fully pay for any repairs that you need for your Mansfield, TX home after the plumbing portion of the job is complete. In the case of the wall being destroyed, you’d need to have a good contractor come in and fix the drywall so that your home looks the way it should.
That’s not a problem for a fully insured plumbing technician. Their insurance company will work with you by confirming that the plumber caused the damage to the home and did so while trying to fix a problem with your plumbing system. Once they’ve done that, they’ll figure out what you need fixed in your house and how long it will take to do the job right. Remember, you aren’t responsible for the cost of any of this, so all you have to do is sit back and let the contractor do the work once the plumbing task is completed.
When you work with an uninsured plumbing company, good luck. If the plumbing team you’ve chosen doesn’t carry insurance, you’d better hope that there aren’t any hidden problems, because you would be on the hook for any damage that the team caused. Plus, a plumbing team that doesn’t carry insurance probably does so for a good reason, such as substandard work. If an insurance company can’t trust them to do the job properly, why should you trust them to make repairs to your Mansfield, TX home plumbing system?
Everyday Language
People in the plumbing industry have certain esoteric knowledge, and they know that most people aren’t going to understand all of the terms that people in the industry do. That’s why a reputable plumbing team will speak to customers in a way that ensures the homeowner understands what’s going on. A reasonable plumbing expert won’t try to confuse you by throwing around terms that don’t make any sense to you; they’ll explain exactly what’s going on with your plumbing system and let you know in plain English what’s really going on with your drains and pipes.
This goes back to a reputable plumbing company’s desire to be transparent with their customers. Plumbing teams know that customers like feeling like they know exactly what’s going on, and the easiest way to make customers feel like they’re both valued and in control of the decision is to treat them like adults and be honest about the work you’re doing.
That doesn’t mean that a professional won’t slip up and use a technical term around you once or twice, but if they do, feel free to ask them to clarify what they meant. If they’re a reputable plumbing choice, they’ll be happy to explain it to you again in a way that you can understand. If they’re not, then you want to look elsewhere for someone to do the job.
Positive Reviews From Trusted Sources
One of the easiest ways for someone to gain trust in a person’s work is if they’ve heard about it from a friend or colleague that they trust. After all, if your co-worker at your Mansfield, TX office tells you about a great new restaurant in town, you’re probably going to give it a try because you trust your co-worker’s opinion.
The same is true in the plumbing industry, as positive reviews are the lifeblood of repeat businesses. It’s well known that clients talk to each other, and a happy client is much more likely to bring in new business when they tell their friends and family about the great job that their plumber did to get them out of a tight spot. At the same time, a customer who’s upset can turn someone off from the business and prevent them from ever trusting that plumber with any project, no matter how small it was.
That’s why any plumbing company worth hiring will strive to meet high standards for any job, whether it’s an emergency pipe repair or something as simple as replacing a faucet. Plumbing experts know that each time they work with a client, they’ve got a chance to earn positive feedback that can get them their next job, and they’ll do their best to ensure each customer leaves satisfied with their work.
If you’re considering hiring a plumbing expert for a job around your home, ask around to see if anyone has had plumbing work done. Chances are, you’ll find someone who’s recently had a task done and can tell you exactly what the experience was like. Feel free to ask a potential plumbing company about the work they did for that family. Most plumbers will remember the jobs they’ve done around your neighborhood, especially if it was a positive experience. A good plumbing team will be happy to tell you what kind of work they did and how the experience can help you with your plumbing problem.
That said, there’s one thing to watch out for with reviews: online reviews that you don’t recognize. Online reviews are a great starting point, but that’s all they are. Some plumbing companies will use fake reviews to try to drum up positive feelings for their business, and with an online review, it’s a lot harder to check the details. If you’re going to look up reviews online, that’s a good place to start, but you should always try to corroborate them with the plumbing team themselves and with friends and family that you know you can trust.
Reliable Work
Above all, this is the most important part of working with any plumbing professional. When you can’t trust the work that they do, you’re going to run into problems at some point. Maybe you want to sell your home someday, and your potential buyer insists on taking a look at the plumbing to ensure that it’s up to par. If you’ve gone with a substandard plumber to do the job, you’re going to have a hard time selling the home for any kind of substantial profit.
Or maybe you have a small job that you think is going to be an easy repair, and you hand it over to someone small because you think it’s too small to matter. That’s going to lead to problems down the road when something inevitably goes wrong with the task in the years to follow.
At Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Fort Worth, we have the skills and reputation to make sure that the job is done right every single time. If you’re in need of a plumber to come to your Mansfield, TX home to make sure the job is done professionally, we’re just a call away each and every time. Contact us to get the punctual plumbers on the task at your home.