Mrs Tara Plumbing

I got an email from across the pond telling me about a Plumber’s blog.

Isn’t it wonderful  here I am talking to myself in a seaside town in Kent, next thing I might be discussing almost anything from breast feeding to children’s education with folk from anywhere in the world.

Anywhere - so long as they speak English, of course.  Me being a typical product of my culture, I can order 2 beers in any European language, that’s all.

The plumber’s blog was not in English, it was in American.  I often find their language very difficult to understand, as well as their culture, president… etc.  Mr Tara Plumbing lived out in that country for a while, he told me their plumbing standards and techniques are (generally) excellent. 

Anyway, there was a blog: Top Ten Plumbing Mistakes, I quote here (with out a translation in to my native tongue) and a link for the full thing is below:

• 10. Trying to solder pipes with water still dripping or just trying to solder if you have
  never tried it.
  9. Re-using old supply lines and p-traps made of metal.
  8. Asking how to at Home Depot or Lowes (Exception Ace Hardware’s employees do seem
  to know their stuff.)
  7. Buying an assortment of fittings so you have enough parts. (Tip: take off your faucet or fixture and bring
  the parts that will be connecting to the store and make sure you have the proper connections and lines.)
  6. Starting your kitchen faucet or sink replacement an hour before dinner
  5. Not sealing threads with plumbers tape or Not using plumbers’ putty on your drain connections
  4. Buying cheap off brand faucets (Especially for behind the wall installations.)
  3. Not turning off the house main water valve before starting your plumbing project.
  2. Having your Friend or Relative there to give you advice. Or Letting your wife/husband watch.
  1. Starting the job and then deciding to call a plumber
• http://www.shopdpoblog.com/2008/06/top-10-do-it-yourself-plumbing-mistakes.html

    Got me thinking I must  ask Mr T.P. for his top 10, I think I’ve probably mentioned some of them previously in my blog.   They might include things like:

forgetting to leave your number on our ansaphone; asking why we haven’t called you back - when you haven’t yet listened to our message on your ansaphone; telling us you didn’t pay the last plumber because you didn’t like him; …

Anyway, the American Plumber’s blog includes lots of questions and answers to plumbing problems, a fantastic resource - for anyone who might be researching plumbing problems in the U.S.A!

http://www.shopdpoblog.com/

Plumbers are very touchy sensitive creatures - as I often warn regular readers.

I was out of the office when Mr Tara Plumbing took a call from someone who demanded that T.P. should attend and fix a broken boiler.

” Did we install it?”

‘No’

” Why should we come and fix it then?”

I know - we run a business so that might sound a strange question.

Reason: We really are a grumpy old pair who can’ tolerate bad manners / rudeness.

” We only attend to boilers we have installed - that way I can be confident that it has been installed correctly; I might be able to diagnose the problem; and I might even have a spare replacement part!”

Mr T.P. asked: ” Whyhave you called us? Why not call whoever normally services your boiler” Reply: ‘ It is only 4 years old.’

Mr T.P.: “It should have been serviced every year.”Then the caller went on to tell Mr T.P. that they had called British Gas but thought they were too expensive.

The sort of comment that always amazes us and begs the question:

“Why do you imagine we would be any cheaper?”

” Why do you imagine T.P. want to come and fix your problems at some discount price when you could not even be bothered to have the system regularly checked and maintained!”

In the event of boiler breakdown our advise is always contact:

1. The installer (if recent);
2. The person who regularly services it;
3. The boiler manufacturer.

Some people do not realise that a safety test on a gas appliance is important and it is a big deal - they should be regularly serviced and maintained. To underline the importance - every month people are dying in this country, preventable deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning from a gas appliance, e.g. a gas boiler.

The story in the newspapers recently of the death of a little girl, Elisabeth Giauque, shows it could happen to anyone. Her parents were multimillionaires, living in the sort of house that multimillionaires live in. They were in a very nice rented house but how many home owners get their gas boilers regularly checked?

You are probably aware that landlord are required to pay for annual safety inspections. Mr T.P. has told me that this is a visual inspection, a boiler service at the same time would be a good idea, but it is not compulsory - I never knew that.

Even as a visual inspection it should be thorough. We have been amazed to here of people quoting figures as low as £30-£40 for a boiler service and/or gas safety certificate. Customers are happy to pay this and expect that the corgi registered engineer only has to pop in for a few minutes to look at the property. Not true. Depending on the property and boiler, time required will vary but you can expect the engineer to be in the property for an hour or longer.

How much should you expect to pay? Here in the far flung depths of Kent it would be reasonable to pay between £65-£100 for a boiler service and/or Landlord Gas safety certificate. (Naturally, some companies will do special offers for regular customers, but I couldn’t imagine how anyone could justify a price much under £50).

This blog is not to drum up business for Mr T.P. to inspect the boilers of Thanet, by the way. Actually, Tara Plumbing do not  service boilers or issue Landlord Gas Safety Certificates unless T.P. fitted the boiler (usually).  We also do not, generally, attend to repair faulty boilers - we recommend you telephone the boiler manufacturer. There are a few exceptions (for our regular customers, of course). I have not even mentioned the many faulty gas fire stories I hear but Tara Plumbing do not have anything to do with gas fires.

More about the Elisabeth Giauque story - just search her name or read here:

www.landlordexpert.co.uk/index.php?news=2

It is only fair that I tell you there is indeed a fault with the plumbing - not with the shower operators.

That is, further to my last blog, the good people in Pegwell have had to telephone Mr T.P. a couple of times wanting to know about the technique of his magic fingers - that’s another story. Sure enough, he could turn on the shower, but as soon as he left the owners could not.

It turns out it is due to blahblahblah and Mr T.P. will go there on Thursday to do this, that and the other.

My mind switched off when he went into plumbing speak.  Don’t tell him, of course, I let him think I hang lovingly on his every word.

It is the key to a long and happy relationship, apparently, that and something which I cannot mention on a site which might be viewed by minors before the watershed.

When it comes to relationship advice: my mum was adamant that no man would stay with me unless I did his ironing.

My own advice to any woman and man would be that private intimate times are more important than any domestic chores.

We don’t do ironing in our house - we go for the happy but crumpled look!

(Drip dry and slow spin do help).

A recent telephone call: “You’ve installed a lovely shower for us. We’re really pleased with the work, but there is no water coming out.”

ME: “Is there water coming out of the taps?”

“Oh yes, and the shower worked yesterday when your men were here.” 

ME: “So you can clean your teeth and flush the toilet, what more do you need? Of course, that is how you keep your shower looking all lovely and new, but it will get a little dusty.”

The caller had a sense of humour - not everyone does.

I informed Mr T.P. who was at a nearby house in Ramsgate. Within an hour he called back to tell me the shower worked perfectly, the customers simply did not know how to turn it on!

How we laughed. This is far from being a one off incident. Only this morning Mr T.P. returned from a house in Pegwell, again delighted with their new bathroom but the shower was not working.

“Have you tried the obvious?”

Mr T.P. asked the resident, “turning it on.”

Please do not think I’m poking fun at other people - when ever we stay away from home I always have to ask Mr T.P. to turn the shower on and explain how it works… and how do I change the temperature.

I have also had a problem with light switches. They are almost always in the same place, on the wall, just inside the door. Yet I have managed to visit countless houses where I can not find the switch - hunting around inside and outside the room pushing and pulling at everything whilst reciting “Let there be light”. This, of course, is at the most inconvenient time - usually if have to get up in the middle of the night.

Mr T.P.s’ parents have a dimmer switch which is in the usual position but it is a mystery how to operate it.

Let’s not even discuss the domestic nightmare which is the roller blind….

When Mr T.P. checks in to the office and asks if their have been many calls you might be surprised at his response.

If I can say - ‘no nothing’ - he is delighted!

It may seem strange, but we are inundated at the moment.

He tells me, “Do nothing to advertise!”

The work just flows or dries up in the slippery world of punning plumbing.  I think I will be out there doing my promotions again pretty soon.

I can’t say too much about how we promote the company, because, in this cut throat business we don’t want to give away all our secrets to the competition. Many local people will be aware of some of our marketing methods. I will say this about how we advertise:

• We try to be unique by advertising in ways that are not easy to copy;
• We try to focus on our U.S.P. - yes, our unique selling point - why someone might want us to do the work as oppose to the 20 other local people who would offer to do it…;
• We do NOT offer discounts, bargains, rock-bottom-prices, special offers, etc. etc.. Instead we focus on why you might want to pay us the proper price to do the proper job;
• We know our market - there are whole areas of Thanet in which we never work and age is important, most of our clients have a substantial amount of grey hair.

You might not be aware of how dangerous it can be to be a plumber. This is a brief run through the main risks.

Working with gas, explosive stuff - of course this is dangerous.

Occasionally heating engineers and/ or other people are injured in gas explosions.

Even if no-one is hurt, the last corgi-registered engineer to work on the appliance or in the house may be held responsible for ensuring gas safety. This is why, much to the annoyance of some customers, if a corgi engineer works in a house he may point out faults which are nothing to do with the work he was employed to do. This is also why a gas inspection of an appliance may take a long time and be costly. This is also why gas engineers may be reluctant to work on appliances that they did not fit or which have not been regularly serviced.

A gas engineer cannot afford to have an ‘off day’. Sloppy, negligent work could result in injury, death and a prison sentence

There is always the risk of accidental damage to a building whilst on the job, any plumber should always be fully insured, just in case. Obviously, a water leak can do a lot of damage. Mr T.P. has seen a plumber set the loft insulation in a roof ablaze. He has also witnessed a case where there was an attempt to blame a fire on a plumber, the fire was actually started by the property owner for a fraudulent insurance claim.

What I found most surprising was that plumbers occasionally have to attend jobs in pairs, for their own safety! These are houses where workers are greeted at the door by housewives in negligées… some of these women are very scary! The men require a chaperone to protect their reputations.

I enjoyed reading the Gas Installer magazine, yesterday.   I enjoyed it because I was eating chips in the Dalby Cafe at the same time!  There was a full page about the baby-scalding case (my blog ,11 Jan). The article stated the obvious: unqualified and inept people tampering with the plumbing could be dangerous.  

I quote in full from the Institute of Plumbers:   http://www.iphe.org.uk/news/news.html#scald

The chief executive of The Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (IPHE), Blane Judd, was deeply worried by the summing up of the Coroner in the Rhianna Hardie inquest.

“My fear is that by focusing purely on the failure of a particular type of thermostat many members of the public may be confused about the true causes of this catastrophe and the earlier one in 2002.  The facts are that the cold water storage cistern was incorrectly installed and not supported over its full diameter, this in conjunction with the thermostat failure was the reason that the cistern split and boiling water cascaded through the ceiling of baby Rhianna’s bedroom.

“The concern is that due to the use of unqualified plumbing and heating engineers there are many more incorrectly installed cisterns which may remain unchecked as people are being advised to check their thermostat.

“As the standard setting and professional body for the plumbing and heating industry, we provided advice to the government and informed our members immediately on the problem arising from the older style thermostats and inadequate support of the cold water storage cistern.

“What makes me so angry is that cases like this and similar tragedies will continue to happen because the unqualified and inept are allowed into people’s homes to carry out plumbing and heating jobs. The public need to be sure that the people they use to check their systems are professionally qualified and up-to-date.”

The tanks in the roof space have a limited life span and need to be replaced, periodically.  They are designed to cope with boiling water, even though that is not their purpose in life.

I have to say, again, that these are the sort of things that may be neglected when customers opt for tradesmen who offer a half price service. 

Half-price will often make sure you get your heating and hot water.

The going rate charged by reputable firms will make sure you get your heating and hot water AND that it is correctly installed AND that it meets current regulations.  AND you are paying someone who will be aware of the potential dangers and who will take those into consideration. 

A reputable tradesman who knows his stuff will advise you of anything dangerous that he sees in your house.  Even if it is not part of the job he is doing.  Even if he has just come to give you a quote!

Half price man - probably would not recognise dangers unless they were clearly labelled!

“Can I see evidence of your Public Liability Insurance?”   We are delighted to be asked.  Any cowboy can claim to have insurance, but it might be as bogus as his qualifications.   The many satisfied customers that he claims to have may be a figment of his imagination along with his knowledge and experience in the building trade.

Over the years a few people have told us that they didn’t get Tara Plumbing to do the work because someone else did it for HALF the price. How can that be?

Despite media hype, there is no evidence that Eastern-European workers are under cutting us in Thanet. What would they do? Perhaps there is a team of corgi-register plumbers, Niceic registered electricians and a carpenter all living in a Cliftonville bed-sit “Celebrity Big Brother”-style and working 12 hour days for the minimum wage. I don’t think so.

Years ago, the ‘old guy’ in the office (where I worked as an Internal Auditor) was responsible for checking up on contracts for building works.  A fascinating job.

• Would the contractors go bust?
• Would costs spiral?
• Were there back-handers?

He taught me the first thing to look out for are quotes (or ‘tenders’) where there is a huge difference in the price. It means 1 of 2 things, either:

•  the 2 quotes are not for identical things, or
• there is something dodgy going on which should raise alarm bells.

Either way, you can’t award the contract without further investigation.

Our local work is on a much smaller scale - so, generally speaking, I could expect a competitors quote to be within a 10% margin of our own - if we say £4,000 and then other might come in at between £3,600 - £4,400.  (N.B. I am not saying we could do it for 10% less - usually we can’t).

 50% - there is something wrong (eg. £2,000).

Mr T.P. has been back to some of these houses and seen the half price work - I’ll tell you some of these stories another time.

Right now I’ll just end on this - it may not bother the customer, but some of the jobs we quote for could not be done “half price” unless the person doing it is probably not a professional but is:

not qualified; not insured; doing it in the evenings & weekends; not paying any income tax…

Vehicles are so much trouble: they cause road rage; global warming and arguments about car parking.

The good people of Birchington are enraged about White Van Man and his plumbing friends parking on double yellow lines, near a junction on one of Thanet’s narrowest streets.  I’m not surprised, I know the street.  To fuel their fury there is actually a large car park just 100 metres or so further along the street.

Lets face it - some of these drivers are probably lazy, selfish and full of their own self importance.  They don’t care where they park or what danger they cause to other road users (including pedestrians).  I like to think, however, that it is a minority of drivers who are causing trouble.

Just occasionally there may be a good reason for stopping on a double yellow.  I actually remember being one of those offending drivers - I have parked at that very location - I had good reason which I expained to the trafic warden - once in 2003 and once since then, I’ve also parked in the car park a number of times.  Mr Tara Plumbing parked in that car park this morning.

What is this all about? In case you don’t know:

This is the location of St Nicholas Heating - S.H.N.  They supply all things gas and plumbing related to the trade and the public.  It is a local, family run business - the corner-shop of the gas/water world.

Like most corner-shops they do not have a huge, free, convenient car park. There is only off road parking space for 2 vehicles at their premises.

All the usual car parking issues are relevant:

• S.N.H cannot be responsible for the irresponsible parking behaviour of their customers;
• The drivers may be collecting bulky or heavy items;
• Alternatively, people could drive for miles to use the supermarkets of the plumbing world (B&Q, Wickes, Plumbcentre, Plumbase, etc…) with their free car parks;
• Lack of car parking (or free/convenient car parking) in the towns makes them less attractive to shoppers compared with out of town shopping centres, places like Westwood Cross;
• Lack of car parking could be contributing to the decline of local town centres and family run small businesses.

S.N.H. is one of the main suppliers used by Tara Plumbing because they can offer the sort of high quality, personal service that you expect from a family run local business.

The partners who run the business really are qualified plumbers, so they know what they are selling.

And, of course, one of them trained as a plumber at the same time and same college as Mr Tara Plumbing (along with another local man, lets call him Mr Birchington Gas).  It’s a small world and everyone does know each other.

This blog includes a permanent link to SNH on the right or you can click here:

www.snhtradecentre.co.uk

If you visit them, please be considerate with your parking.