WWYD about plumber? Honestly.

[Parad1se]

Nutshell:

• Small village (relevant because of social awkwardness)
• Father and Son plumbers, been our plumbers for 20 years. Great service, come out for you any time, lots of work done for us.
• Son; lovely bloke (in 40s now), always comes along with Father (and is qualified) but mostly mucked about with DCs and chatted whenever here. Father did bulk of the work.
• Son is 'pillar of the community''. Seriously. Does shopping for elderly, shopping for shielding, provides beer for all festivals, gardens the churchyard, raises money for playground, runs allotments, gives away plants, runs kids football, does the DJing for ALL the kids parties at the church hall. This guy is everywhere.
• We're half way through a big house renovation + build, 3 years in.
• Father and Son plumbers are halfway through it with us, doing our whole heating system installation/replacement.
• Father plumber has become frail recently and son seems to be working alone.

Here's the problem, you know what i'm going to say:

• Son's work is shockingly bad! Came to do a really really basic portion of the job recently. Took AGES, didn't seem to bring half the tools he needed, had to improvise with some of ours, made a god awful mess (really bad) and left a badly dripping pipe onto a brand new floor

I have no faith in him and there's still loads to do! AArrgghh.
WWYD? How would you handle this? It's just so awkward.

Be honest
Give him a chance to sort it
Then go on check a trade and find someone else

@rubyslippers

Be honest Give him a chance to sort it Then go on check a trade and find someone else

This, except don't use checkatrade. The good trades don't use that website.

I would point out his work is not up to his Dad's high standards and ask him to sort it out and especially clean up after himself and politely ask when his Dad is returning.

You aren't going to be the only one to notice.
Get someone else on the grounds that he's busy with all of his "generous community work" and you need a 2 person outfit for a big job.

I'm wondering if our plumber has been abducted by aliens - I'm considering enrolling early retired DH on a plumbing course to keep him busy. 😂

Thank you.
We 'sorted' it ourselves.
I did a big clean up and DH fixed the pipe himself :/

He hasn't charged us yet because they never send a bill out for months. He'll probably tag it on to the whole bill anyway.

But the bill isn't worrying us tbh. It's just the rest of the work.

There is a couple of other plumbers in the village. Is it ok to just change plumbers half way through? I don't know how much they will need to know about what the Father and son have done. Y'know?

Don't feel obliged to keep him on. It's a business decision at the end of the day. You need someone who can do the job and he clearly cannot.

politely ask when his Dad is returning. - yes, i think i must.

Get someone else on the grounds that he's busy with all of his "generous community work" and you need a 2 person outfit for a big job. - this is very good! I can combine it with 'how's your dad?'.

Notaroadrunner yours is exactly the advice i'd give a friend in my position :) It's just so bloody awkward!

NChange fail

Don't worry, we won't tell anyone of the NC fail.

At long as they're not at the point of commissioning the system, hopefully your new plumbers will be able to check the work they've he's done. 🤞🏻

As not at. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Why would you continue to pay money for a substandard job?

Just find another plumber.

Haha, I smiled when I saw your title. I had a shit hot plumber come to fix my blocked drain a few years ago. I should have asked him on a date....

Aqua55 take it you've had bad experiences with checkatrade ?
I've used at least a dozen over the last few years before i moved recently and i found them really good. no hesitation about using them for new place either.
op i wouldn't be held to ransom from randoms if they were shit. Get someone else in to do the work. you don't owe this idiot any loyalty esp. when you are the one paying for the work to be done properly.

This, except don't use checkatrade. The good trades don't use that website.
What do they use?

That's a terrible situation to be in, but, longer term, other people are going to end up having the same experience and sharing that, so while you might end up shunned a bit for getting rid initially, longer term people will realise why...?

Ive used check a trade on numerous occasions and always been happy with the tradesman/person

I don't know how much they will need to know about what the Father and son have done. Y'know?
Nothing, I would think? It'll all be very obvious to them, what is in working order and what needs sorting.
Don't overthink this.

@warmandtoasty2day I've had to fix the mistakes (many dangerous) caused by supposed qualified people sourced on checkatrade.

@YelloYelloYello Mainly word of mouth/recommendations. Most of the tradespeople I know don't spend any money on advertising at all and they're fully booked for months.

@pussycatlickinglollyices thank you. Mum's the word. No one's noticed
By ''commissioning the system'' do you mean done the plans/bought the boiler? They have done plans, they have told us what boiler they have prepared to install. Haven't bought it though. Lots of pipes ... old house to new house. Some with radiators at the end of them, some not. We're paid up to date apart from the last disasterous job.

@UrAWizHarry You're right. You're so right :)

@Iflyaway sorry. It's not one of those threads, fun though they always are. Son not hot at all, Father's in his late 60s and i'm already married - to a shit hot builder

@theemmadilemma thank you. I thought the same y'know. I can't be the only one alarmed over recent work.

@GreyhoundG1rl thank you. I am overthinking i know i am. It's just that this whole build has been/is being so stressful and expensive. The one thing we thought was a dead cert. was the plumbers! And now it's gone shite!

Interesting about the checkatrade. Never used it personally. It's all word of mouth round here. Or use the village face book page ... [dangerous territory]

@Aqua55

Oh great! There's a wonderful thread on FB. My favourite is "I met a bricklayer and got laid."