# Free plumbing for friends



## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

Neighbor asked to borrow my super-soaker

He wanted to borrow it to suck the water out of his kitchen sink. Now I do not loan tools and I do not borrow tools. At least I try not to. I never had any luck with letting someone borrow something of mine and that they do not return it and I need to chase after it. Now my neighbor is a pretty smart guy trained as a lawyer and working for a CPA. The CPA is his brother another pretty smart guy that used to remodel auto dealerships. 
I went over to his house because my wife said I would be jeopardizing our friendship if I did not help. Anyways I agree to go to his home and let his use my tool to suck the water out of his kitchen sink. I was watching him and I asked about his kitchen sink. He told me he knew all about it. He had taken it all apart and pulled out a wire once and tried to clear it with three feet of a toilet auger. 
So anyways I watch him suck most of the water out of his kitchen sink and he tells me that they were pouring drain cleaner down the drain and it still ran slow. I informed him that plumbers do not like to work on drains with drain cleaner in them. He informed me that it was his drain not the plumbers drain and he could do what he wants in his home. So his brother gives his him some advice to drain the sink disconnect the tubular plastic p trap and turn up the j bend and pour the drain cleaner directly into that and that should solve the problem.
So I just watched helped with the flash lite and then cleaned out my super soaker in fresh water and left. I did not want to use one of my snakes and cables in a drain that was full of acid and there was no cleanout and no way to run the water until after it was snaked and assembled. Besides I did some work for him before and it was an underpaid thankless job and he complained.
He is a friend we play cards sometimes and go to his house for a BBQ occasionally. But I do not know why friends think I own them free plumbing favors. I do not ask him for free accounting of legal services why does he or other friends just expect free plumbing?:sad2:


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

This story rivals my soaps! Looks like the guy is a douche, and you know what a douche does? :wink:

Did he ask you to snake it?

Maybe now you should ask him to prepare some legal waivers or do your income tax or something at a deep discount, even free. If he says yeah and never produces them tell him to use the hell fire drain opener, the bigger the volcano the better.


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## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

Just a bone head friend. He is stubborn and I chose not to argue with him and let him do what he wanted to do, it is his home. Even though it was a stupid ass idea I just watched without making any comments or offering to snake it. It would have been a thankless messy job that he would not have appreciated, so I did not offer to help.


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## Standard Drain (Feb 17, 2016)

Same people that dont respect the price of your honest hard work. To them; they can't understand what makes you different than the $89 guy.


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

NO nothing is for free....maybe if its a GOOD close friend and we do work back and forth for each other, but anyone else pays full price..


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## V.A Hydro-ooter (Oct 14, 2018)

If it's for family I'll do it free if it's a reasonable job where I won't be there much more than one hour. I'll give them a moderate discount if it's a bigger job.
If it's for a friend they get the same price I charge customers minus 15 percent.
I don't expect anyone to give me freebies. If my friends know I'm running my own business and expect a freebie then they're not really my friends. If they come to me with a proposition to barter then that's different. 
It's like my wife's friend. He owns a party rental company. He always offers to give us moon bounces, chairs, tables, etc. for free. I always tell him to charge me what he'd charge a stranger. I know he's well off since he goes on vacation ALL the time but it's still his business.


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

If homeowners were to read ONE thread on this site, this would be it. I get asked for free help, reduced prices too many times. Not once have I asked then for advice. 

I've no charged my attorney friends a few times but that's on purpose. I might need advice someday.


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## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

I have another friend in church his wife and my wife are also friends. I did a ceiling leak and replaced a regulator and charged them what I thought was a fair price. Well he paid me and his wife called my wife all upset about the price. So again to “save the friendship” I offered to pick up and install a new toilet for free. Not I felt a little resentful about this but I did it. This is the same friend whose wife panics when they had a pin hole leak and calls out a restoration company out that charges thousands of dollars to get the water out of the walls. When they need plumbing his wife calls my wife and my wife tells me to go there.
The last time the disposal was not working. My church friend informs me that he does not have any money at the time because he just spent all of his money on a down payment for a new car for his daughter. So I go out to look at the disposal and it is humming so I ask him if he has the service wrench. He looks through a junk drawer and pulls it out and looks at me and asks you mean this? I say yes I put the wrench in the bottom of the disposal and unstick the unit and it works. He looks at me and says I will buy you a 50 cent shake at Wendy’s the next time I see you.
The guy has no common sense he was a drrywaller by trade an is a talented artist but lacks common sense. I should have insisted he pay me, but I did not want to argue with him. “Obviously from his prospective, I am a friend and it only took 5 minutes at his home so why would I charge him?” My prospective I live 15 miles away I got in my work van and drove to your home and fixed your disposal and not get paid than I drive back home 15 miles. Even though it took 5 minutes to fix the job at the times it took many years of experience and sacrifice to learn the trade.


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

rooterboy said:


> I have another friend in church his wife and my wife are also friends. I did a ceiling leak and replaced a regulator and charged them what I thought was a fair price. Well he paid me and his wife called my wife all upset about the price. So again to “save the friendship” I offered to pick up and install a new toilet for free. Not I felt a little resentful about this but I did it. This is the same friend whose wife panics when they had a pin hole leak and calls out a restoration company out that charges thousands of dollars to get the water out of the walls. When they need plumbing his wife calls my wife and my wife tells me to go there.
> The last time the disposal was not working. My church friend informs me that he does not have any money at the time because he just spent all of his money on a down payment for a new car for his daughter. So I go out to look at the disposal and it is humming so I ask him if he has the service wrench. He looks through a junk drawer and pulls it out and looks at me and asks you mean this? I say yes I put the wrench in the bottom of the disposal and unstick the unit and it works. He looks at me and says I will buy you a 50 cent shake at Wendy’s the next time I see you.
> The guy has no common sense he was a drrywaller by trade an is a talented artist but lacks common sense. I should have insisted he pay me, but I did not want to argue with him. “Obviously from his prospective, I am a friend and it only took 5 minutes at his home so why would I charge him?” My prospective I live 15 miles away I got in my work van and drove to your home and fixed your disposal and not get paid than I drive back home 15 miles. Even though it took 5 minutes to fix the job at the times it took many years of experience and sacrifice to learn the trade.


That's a straight up a$$hole. Next time your wife tells you to go there.... You should recognize his wife is manipulating yours and the guy at church is really in fact a smug weasel....Transmit some ridiculous story you won't go. You got to grow a backbone and tell them off. Before one of them dummies call you why don't you have them do something for you and offer them recompense the next time you meet at the post office you'll buy them a stamp.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

My brother in laws house has 4" cast and there is a break about 15' out. My sister clogs it with tampons/wipes at least once a year. I charge them like 150$. Takes me like an hour from the time I start unloading to the time I finish reloading. I never asked them to pay me, my brother in law brought it up and I think he paid me like 200$ the first time a couple years ago.


Now my neighbor a house down, he had these two hose spigots that wouldn't shut off all the way, been dripping for years, lime built up so bad you couldn't get a hose on no matter how hard you tried. I spent like an hour with some hcl and my pocket knife cleaning them up then changed the washers. I didn't charge him. He offered to pay me though, I think he knew I wouldn't want money but he offered.


My ex-best friend. He's really gone down hill the past ten years. No heat in his basement this past winter. He immediately told me on the phone he'd pay me. I disconnected the radiator on a monoflo system, added two sweat valves first so I could refill and restart the system, then cleaned a ton of crap from the radiator that was blocking flow. Took me a couple hours. When I was done his very drunk uncle who recently got out of jail for the umpteenth time had to step up and give me 50$ because it was obvious my buddy wasn't going to.


Some people are just not the kind to treat others the way they want to be treated all the time. When someone asks me to fix something and the terms aren't they buy the parts and pay some of my labor upfront I assume I am never getting paid. I very rarely work outside the scope of my normal employ, but when I do, I assume it's charity.


You guys need to be like master mark and say fockem all, SERVICE TICKETS FOR EVERYONE!!








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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

skoronesa said:


> You guys need to be like master mark and say fockem all, SERVICE TICKETS FOR EVERYONE!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have no friends or family members out here so I don't have to worry about being taken from them.

BUT I do have lots of idiot callers, speaking of which I should go post the next installment in the soaps.


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## 89plumbum (May 14, 2011)

One time my neighbor came over about his clogged kitchen sink. I had already told him a dozen times his line needed to be changed. I made a good plan for him and his non working son to do it, but of course, they just hadn’t gotten around to it.

In my mind I said this is it, I’m done helping him after today. I told him I was going to a wedding but that he could use my small drum machine. It was pretty new. Only used a couple of times. I told him to put it back in my garage when he was done and to shut my garage door especially since we lived in a rough area. This was about 1pm. We took off to the wedding about 1:30. 

Around 12:30am we are driving down our road and as we pass his house I see my machine still on his roof with the cable still in the stack! And to top it off, my garage door is still open! 

I was livid to say the least! I immediately got out of my car and ran up to his house, straight up his ladder (still in a tie and dress clothes) . Pulled my cable out which was full of black sludge of course and came back down and cleaned it all up. My endorphins were raging high at this point! 

I made sure to make plenty of noise when I was on his roof but the dimwit never came out!

In the end, it kind of worked out, because he never bothered me again with any of his stupid problems.


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## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

He is an ahole or at least completely clueless and thoughtless. I paid him to do some drywall work at my home and it sucked I wanted him to put in a couple of arches and he cut or nicked electrical wires and tried to hide him. And the arches looked like crap. I paid him than hired someone else to fix his work. He is not a good tradesman and not good at holding down a job. So I don't think I will trade favors with him.


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## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

Maybe I should have titled this doing free favors for church members. There are a few more I do free plumbing for, for them I believe they can not afford it so I help them out occasionally. Limited income etc. But the last two were the exceptions. It is not the cash they just feel a sense of entitlement to free services from me. It is or to do favors for people if you want to and feel they deserve it. But I do not like being manipulated to help people who could easily afford to pay for my services


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## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

*good bye jerks*



89plumbum said:


> One time my neighbor came over about his clogged kitchen sink. I had already told him a dozen times his line needed to be changed. I made a good plan for him and his non working son to do it, but of course, they just hadn’t gotten around to it.
> 
> In my mind I said this is it, I’m done helping him after today. I told him I was going to a wedding but that he could use my small drum machine. It was pretty new. Only used a couple of times. I told him to put it back in my garage when he was done and to shut my garage door especially since we lived in a rough area. This was about 1pm. We took off to the wedding about 1:30.
> 
> ...



Good job I would have been super angry to.


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## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

Another church member sent my wife a text asking for help to unstop her sons sink. Wife said I was away for the week.


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

rooterboy said:


> Another church member sent my wife a text asking for help to unstop her sons sink. Wife said I was away for the week.


Or stand your ground, have the wife take down the address and tell them your prices. They should be honored to get someone they know instead of a big bad company who doesn't care.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

rooterboy said:


> Another church member sent my wife a text asking for help to unstop her sons sink. Wife said I was away for the week.





Have you thought about talking to your priest about this?


If it were me, I would get up in front of the congregation and explain that you understand that not everyone can afford your services but that you don't feel right saying no when someone asks for help. At the same time you your self need to be paid in order to take care of your own family. Given that you do not feel okay with deciding who deserves charity and who doesn't you have asked the priest to decide for you and that you will provide charitable work when the priest deems it appropriate.


At the very least you'll have made your feelings and situation public.


Or just ask the priest to give a mostly generic sermon about how people can be unconsciously greedy and ask for charity when they don't need it.






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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

skoronesa said:


> Or just ask the priest to give a mostly generic sermon about how people can be unconsciously greedy and ask for charity when they don't need it.
> 
> 
> .


That's a good option.


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## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

Makes me gad I put my tools up. If a relative asks (close one) I will consider working, but for free. The last thing you want is a relative feeling they can tell you what to do since they paid you however much. If they turn out to be horses rears, it's the last time I deal with them.

Now my Elder's (whom have all passed now), no doubt I work for free and for the most part they pay for parts. I would even go over in the winter with my snow blower and take care of my uncles driveway (my last living elder) for a cup of coffee and a cookie. Knowing at 80 years old if I didn't he would attempt tp shovel it himself. Finally shamed his kids and grandkids enough they did the last few times he needed it.


No friends or neighbors, I make an assement first. Do they work, are they an rear end, are they stuck up. Plumbed a room addtion for one who wkrs construction for nothing. A couple afternoons work roughing in. He set the fixtures. A year or so later he was rocking in his driveway had some extra spread it in my driveway without asking. LEt him borrow extension ladder, roto tiller. Few years later I need a hillside cut down for a new shed. He brought a tracked bobcat over cut down the hillside, helped fram in 6"x 6" spread rock in it to pre for the shed. Gave him $200.00 so he could gie the bobcat owner $150.00 for using it on a Saturday. Then brought a tired bobcat back over to spread the removed dirt out. Would not take another $200.00. SO when he wasn't looking I slipped an envelope into his front seat while he was loading the bobcat up.


Now after intially plumbing his addition, had he not reciprocated I would not have done a second request. I will take the high road at first, try to help. If you don't return it forget the second time.


If I need to for the most part now I can say well I don't have all the tools I need, but I can refer you to a decent contractor.


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

I just remembered, I did a job for my only friend this winter, a true friend that is but we don't hang out anymore. Anyway I was doing it for free and let him pay for parts to install a toilet and sink. He and his wife gave me a huge chunk of cash. I told him it wasn't necessary but they insisted. That was nice.


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## MASTRPLUMB (Mar 22, 2019)

I Never loaned my tools to anybody except other plumbers,
and never ever my snakes, if it was somebody I knew I would go 
and snake the drain myself :biggrin:


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

rooterboy said:


> He is an ahole or at least completely clueless and thoughtless. I paid him to do some drywall work at my home and it sucked I wanted him to put in a couple of arches and he cut or nicked electrical wires and tried to hide him. And the arches looked like crap. I paid him than hired someone else to fix his work. He is not a good tradesman and not good at holding down a job. So I don't think I will trade favors with him.






you must be pretty young and not had a lot of this crap happen to you yet.....I got the medals and the battle scars from fair weather freinds that have stiffed me....

You simply have to learn to piss icewater..... I have done the bartering thing with some good freinds and its the best way to lose a freindship---especially if they are drinkers.... They simply dont remember things the way it was agreed to months back. or they say I must have been drunk when we agreed to this mark..........:vs_laugh::vs_laugh:....

It will always go sour because you have not figured out yet that you are a man of your word and they are not people to depend on for anything...... 
I know you have to have a brother-in-law that is totally worthless or a relative that is not worth a crap.......correct??? So how do you handle them??

Next time someone asks for something for free say to them.....

Do I look like Mother Threasa or one of the sisters of charity???:vs_OMG:


I got a customer right now who I told it would cost 75 bucks to come out to their new home and inspect a bunch of potential problems...... I told them that if they decided to make the repairs that the 75 bucks would go towards the total bill.... 

So, I reset the toilet, put all new parts in the tannk,, sealed the bowl down to the un-even floor.... Raised a drain line under the lav sink, sealed a small leak on the lav... then looked around in the basement......told them they needed a new water heater and ran their laundry drain to see if it worked ok..

the total bill was 225.00 I get a call from them after I ran their card and they expected me to take off the 75 dollar inspection fee.......:vs_laugh::vs_laugh:

Also, your ego is sort of involved with the decision to lend people tools and trust them too... watch this video 

https://www.facebook.com/gary/videos/697871637282157/


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Master Mark said:


> Do I look like Mother Threasa or one of the sisters of charity???:vs_OMG:


For a second there I was reading "Do I look like Sisters on Mercy"! :vs_laugh:

Now I had to spend an hour rewatching their videos. One of he best song remix of the 90's in my book.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Master Mark said:


> I got a customer right now who I told it would cost 75 bucks to come out to their new home and inspect a bunch of potential problems...... I told them that if they decided to make the repairs that the 75 bucks would go towards the total bill....
> 
> So, I reset the toilet, put all new parts in the tannk,, sealed the bowl down to the un-even floor.... Raised a drain line under the lav sink, sealed a small leak on the lav... then looked around in the basement......told them they needed a new water heater and ran their laundry drain to see if it worked ok..
> 
> the total bill was 225.00 I get a call from them after I ran their card and they expected me to take off the 75 dollar inspection fee.......:vs_laugh::vs_laugh:





So you told them the 75$ would go toward the bill and then didn't do it?










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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

skoronesa said:


> So you told them the 75$ would go toward the bill and then didn't do it?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The 225$ bill had already the 75$ deducted on it. So the subtotal must of been 300$


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

skoronesa said:


> So you told them the 75$ would go toward the bill and then didn't do it?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I said it many times in my neighborhood if you say 75$ service call then you know who will think the whole job sight unseen is 75$


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## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

Thanks Mark what you are saying makes a lot of sense


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Tango said:


> The 225$ bill had already the 75$ deducted on it. So the subtotal must of been 300$



I think you got it figured out.... if I had done nothing but inspected their house it was gonna cost them 75 bucks... Instead the 75 dollars they were going to have to fork out went towards the service work I completed for them.....

I told them that the 75 bucks would be put towards the total bill for all the work completed.... 

this seemed reasonable to me as we do this all the time .... 


its just the first time someone tried to haggle me out of it.... and that would have meant all the work I did would have been for only 150.00


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## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

Worked for a church friend today. In the past he had some issues with my prices. Seriously he said my prices were of the devil. The last time I made the mistake to make it a family visit while I did the plumbing that was my mistake. This time I kept the conversation short and sweet. I made sure it was business and not a friendly visit. Left the wife at home. I gave him a price to replace a regulator and asked him if that was acceptable to him he said yes I installed the regulator got paid by a check and left. Really not that much conversation that was fine by me. He needed a service I provided the service and he paid me for the service and I left.


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## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

I realize now that I allowed some so called friends to take advantage of me. I will be more firm and stand my ground when a friend or church member etc. asks for plumbing. Work has been a little slow lately so I am grateful for the work.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

rooterboy said:


> I realize now that I allowed some so called friends to take advantage of me. I will be more firm and stand my ground when a friend or church member etc. asks for plumbing. Work has been a little slow lately so I am grateful for the work.





Plumbing is one of those things that most people won't understand. And I say won't because they choose not to. They could if they wanted but they don't. Because they don't understand it and have never picked up a wrench in their lives they have no concept of how difficult it is to do. They will put plumbing on this pedestal next to mountain climbing and skate boarding as if it is some skill which requires talent and tons of time to learn but at the same time they think they shouldn't pay you for your time invested.


Computer work is kind of the same way, you need to know a lot that most people don't mostly because they refuse to.



I used to do a lot of different handyman stuff. Mostly for little old ladies whose husbands had died and they needed the lawn mowed, algae cleaned off the house, stuff painted, leaves raked. Occasionally I would do some simple carpentry or fix a plumbing leak. 



Out of all the odd jobs I did fixing computers was the one I had the most experience with but came to HATE. I grew up using computers and we always had pretty new models until I got old enough to want my own. I scavenged old parts and made my own slowly replacing the old parts with new as I could afford them. Occasionally I would take an old pc, wipe it clean, and sell it with a monitor, keyboard, mouse, for like 60-100$.


I would put linux on them(like a free version of macintosh) so that their grandkids couldnt get viruses trying to download **** or free music or whatever. I would spend an hour or two with them explaining how to use it and they loved it. Most old people would just read stuff online or send emails.


The problems would arise when their grandkids would convince them to let them install windows(unsuccessfully) on it or they would want me to fix other windows computers I hadn't sold them. I once spent 3 hours removing **** and viruses from a computer the 16 year old grandson used for like an hour.


I would tell them up front my rate was x an hour, usually around 20$/hr depending on how much of a pita they were. Mind you the pc shop in town offered 100$ to wipe viruses but would inevitably upsell you a bunch of crap you didn't need. I would fix it right in front of them in their home instead of them having to unplug their rats nest and bring it into town. These old phuckers who were praising me when I showed up for being motivated unlike the other teenagers in town would start whining about how they should have just bought another computer or had me wipe it and reformat it like I had offered in the beginning and want to pay me less.




*Long story short most people suck and don't want to pay and will use any excuse or manipulation to pay less.*








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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

skoronesa said:


> *Long story short most people suck and don't want to pay and will use any excuse or manipulation to pay less.*
> 
> 
> .



Awesome Bravo. :vs_clap::vs_clap::vs_clap:


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

skoronesa said:


> Plumbing is one of those things that most people won't understand. And I say won't because they choose not to. They could if they wanted but they don't. Because they don't understand it and have never picked up a wrench in their lives they have no concept of how difficult it is to do. *They will put plumbing on this pedestal next to mountain climbing and skate boarding* as if it is some skill which requires talent and tons of time to learn but at the same time they think they shouldn't pay you for your time invested.
> 
> .



I have a lot of people calling me thinking the opposite and I mean a lot of my callers think it's easy and some say it's just a pipe. For that reason they think it should cost less than a happy meal.

What I'd like to know for real is how they think, what they think and how much a plumber is worth. They have no concept of well being until they flood or have a sewer backup. In a few ways I already know, they have a very narrow field of knowledge and I see the majority of people will never pursue to learn anything useful. Their focus are rudimentary acts of doing nothing in life and watching celebrities fake & distorted "reality" shows.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

To be honest, I haven’t read this entire thread. 

I’ve bartered labor for items, cabin rental, charged for material and cost. 

I have a really good friend a few blocks away who just bought his house. He has been an incredible mentor in brewing, wine, cider and mead making. Sunday morning I replaced his disposal kit. Tried to charge him parts only, he gave me double, two bottles of mead, and came to help out an inexperienced brewer with his brew bay, and help me figure out my efficiency on my new system. 

So far I’ve replaced a hose bib and disposal kit. I was given twice in parts, two bottles of KBS, two bottles of mead, and an unending wealth of knowledge.

Family gets a discount, close neighbors, who will invite my kid over for half the day and feed him dinner get cost.

I’ve never locked my cube, front or back. 

I guess small’ish communities in Michigan, and good neighbors are different than most.

The handle from my garage door into my house broke a week ago. So it’s been unlocked since.


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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

OpenSights said:


> To be honest, I haven’t read this entire thread.
> 
> I’ve bartered labor for items, cabin rental, charged for material and cost.
> 
> ...


I heard "mead" now where is the party? I used to buy mine back in Denmark from a guy who started his own little brewery just for quality mead. Much better stuff than what at the time was available that had the alcohol percentage spiked instead of letting it take it's time to naturally get there. It has been a while since I last had some mead that was worth sacrificing.
If I had a friend that was making good mead I would do all his plumbing for some mead or if I was interested in learning how to do it myself I would plumb for free for life for that knowledge.

Knowledge is power. (Not just book knowledge)
Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

OpenSights said:


> I’ve never locked my cube, front or back.
> 
> I guess small’ish communities in Michigan, and good neighbors are different than most.
> 
> The handle from my garage door into my house broke a week ago. So it’s been unlocked since.


Damn! You don't lock your doors!! My house doors are even stronger than those used by drug dealers and I'm not exaggerating every single person who has come to my house, has commented on them. Sometimes I hear people walking on the sidewalk and comment among themselves.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

The Dane said:


> I heard "mead" now where is the party? I used to buy mine back in Denmark from a guy who started his own little brewery just for quality mead. Much better stuff than what at the time was available that had the alcohol percentage spiked instead of letting it take it's time to naturally get there. It has been a while since I last had some mead that was worth sacrificing.
> If I had a friend that was making good mead I would do all his plumbing for some mead or if I was interested in learning how to do it myself I would plumb for free for life for that knowledge.
> 
> Knowledge is power. (Not just book knowledge)
> Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


Mead is simple! Really! It is probably the easiest wine out there to make! Depending on type of honey, yeast, nutrients... leaving for up north tomorrow. I’ll give you some recipes.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Tango said:


> Damn! You don't lock your doors!! My house doors are even stronger than those used by drug dealers and I'm not exaggerating every single person who has come to my house, has commented on them. Sometimes I hear people walking on the sidewalk and comment among themselves.


Usually I keep the house locked up at night, but with a broken knob on a 119y/o house... modern things don’t match up for an easy fix sometimes.

ATM, my cube is pulled slightly forward from my garage, door open, camera ready to be loaded in the morning....

I wish I could live in the country, but I’m right down town!


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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

OpenSights said:


> Mead is simple! Really! It is probably the easiest wine out there to make! Depending on type of honey, yeast, nutrients... leaving for up north tomorrow. I’ll give you some recipes.


I'm not sure what "up north"means to you as I forget where you have told us that is. I do appreciate the offer of some recipes but I'm afraid I neither have time for such a hobby nor do I actually have any interest in brewing. So thanks for the offer but sending a recipe I'm afraid would be a waste of your good time. 

A bottle of your finest however  

Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

The Dane said:


> I'm not sure what "up north"means to you as I forget where you have told us that is. I do appreciate the offer of some recipes but I'm afraid I neither have time for such a hobby nor do I actually have any interest in brewing. So thanks for the offer but sending a recipe I'm afraid would be a waste of your good time.
> 
> A bottle of your finest however
> 
> Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


There’s no brewing when it comes to mead. All you do is make a must. A mixture of water, honey, a nutrient (traditionally raisons) but there are more modern nutrients, and a package of yeast. Mix them in a fermenter, put an airlock on and wait. 

You can literally make a 5 gallon must in a half hour and pitch the yeast. Wait 2-6 months and you have 5 gallons of mead. Many go smaller and make 1 gallon batches. 

Up north is a common term for us trolls in Michigan; those of us who live under the bridge connecting the lower and upper peninsula.

I’d be happy to share a bottle! Pretty soon I’ll be starting a new batch, haven’t decided between tart cherry, strawberry or black currant. I prefer my meads to ferment fairy dry. D-71 or d-74 are the preferred yeast strains for mead, but any yeast will do. D-71 is usually the quickest from must to mead.

Remember, mead is a wine, not a beer, so there’s no brewing involved. In fact heating honey beyond a certain temperature, 114f IIRC it then would be considered a bouchée because you’re caramelizing the honey. Purists never do this unless you’re making a braggot, which is a beer brewed with honey.

A basic batch of mead is 12lbs, or 1 gallon of honey (raw), a few dozen raisins, 4 gallons of good quality water, yeast and time for the yeast to do it’s job.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

OpenSights said:


> 119y/o house...





119 years!!! That's all? lolz There is many a day I am glad indoor plumbing wasn't common until the late 1800's around here. If some of these houses had plumbing as old as they are I think I would quit plumbing.


I know over in europe they make houses from almost all stone and I agree it's better. That makes it all the more impressive to work in a home from the early 1700's built with wood from the foundation(about a foot above grade) on up. The hand stacked stone foundations that don't have mortar and yet don't have dirt/roots/animals coming through the cracks either.


I too live where we don't have to lock our doors, it really is nice.








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