# I don't hate "handymen" ...



## smellslike$tome (Jun 16, 2008)

but I don't like some of the things they do very much at all. I know this handyman type guy. As far as I can tell it's a full time thing for him and he appears to want to serve his customers well. In other words, he's not someone who does this "on the side". He's a very nice guy who tries to keep a clean, professional, appearance.

I forget how I met him initially but he has called me a few times over the years to come price work. I have never actually done any work for him.

Yesterday I get a call from him needing "plumbing advice". Are you serious!? This is over the line! I listen patiently to him explain how he twisted off a sweat type hose bibb at a customers house in an attempt to replace it. I listened to how he subsequently had to cut the wall open on the inside in order to repair what he had done. He wants to know if there was a better way to have done this specifically whether or not the valve could have been sweated off outside and a new one sweated on. At this point I begin to speak. I don't open up on this guy. He's not an evil person, he's just trying to feed his family like the rest of us. I also did not pull any punches. In a very calm and measured way I explain that he should not have done what he did because in this state any repair of any piping system done under contract is only to be done by a certified professional. I explain that though he probably did not realize it he had in fact broken the law. I go on to explain that sweating copper is potentially very dangerous work and that he could easily burn down someone's house. To his credit he did not get defensive but seemed to be unaware that he did anything wrong. At this point he explained that he hadn't used a torch, rather he had simply used sharkbites. I asked him if they had been left access via a panel or if they had been sealed up in the wall. Of course they had been sealed up. I explained that that was a very bad idea and that although sharkbites, imo, had their place in the plumbing universe that this was certainly not one of them. I told him that I have previously encountered this exact scenario in which the sharkbite started leaking sometime after the repair and had caused damage to the wall. I explained that I do in fact occasionally use sharkbites but only if they are accessible and would cause no damage should they ever begin to leak.

He ended up charging the customer $425.00 and reported that the job took about 5 hours. I explained that the price, if in fact I would have had to cut the wall inside, was about right but would not have included any sharkbites and should have been completed in well under 2 hours.

I have no idea whether my little lecture had any affect or not. I did not want to hammer the guy. In my view he is not a scam artist but at the same time he has no business doing what he is apparantly doing. I expect that I may not ever hear from him again but who knows. He may just go right on making plumbing "repairs".


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## uaplumber (Jun 16, 2008)

Well your a bigger man than I smells. Whenever I get someone asking me for advice I normally give the the " Well I can't really fix this over the phone, I'll have to book you as a service call. " If they don't get the idea I will be a little more blunt with something like " Sir, Plumbing is what I do for a living. I am a professional and charge accordingly. I can't give you any advice over the phone because without seeing the task I may not give you the proper advice. I do not want to be responsible for any misunderstandings that result in something bad happening." They usually make excuses to get off the phone after that.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Meanwhile his customers pay for his incompetence...:furious:

Those are the ones that I can't stand...

I see all to many jobs where the customer has had an expensive hacked up mess created and the money is gone now the customer needs me to fix it for nothing.

It's one thing to be a handyman DIYer in your own home where allowed by law. *But, *to be a paid handyman and dabble in a licensed trade illegally is a criminal act! *I'd have let him have it both barrels!*


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## nhmaster3015 (Aug 5, 2008)

I would have found out who he was and where he did the work and then called the state inspector on him.


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## service guy (Jun 26, 2008)

nhmaster3015 said:


> I would have found out who he was and where he did the work and then called the state inspector on him.


Good idea, next time this happens to me I'll be sure to get a physical address and then call the inpectors...I hate unlicensed hacks.


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## Proud Plumber (Sep 15, 2008)

nhmaster3015 said:


> I would have found out who he was and where he did the work and then called the state inspector on him.


AMEN, unlicensed contracting is a felony in my state.


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## 2ndGenPlumber (Sep 24, 2008)

I believe that homeowners should incur the costs of damage to the home when the mess that has been done should have had a insured licensesd professional, instead of a handyman, jack leg, or anyone else besides the homeowner screw things up.


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## MACPLUMB777 (Jun 18, 2008)

*Handyman Work*

*that's A Good Thought But Unfortunately*
*stupid Is Still Covered By Home Insurance*
*co's So As Long As They Can Afford The Premiums They Are Covered No Matter Who Doe's The Work *


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## Wiser (Jul 25, 2008)

Today we saw some great handyman plumbing work. H.O. calls with complaint of no water at kitchen sink and wants us to check his water heater while we are there to confirm that is installed right.

Assuming he installed it himself, when we arrive we check the faucet aerator and it is gunked up with debris from the diptube. Go to check heater which has just been relocated by a carpenter still working in the house. Rubber washing machine hoses coming out from behind the paneling connected directly to the water heater.

So, dear husband is wondering what in the h*ll is the washing machine hoses connected to behind the wall. He has the carpenter remove the paneling and this is what we discover. The home was piped in polybute and the carpenter took a cpvc male coupling and glued it with god knows what directly to the poly. Connected washing machine hoses behind the wall and connected to the water heater. There was no shut-off valve at the water heater and the home had no shut-off valve. When it would have burst, we would love to see the homeowner trying to locate his meter. 

HO said, 'yeah, I didn't look it looked right.' YOU THINK!


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## ASUPERTECH (Jun 22, 2008)

IE: HANDYMEN
Short & Sweet of it= BURN EM ALL.


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## pzmember (Sep 20, 2008)

you know i think i do hate handymen/ maintenance men. yesterday i went to the best western motel here in town to look at a complete gas re-pipe. the only guy around to show me around was the assistant maintanence guy. he is showing me the proposed routes and all the appliances to be converted. so we get to the pool area and i ask to see the boilers for the pool and spa. he says we dont got boilers we got furnaces. so i say really he shows me the " furnaces" and proceeds to say see the water gos in right here and goes through this thingy, and goes out this pipe here. so i say yeah a boiler. and he persisted to argue w/ me. i kept the peace and told him i would set up a time to go over everything w/ his boss. all the while i just wanted to call him an idiot. a big fat idiot. a big fat stupid idiot.


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## muck (Oct 10, 2008)

mjcoleman said:


> an idiot. a big fat idiot. a big fat stupid idiot.


 All I can think of is peter griffin saying that


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## service guy (Jun 26, 2008)

Plumbcrazy said:


> Today we saw some great handyman plumbing work. H.O. calls with complaint of no water at kitchen sink and wants us to check his water heater while we are there to confirm that is installed right.
> 
> Assuming he installed it himself, when we arrive we check the faucet aerator and it is gunked up with debris from the diptube. *Go to check heater which has just been relocated by a carpenter still working in the house. * Rubber washing machine hoses coming out from behind the paneling connected directly to the water heater.
> 
> ...


If it was me, I'd be reporting that carpenter who did the water heater install to the Board of Inspectors...they take that kind of illegal activity seriously here.:gun_bandana::hang:


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## Wiser (Jul 25, 2008)

It's like the wild, wild west in SC. Up until a year ago, our state didn't even do their own testing. Now they do and they dumbed down the test.

Our Governor made a comment a few years ago and made a reference to plumbers being handymen. Can't remember how it went, but basically it was no respect for the work that a plumber does. A hair dresser needs more hours than a plumber to be in business. 

I'm starting to like handymen a whole lot. Our customer is sure to tell all his neighbors how we saved him from an almost disaster. One thing I noticed is that we have a lot of fire/water restoration co.s in the area - now I know why!

HO's who use handymen are willing to take a risk - turning the handymen / HO in puts our company in a bad position of being a snitch. It's not right, but it's not a battle we are taking on. Our mission is to provide professional plumbing to our customers - fighting the hacks doesn't put money in our pockets and is a major distraction from our mission. When we fix something a handyman worked on, we take the time to educate our customer to the dangers of using handymen.


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## ASUPERTECH (Jun 22, 2008)

Plumbcrazy said:


> It's like the wild, wild west in SC. Up until a year ago, our state didn't even do their own testing. Now they do and they dumbed down the test.
> 
> Our Governor made a comment a few years ago and made a reference to plumbers being handymen. Can't remember how it went, but basically it was no respect for the work that a plumber does. A hair dresser needs more hours than a plumber to be in business.
> 
> ...


"Ignorance is no excuse for the law."- all though I'm greatful for all of the projects I've had to fix that a maintenance staffer made or the HO hired out to a Handy Man, reallity is most people won't take there 10k-20k-30k dollar car to the shady tree mechanic, but will trust there 100k-200k-300k+ home or multi million dollar establishment to the guy who can "fix it" for $50 or $10/hr, deserves what ever they get.
I have reported unlicensed activity before and will continue to do so. As our primary responsibility is the health of the nation, it is and should remain one of our top priorities.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2008)

I get this all the time ,,, " Oh we have a great handyman who can fix ANYTHING ! We'll just have him take a look at it ,, you know,, to save some money ."

" No Ma'am , I don't mind . Remember my magnet and phone number are on the frig ."

And WHY do these hacks ALWAYS have to screw up plumbing at 5M on a FRIDAY !!

Cal


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## Wiser (Jul 25, 2008)

ASUPERTECH said:


> "Ignorance is no excuse for the law."- . . . As our primary responsibility is the health of the nation, it is and should remain one of our top priorities.


When local jurisdictions start enforcing their own policies, we'll be glad to comply. Handyman are allowed to make plumbing repairs in our state. 

In the meantime, if we attempted to turn someone in, the local jurisdiction most likely won't follow through. After all, if they can ignore what's going on outside their offices, their job is much easier. Inspectors (most of them barely qualified) walk around like gods and can make your life miserable if they wanted to.


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## Wiser (Jul 25, 2008)

This was related to Heating and Air Conditioning, but I think you will understand how our 'wonderful' Governor feels about handymen. It just wouldn't be fair to limit the unlicensed hacks. It should be up to the unsuspecting homeowner to decide. Perhaps now you will understand our desire to not to engage in this battle on a local level. There is NO support for licensed contractors. Our local jurisdictions see all the trucks that are unmarked with pipe racks - THEY IGNORE IT!

Governor Sanford's letter:

I am hereby vetoing and returning without my approval H. , R-342. 
&session=116">H.  (.doc">Word version) would set requirements for the sale and installation of residential heating and air conditioning systems, and would allow the Department of Labor, Licensing and Registration to set civil penalties for violating regulations. 
There are many licensed contractors in South Carolina who do a great job in providing heating and air services for people in our state. They are to be commended. Unfortunately, as just mentioned, this bill goes well beyond simple licensing requirements. It is for this reason that I am vetoing this Bill. 
I don't believe it is government's role to tell a willing buyer and seller that a transaction is illegal when the consequence of that transaction does not entail material harm to the public at large. *If the buyer knows that the installer is not licensed and proceeds anyway, it is the buyer's right to do so.* This Bill will eliminate competition, and drive the cost of selling and installing heating and air conditioning systems higher. For example, *one legislator happens to have a close family member who graduated from a technical college and has a great deal of knowledge in the area of heating and cooling, but happens not to be licensed. This Bill would make it illegal for this legislator to purchase the services of his own son, even though he is fully cognizant of the fact that his son isn't licensed*. Leaving aside the above example, *I think that is misguided for anyone not to be able to use their handyman of choice, including those that might be a cousin or relative. *
*A law saying that a potential buyer must be informed as to whether an installer is licensed, and/or one that makes the fraudulent claim of being licensed may be sufficiently narrow to protect the public interest without severely restricting the right to contract. But this Bill injects the State too firmly into the market. The quality of work of the licensed installers should speak for itself, without the need for the state government to create a captive market. *
Therefore, I am returning H.  without my signature. Sincerely,
Mark Sanford
Governor
Received as information.


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