# Reporting unlicensed "plumber"



## pdxplumber (Nov 21, 2009)

My main source of advertising is craigslist. It's not the best place to find serious customers but it's free and I can try out different adds to see what works. Lately there is a plumber advertising for $65, no license. I called him to see whats up and he gave me some b.s. about his wife forgetting to post his license# in the add. He gave me a # and I checked it out. It was invalid.
Should I turn him in, or am I being petty. It just pisses me off that I have had to jump through all these hoops and pay all the fees only to be undercut by somebody doing my work illegally. So much of my work is cleaning up after unlicensed hacks, maybe I should thank him.


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## Ron (Jun 12, 2008)

pdxplumber said:


> My main source of advertising is craigslist. It's not the best place to find serious customers but it's free and I can try out different adds to see what works. Lately there is a plumber advertising for $65, no license. I called him to see whats up and he gave me some b.s. about his wife forgetting to post his license# in the add. He gave me a # and I checked it out. It was invalid.
> Should I turn him in, or am I being petty. It just pisses me off that I have had to jump through all these hoops and pay all the fees only to be undercut by somebody doing my work illegally. So much of my work is cleaning up after unlicensed hacks, maybe I should thank him.


Good luck I tried to turn someone in on the BCD web site and nothing ever happened.


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## ChrisConnor (Dec 31, 2009)

Turn him in. 

I also forward the business cards and yellow pages ads of unlicensed people and send them to the Secretary of State.

I reported a guy 42 TIMES in '08 before the investigation was started. All he got was a cease and desist from the Secretary of State. Five times he was doing a job without any permit. The third time you are supposed to see the judge, but nothing happened. All the other times another plumber pimped his license and bought his illegal permits. The plumber that was pimping the license died right after the investigation started.

If a licensed contractor does wrong, he gets raked over the coals, while the fly by night hacks just keep on keeping on.


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## Ron (Jun 12, 2008)

They have to catch them on site doing a job, thats how I think they do it here in Oregon


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## ChrisConnor (Dec 31, 2009)

Ron said:


> They have to catch them on site doing a job, thats how I think they do it here in Oregon


Here,if you get caught, the inspector will give them a stop work order. Second time is a fine, third time 1500 dollar fine and supposedly a hearing in local court.

The SoS licensing office has to be notified separately and they will give a cease and desist order after an investigation and a hearing and then a 500 dollar fine per offense after that.


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## ToUtahNow (Jul 19, 2008)

Turn him in.

In California all they have to do is advertise as a plumber and they can be busted. Even a licensed plumber who does not include his license number in an advertisement or on his truck can be busted.

Mark


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## Ron (Jun 12, 2008)

He can try but they won't act on it. I know I tried once, there is a form to fill out on the BCD site


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## Ron (Jun 12, 2008)

Here is the form to fill out, good luck pdxplumber.

BCD Complaint Form


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)




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## ToUtahNow (Jul 19, 2008)

Ron said:


> He can try but they won't act on it. I know I tried once, there is a form to fill out on the BCD site


It may not help but by being complacent it seems he would be supporting unlicensed plumbers.

Mark


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*turn them in*

In this state we have a number of them getting permits
from old retired plumbers to work under.....

seems that they are too stupid to pass the plumbing test
but are able to bribe someone to pull a permit for them....

it probably would be best to go after the old lisc plumbers 
who pimp out their plumbing card to these hacks....
you would have to fine them or take away 
their cards for doing this....

.

presently their is an appliance store that has an add in the
yellow page book next to mine, with no Lisc # next to them.... 
they are cutting into the lisc plumbers work with
no legitimate plumbers working for them

I guess if I wanted to be a prick...I should turn them in too


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

Call him out to do a repipe at your house. sign a contract and tel him to be there at X date and time. When he shows up, have the inspector waiting on him.


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## SewerRatz (Apr 25, 2009)

The problem is many guys feel nothing will happen when you report these unlicensed guys so they do not even bother reporting them. Granted nothing may happen but by not reporting them you are just supporting then and ensuring nothing will happen. 

I report any violation to the Illinois Licensing law. http://www.ilphcc.com/images/YourAssistanceNeeded.pdf


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## ranman (Jan 24, 2010)

Protech said:


> Call him out to do a repipe at your house. sign a contract and tel him to be there at X date and time. When he shows up, have the inspector waiting on him.




i like your thinkin:thumbup:


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## niteowl (Mar 2, 2010)

find an aggressive inspector in your area and tell him whats going on. he should do something about it. happened here not long ago, inspector called the police and had the guy arrested on the spot. nice :thumbup:. put the fear in the rest of the unlicensed plumbers in my work area. word travels fast when you are a crook. florida has up to a 1 year in jail and $5000.00 fine for unlicensed contractors. everything depends on who you tell and their aggressiveness.


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## ald toon loon (Mar 9, 2010)

this is a interesting thread in my country we do not need licences to earn our bread and butter 
hence al the east euopeans flood in and eat our bread and butter on the cheap 
so i say power to you all report them


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## Sheppard (Aug 23, 2008)

pdxplumber said:


> Should I turn him in, or am I being petty. .


 Ask yourself the same question while you are writing the check to renew your certification.


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## M5Plumb (Oct 2, 2008)

Turn them in, if they want to try their hand at the business thing, then they must follow the same road we as licensed and bonded contractors do. Did you look to see if the person was even a licensed plumber? I'm sure Mr. Swisher would love to see the person appear in front the ALJ.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

In Florida if someone else applies for your permits they call it "qualifying" a company. So if an old retired plumber pulls permits for a young plumber w/o a license, it is almost the same thing. The states have to do a better job at policing the trades. In my state (FLA.) with my master's license, I can hire 100's of plumbers and none of them need a journeyman card. If the governor's mansion burns to the ground because some unlicensed plumber installed gas line improperly, then the state will tighten-up their oversight. But until then there will be unlicensed guys.


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## ToUtahNow (Jul 19, 2008)

In California they have an RMO and an RME. The RME is a "Responsible Management Employee" who is licensed and qualifies the business. He must put his license to inactive to qualify a business. An RMO is a "Responsible Management Owner" who must own a minimum of 20% of the business to qualify the business but can keep his license active.

Mark


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## smellslike$tome (Jun 16, 2008)

PLUMBING REPAIR $40 PER HOUR (BIRMINGHAM, AL)

Date: 2010-03-15, 10:33AM EDT
Reply to: see below 

I SPECIALIZE IN ALL TYPES OF PLUMBING REPAIR. I INSTALL SUMP PUMPS, EXPANSION TANKS, PRESSURE RELIEF VALVES. I HAVE A 4 HOUR WORK MINIMUM AND A $25 SERVICE FEE FOR ESTIMATES WHICH CAN BE DEDUCTED AT THE START OF THE JOB. CALL 404-272-5669. I ACCEPT CASH AND PAYPAL PAYMENTS ONLY. 

Location: BIRMINGHAM, AL
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
License info: Unlicensed

Can anybody beat $40 per hour?


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## pauliplumber (Feb 9, 2009)

Wow smells you really lowered your rates!:jester:


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## ChrisConnor (Dec 31, 2009)

smellslike$tome said:


> Can anybody beat $40 per hour?


What do you get if you win?


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## ToUtahNow (Jul 19, 2008)

smellslike$tome said:


> PLUMBING REPAIR $40 PER HOUR (BIRMINGHAM, AL)
> 
> Date: 2010-03-15, 10:33AM EDT
> Reply to: see below
> ...


For $200 an hour I can.

Mark


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## smellslike$tome (Jun 16, 2008)

ChrisConnor said:


> What do you get if you win?


Bankruptcy.


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## smellslike$tome (Jun 16, 2008)

My other guy installed a 40 gallon gas yesterday in a split level with a split hot water dist. sys. The other tank was an electric and was a 1/2 story higher. The electric was isolated to prevent siphoning. When he got done he told the lady of the house that he was about to turn the water back on. She takes it upon herself to open up the isolation valve on the electric and flip the breaker back on. She reports that it filled for about 15 seconds and when it stopped she flipped the breaker. So we get a call this morning that the husband ran out of hot water in his shower. Everybody is thinking dry fire since the plumber warned her yesterday that she may have fried the element if it was exposed when she flipped the breaker. I go out this afternoon and test it (dont ask me why my other plumber didn't do this before he left yesterday, he's a numbskull what can I say) and everything is fine except the man of the house, before I begin the diagnostic, says "hey the breaker is tripped, how'd that happen". I go ahead and perform the diagnostic anyway. The breaker was the only problem. Either she didn't flip it all the way until it clicked or it tripped sometime after the fact. Either way it wasn't our fault. So I tell the guy "your in good shape, I'm going to put my gear up and I'll be right back with your ticket". He says "your not going to charge me a bunch of money for that are you?" I turned around and looked him in the face and said "I'm going to charge you $59 for the service call and $49 for the diagnostic, which is half the usual charge for an electric water heater diagnostic, but since I could see that both elements were energizing properly it was obvious that it was fine and just had a tripped breaker so there was no need to do the full diagnostic. Your total will be $108.00 I'll be right back."


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## retired rooter (Dec 31, 2008)

I played with an ad on cl (did not give a price) gave my license# so far all I have gotten were calls from slum lords and folks wanting mobile homes hooked up (no thanks )


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

I neeed to get some silicone tape........



At the 2:40 mark...he fails to apply solvent to the pipe.......then tells you how much experience he has:laughing: He should have saved the money he paid for those tatoos and bought a plumbing book.


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## kentdmo (Dec 15, 2008)

oregon Inspectors are hardasses they will eventually catch the douce bag


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## pipelayinghost (May 9, 2010)

In my experiance Craig's List customers are cheap,pains in the but,looking for a deal landlords.Let the unlicensed guy feed his family and waste his gas doing free estimates.Most folks on that site are looking for work or to get a 10 dollar an hour handyman,change your ad and refer your no goes to the unlicensed hack,they will understand why you charge more then him when you answer your phone and his is disconnected.


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## smellslike$tome (Jun 16, 2008)

TheMaster said:


> I neeed to get some silicone tape........YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.
> At the 2:40 mark...he fails to apply solvent to the pipe.......then tells you how much experience he has:laughing: He should have saved the money he paid for those tatoos and bought a plumbing book.YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.


So PZ is now an extension of the You Tube, DIY Network. Nice :no:.


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## Richard Hilliard (Apr 10, 2010)

*reporting unlicensed plumber*

Short story

A person was caught on video doing illegal work on a commercial building. The Union and the city licensing department backed the prosecuting attorney against this individual. Arrived in court the judge asked why is the city trying to stop a hard working person from making a living and dismissed the case. Problem is too many judges are interpreting the law instead of enforcing the law.

We follow the law and pull permits for work that requires a permit. What do you do with the licensed plumbing companies that refuse to pull permits on work that requires a permit? Do you turn these companies in with the on licensed workers? This is another huge problem with the law. Picking and choosing who the law is aimed at cannot work and is known by the judicial system. It must work for all and not just the unlicensed workers or throw the law out.

How can the judicial system take a group seriously hwen we pick and choose who the law affects?


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## Don The Plumber (Feb 14, 2010)

Richard Hilliar said:


> Short story
> 
> A person was caught on video doing illegal work on a commercial building. The Union and the city licensing department backed the prosecuting attorney against this individual. Arrived in court the judge asked why is the city trying to stop a hard working person from making a living and dismissed the case. Problem is too many judges are interpreting the law instead of enforcing the law.
> 
> ...


Judges have no clue whatsoever, about construction laws, construction in general, or how it works. Most of them don't know the difference between a straight, or phillips screwdriver.


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## copperhead (Dec 26, 2009)

where I live theres a guy that works for the city water department and has a plumbing business, he pulls permits (" pimps his license ") for anyone for a price. If theres a water service leak on the homeowners side of the curb stop he changes his city employee hat to plumbing contractor hat and does the job when he gets off his city job.:thumbdown:


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## UALocal1Plumber (May 13, 2009)

It's very frustrating trying to get the Department of Buildings around here to enforce anything. . . I've called them and given them precise details about jobs going up dangerously or without permits, with no inspector ever sent out. It's just not in their budget for some reason - they only have a handful of enforcement officers.

A trick that I've learned is to call your local OSHA office if you see a ridiculous job happening. Obviously, this should only be done if you see a job occurring with an unlicensed, retard hack who doesn't have the slightest idea how to do a job safely. When you call, state that the conditions on the job lend themselves to an "imminent danger", and that an inspector must view the job immediately to prevent death or serious injury. He WILL come out! (I learned this from taking the OSHA 500 certification.) 

Trust me, even if your local plumbing code enforcement mechanism is not working, the Federal OSH Agency will slap the guy with fines, and possibly issue a court appearance if the violation is egregious enough. 

At least some of you guys have statewide licenses that CAN be enforced easily. Here in NY, there is a patchwork of licensing - a contractor has to be separately licensed in EVERY jurisdiction in which he works! This includes every county, and most of the time the villages and townships within those counties!

Keith


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

smellslike$tome said:


> So PZ is now an extension of the You Tube, DIY Network. Nice :no:.


Sure it is if I'd like to post it.:thumbsup: ....What you dont believe in DIY??? Then why does your website give instructions on how to replace a water heater drain valve??????:whistling2:

I think on another thread went alittle off track because you mentioned 49.99 drain cleaning to a guy from his website and wanted an explaination........well explain this if you dont agree with DIY info....It is from your website.....http://www.themastersplumbingco.com/plumbing_contractor/leaky_water.html Is 6 turns really enough to remove the drain or is it 7?:laughing:

Now you may be wondering why I posted that....well if your gonna mind my business then I'ma help mind your business.


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## RealLivePlumber (Jun 22, 2008)

I was at a customers on Fri, and saw a maintenance tag on the water heater. It was from a pretty big local heating and cooling co. 

A quick peruse of there web site showed that they are advertising "tankless hot water heaters" quite agressively. They go so far as to post pictures of their work. Another page they talk about licensure, about how it protects the consumer, yadda, yadda. These freaks are not licensed. I just filled out the official complaint form, and sent it off to the State Board. They WILL get a nice letter, along with a fine.:thumbsup:

Hey you, you wanna do plumbing work in NJ? Spend 6 years, and about 15 grand, and go get a license.


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

In my opinion we need hacks out there.....how else could you justify your bill or trade if all the plumbing was done correctly the first time.

All you need is one customer that has had a bad experience from some hack and you look like a God to them.

A large part of our work load is redoing hack jobs of both plumbing and heating.
Typically our price is double what it would have been to do the job right in the first place.


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## RealLivePlumber (Jun 22, 2008)

I got no problem with hacks.

Just the unlicensed ones.


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

IMO DIY and hacks only prolong problems and cause a more expensive repair at a later date. We use to sell DIY's parts out of out plumbing business.....more than 1/2 would call later and book a service call......most of them turned 1hr jobs into bigger projects...such as cross-threading valve bodies and breaking china trying to remove a toilet handle...stuff like that. We sold them parts...let them go home and ruin their old fixtures...then got paid to go undo and replace everythign they did and sell them more parts,fixtures. And there were guys who did a good job for themselves and saved some money...but when they had a big problem they would call us because we had helped them with parts on the things they can DIY but do not want a big project. Great for customer relations.

I cant count how many people came in to buy hose bibbs/sillcocks on satuday morning only to go back home and twist the copper off in the wall.......and then calling and booking the service call for me to go replace it.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

ToUtahNow said:


> Turn him in.
> 
> In California all they have to do is advertise as a plumber and they can be busted. Even a licensed plumber who does not include his license number in an advertisement or on his truck can be busted.
> 
> Mark


Law changed, plumbers are now supposed to put their lic #, full name and address on the truck. For other trades, they have all or nothing on the truck. If they have any advertisement on the truck to indicate their trade, they have to have the license #. No advertisemnt, no # needed.


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## Bill (Jun 17, 2008)

I feel as though if you advertise ANY trade, you should be required to post your license number in plain view.


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

copperhead said:


> where I live theres a guy that works for the city water department and has a plumbing business, he pulls permits (" pimps his license ") for anyone for a price. If theres a water service leak on the homeowners side of the curb stop he changes his city employee hat to plumbing contractor hat and does the job when he gets off his city job.:thumbdown:


Copperhead ... The Allentown association has been informed by our attorney on 6/17/2010 that the person you speak of has been told that there is a new city ordinace (regulation) prohibiting city employees from accepting employment from their City assigments. The Mayor and City Solicitor have interviewed the employee and he is well aware of the new regulation. The city has said any more complaints can now be filed with the Ethics Board. 

Sometimes association membership pays off. Gime me a call if you'd like to join us as a guest to see what its all about. Bill Parr 610-395 2152


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## copperhead (Dec 26, 2009)

Plumber Bill, you the man :notworthy:


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