If you own a house, you’re going to need a plumber, eventually, unless you’re handy with one of those weird looking wrenches and can replace valves, faucets, tubes, shower heads, garbage disposals, water heaters, and can unplug nasty stuff when it gets clogged up.
I happen not to be one of those handy-with-a-weird-looking-wrench fellows, so I frequently need a plumber. But plumbers are expensive.
I don’t begrudge a plumber his rightful earnings, but I can go to my primary physician for an hour-long check up and it often costs less than a typical visit by a plumber to fix a couple leaks. And most plumbers these days have fixed rates. They may charge you for an hour even if they take only 10 minutes to fix the problem,
But I have an ace in the hole. My long-time friend, Pat Crowley, has a business called Mr. Faucet, and when I have plumbing problems, I call him first.
Pat is not a full-fledged plumber in the sense that he can do things like connect plumbing lines to houses, but he can do smaller projects and at a fraction of the fees of normal plumbers.
The other day, our hot water heater was acting up. Yep, right before Christmas, and I figured it would cost me a grand to put in a new unit, so I called Pat.
Pat went downstairs and checked the elements on my hot water heater and discovered that someone had turned one of the elements way down, so the other one was out of sync. He adjusted the switches and – problem solved. Pat said the unit should go another 5 or more years. That was good news. Then I asked him to check the guest bathroom sink. My daughter said she saw water dripping beneath the sink on a recent visit. There was no obvious leakage at the time, but Pat fiddled around and determined that when the sink was filled and plugged, it leaked slightly in a faulty tube below. So he ordered a new one and will install it when it arrives. He also fixed an one/off switch for the light in our bedroom closet and charged me a total $45. Most plumbers won’t even stop by your house for $45, much less fix anything.
Pat charges $60 per hour, but if he works 45 minutes, he charges for just that part of an hour – and no service call charges. He has helped me with all sorts of plumbing issues and has saved me lots of money.
If you happen to need someone like Pat, call him at his business – Mr. Faucet. His number is 434-962-2027.