Time is money when it comes to plumbing repairs. Though parts can be expensive, labor is always the largest portion of your bill. Anything you can do to help us complete our work quickly will pay for itself on the final bill. Here are some ideas to help get us in and out of your house more efficiently.
- Clear areas where we will have to work– in and under kitchen or bathroom sink, around water heater or heating boiler. Remove tchotchkes from radiator covers- if the heating system needs to be drained and refilled, we will need to access every radiator to bleed the air from them. Moving your belongings and keeping them safe will take us extra time and cost you more in labor.
- Make a list of things you’d like us to do and email it to us so we know what to expect ahead of time and can come prepared to fill the time productively.
- Sequester your pets and children, especially if they like to help (or in the case of pets, if they like to escape). We like pets and children, but don’t want to charge you for watching them.
- Know what type of heating system you have (see whatayagot heat). If you can tell us what type of fuel your system uses, whether you have hot air or hot water heat, what type of heating elements your house has, we can start the diagnosis over the phone, perhaps help you solve the problem remotely, tell whether the problem can wait for regular hours or if it needs to be taken care of immediately. Knowing basic information can help us bring the right materials with us, saving travel time to a supply house.
- Know what type of toilet you have. Keep a folder with information about model numbers for the fixtures and faucets in your house. If we can come with the parts, or if we order them and then schedule a time to come, no time will be wasted on travel or on the phone with suppliers.
- If you have a phone with a camera, you can take pictures of the item needing repair and email the pictures to us. Our suppliers can help us identify the item and get us parts.
- Know the location of emergency shutoffs for all the systems in your home. Don’t pile things in front of them. If you have a finished basement with shutoffs behind doors or above ceilings, write down the locations, or better yet, label them so someone coming to do repairs, a house sitter, or your kids can find them quickly.
- Do not wait to call about an ongoing problem after work hours or on a Friday afternoon. If you can, please call us when we are fully staffed and supply houses are open. Do not do “home repairs” that turn into emergencies on Saturday afternoons or Sundays. (You know who you are.) If you call us outside of business hours, we are going to have to charge you overtime rates, and we may not be able to locate parts, or may have to do a temporary repair that requires a second visit.