We developed a leak in our tankless water heater. According to the plumber who fixed it, the problem was a valve that had been sand cast had an imperfection, eventually it cracked, and started leaking. It is worth writing about hiring a plumber, electrician, or other mechanical to do repairs around the house. It exposes an important type of social behavior we don’t consider very often.

First, things don’t break down very much. Whether it is the quality of construction, better manufacturing, or good luck, I can’t say. I go several years without contacting a plumber or electrician. When I need one, the same person I used before may not be around. For the most part, I use sole proprietorship businesses because that is what is available. Life changes for them, like with everyone.

I attempted to contact the plumber who installed our tankless water heater in 2018 and had no luck. Everything I could tell from the internet was he is still in business: good listings, active license, and valid phone number. What do you do when the number doesn’t pick up and you have an active leak? Find someone else.

After multiple internet searches, I settled on six potential contractors, all of whom were sole proprietorship businesses. Here’s how the story unfolded as I told it in my Google review after the repair was completed.

My first call was to Doug to repair a leak from my tankless water heater. He took the call, asked me to text photos, and came over the same day with a part. When he arrived, he diagnosed the problem but found that the part was wrong for this particular leak, which was concealed where the camera could not reach. He returned the following morning with the correct part and made the repair. He also explained some things about my water heater that I did not know. We reviewed the charges, and after hearing the explanation, I found the price reasonable. I would definitely call him again for plumbing work.

This is the result you want when hiring a plumber.

Lessons learned:

• I picked this contractor because he had the most ratings on Google and other rating services compared to the other plumbers on my list. His overall was 4.8/5.0 and almost all of them were positive. That separated him from the others.
• You have to convince the contractor to take the job. You need a reliable contractor more than they need the business. When I was signing the check in the driveway, he said there is more work available in the community than there are plumbers or electricians to do it. Anyone who worked as a plumber or electrician could be a millionaire because of that, he said.
• Listen, especially during the initial telephone discussion. In this case, he felt our house was “out in the boondocks.” I didn’t get defensive, but let him talk and listened. In the end, he took the job and we discovered we knew people in common, and that he had done a number of jobs in my neighborhood, despite its stated remoteness.
• Always keep the paperwork when major appliances like a water heater are installed. I also keep previous invoices, if any, inside the booklet that came with the appliance. Store these documents where you can find them on short notice.
• Be prepared to pay in cash or by check. A sole proprietorship business is mindful of cash flow and expenses if they are any good. Those added charges from the credit card company matter, and sometimes, because of them, contractors don’t even get set up to take credit cards.
• Give the contractor as much space as they want while they are working. I ended up hanging out about 15 feet away and helping how I could as he effected the repairs. As we talked, I learned about his dislike for on-demand water heaters and we had a discussion about how a household solves the problem of needing hot water. I was respectful of his skills. It was a learning opportunity for me.

So that’s that. I hope readers find something useful here.