The last thing you want to be doing in an emergency is spending time finding and researching new plumbers. However, if you know what you’re looking for, this can make the whole experience much quicker and easier. So what should you look for when choosing a plumber?
The most important thing to look for when choosing a plumber is their accreditations. Their certifications will determine the work they are able to carry out.
If you’re looking to hire someone to carry out gas or heating work, it’s vital that you check they are registered with organisations such as Gas Safe and Oftec to ensure that they can safely carry out the work.
Being approved by other organisations such as SAFEcontractor, CIPHE, NICEIC, Which? Trusted Trader and CHAS, is also a clear mark that tradesmen are legitimate and are able to carry out your required plumbing work.
If you can easily find out if your plumber is a registered professional, this suggests that you can trust them to carry out safe and high quality repairs, as opposed to a friend of a friend who can fix your sink as a favour!
Legitimate tradespeople will be insured up to a certain amount (for example, we are insured up to £5,000,000). This means that if they were to run into any problems and the worst were to happen, you can rest assured that any damage would be covered.
If you are unable to find out if a company is insured (and the amount they are insured for), it’s difficult to find this assurance.
When choosing your plumber, it’s also important that you know their availability. If a pipe were to burst in your home, or your boiler were to break, you need the assurance that they offer a 24 hour emergency call out service. Unfortunately, boilers on the brink of breakdown don’t wait for 9am.
Knowing their response time can be the deciding factor when choosing your plumber. You don’t want to have to wait 8 hours for an engineer to arrive if a pipe bursts at midnight.
As well as their response time, you should also take note of a company’s opening times. There should be someone available to speak to over the phone 24/7. If you have to adhere to certain opening times in order to call for an emergency engineer, this can cause a lot of stress in a heating or plumbing emergency.
A good sign of a reliable and trustworthy plumbing company is often their customer charter. If they clearly lay out their promises to their customers, this will allow you to get a feel for the kind of company they are. To learn about our promises to you, read our customer promise.
Both local tradespeople and large, national companies can have their benefits. Local businesses will be close by and know the area, and will be more likely to be able to reach you quickly. National companies on the other hand, will have built up a reputation of trust.
However, nationals may take longer for an engineer to arrive at your home, and may be more expensive than smaller, local companies.
Local companies tend to be a more cost effective choice, and can feel much more personal and friendly than a large corporation, whilst still offering the same quality service.
If you read through a few of their reviews and there’s more positive reviews than negative, this can be a good sign that they’re a reliable plumber. Some negative reviews are to be expected, but as long as the majority are positive they are likely to be a trustworthy company.
If your plumber has a helpful website, this can make choosing an engineer much easier. For example, if they have a blog of useful tips and information, this is often a sign of a company that is happy and willing to help its customers.
If they don’t have a website, or it doesn’t include much information about their services or any helpful tips, you may have to do deeper research to find out if they’re reliable.
When hiring a plumber, it’s understandable that cost will be an influencing factor in your choice. If they’re not clear about their pricing before they arrive to carry out the work, this can cause frustration if they end up charging more than you were ready to pay.
However, some may ask to see what work will need to be carried out first in order to give you an accurate figure. Once your plumber tells you the cost of your work, make sure they give you a written quote. For more tips on how to find the best plumber, read this helpful article on This Is Money.
Also, whether they charge a call out fee or not should be considered when choosing your plumber. If your plumber doesn’t charge call out fees, you will only be paying for the time they spend working in your home.
Knowing what you need to look for in a plumber ahead of time can make dealing with an emergency much less stressful - and if you ever do find yourself in an emergency situation, our emergency engineers are on hand 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to help you.
Complete the form below and one of the Plumbcare.com team will get back to you as soon as possible.
