[TheForge] housekeeping

[paul]

xlch58 at swbell.net wrote:
>
> I am sure you are a fine and concientious plumber.  I also know many 
> likeminded people in the building trades.  At the same time it is my 
> belief that the buildining trades as a whole have justly earned 
> themselves a bad name in the last twenty years.   Here locally, when 
> you hire a crafsman, what you get is a handful of HIS hours a week.   
> The hours you DO get are untrained illegal aliens with too little 
> oversight.  Only after repeated calls does your craftsman show up in a 
> bright red brand new high lift four wheel drive stretch cab truck with 
> nary a scratch in the bed.    When I need a plumber, I pay the price 
> asked by friends in the trade that drive the same ordinary work trucks 
> that I do..  They do quality work and don't require my constant 
> oversight.  Not everyone can afford them.    I had a master plumber 
> (licensed here in town) as a sub to a builder I hired.   This guy 
> showed up on a weekend after the framing crew left. He ran a vent 
> stack through a window.  When asked why he would do such a thing he 
> claimed that code demanded he do so.   He cut the flooring up three 
> inches from the wall, leaving no way to provide adequate edge support 
> for a replacement sheet.  He over notched the floor joists just about 
> everywhere he ran a pipe.  The code inspector ( who used to be my 
> plumber ten years ago) called him a dumbass.  My friend, the master 
> plumber down the street,  had less kind words for him as he told me 
> how to set things right ( he was booked up).    My wheelchair bound 
> mother often has to avail herself of the trades since I travel too 
> much to handle all of the projects she had to adapt a home I bought 
> her.  Many were hired by government agencies.  I will not detail all 
> of the jobs that I have had to redo after they left, but I finally 
> told her no one touches the house anymore.  I coudn't afford anymore 
> "free" jobs paid for by local agencies and executed by 
> "professionals".  The last straw was a plumber that installed a roll 
> in handicapped shower without pulling a permit.  As blind as many of 
> the inspectors are these days, he could not have missed the fact that 
> there was no pan, just concrete board on floorboards with tile on 
> top.   After that the only problem I had was when she had a gas leak.  
> She shut the gas off and got a plumbing firm out to inspect it, since 
> I was out of town.  They told her the entire system was shot and had 
> to be replaced including the yard line and presented her with a ten 
> thousand dollar estimate.   They charged her six hundred for the 
> test.   I got home and checked on things.  They had not even gone 
> under the house, though the estimate says they did ( the access door 
> was locked and mom does not have the key)   I tested the yard line 
> myself.  It held the required test pressure for not just fifteen 
> minutes, or even thirty, but for seven days until I got back to 
> continue with repairs. 
> Regarding the romex, I have seen squirrels chew up BX.  The 
> interesting thing is in older homes where I have run new circuits, the 
> squreels will gleefully ingest the new PVC romex, but will studiously 
> avoid the old fabric and ashpalt coated romex.   I am guessing the PVC 
> tastes better.
>
>
> I hope you don't take any of this ill.   The tradespeople I know over 
> forty are as annoyed as I am in general.  My old neighbor was a 
> mason.  You should walk down the street with him and hear him critique 
> the brick work in a new development.
>
>
> Charles.
> Who works in the IT and Power industry.  The former of which is worse 
> than the building trades, and the latter (linemen and central station 
> guys) I think still has the esprit de corps as a group to care about 
> doing a job right when they get the chance.
>
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Hello Charles

Rather than take any of what you said badly, I believe that it 
reinforces what I said. Your bad experiences were with 'plumbers in name 
only'. I may have an advantage here in Wisconsin. We have a state 
license law which applies to both union and non union plumbers alike. If 
you practice plumbing, or advertise plumbing services, you must have a 
master plumbers license. You also need a MPL to hire plumbers to work 
for your business.

The enforcement of these laws is up to all master plumbers and local 
code compliance agencies. We do care. Your bad experience reinforces my 
belief that untrained, and in our state unlicensed, practitioners of any 
trade are more expensive for the consumer.  We may not have the freedom 
in Wisconsin to simply hang out a Plumbers shingle, but that seems like 
a freedom abused in your area. The gas problem would be handled by our 
local gas company who is responsible for the gas up through  the meter 
to the outlet,  and from there into the house by a licensed and trained 
craftsman.

If the practices you describe in your area are typical, it seems that 
your are in need of lawyers and courts. I can't imagine your scenarios 
in our area. Would not happen without prosecution.

As to the vehicle of choice of some service providers, I never cease to 
be amazed at the choices some folks make. A local savings and loan 
officer drives a Hummer with the S&L name plastered on the side... but 
not my Savings & Loan

Paul