Seven Tips to Help you Find the Top Neighbourhood Plumbers in Calgary Alberta or a City Near You!

Need a plumber for leaks, new installs for renovation, upgrades or new construction involving pipes, sinks, faucets, new toilets, fixtures, ice-makers, water softeners, sump pumps or an unforeseen emergency crisis causing lots of damage super fast?  Whatever your reason for needing a plumber, you can end up with a bad experience or a good one. Here are the top 7 tips as questions, that will help you find the top neighbourhood plumber for your needs now!

•  Ask: Do You Have Any Reviews or Referrals? Ask friends or family if they know a local plumber that they trust and would recommend. Or simply search online for plumber reviews in your city and see what all your neighbours think of local professionals. Some big online review websites offering customer reviews include: Google Reviews, Homestars, Yelp and more. Keep in mind that not every professional will have reviews on every platform as it depends on past customers having the inclination to share their experience. If you don’t find local plumber reviews on one site, be sure to look for others. Once you have done your homework, short list those with positive reviews or at minimum filter out all those with negative reviews.

• For example if you are looking to find the best for “Calgary plumbers NE“, in Google Search Result Pages (SERP’s), currently they list local companies showing addresses that are a match for this location search. Additionally Google lets you see if they have reviews, how many and how positive. At time of writing this article, the first local result recommended by Google for plumbers in Calgary NE, Alberta Canada is the following.

• Do you belong to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) or any trade associations? If yes, review and see they are current and in good standing. In the case of BBB you can also see if a provider has any complaints and if yes, were they resolved to the complete satisfaction of the customer. The BBB can also be a great tool in which to find the most professional, competent and trustworthy trade professionals in your area.

• Ask: Are you local? What is your location address? Many of us pick up local advertisements in a newspaper or yellow pages thinking the service provider is close. However local advertising does not mean a local office is nearby. If you have an emergency and need someone to come fast, calling a professional in your neighbourhood can help you get experts to your water emergency or other plumbing concern faster. For non emergencies, further distance may be less of an issue, but be sure to ask if distance to travel to you will impact prices.

• Ask: Do you have a plumbing licence? Make sure you have a professionally trained and licensed plumber not a jack-of-all trades handyman. It takes a long time of training, study, followed with apprentice journeyman then testing and more to make ones way to becoming a fully licensed plumber or master plumber. Many a situation can go from bad to worse when plumbing is not handled by professionals.

• Ask: Do you have professional insurance protection? Water damage is one of the most common claims reported with insurance companies. For example Todd Triano, the VP for Chartis Insurance shares “the most commonly reported homeowner claim in my experience is water damage. For example, a pipe may burst inside the wall or a hot water heater on an upper level can leak and cause significant damage to the building and personal property.” (source: http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0610/the-most-expensive-home-insurance-perils.aspx ). Likewise is the situation in Canada, as is reported in Wikipedia saying: “Most home insurance claims in Canada deal with water damage” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_flooding_in_Canada). So the big tip and takeaway lesson here, is get a professional and check that he has complete insurance coverage including professional liability insurance and workers compensation insurance. Water damages can be extremely costly, as such, it is very important part of the qualifying process.

• Ask: Do You Charge More for After Hours or Weekends? Frequently when a pipe breaks or other unforeseen plumbing emergency, it is not at a convenient time and during weekday business hours. There are 24 Hour Emergency Plumbers, however you will want to check and compare service rates based on the time and day they will charge to come to you. A few plumbing companies charge the same rates for emergencies, weekends and weekdays, so whenever you need or want onsite service, it is at the same price and when it is most convenient and needed by you the customer.

• Ask: Do you offer warranty or guarantees? This may not be a written standard, so if you don’t ask you may not get it. Be sure to ask if they will provide a warranty or guarantee for work done. And to provide it in writing on their quote. It is reasonable to expect that the professional that is confident in their skills, work and delivery will be happy to provide assurances in writing.

It is important to be fully informed as to who the professional is, their credentials, clear understanding of services and what is promised to be done and more. By finding the answers to the above questions you help set the stage for your success in finding the best plumber for your residential or commercial needs, goals and budget.