How to Find the Best Plumber for Your Home

Choosing the right plumber involves several important steps. One should first seek recommendations from their immediate social circle—friends, family, and neighbors who have had plumbing work done recently and can vouch for a particular plumber's skills and reliability. Then, one should look up online reviews and ratings. These are a good way to gauge a plumber’s reputation. Always ensure that the plumbers you’re considering have licenses and insurance. These are must-haves that indicate a plumbing professional meets important benchmarks both in terms of skill and safety. Plumbing quotes can vary quite a bit—ask for several, but don’t choose based solely on price. Consider also the experience level and issue-specific expertise of the plumber you’re thinking about hiring. Finally, good plumbers are also good communicators. Evaluate how clearly and promptly potential hires return your calls and answer your questions. A Golden Rule "guide" to choosing a plumber can be used both in the United States and in Canada.

Start seeking a trustworthy local plumber by asking friends, family, and even neighbors to recommend a plumbing service with which they’ve had positive experiences. Once you’ve gathered a few names, check online customer reviews and ratings on sites like Google, Yelp, and Angie’s List to see what former patrons have had to say. Make sure any plumber you’re considering is licensed, insured, and has the proper credentials to work in your area. Contact the Better Business Bureau to check for any recent cases of plumbing malpractice or reported scams that might put your plumbing job in jeopardy. When you’ve narrowed your search to a couple potential plumbers, start calling around to get quotes and to see if they can service your plumbing problem when you need them. And don’t forget to ask about warranties or satisfaction guarantees—they’ll help protect the value of your investment.

When you hire a plumber in Denver, you can expect to pay from $100 to $300 for simple repairs like mending a dripping faucet or unblocking a stubborn drain. If the job is of a more serious nature—say, you need all new plumbing or some major repairs in an old, settled house—you might be looking at something from $500 to $1,500. And some you might pay even more and should pay more, frankly, for the high experience level of the plumber, the emergency nature of your job (if it is indeed an emergency), and for what should always be included: a detailed description of the job itself, as well as the materials to complete it and any necessary permits and clearances.

As you seek to determine the qualities that make up a good plumber, consider this advice from the Better Business Bureau. Assess several key factors to get an overall impression of the plumbing company. The first thing to look at is their credentials. The company should be licensed and insured. That means they meet the local industry standards and regulations for plumbing. And if they are licensed, that also usually means they are bonded. The next thing is experience and expertise. A good plumbing outfit should have a strong mix of both. And if you ask for references, they should readily give you some. If you look online, you should see a lot of good stuff written about them. If you dig deeper, you should see some clear plumbing jobs that they have done in the past.

It is usually advised to obtain a minimum of three estimates from assorted plumbers. This gathering of information allows for a more comprehensive comparison of not just price, but also the kind of services offered and the plumber's schedule. The estimates provide the insight necessary to discern the going rate for your plumbing problem and to ensure that you're truly plumbing the depths of informed decision-making.

When searching for a trustworthy plumber, start by obtaining recommendations from people you know and trust. This can include friends, family, and even neighbors. If you can't get a referral in person, the next best thing is to look up plumbers in your area online. Check out their reviews, and see what their overall star rating is on a few different sites. Make sure to zero in on how satisfied the customers seem to be, and try to detect any trends in what they're saying. When talking to a potential plumber, pay close attention to how they communicate. Are they clear and easy to understand? Are they professional and courteous? Hearing them on the phone should give you a good idea of what they're like in person. If you're fostering a trusting relationship with the plumber, that's already a huge win.

How often you need a plumber may depend on many factors, including how old your plumbing is, how good the water is that you're using, and, well, whether you just have certain plumbing problems that keep rearing their ugly heads. But generally, we think it's a good idea to have a plumber come out at least once a year to check everything over. Some people call this preventive maintenance; some folks don't really see the benefit until they think about the many thousands of dollars they could save by not having to pay for major repairs. But, as mentioned, even if you don't seem to have any serious plumbing problems, having a professional check everything over is a way to ensure your plumbing is in good shape and working as it should.

Plumbers usually charge between $50 and $150 to come to your house and evaluate what's wrong, but the price can go up from there. Why? Because the service call might not include the plumber's materials, and it certainly doesn't cover the price of labor—should your issue require a significant amount of it. When you call a plumber to your house, make sure you get a good estimate up front.

Plumbers generally mark up their work by about 25% to 50%. This markup compensates not just for the labor and parts, but also for the overhead that all businesses must pay to stay up and running. Most importantly, though, the markup helps ensure that the plumbing business nets a profit when the job is done. Of course, this is a very general statement. Plumber markups can and do vary widely not just from region to region but also from one plumbing job to another.

Replacing the plumbing in an entire house is a major undertaking and can cost homeowners a significant sum of money. The total price can vary widely, depending on some critical factors: the house's size, the materials (more on that shortly), and the overall complexity of the plumbing system. In a typical range, you might hear figures of about $2,000 to $15,000 or even more for such a job. If you're working with a smaller house or just replacing a section of the plumbing, you can expect to pay less. In contrast, a large house or an extensive, whole-house job will cost considerably more. But how do you ensure that you're getting the best deal and a job done by qualified professionals?