Judith contacted me via the She Bangs website looking to possibly hire me for some work at her home in Melbourne. I quickly realised I wasn’t who she needed (drainage issues), so I shared some info about what trade/s to contact, linked her to a blog about how to work with trades, and invited her to let me know how she got on.
Well, I did hear from Judith. Not long after our call, she sent me a message querying the huge variances in some quotes she got for a CCTV inspection of her drains. I gave her some insight about different pricing structures, and provided guidance about asking the right questions to understand what she’d be paying for.
I offer a few impartial services to help people navigate this kind of thing, and next thing I know Judith has booked both an Ask Her and a Consultation on the website! I email her, somewhat confused, and she’s in a little bit of a panic. She’d arranged a plumber to come around (paying his call-out fee) who then talked her into an on-the-spot CCTV inspection. He spent 10 minutes looking at one section of drain, charged her the equivalent of what most plumbers charge for about 3 hours of inspection time, didn’t give her a report or the CCTV vision, and quoted her what seemed to her like an exorbitant amount – and that was just for ‘stage 1’.
Urgh! I hear this kind of story all too often. And always too late. There are a few issues here. Let’s break them down:
1. Judith did not check the license of this “plumber”. Luckily he is registered, but he just as easily may not have even been qualified!
2. When first hiring the plumber for the CCTV, Judith only compared the stated price. His gave a middle of the road quote, so she agreed. She didn’t question what she was paying for, and he didn’t say, so technically, she has no comeback whatsoever. CCTV inspections are usually priced by time onsite (not flat fee) and therefore the comprehensiveness of the service is very much relative to the cost. In Judith’s case, there was no agreement (written or verbal), therefore she was paying for whatever he decided she was. Not bloody much, it turns out.
3. Not getting a report or the CCTV vision means she could not obtain comparative quotes. Any decent plumber would need this information to provide their own costing. Judith would basically have to pay a second person to re-do the inspection.
4. Using high pressure tactics, which included pricing that incentivised her to agree for him to do the inspection while he was onsite for the call-out she’d already paid for, is a BIG RED FLAG!! I actually called Judith’s plumber to do a ‘mystery shop’, and he also pressured me to lock in a time following my enquiry about the service. Don’t fall for it, folks. Take all the time you need.
5. Quite apart from all the other issues, this plumber didn’t even look holistically at Judith’s drainage issues to understand the full scope of the problem. He told her it was a staged process, and despite her requesting a more thorough investigation, she ultimately got a quote for only one small section, which will cost her more than necessary in the long run.
6. And finally, no service agreement or T&C’s were provided with the quote! It did include a breakdown of work (not entirely clear, even to me), but no timeframe, no payment terms, no warranty info. Nothing! If you’re paying upwards of $7000 for major works, it is essential you’re provided with a contract of some description.
Fortunately, this the point when Judith got me involved! She hired me as her advocate and I went to work, sleuthing. I did the due diligence anyone hiring tradespeople for a major project ought to do.
- Before even contacting someone, check their website, check their reviews, check their licenses (if applicable) and ABN.
I went to the Building & Plumbing Commission (formerly the VBA) ‘Find a Plumber’ register; I read the Google reviews (I believe most of them were fake); I checked the website and felt that although it looked legit, there were some anomalies.
- Ask questions. As many as you need to be perfectly clear on what you’re paying for.
I left messages and submitted a website enquiry to Judith’s plumber. He didn’t reply – a red flag in itself. Finally when I did manage to speak to him, in fact, not only was I quoted a different price for a CCTV inspection, I also learnt that Judith was indeed short-changed on the promised service. Sadly, her naivety in this situation made her vulnerable to be taken advantage of by unscrupulous tradies.
- Get things in writing. If it’s not mentioned, email back and ask for it. Things like: what warranties are provided?, any extra costs that may be incurred (and is GST included), when will the work be done and by whom exactly, are they insured for the work they’re doing?
Judith agreed for me to review her quote, and I looked for what wasn’t there, as well as applying my knowledge about this type of job to know what to ask. I emailed the business on her behalf to ask for more information and clarification, disclosing that she’d hired me to help her navigate the process. Again, no response. Oh dear.
- Source 2 or 3 quotes. Don’t waste people’s time obviously, but understand that prices vary wildly and it is reasonable to shop around. Sometimes variances occur because people’s costs are different, or they take a smaller (or larger) profit margin. Sometimes, they’re quoting something less, or more. Check the inclusions – are you comparing apples with apples?
Not having the drainage report, I posted a call-out on a tradie’s forum to solicit businesses willing to quote from a breakdown. In the end, I referred Judith to someone I had worked with personally and believe to be reliable, fair and honest. Read on for how that turned out!
And look, you are at a slight disadvantage when you’re naïve to the world of trades, so you may need to do some research. Yes it’ll take some time, but you could be saving a lot of time, energy, money and heartache down the track – especially if you’re facing a larger project. It is worth it to do some legwork upfront.
Judith told me she chalked her experience with the dodgy plumber up to a learning opportunity. Fortunately, by hiring me as an objective outsider in the nick of time, we managed to save her about $4K on the work! Yes, $4000 for the same job. The trusted tradie I referred to Judith was a sea of green flags – great communication, showed up on time, provided a comprehensive written quote (with fair pricing), and I have no doubt he’ll do a good job when the time comes. And the kicker? He knows of Judith’s dodgy plumber and warned her off him and his ilk.
It’s a bit late for Judith and the $500 she parted with, but you can take the lesson in your stride: do your due diligence! If it doesn’t seem right, trust your gut. Don’t be fearful of probing – if he’s got integrity, he’ll happily answer your questions. And if you’re really not sure, call in the cavalry to help. You won’t regret even spending a couple of hundred dollars for someone to advocate for you if it saves you thousands!
If you have a project coming up and need some extra support, check out The Reno e-Guide download for more valuable insights like these, or pick up the phone and Ask Her, or subscribe to the Bang On! Newsletter for tips and how-to’s. Knowledge is Power!