Nothing angers me like tradesmen who think I'm stupid because I'm female.I don't know for sure if that is what Anthony thought of me or if he is just another guy who thinks he knows everything when he clearly doesn't
Anthony came by after he told me he was very adept at working with irrigation timers/valves etc. I had him look at a few things since he was here though.
1- kitchen sink- soap dispenser was not lifting off for refilling purposes. Anthony told me that 90% (exact words! 90%! )of kitchen sink soap dispensers are refilled by the the homeowner having to get down and reach way back and under the back of the sink to unscrew the bottle,fill it and then blindly screw on the little plastic bottle full of dish soap...about once a week....for a CONVENIENCE fixture! I didn't believe much of what he said after that nugget of misinformation.
2- sink faucet- needed to be replaced since there was some faulty bit that couldn't be fixed. He was right . I did replace it. He wanted 345$ to do it though. I spent under $100 for a faucet and my regular plumber installed it for vastly less than 250$.
3- auto filler for the pool. Anthony looked at the one we had there and said the part was broken.The part had been new though and was like a toilet float...pretty mechanical and not much that CAN go wrong. I still believe it is an issue with some other part of the system causing the filler to keep filling even when the pool is full. I said "well at least that part is cheap" since I had paid about $10 for the one there. He said he would put a FAR better one in- a 30$ brass part- for the low low price of 150$. Then he took our (probably working) filler away with him or at least I haven't seen it since. The installation requires that you screw the part on to the very easily accessed open pipe that is right there- threaded already and waiting to have the part put on.about a 3-6 minute job. Okay- let's look at this - I'm paying for the time it takes to order the part, pick it up,unpackage it,screw it on,test it. I will say half an hour to be on the safe side That works out to $240 per hour. I know he has to pay for licensing and insurance but come ON.
4-irrigation-There was a leak in the system and my regular plumber doesn't deal with irrigation valves. I figured it had to be a faulty valve that wasn't shutting off entirely when the timer turned it off.He looked at the system for a few minutes and said the timer was faulty. I KNEW it wasn't the timer but he really insisted that was the cause. He was completely certain. I don't even remember what his estimate was for a new timer and installation. Suffice it to say it was too much. Especially since the timer was fine and it DID turn out to be leaky valves and there was also an issue with the grey water system which needed to be capped off.(the previous plumber royally screwed that up)
I managed to coerce my regular plumber to work on it . He normally doesn't work on irrigation systems and I respect him for telling me he doesn't know everything about them.I begged and told him I would pay for his time to sit at my computer to watch youtube videos on the subject... after which he pinpointed and repaired the valves.He also identified TWO other subtle leaks in the house- a seeping toilet and swamp cooler. I am convinced that Anthony would not have bothered himself to look.
A bad choice of a plumber can cost you a LOT of time,money and peace of mind. One time a plumber over tightened a fitting on another house and cost our insurance company $17,000.
Be very careful who you hire when it comes to water flowing behind your walls. Anthony needs a lot more experience to become good at his job. I do worry that he doesn't possess the humility to learn though.
Update- I heard from Anthony. I think he was upset.This is what he said:
You know what you fucking cu(redacted) im sick and tired of your sh(redacted) all I did for you is give you an estimate on your piece of crap property in the middle of tweaker ville.. You will be hearing from my lawyer...
I guess I was right about the misogyny. read more