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You have a lot of decisions to make when you own a home, most of which affect the future of said home. Not only do you have to decide when to call a plumber, but you also need to make sure you’re choosing the right one. The last thing you want is an unlicensed plumber who does shady work repiping your Bloomington, IL, home. Fortunately, that’s pretty easy to avoid. If you want to make sure you get the best plumbing service, here are some tips for choosing the right company.
Licensing
The first thing you always want to look for when you’re hiring a plumber is licensing. Lucky for you, plumbers in the state of Illinois are required to be licensed, so you can rest easy knowing any major company is only employing licensed plumbers. What you really need to look out for are the smaller shops that offer to do work at a significantly lower rate than competitors. If one plumber is willing to do a job for half the price their competitor is asking, make sure you know if they’re licensed before hiring them.
Not only is licensing a requirement, but it’s also a sign that your plumber knows what they’re doing. Obtaining a plumbing license requires both plumbing service experience and years of schooling, which means anyone who holds that license is qualified to work on your home.
Insurance and Bonding
Another thing to look out for when you’re hiring a plumber is insurance and bonding. It’s important for a plumbing service company to have liability insurance because that means they have a way to cover damage and injuries that may occur while working on your home. If you don’t hire a plumber with insurance, you’re not going to have any recourse when your home is flooded as a result of an improperly installed fitting. In some cases, you could even end up being held liable for an injury that occurred while somebody was working on your property.
A good plumbing service company will also be bonded. Bonding helps ensure you can get compensation in the event that the job isn’t done right or your home is damaged in the process. It also protects you from being held liable in the event that your plumber failed to pay for permits or doesn’t pay others who worked on your home. Any reputable contractor will be both insured and bonded, so make sure you ask your plumber about that before you commit to having them work on your home.
Experience
As is the case with many things, there’s no substitute for experience when it comes to plumbing. While some newer journeyman plumbers may provide solid plumbing service, that doesn’t mean they’ve dealt with the specific problem you need fixed. Plus, a more experienced plumber often has more than one solution to fix a problem, which helps you save money or get the best quality work.
The best way to figure out how long a plumbing service company has been in business is to read their website or simply call and ask. A company that has had work for decades shows you two things. For one, that company has a lot of experience dealing with a wide range of plumbing problems involving both old and new systems. Plus, you can assume any plumbing company that’s been around for that long has provided excellent service to its customers, which means you can count on getting the same thing when you hire them.
Reviews
Of course, meeting the basic requirements and having plenty of experience isn’t enough to make a plumbing company great. When you’re looking for the best plumbing service, it’s important to look at the reviews people are giving various companies on Google and other websites. A shop that has a lot of good reviews is generally going to be better than one that has negative reviews, or no reviews at all.
It’s important to remember that negative reviews are often the most helpful. If a shop has several negative reviews, that’s a sign they might do shoddy work or offer poor customer service. However, you should always read through those reviews to see if customers are making valid complaints.
Sometimes it’s better to trust a shop with no reviews than one with a mix of positive and negative. Some plumbing companies simply don’t have as strong of a web presence as others.
Word of Mouth
If you’re still having trouble finding the right plumbing company using the above criteria, you can always ask around to see who others have had good luck with in the past. Chances are some of your friends or coworkers have hired a plumber in the area at some point, so see what they have to say about them. It’s particularly helpful if you can find people who hired a plumber for the same type of work you’re looking to have done.
Of course, word of mouth isn’t the be-all and end-all of choosing a plumber. Just because somebody else had bad experiences with a plumber doesn’t mean you’re going to have those same problems; sometimes it’s simply a matter of personality. Plus, it could be that the plumber somebody else is referring to is no longer employed by that company. It’s always important to do your due diligence.
The Best Plumbing Service Made Easy
Getting the best plumbing service isn’t always easy, but it is if you live in the Bloomington, IL, area. At Covenant Plumbing, we’re dedicated to making sure you get the best service every time, which is why we hire licensed and experienced plumbers. Thanks to all this experience, we can quickly and efficiently tackle just about any plumbing problem you can imagine. Best of all, we do all that while providing friendly service to each and every customer. If you need a plumber to help you fix up your home, call Covenant Plumbing at (309) 603-1253 today.
