4 Scary Reasons to Use Only Qualified Plumbers

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of plumbers in Toronto. At least, they call themselves plumbers but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are qualified. And homeowners contract them to do specialized work, pay them good money and then wonder what went wrong when they are left with damages their insurance won’t cover and the “plumbers” have disappeared into the night. That’s because they were never real plumbers, to begin with, and their credentials are shady at best. To find the best plumbers in Toronto, you need to do some work and be prepared to pay a reasonable price. If you don’t, here are some examples of the risks you take:

Taking Short-Cuts

One Toronto homeowner recently used a handyman contractor to install a shower pan liner and strainer, which requires the use of pitch material under the liner. The contractor claimed that in spite of years of experience installing shower pans he had never used pitch material, so the installation was completed without the extra cost and labor. Within a short period of time, the water seeped from the pan into the surrounding area causing creeping damp and cracking, which required extensive – and costly – repairs to the home’s infrastructure.

Using Inferior Materials

Quality plumbing materials aren’t cheap, and anyone who says he can do the job with something purchased at Home Depot needs careful checking out. Sure, even the best plumbers in Toronto occasionally pop into their nearest hardware store to pick up the odd part, but large scale jobs need to be done using industrial-quality equipment and materials. Otherwise, you’re likely to have to foot the bill for the same job to be done all over again in the not-too-distant future.

Carrying Insufficient Insurance

Unqualified plumbers in Toronto don’t have access to the same type of liability insurance as a qualified plumber does. Put simply, you aren’t covered if they cause damage to your home. Consider this scenario: your old copper piping inside the wall of the home is leaking. You call a contractor or handy person out to fix it, and he pulls out a plumbing torch. Without the right level of experience, the contractor lights the torch without having sufficient air inside the wall and the dust catches fire. Your home burns down. The “plumber” does not have adequate liability cover and your insurance very quickly realizes the contractor is unqualified and denies your claim.

Lack of Knowledge

Regardless of the type of job you need to be done, using an unqualified plumber is a risk you can’t afford to take. Unqualified plumbers in Toronto installing a hot water heater without the appropriate relief valves can leave your family in danger if the heater explodes, which is possible if the thermostat malfunctions. Imagine paying several thousand dollars to have foundation waterproofing done, only to find that the next time it rains you have a flood? Try claiming from your insurance under those circumstances!

It simply isn’t worth it to use an unqualified contractor to do plumbing work. Examine the credentials of the plumbing company you want to use and check the insurance