Plumber Comparison Checklist

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Best Plumbers	Henrik Plumbing	Other
1. Have a real shop, are real reliable, and licensed to do plumbing.	Yes No	Yes No
2. Specialize in repiping.	Yes No	Yes No
3. Have Workers Compensation and General Liability Insurances.	Yes No	Yes No
4. Are not a Big Box, retail outlet, marketing, or referral company.	Yes No	Yes No
5. Welcome and encourage you to visit their shop.	Yes No	Yes No
6. Maintain a stable address(not a P O BOX or Suite number).	Yes No	Yes No
7. Subcontract or use labor pools.	Yes No	Yes No
8. Have company logos an all their trucks.	Yes No	Yes No
9. Have professional, friendly crews who respect your home.	Yes No	Yes No
10. Provide Contractors State License Board required checklist.	Yes No	Yes No
11. Listed in Yellow Pages.	Yes No	Yes No
12. Have current reference letters.	Yes No	Yes No

Best Technicians and Workmanship	Henrik Plumbing	Other
1. Have estimators with more that 30 years of experience in plumbing.	Yes No	Yes No
2. Protect the structural integrity of your home, cover and protect your floors.	Yes No	Yes No
3. Cut- out and remove old pipes.	Yes No	Yes No
4. Do a thorough clean-up during the job and at the end of the day.	Yes No	Yes No
5. Have well trained, highly qualified repiping experts.	Yes No	Yes No
6. Industry leading experts in plumbing options and upgrades.	Yes No	Yes No
7. Re-piped over 20,000 houses, apartment and industrial buildings.	Yes No	Yes No

Best Patching	Henrik Plumbing	Other
1. Patching is top quality.	Yes No	Yes No
2. Plumbers do not patch.	Yes No	Yes No
3. Patchmen do not plumb.	Yes No	Yes No

Best Parts And Warranty	Henrik Plumbing	Other
1. Use American made pipe that has a 50 year manufacturer’s warranty.	Yes No	Yes No
2. Warranty on the plumbing project fully transferable at no extra cost.	Yes No	Yes No
3. Use the best products and work procedures to ensure the quality of the work.	Yes No	Yes No
4. Can be contacted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.	Yes No	Yes No

Repiping

Pulling Permits is for the protection of the Building Owner. It’s also important that you check with the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) and the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org). An “A+" rating is the highest Better Business Bureau rating that is awarded. Also consider how long a company has been in business.

25 Years ago, Henrik started a re-piping company in Los Angeles called Henrik Plumbing. Today he has twelve trucks, a building, and an unbeatable guarantee and work ethic. Henrik wants people to know what they need to ask before they make a decision to have a re-piping specialist perform the job. He says, “It’s what makes us different from all the other companies out there. I like to educate the public on the right way to re-pipe your home and what you need to know going in."

What makes Henrik Plumbing “The Right Choice" (it’s better to be right than different)?
What makes us the right choice is that we can accomplish a re-pipe plumbing job with the least amount of inconvenience to the customer. Let’s face it construction is stressful. We have uniformed crews with an onsite project manager. We have logos on our trucks that are company owned, and insured. We are fully licensed, and we do a background check to see who is coming into our company, and your home.

We do your job right the first time. We show you the customer our liability and Worker’s Compensation Insurance. We have been a member of the Better Business Bureau since 1995. We have an A+ PLUS rating. We want to prove that we are that company that you can trust to be in your home, around your family, your possessions, and be respectful of your property. A new copper piping system will give you peace of mind, real property protection, and added equity.

The copper re-piping business is divided into a number of companies that are not quite who they pretend to be. There are a number of companies that make up the re-piping business and only a few of us are the real thing. Even the big box companies are sub-contracting out the work.

What are some of the things the public can look for to see who they are really dealing with? Some re-pipe companies might have the same name, because at one time there was a partnership, that has since split up and they now trade under the same name but with a slight changes in the spelling. Sometimes these two companies advertise on the Radio and the name sounds exactly the same and to serve with the same service. The two companies may have significant difference.

What about subcontracting and insurance? There are “Call Center" type companies that spends tons of money on mass marketing, and when thy get the signed contract in – they sell it to the lowest bidder among subcontractors. These call center type companies are spreading like a virus across state lines. These Call Center re-pipe companies are specialist at subcontracting the work out to a host of other companies that may or may not carry workers compensation insurance, general liability insurance, or proper state bonding. The company selling the re-pipe work is not actually the one performing the re-pipe project, or the one pulling the permits. Obviously this becomes an issue if things go wrong. or if there are permit problems. Some of the subcontractors subcontract to other subcontractors. Some of the subcontractors provide patching or sub it out. It can get confusing and messy really fast. Continuity of responsibility is essential to a happy repiping job.

Henrik Plumbing does it’s own marketing, has word of mouth referrals, has in-house estimators. We do all the re-piping work ourselves with our insured and bonded crews. We pull our own permits.

We use top quality American made USA manufactured copper pipe and fittings that is guaranteed for fifty years by the manufacturer. We have the right tools and parts for each job.

We provide you with our lifetime workmanship warranty on the copper pipes and fittings. We will even transfer the warranty for the job if you sell your home to another owner. Other companies charge $500 – $800 to transfer the warranty, Henrik Plumbing does it for free!

Before committing to a repiping company you need to verify their licenses from the Contractors State License Board. You can go to www.cslb.ca.gov and look them up. They have a check list, beginning with liability insurance? Does the contractor have General Liability insurance that is current and did they show you the proof in writing? Do they have a check list that protects the consumer.

We’re one of the only re-piping companies that are licensed to go into a school district, hospitals, and a government facility. We meet all the criteria. The reason we can do this is that we have the licenses, the qualification criteria, and the experience.

To properly repipe a home, it is important to remove the old pipes. Where there is access and it’s possible you should you cut out and remove the old pipes, slide them out, and slide in the new pipes. As a result, you don’t need to create new holes and weaken existing structures. Efforts should be made to maintain the existing structural integrity of your property (This is earthquake country). Some companies hide the fact that they leave the old pipes in place and drill new holes leaving the old pipes still in your home. It’s illegal if you make a big hole that effects the integrity of the structure. If you ever sell your home it could be a problem if galvanized plumbing was found in your house after a re-pipe job. You would either have to have it removed at an extra cost of $600-$2,000 or disclose it, which might take diminish the value off your asking price! And you never want copper piping touching iron pipe.

The most important part of the re-pipe system is our installation. Prior to installation, we will design, size and match the re-pipe system to required demands. We inspect and double check all of our work. We make sure our installation is the best. We provide the best warranties in the business and maintain the competitive edge in both quality and price.

Our customer, Arnold Newman PH. D from Sherman Oaks said in his letter of recommendation: “As the author of three best selling non-fiction books, I could write a book on the virtues of Henrik Plumbing… My home is a one story, built in the 1950s and most of the old galvanized pipes are clogged with calcium… I was forced to copper re-pipe from the main into a three bathroom house…as there was virtually no flow…They did not walk to their truck for materials they ran. A small section of the house has a crawl space that required a circus contortionist to get into, to weld the pipe. Previously my termite inspector refused to go into it. The Henrik man crawled in, did his work and emerged looking like the creature from the black lagoon. At the end of day two, they were gone and the next day the patch team came in and did a great job. Their crews are wonderful, trustworthy, honest guys."

How long does it take to re-pipe a house? It takes one or two days, big jobs may take a little longer, however, we do not rush the job and comprise on quality. The objective is to do the job right the first time, which means no mistakes. We have a foreman on the job, we will send one foreman on the job with two plumbers, and one plumber’s helper. If it’s a bigger job, then we will send one foreman with three or four plumbers and two helpers. Other companies that promise to do the job in one day are not going to go and get the right parts, They need to finish in one day. Finishing the job in one day becomes priority, not quality. They will use what they have on their truck so they can finish in one day. So the quality of the job might suffer. Often companies that promise one day service will start patching the walls even before the water is turned back on, or they will try to rush the job and patch the same day. All re-piping jobs should be left exposed over night, inspected and double checked before the walls are covered. Most of these “One Day Re-piping" companies DO NOT get permits or have their work inspected. Re-pipe for LE$$, and “One Day Repiping" mean less quality.

Some companies will actually even give customers a repiping estimate over the telephone. A “telephone estimate" is at best an attempt to bring the customer in with the intent to “up sale" him later, or it can be the beginning of a poorly done repiping job.

To provide you with a real estimate and proposal, our professional estimators come to your home, evaluate proper pipe sizing, valves, methods, difficulty, and overall design of your piping system. A Telephone Estimate leads to either charging you more later on, or shortcutting the job somehow to fit the estimate. Take the right first step, let one of our qualified estimators give you a real and complete estimate. The estimate is free – call today – 323-258-5858.

A little about the contract and the price? We have a true “Best Price Guarantee" (click HERE to see). We include all items in one price with no hidden extras. Giving you a complete proposal up-front is our secret to customer satisfaction.

To download a full list of reference letters please click here.

Re-piping Company Profile

Re-piping businesses are more than a pretty presentation folder and a sales person. Use the questions listed below to help you profile and qualify your re-piping company.

Business Name

License #

How long has your company been in business?

Is your company a recent up start business?

Do the licenses numbers listed on the license(s) match the license number listed on the proposal?

Do the names on the license match the name listed on the proposal?

Does your company have a real shop? If so, what is the shop like?

What does your shop look like from the street?

Do you do business from your house, garage, or a marketing office location?

What is your shop location address?

Verified on Google Maps Yes/No

How long has your company been at the current address?

Are you a traveling contractor?

Are any of your current listed addresses a P.O. Box address at UPS or Kinko’s/ FED EX stores, pretending to be a real address?

Does your company have any previous addresses? If so, how many?

How long have you been doing business in the State of California?

Do you do business in other states?

Are those other businesses real addresses or P.O. Box numbers?

Has your company ever gone out of business? If so, how many times?

How long does your company plan on staying in business?

Do you own the property that your shop is located at?

Have you ever done business under a different name(s)? How many times?

Has your company ever abandoned previous customers, warranties or companies?

Do your previous customers have a warranty for your closed businesses?

Do you write your own reviews online on review sites like Angie’s List, Yelp, Yahoo, or Google, and include your phone number – website address and prices?

SUBCONTRACTORS

Does your company use subcontractors?

How many different companies do you subcontract to?

What are the names of your subcontractors?

Why do you use subcontractors?

Are your subcontractors covered by your insurance or theirs?

Can I have a copy of their workers compensation and liability insurance?

Can I have a copy of their contractor license?

Do your subcontractors warranty the work?

Do you warranty the work?

Do you pull the permits, or do your subcontractors?

For a Free In-Home Consultation and Estimate, Please click here
or Call Toll Free: (888) 443-6745 – LA Area: (323) 258-5858