Why do our plumbers suck so much?

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EvenICouldDoThat

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I work in a restaurant. A chain restaurant, one of almost 700. So, money is frequently not even an issue. To a stupid extent, but that is another issue. So here's my question: why don't our plumbers *fix* things? Or replace them. Heck, I just want stuff to function. Examples:
1. We had a leak. A hot water leak. It ended up being in a wall. A Plumber (youngish, not too experienced) came out to find and fix the leak. Found it, went into the attic, capped off the pipe as it went down into the wall. upstream of the leak. Leaving us without water to the dipperwells on both the cooking and serving sides of the line. (This is a critical health code violation, by the way. All dw's must have running hot water supplied to them at all times when in use.) When we asked him if he was going to plumb around the leak and get the water going again, he said, "I'm just supposed to fix the leak." This was at night, possibly on a weekend, so they were making (as Elaine Boosler so poetically put it) Quadruple Platinum Overtime. he wouldn't even call to find out if they wanted him to do more.
2. The stem on the hot water shutoff valve under one of our handsinks got squashed, then twisted off from using it without a handle. (Note: no rocket scientists work here. Obviously.) More than one plumber looked at it and said, "I can't fix that." And walked away. No, "It needs to be replaced." or anything else. Just lets lay down and die.
3. We had one of our waterbaths replaced. These are stainless steel boxes set into the counter which are filled with icewater to chill food. They have drains at the bottom which lead to floor sinks. They have gate valves in them to close the drain so the icewater stays in. The plumber actually reattached the same copper drainline, complete with non-functional gatevalve, to the new insert. I found this forum after googling "how to repack a gatevalve," because I don't know how to sweat copper. Although at this rate, I guess I should just learn how. It'll be easier on my nerves.

My father was a Painting Contractor, and my stepfather was the accountant partner in a plumbing company, so I've understood the beauty and value of the phrase "change order" since my teens. Are these not used any more? I just don't see why some enterprising plumber isn't soaking us.

Do any of you have any insight on this?
 

Gary Swart

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Mr first reaction is this plumbing company should be fired. Then find a new company, explain the issues that lead to the firing of the first company, and require a contract that requires that all repairs must be made immediately or (a) no payment and (b) they will be fired.
 

EvenICouldDoThat

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You'll be shocked to hear that these were, to the best of my recollection, all different companies. We do often need the services of drain uncloggers, and many of our plumbers have included "Rooter" in the name, but not Roto.
 

Terry

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Not every plumber knows resturant plumbing. I can see that on a weekend, the guy on call may not be the "go-to" guy to finish the job. It does seem that simply capping the line would have been very close to soldering on the coupling and having you back up and running.
You can save time for the plumber buy sending them a picture of the problem with a smart phone. This gives you a better chance of them coming prepared with the correct parts on the first trip out.
I think a good step would be to investigate who has the plumbers to work on resturant issues. It's not going to be many. Much of what gets installed is not sold at a local hardware store, most often at a plumbing supply, and often needs to be brought in.

Are you using Bio-Clean for the grease trap?
 
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EvenICouldDoThat

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Our grease trap is an inline one that gets pumped out and the result taken to a rendering plant once a month, as our parents used to say, "if you know what's good for you." That interval avoids any backups and cameras, jetting, etc. (I'm not a manager, but I've worked at this same location for over 30 years, so I have the historical memory.) We have had crazy problems because of plumbing issues. A cracked underground drain pipe (is it called a sewer pipe before it gets to the street?) which may very well have been caused by an inexpertly used drain auger boring through a pipe, began leak under the slab. When combined with aging insulation and electrolysis, it lead to the need to replace the electrical conduit to a rooftop AC unit. It also lead to having the tile floor in the walk-in freezer replaced. Two years later when it needed to be done AGAIN, (way, way too soon,) the crack in the slab was finally visible, and it ended up that there was frost heaving, and basically permafrost under the slab. So, the two day job ended up being a week and a half, due to thawing, etc. It was like having to bury someone in the middle of winter in the great snowy north, but we couldn't build a fire to thaw the ground. (I really need to start video documentation of these epics, lol. Might be able to augment my retirement with Youtube earnings...)
We have T & S faucets, which I am absolutely sold on. They are expensive, but they last almost forever, because you rarely need to replace the whole thing. Washers, seats, spindles, bonnets, everything is available from FMP.
The leak was inside an interior wall of the restaurant. They ended up teeing off an adjacent hot water line on the other end of the run, installing a ball valve (brilliant idea, and not done frequently enough) and connecting them there.
 

WJcandee

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If you have Angie's List or equivalent out there, do some research and see who seems most qualified to do the kind of work you need. Often, folks who work at other restaurants are good sources of information. Talk to some of them. Most will have stories like yours, but one or more will look at you like you're from Pluto and say that Bob, the guy who their boss uses, is usually in and out and they're up and running. Hire Bob.

As a former partner in restaurants, I can tell you that finding a good plumber, electrician, etc. is a must. After a couple of years, I had a stable of guys who were at the top of their fields and would come whenever I called. (That I made them sit down and let me feed them like a king on every visit (or at least let me make them a plate to go) helped with their willingness to come at 10pm or 7am.) What was remarkable was that these guys, to a person, charged very fair, even reasonable, prices. But it took some experimentation to find the best ones. I had the best woodburning smoker guy in the Southeast, a great appliance repair guy, a fabulous electrician, a killer plumber, a wonderful POS/IT service, and a top notch HVAC guy. The necessary skill set: properly diagnose the issue, understand the business needs that they would have to work around, have the expertise, the tools AND the parts (either on the truck or readily available) to do repairs common to a restaurant, and make the repair right the first time. My smoker guy was incredible: he knew which parts usually failed (or were broken by staff) on the smoker, and carried a good supply of each on his truck. Restaurants and appliance repair companies knew this, and would often call him just for parts. He carried shipping materials and a stack of FedEx, UPS and DHL waybills in his truck, and would often swing by a drop box with a shipment while going from job to job. He wasn't a rich man, but deserved to be. I once had some executives from a competitor sitting in my place for lunch, and we were chatting. A manager came by to mention that the smoker was down. "Did you call John?" "He's on his way." The competitors commiserated what a drag it was to have the thing go down in the middle of the day. Literally ten minutes later (I'm not exaggerating), John comes by the table to tell me that he had changed a defective thermostat and we were back in business, and by the way the smoker doors had become a little misaligned so he had adjusted them for me. The competitors about fell out of their chairs. One said, "This is a joke, right?" "Nope. He's amazing." "Hey, uh, John is it? You have a business card?" Why yes he did. And, shortly thereafter, a small chain as a new customer. Turns out he was walking out of the Target in the same shopping center when he got our call, and just had to drive across the parking lot to our back door, which explained the speedy response. But the fact that he could immediately diagnose what was wrong, had the correct thermostat on his truck, and could swap and test it in like 2 minutes was the real reason behind that impressive visit.

The plumbing issues in most restaurants are similarly-predictable. Not always, but often. Someone who regularly does restaurant work will have a collection of certain items on his truck, in the proper quality and size (and, where necessary, with the proper NSF certification), to get you up and running most of the time.

We used T&S Brass products exclusively in our buildouts. They were awesome. Of course, our employees still managed to break them. But our plumber always had replacements and replacement parts either on his truck or back at the shop. A substantial investment in inventory, but that's how you win enduring business. It also meant that he could upgrade the stuff at some of his customers' facilities when the crappy stuff broke, and thereby sell them on quality stuff.
 
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Dj2

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I don't know why you ended up with unqualified plumbers. But it's certainly not our fault.
I suggest you look for another plumber, and follow the previous advice.
 

hj

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As I reminded a national columnist this week, MANY "service companies" do NOT want to "repair" things, so they train their technicians in the art of selling replacements and pay a commission for the sale. Therefore, you may get a "technician" who only knows how to disconnect lines, not repair them.
 
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