Mr Blog I dont know why you recieved poor service , But many Techs , mechanics, Plumbers, learn mostly from experiance or entirely from experiance and picking up a few tricks from someone else who learned the same way. In my Area Southern Ca. we have good apprenticeships for union plumber but very much geared toward construction. A good plumber could finish training and turn out journeyman and still be really green in many aspects might know high rise work but not be proficent at layout and plumbing a new custom home or be able to hang doing repairs.
There definatly is a void in good service and repair men .
When I was accepted to local plumbers 2 I realized staying in one shop would be a big mistake so decided to quit each shop after a year to get all-around experience
One of the companies did strictly hospitals which was a great experience learning to install an autopsy table BUT how many does an average plumber get to install? I also installed chemical and acid waste system using Pyrex and Duriron which again was different then most plumbers get involved in BUT it helped me get more experience
Moving on to brand new constriction highrises 47 stories commercial spaces and I even did a stint at the World Trade towers for a shot time BUT that was boring.
I worked in a shop did strictly commercial and industrial work where I had to improve my welding skills.
My last year as an apprentice I went into residential new work and repair (jobbing) and realized here is the real money maker not in new work even though the union pay scale was less a decent jobbing plumber would stay busy all year long
Because of my training when I passed my first master plumbers test I did commercial, industrial, residential and institutional and picked up the USPS and nursing homes and factories but hired 9 people just for jobbing such as drain cleaning and repairs and fixture replacement.
I started another company strictly boiler installations for apartment buildings and my partner has a class A oil installers license so he handled that part of the company
Then oil leaks became "Toxic" and the liability was not worth it so I closed it down and having A master fire suppression license I opened another company strictly sprinklers in office buildings which I still have in operation along with my plumbing company.
I took in a partner for each company and I do not believe in micromanaging them so this gave me more time to become more proficient at being an expert witness although I still do my water Jetting in April - September weather permitting.
Thankfully the unions never got involved in repair work and the shops that do have class "B" so-called mechanics that have no training what so ever and their lack of knowledge allows nonunion shops to thrive
When the offices were shut down in NYC there were massive union layoffs on new construction and my company picked up several more nursing homes because we were able to not only do plumbing , heating but we also offered sewer and drain cleaning including my license to work and install and service grease traps and proper disposal of grease.
We have been working 7 days a week and hired more helpers and picked up more churches as many are well over 100 years old and their steam and condensate lines are corroded and have to be replaced.
We are now certified to do the new gas inspection requirements which is another potential for generating new accounts
https://www.iccsafe.org/wp-content/uploads/safety_profexams/fg_content.pdf
Many plumbing companies state we do residential or commercial work which limits their access to much more work
Ideally, a journeyman class A had at least 1050 hours of classroom studies plus the 10,000 hours of OJT and can braze medical gas lines such as oxygen type L copper dehydrated and has the certifications along with the backflow testing and installation certifications plus OSHA of course and has a copy of their local plumbing codes on hand plus the energy code and NFPA 13 if they install sprinklers and continue taking classes and never think they know it all as that is impossible
This child was burned by a heating pipe No place in the "plumbing code" is there any regulations on the piping to a radiator BUT the energy code did have a paragraph stating all heating lines "Shall be" covered to and from a radiator up to the supply valve.
This little known fact I brought up at a deposition and it proved negligence on the part of the installer and landlord as both were responsible (Even though personally I think the mother should be jailed)
I work for the personal injury law firm and it is dirty work but someone has to do it...
Today everyone is a victim and no one is responsible like "no-fault car accidents" so knowing various codes separates the professionals fro those who just look for a fast buck being a parts replacement specialist