Find the Best Hollywood Plumber
If you live in West Hollywood, you need to develop a relationship with a reliable West Hollywood plumber. And you need to develop that relationship now: don’t wait until you’re knee-deep in water or your sewer is backed up before you start looking. Then you’ll have to go online — to Google or Yelp or whatever — and start looking for that West Hollywood plumber. Develop that relationship now, so you’ll know exactly who to call when you need him.
So what do you look for when choosing a West Hollywood plumber?
Experience
The first thing you want to find out is if he has the experience to handle your plumbing issue.
Call the owner, and talk to him about your problem. Listen to what he suggests. An experienced professional will know what he’s talking about — and you can always tell. An experienced plumber will be familiar not only with the city of West Hollywood, but also with specific problems (trees etc) that pertain to West Hollywood. He will be familiar with the system of approving construction permits from West Hollywood city hall.
An experienced plumber will offer you several choices and options based on your specific problem. When you are sure that this guy knows what he’s talking about and has offered you one or more creative suggestions to resolve your issue, ask him to come by. This will give the plumber a chance to have a good look at your situation. And only then can you expect a quote. Any plumber who gives you a quote without personally investigating the situation is deceiving you.
Equipment
Your plumber must also have all the equipment necessary to handle your current problem as well as future issues down the line.
To handle major stoppages in your main lines and sewers, your plumber should own a Hydrojet machine. These incredible devices generate a powerful force of water that breaks up and washes away even the most stubborn drain stoppages.
To locate underground concealed leaks, your plumber must carry the latest electronic leak detection devices. These devices can locate a concealed water or gas leak deep underground or even beneath a paved driveway or a concrete slab. These devices prevent your plumber from digging up your yard or your driveway to find and fix that leak.
Your West Hollywood plumber should provide his plumbing technicians with the latest vehicles, stocked with parts, supplies and equipment. Your plumber should carry an inventory of items like water heaters, toilets and shower system, so you can get the best prices and not need to shop at retail outlets.
Peer Reviews
Ninety percent of consumers say they make purchases based on peer reviews. The main peer review sites are Yelp and Google, and there are also others. Visit one of these review sites and make sure the West Hollywood plumber you are considering has lots of good reviews. An experienced plumber should have 50 – 100 five-star reviews on Yelp of Google. And if there are a few bad reviews among 100+ good reviews, ignore these bad ones — they are probably fake reviews from a disgruntled former employee or a competitor of that plumber who is trying to discredit him.
FSM
Okay, so you’ve done your due diligence, and he meets all the above criteria to be your West Hollywood plumber: he has a valid state license, he has the experience to handle your job, he has the equipment to handle your job, and he has lots of good peer reviews. That still leaves you with many candidates to be your West Hollywood plumber.
License
Make sure you look at the plumber’s state license. All plumbers are required to pass certain tests of their knowledge, which then qualifies them to be licensed as a state Plumbing Contractor. Upon successful completion of the test, the plumber is also required to post a bond in order to obtain his license. He must also remain in good standing with the state licensing authority, which includes paying annual dues and also being free of consumer complaints and such.
Make sure your plumber is licensed in the state of California. A license from Nevada doesn’t count. Check that the license is valid, current, and there have been no consumer complaints registered against him or his company.
So there’s one more question to ask your West Hollywood plumber: Do you use field service management software to automate your business?
This is a crucial question to ask, and will separate the wheat from the chaff. Many professional service companies today — from plumbing companies to locksmiths to HVAC companies to garage door installers — are using field service management software to automate their businesses. This not only makes doing business easier for them, it gives you a better customer experience. With automation, you get an electronic invoice emailed directly to your Inbox rather than you having to wait days to receive it. Plumbing companies who use field service management software can use it to send their techs to your house or business by GPS, so there’s no getting lost trying to find you, and these systems can also inform you automatically if your plumbing technician has been delayed and gives you his new arrival time. If something just came up and you will not be able to make the appointed time, you can use the system to inform the technician and the office that you will be late, so there’s no wasted time waiting around for you.
Service companies which use field service management software to automate their business deliver a better customer experience to you the customer. Make sure that the plumber you ultimately select meets all of the above criteria — he is licensed, he has the experience, he has the equipment, he has lots of great reviews — and that he also uses field service management software. Then you shouldn’t go wrong.
