I discovered a leak in my dining room last Saturday. I found the source but reckoned that fixing it was way beyond my capability so I called a plumber, ironically a guy who had been in the house for the first time the day before to look at another issue.
He said he was tied up all day Saturday would would definitely come out the next day. I said that he didn’t have to since it was Sunday but he said it wasn’t a problem because he didn’t live too far away.
Having heard the same horror stories as the rest of you about the reliability of tradesmen I didn’t really hold much hope for a visit the next day. But he turned up as promised and he fixed the problem in five minutes.
When I asked him how much we owed him he said that we didn’t owe him anything, and he left!
Now, to be fair, he has some other work to do in the house and will come back soon and we will pay him so I’m not suggesting for a minute that he came to visit us at the weekend and did it all for the love of his job.
But his approach was really refreshing given that when I was looking for a plumber online I saw many adverts suggesting that plumbers (and I’m not singling plumbers out fro criticism here, I’m sure other trades have the same arrangements in place) wouldn’t attend a call-out until I agreed to pay a fee that was running into three figures in many cases.
I’m not against paying people for the work that they do, in fact I think it’s crucial that people get paid properly for that work, but this guy was obviously thinking a bit longer term. We got his number from a neighbour who was obviously happy with the job he did for him, and we’d be happy to pass on his name to anyone else looking for a good plumber so perhaps his approach will earn him more in the long term than those who insist on being paid before they leave the house.
