Since we have been living in our current Cherry World Headquarters in Dallas this past three years, I have hired and summarily fired seven plumbers. Four were plumbing companies and three were plumbers who worked independently. All were licensed.
Three price gouged and the other four flat out lied to me. All of them assumed I didn't know anything about plumbing. Bad mistake on their part. I have the name and number of another plumber. I'm going to call him and try him. I'll let you know how it turns out.
But if you live in Dallas, here's your chance to chime in. Tell us who you use as your plumber and why you're willing to recommend him.
Meanwhile, my blog pieces this week have told the names and phone numbers of tradesmen we have found exceptional: electrician, air conditioning, framer, drywall contractor. Over the next couple of days, I'll tell you the name of an exceptional trim carpenter, a great place to buy a fireplace insert, a chimney sweep, and the best shutter manufacturer.
Mark this site and print these entries. They'll prove valuable to you if you live in the Metroplex.
DALLAS
214 503-8563
Our 43rd Year
The more I hear about your great tradesmen, the more I wish I lived in Texas or you lived here! I have a website and in it I list service providers for my clients and friends (and my farm area). It would be great to be able to promote some of your guys!
Bill...I don't know if you have a website....but on mine I have a page for "local services". I post any blogs I've done about local businesses on the page. Once a month I check the number of times someone has accessed a particular business through my web site (I have a stat counter on it) and I email each business with the numbers. Hopefully somewhere along the line it will lead to some business...
Having done many home improvement projects myself and flipping them, I have learned a lot about the trades, and that knowledge comes in handy when I hire contractors. I can speak their language. I can demand quality. I question them and offer suggestions as we discuss exactly how they are going to do the job. It makes me wonder how a person who doesn't know anything about the trades can hire anybody and feel confident about it.
Elizabeth, you're so right. If you don't know what you're doing, you have no business contracting out remodeling and repairs yourself
You might check with a local property managment company like GTF in Dallas. They know lots of vendors.
Robert, that's a good idea, and thanks for offering it.
Interestingly, the huge Dallas area real estate company, Ebby Halliday, Realtors, maintains a voluminouslist of people and companies that do about everything from cut grass to teach tuba. It comes from Ebby agent recommendations.
I'll bet there are as many as 500 entries on the list. Through good fortune, I have a copy of the list.
Of those I've called in the past -- primarily sole-practitioners -- I've yet to find one that was still in business. So does that mean a business' chance to vaporize increases in direct proportion to its competence? Probably not, but it's a thought.