Hello and happy holidays. I need 3 new water heaters installed and I met a gentleman that works for a plumbing company as a plumber but does not individually have a license. He does work on the side. I’ll save money by having him do the job but I am hesitant of having someone that does not have a license individually do it.
Would you hire a tradesman that works professionally for a company but is not individually licensed.
byu/govtkilledlumumba inrealestateinvesting
Posted by govtkilledlumumba
4 Comments
Is it a gas water heater or electric?
With gas I insist it be something with a license and insurance because of the liability, with electric i’m not as worried but I require they have insurance still.
This is how most companies operate. Typically one guy who is usually the owner has the license and the other guys who are not licensed do all the work. So weather you hire this guy or a “licensed company”, good chance an unlicensed guy is doing the work.
The licensed plumber is supposed to inspect the work the unlicensed guy does in theory but in practice that almost never happens.
Depends on the scope of work, usually water heaters aren’t too challenging. I agree with the other poster, if gas is involved licensing is important
Don’t be. Lots of people do this. Lots of tradesmen aren’t exclusive to a particular company. They work where there’s work. It only becomes a problem if your area will actually enforce you not pulling permits that this guy can’t pull or if he somehow does not know what he’s doing.
Also when you work with people directly effectively at the hourly cost of their time, having them come back out for a problem is just more work rather than warranty service. To pull one of my own examples, I had a hvac compressor fail after two years. The manufacturer replaced the part under warranty but I still paid the guy to swap it out. Had I paid a larger company double up front, the swap out would likely have been included.