Adventures in Plumbers

The first plumber laughed when I mentioned repairing the pipe - no one really does that any more. I knew that, but I had to ask. They'll be calling me to let me know when they can come look and estimate how much of their new summer house on the lake they can pay for with my job.

The second one asked me how long the pipe was. Umm...hmm. I told him "I'm a girl - you seriously expect me to have any sense of distance?? It's maybe...umm...four Astro Van lengths." He then asked if my lawn was...manicured. Hah!! Double hah!! I mean no. No it isn't. Ah, well, then they don't have rent a ditch digger but can use their bobcat to tear up the yard dig out the pipe, saving some money. He told me, without even having to come look, "$500". I guess they aren't paying anyone's tuition this year, but I'm also worried that they'll get here and the estimate will turn into a bill for over two-thousand.

The third one informed me that "blue polybutylene is a bad word around there", but they were really very nice and will call me when they can come have a look and estimate the cost of that new sporty car they've been looking at.

Number four sounded a little...slow...and I'm not at all sure I'll have them do the work even if they promise it'll only cost a dollar. They're coming out tomorrow, and we'll see if first impressions are wrong. Meanwhile, I think I hear them calculating what it'll cost to paint the interiors of their homes.

Number five doesn't do that kind of thing, but just happened to have a friend visiting who does, so he came out to look this afternoon. I liked this one a good bit - he was nice to the Evil Genius, was quite affable to me, and certainly looked and sounded like he knew what he was doing. He's calling back tomorrow with his estimate once he finds out how much dinner at Outback a ditch digger will be - seems my pipe's a good four feet down, and not even a day laborer wants to dig that thing out.

The last one who spoke to me today did an estimate over the phone and sounded bored about it. Call me silly, but I just don't trust estimates done over the phone for work like this - I get the feeling they're just making up a random number that sounds nice, knowing very well that they'll get out here to do the work and start adding to the charges. I don't think I'll be calling them back.

Tomorrow I have a few more coming out to look and do their figuring - I'm thinking someone's wedding, a Caribbean vacation, and a strand of cultured pearls at the least.

At this rate, I'll have a plumbers convention in my front yard tomorrow...but maybe I'll also have a repaired pipe by next week.