The Thomas Crapper Memorial Plumbing Poll

Results as of March 15, 1997 (52 Total Returns)


Editors Note: In general the poll results were pretty much as expected. Some (two people) said that the questions are silly and demeaning to the plumbing profession. Yes, they are pretty silly - except that I have heard these questions and choices from my customers and other plumbers over the past 25 years. They do give some idea of just what the public thinks about service people when we show up at the door. Most of the "BAD" stories were unprintable and there were one or two bozos - but this medium reaches out to a whole lot of people - of all flavors. I'm encouraged to keep doing this poll. The suggested new topics were all excellent and are now being used on the poll. Thanks to all who participated hill@theplumber.com.

Do plumbers charge too much?

Should plumbers clean up their messes?

Flat rate or time & materials?

What do you offer the plumber while he/she is working?

Should the plumber bring his/her own ladder, rags, buckets, etc?

What do you say when the plumber asks you for a slice of bread?


Your best Plumbing Story

GOOD I worked this past summer cleaning toilets at a county park. One day we had a group of adolescent 20 year olds who thought it would be fun to flush entire rolls of toilet paper, tampons, and everything else down the toilet. Believe it or not every toilet in our restrooms got plugged up. It was a hot and sunny afternoon so everyone was at the park and no one had gone to the bathroom before they left home. We only had to wait an hour for the plumber to show up and remidie the situation (not bad for a union guy). (Thanks to Ben from Milwaukee)

GOOD My wife and I bought a house where the previous owner was a jack-leg repairman. Seems he f&^%%%%#! up everything he put his hand to, including the dishwasher drain. We called Lord Plumbing in Tucker at my father's recommendation. Stanley Lord came out and looked at the situation and fixed problem: Turns out that Mr. Fixit had used a LOT of epoxy to attach a plastic drain that was 1/2" too small to an old cast-iron drain. The epoxy had even gotten inside the cast-iron drain and closed it up further. Well, after taking his sawz-all and cutting the cast-iron off below the joint, he put on a new plastic drain and it worked perfectly. He then proceeded to fix both toilets in the house and only charged us for the original problem, as his minimum was two hours and he was right around that for doing it all. Friendly plumber, went straight to the problem without alot of "figurin' time" and helpful. (Thanks to John from Tucker, GA)

BAD The pool contractor put the filter in the basement; lots of plastic pipe. One night, a plastic valve let goooooooooo. Question: How much water was in the basement? Answer: What was the volume of the pool? Owner hired a PLUMBER to re-do everything, this time routing all lines away from, far away from, the basement! (Thanks to Dennis from Lost Wages)

BAD Plumbers under contract with home-warranty companies. (Thanks to John from Tucker, GA) I have to agree - the service people that get into my home for warrenty work are just awful! You'd think they would know their products and have parts on the truck... hill@theplumber.com.

Topics and choices I'd like to see here.

Should we continue doing this poll?

Thomas Crapper Memorial Poll

The History of Thomas Crapper