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johnmess

I started working for myself few months ago and been getting in work although not to regular yet. Done a couple of full bathroom replacment leaking taps and non flushing toilets.

So yesterday I was called to replace a couple of basin taps. Picked up the taps the customer wanted and started working. The old taps had been cemented in including cement around the nut.

My first mistake was breaking the sink my heart just about fell out of my behind. In trying to remove the old taps I had craked the sink I let the customer see what I had done and promtly left, got another sink after agreeing I would replace and install free of charge because of my mistake. Put the new sink and taps in no problems and left thinking every one was happy.

Gets a knock on the door this morning telling me there's water everywhere and the hot waters not working ( again heart out of my behind) I have never left behind a leaking joint and had inspected them before I left.

Gets to the house to find a tiny bit of water on the floor and found out the bottle trap has a tiny crack in it which is sepping water when the sink is used. The hot also works perfectly well so not sure where that came from.

Tells him he needs a new bottle trap which will cost under a fiver and I will fit it for free. He said no he will get another plumber in.

So there was my first mistake breaking the sink and second was not inspecting the old trap.

Its crazy how this job seemed to trun out so bad making me doubt my abilities.

So is anyone willing to share there first mistake.
 
I can't think of one particular mistake, but we all make them mate. After a couple you learn to check and double check and make sure you learn from it.

If when working on a job, like the sink you mention, I would have pointed out the taps look like they are stuck hard and the sink could be damaged etc. It just covers you back.

Chin up mate, learn and move on :)

Oh, hot and cold on the wrong way around once, that just came to mind. Not a big one, but silly none the less!
 
Replacing v. old taps on v. old basins can easily end up as you did - next time point it out to the customer and let them decide if its worth their risk.

We installed a le Blanc combi years ago that was only supplied with french instructions so we followed the smaller version pattern which we had done loads of - only for the decorator to ask if it was normal for water to be coming out of the lpg feed pipe on the wall outside !!!!!

centralheatking
 
i got a call from a m8 asking me to move some pipes around and fit a new sink
get there and shut off boiler started to mark up sink and look at tha pipe work told them not too use the water till i get back went got pipes fitings waste
fit it all up the last job was to cut old pipe in the suspenped celing join it check it and get me money
so cut old pipe water started to p*ss out ok ok so got a bucket then the water started to get HOT burnt all my hands and arm went shut off the boiler and went back and fitted the joint
after about 10 cigs and a fight with the numtys that worked there for puting the water back on got my money and left never payed for a take a way from there agen loving it lol
 
my mate did a job yesterday where there was no flow around the cylinder. He suspected a blockage so he undid the nut on flow to cylinder and nothing. He went up into the loft and checked the header which was full, he then cut in the feed to see if he could find the blockage but all ok. Confused, he pondered for a while before it dawned on him what he had done.

It was a terraced house and he was in the wrong roof space, he had cut he neighbours pipes!!! Made me wee myself :)
 
The person who doesn't make mistakes isn't trying hard enough.
 
I'm quite new to the game so have made a good few mistakes in the not-so-distant past. Think breaking a customer's sink is annoying? Yeah I've done that. Try breaking a chunk out their bath! That lightens up your day.

There is a definition of an expert as a man who has made every possible mistake. It's not far off. When you shadow an old boy and watch the way he assess, pauses, thinks, tests, prods, it's all because at one time he lept in and regretted it. You're not alone, you've just got to laugh it off and get on with it.

Act with integrity, admit mistakes, do whatever is necessary to put them right and leave the customer as happy as possible. Then once you get experienced you can cover your mistakes and disguise your bodges and nobody will be any the wiser! :p

On a sidenote with basins: Not only is it a good idea to tell the customer that the basin is at risk due to how stuck-tight the taps are (which I'm now in a habit of doing) - it might be worth telling them outright that it's new basin time. I did some work for an old woman who told me her husband lost a hand when a basin broke in half and severed it. Sure enough - he came in later to say hello. Nice chap. Minus one hand.
 
Thanks for the replys guys they been great. I will not make this mistake again. It never crossed my mind to warn the customer that the sink could break will take that on board for future.
 
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WE
ell guys least its not just me!!!

Went to a job recently and cracked the sink as above it was in the room with a bath and the toilet and another basin was in the room next door - customer just said oh dont worry we have another in with the toilet and we were thinking of knocking through to make one room and fitting a shower where the cracked sink now was and would i be available to do it!!!! needless to say i didnt charge for the other jobs i had done (washer changes) and said i would be happy to quote!!!

I decided to do the lottery that day!!! (wasn't THAT lucky though!!!)
 
Broken sinks, broken toilets, chipped tubs, drilled through live pipes and wires. I once drilled through a telephone line that served a block of flats. Connected flow to return. Turned on an eco 7 immersion heater with no water in it. When you make the mistake you think "What did I just do?". After a few years you learn to check and recheck. You know when you have learned from them when you can look back at your mistakes and laugh. You only need to worry when you look back and think that you have never made any. Just as long as those mistakes only harm your ego.
 
The mistakes dont make any difference its knowing and learning how to give the bull to the customer its there fault. lol.
 
brilliant, how many people at some point have taken off a trap and tipped the water away into the sink minus the trap youve just taken off ?......doh lol
 
At some point? I was only telling a customer yesterday how many times I've done this in the past. Didn't want to admit I'd done it in their kitchen too!!

I used to start building in confidence and then have it knocked back a few steps when I started. Then the confidence would climb again until another set back. Worst was a customer's soaked carpet that I only just managed to dry out and clean in time before they asked me to pay for a new one. Taken nearly three years to feel I know what I'm doing with most jobs, although I do have to phone a friend sometimes.

One of the best things that happened to me was meeting an experienced plumber who was happy to work with me from time to time. We give each other work when times are too busy so between us we can keep more customers.
 
Keeping your customers after making mistakes is a greater skill ;)
 
Mistakes are what make you a grizzled plumbing veteran!

You will have an in built alarm bell which goes off in situations like that. I would have either not touched it, or insisted the custard replace the basin as well, or I would not have touched it . . .

I had a similiar situation with a tiolet siphon i repaired, telling the custard that the overflow was broken and would dump water on the bathroom floor. I went ahead with siphon replacement, adjusted levels, water dumped on bathroom floor, I get blamed . . .

I just told them to get stuffed - AND I did free work for them as well. Dont bother with some people, and doing bit for free backfires in the end unless you are careful!
 
My mate was drilling a wall to hang a rad and heard a shout from next door he'd drilled straight through the wall into the neighbours living room

My biggest mistake was wasting time at University and not going straight into the trade
 
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this week i forgot to tighten a compresion fitting up and created a nice bubble in the customers ceilling only been doing the job six months boss was nt to happy . u live and learn double check them all nxt time
 
TURNED A GAS METER IN TO A BALLOON,WATER AND GAS DONT MIX,luckily i know all the local transco lads so it was sorted f.o.c
 
My mate was drilling a wall to hang a rad and heard a shout from next door he'd drilled straight through the wall into the neighbours living room

My biggest mistake was wasting time at University and not going straight into the trade
this one brings back memories from the late 70's when i was a trainee maintenance plumber for a hotel chain.
i was doing the monday morning 'tour' with my boss in the 16th century hotel that had stairs and floors all over the place. it was reported that in one of the hallways just before a double step, was a 3/4'' rod stretching from wall to wall and was a trip hazard and needed to be removed (thinking back, it was proberbly a tie rod for the walls). any-way, out came the grinder and the bar was cut except for the 6'' under some 5'' heating pipe running the length of the hall. my boss told me to run to the workshop and get him his lump hammer to which i did. i gave him the hammer and he hit the pipe into the wall flush. about an hour later we had a call from the manager to got to room 202 as there was a report from an angry customer. on entering the room, just above the middle of the bed headboard was a 6 inch piece of iron sticking out the wall. the funny thing was (well to me anyway) the old dear was sitting up in bed reading the morning paper and the bar missed her head by about 8'' 'who dunnit-not me lol'.
 
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Redsaw
That one reminded me of one i did around when my time was just out.
Sent to fit a new hwc in a kitchen. In those days the hwc was mounted up on the wall in a corner on a couple of pieces 1 1/4" of steel pipe.
Had to cut pockets into each side of the wall to take the steel pipe. Knocking into the party wall thinking it was a 9" but it was only a 4 1/2". A half brick and a load of plaster landed on the old dear next doors table as they were having breakfast.
I looked through the hole and she just said " i just said to Jim i think that plumber next door is coming in beside us!"
Made some apologies but she was fine with it and said don't worry, these things happen.
I filled the hole in, she stuck a bit wallpaper over it with flour and water and even gave me some tea.
Don't meet many people like that anymore.
 
I was in an old peoples home, drilling a hole through a wall. All this water started to come through the hole. Oh Fxxk. On further investigation I went round to the outherside to find that I had drilled throught to the kitchen store cupboard and drilled through a catering tin of peaches.
 
classics.

another one, same job.
boss allways giving me grief about looking after my tools.
he has a crosspien hammer that he was married to that had a loose head ''well what about the condition of that then?'' i said.
'' dont worry about it, its been like it for years'' he replied.
anyway, the know-it-all was giving me right evill on a particular day when we went up to the 3rd floor to show me how to fix sash window weights.
the room window over-looked the market square.
as he was pinning back the capping for the weight slide, the head flew of the handle straight through the window heading for the walkway bellow.
i quickly stuck my head outt to see it richochet of the council paviors missing a young guy by less than a foot leaving a dent in the slab that i could see 3 floors up.
turning around my boss was having a mild coronary flat out on the bed screaming 'has it killed somebody, has it killed anyone''?, after a moments thought i replied;-
''oh my god, ffs brian'' pausing for a second looking terrified myself which nearly finished the old boy off. ''wait here brian while i go check he's alright. leaving the room i heard him repeating ''oh god, oh god.....''
i took my time going downstairs to retrieve the hammer head admiring the dent in the pavement and returned sometime later to find him still on the bed. he was looking slightly more relaxed by then. he was certainly picking up enough to make himself a strong cup of tea when i told him '' its o.k, it just missed that bloke, he just wondered what the clang was behind him''.
brian.... fix your tools you *wat.

mess with me and i can wait for the right time.lol.
 
So we're installing a rega metals heat recovery ductex system in a bungalow (I'm going back a bit), I'm in the loft lagging the ductwork while my boss is chatting to Mrs Custard in the kitchen when suddenly something appears between their faces, yep my foot!! I swear to this day that that joist moved on me. Of course I got a sending down in front of the customer but we had a good giggle on the way back to the yard, my old boss reckoned he really struggled to not burst out laughing when he saw my scrawny little leg hanging through the cieling.
 
my best mate went feet first through a ceiling at a customers house. Nickname now is Lionel, Dancing on the Ceiling!!!!
 
Loads of 'errors' in my own homes, dad hung a combi for me while I was ripping out the old cylinder/tank, he says done after a few days and it was ready to test my plumbing for the rads I'd re-routed. I pointed out a few pipes still cut off in the landing ceiling (pulled some down earlier) which he swore blind wasn't part of the new pipework, I said it was and it needed capping, but dad is dad - always right.

On goes the water, as I watched the rads I fitted and dad watched the boiler... wondering why the pressure wasn't rising he leaves it.. I finally decide to go check upstairs rads, have to get waders to get up the stairs, water running down, out the light fittings, down the walls - luckily I was redecorating after!

btw, MY novice work didn't have any leak..

Although taking out the cylinder did earn my a 3" long, 2cm deep scar in my aum where the angle grinder I was using one handed grabbed the pipe and skipped over my forearm.. Its healed ok and filled in with 'something' but tank a different colour, I'm quite proud ;)
 
office block above shops in kingston high st doing a refurb the old rads were on cast iron built in brackets .What we used to do was whack the brackets sideways to snap them and then knock the remainder back into the wall so they could be plastered over ,must have been abot ten rads on this wall under the windows over looking the high st
so of i goes snapping and knocking back get to the fourth or fifth one and i here this almighty chrash out side
when we went out there was black glass all over the pavement
the building was clad with black glass but at one point it had been set back onto the brickwork and the remains of the bracket had smashed through it luckily no one was hurt
other that that ive done all the usuals drilling through wire,s pipes ,into the wrong, room, foot through ceiling various floods including the lift pit at liberties burnt the curtains these things happen to all trades just plumbing usually has the most dramatic conclusion its fire and water thats a dealy combination
The man who never made a mistake has never made anything
The reaction of people to minor disaters is what always amazes me some people take it all calm as anything some break down weeping and wailing theres no telling how they will react
At the end of the day we should all have insurance to cover the worst senarios the rest we just put down to experience and cover the cost

The one thing that does worry me is the ridiculous conditions on the use of blowlamps in the insurance policy read yours and it will probably say you have to remove all combustable items or cover with fire proof sheeting up to 10 m who could do that under the stairs in a house
 
second big mistake never over estimate the inteligence of plumbers mate s gave one boy the pipe slice 15mm and told him which pipe to cut whilst i popped down the road for some bits
came back to find him soaked with his finger going blue stuck in the end of a pipe
he had put the cutters down gone and got the 22mm slice and cut the wrong pipe
 
When I was starting out I had to change some pipework in my mates bathroom. Had to solder a joint on the mains anyway, messed up the solder joint leaked then the stopcock broke. Had to catch water in a bucket for half an hour till my dad came round to sort it out. The joys of learning
 
more of a faux pas than a mistake but it lost me work.
i'd just done a downstairs bog and basin and rad, fixed the packing gland leak on the stop tap and had arranged to go back and swap some rads upstairs. i was chatting to mrs custard, i asked what she did for a living and she replied she is a bit part actor and is regularly on commercials on tv. she went on to say she used to be a model but she's too old now (40 ish) and instead of saying 'rubbish you aren't old' i actually just smiled and said yeah and nodded in agreement.

needless to say i wasn't asked back for the rads. it was one of my first jobs and i was a bit nervous about dealing with customers but it was a lesson well learned.

KJ
 
I went through a ceiling on my first day as a fresh faced 16 year old apprentice.

Fixing a 3 metre rad on my own,lifted one end onto the brackets,went to the other end and lifted,of course it came off the bracket,and I was wearing trainers. 2 weeks off!

I was working on a big heating job in a nursing home,using the existing,big column radiators. The new boilers were fired up,but a few of the rads wouldn't get hot "go round and bleed them all" I was told. I did the first few and there was lots of air,it was taking ages to bleed each one. I got to a particularly large rad in the hallway and I thought I'd speed things up by undoing the 3/4 plug in the other end,just enough to let a bit of air out. I very carefully turned the plug and air was coming out at a steady rate. I turned around to pick up a cloth and the plug shot out of the rad and hit the other side of the hall,followed by the glug,glug of very hot water that was making a bid for freedom. In my panic I put my hand over the hole to stop the water from spraying the recently painted wall and managed to hold on for about 20 seconds before getting scalded and letting go. I had to go to A+E for the burn and got hammered from everyone on site for a couple of weeks. Character building I suppose!

One more,but not mine. We were in an accommodation block in the Commando training centre, we'd fitted the 50mm copper water main and had air pressure tested everything with Nitrogen bottles. the water was switched on and everything was fine for half an hour, at which point the Bakers Blue flux finally let go on a tee where one of the guys had forgotten to solder. It's quite a sight to see a 50mm water main going full bore! He'd been told to use yorkshire flux too!
 
I made quite alot of mistakes on Commercial tbh mostly because my Gaffer puts you under alot of pressure to work your bum off, but at least there were no customers around to deal with just an angry gaffer :)

Since doing jobs on my own though for customers, I have only made one mistake and that was breaking a half ped for overtightening the Bolts Oops :p As I walked about with the customer showing him the progress so far, I pointed out what I done incase he noticed himself and told him that it'll be replaced free of charge anyhow. We all learn from our mistakes.

Doing my Apprenticeship what I did notice though when working on site with 10 other Plumbers is that even the older experienced ones make mistakes, which made me stop doubting my ability:p but then again on site all people remember about you are the mistakes haha
 
Total novice mistake when i was first starting out as apprentice, i was on a job for a small building firm and had just put in a bathroom, the builder was in it looking at my work when i went out the room to liven it up, didn't take long to realise there was a problem from the angry shouting so isolated it again, went back to the bathroom to find a very wet and angry builder from where i'd missed soildering one side of a elbow!
 
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