How to Find and Hire an Emergency Plumber
If your pipes have sprung a leak, you'll need help...and fast
Hiring a pro to do a job around the house is a process that doesn’t just happen overnight—except when you find yourself in a state of plumbing emergency. If, say, the sink won’t turn off, and your kitchen is flooding, you’ll need to hire an emergency plumbing service. Our guide will make sure you ask the right questions and hire the right pro for the job without breaking a sweat.
What Does an Emergency Plumber Do?
While any plumbing issue is a major inconvenience, not all troubles are considered emergencies. Your local emergency plumber will only come to your home after hours if your potential plumbing problem is truly a crisis. This level of emergency usually means water is spewing, backing up, or unusable. Specific plumbing emergencies an emergency plumber will address include:
Burst pipes: A burst pipe leaking water or sewage can quickly cause irreversible damage to your home unless fixed.
Flooding: Flooding will ruin flooring and drywall in minutes, so the cause of the flooding must be found and resolved.
Sewer backup: In addition to the potential damage caused by a sewer backup, such a situation can have health-related consequences if not promptly addressed.
Clogged drains: A clogged drain can quickly become a backup or flooding scenario. If you have exhausted your options of DIY drain unclogging methods and the clogged drain is in a critical area of your home, like the kitchen or only bathroom, call an emergency plumber. Other scenarios where calling an emergency plumber for a clogged drain makes sense is if you think the clog could indicate a more serious plumbing issue or if the clog involves sewage that could lead to health concerns.
No hot water: Hot water is necessary for managing certain medical conditions; therefore, no hot water warrants a call to the emergency plumber.
Discolored water: Water displaying any irregular color should not be consumed, and not having access to drinking water is undoubtedly an emergency.
How to Find an Emergency Plumbing Service
If you need to find an emergency plumber as quickly as possible, the internet is a great resource. Search for local plumbing pros and get a sense of their work via reviews. You can also see if any plumbers you’ve worked with in the past offer emergency plumbing services or can refer you to someone who can. And, as always, word-of-mouth recommendations from family and friends are priceless.
Before Hiring an Emergency Plumber
Time is of the essence when it comes to fixing an emergency plumbing issue. However, keeping a clear head and doing the prep work ahead of time to find the right pro for the job will help you in the long run. These tips on how to choose an emergency plumber will help you feel confident in your hiring decision.
Gather Information About Your Plumbing Issue
The more information you can provide to any plumbers you speak with, the better. Do you spy any holes or damage? Where is the issue in your home? When did the issue start? Narrowing down these details can help save your plumber some time when they come to the rescue.
Interview Emergency Plumbing Pros
You’ll want to act quickly, but unless you already have a plumber on speed dial, you should ideally speak with more than one local emergency plumber about your issue. These conversations will not only allow you to find the perfect pro but will give you a better understanding of their availability and the type of fix you may need.
If you’re in a serious bind and need someone immediately, read online reviews carefully and ask plenty of questions (more on that in a second).
Check Your Emergency Plumber’s Qualifications
Check if the pro you’re considering has a plumbing license. Not all states or cities require their plumbers to be licensed, so do some research to determine the requirements near you.
Don’t get confused in the heat of the moment and accept a business license. You want to see proof that the pro is licensed and experienced in their field, and a plumbing license is proof of this.
You should also make sure that they have insurance policies; that’s right, plural! The pro you hire should have both workers’ compensation insurance and liability insurance. Workers’ comp covers the pro and their team should they experience any injuries on the job site.
Liability insurance covers any damages made to your home in the course of making plumbing repairs. Both forms of insurance indicate you’re dealing with a pro who wants to protect their interests as well as yours.
Questions to Ask Your Emergency Plumbing Pro
Even in an emergency, you don’t want to go with the first plumber you find. Try calling multiple professionals to see if they’re the right one for the job. When you get an emergency plumber on the phone, ask these questions before hiring them:
When Are You Available to Work?
When you start looking up different emergency plumbing services, you will quickly notice that several companies offer 24/7 support, and that’s great since you never know when a leak will strike.
But it doesn’t matter how late they are open if they are far from your home or dealing with a backlog of emergency jobs. Ask for an honest timeframe and use that to factor into your hiring decision.
Will You Provide an Estimate When You Arrive?
Knowing the cost of emergency plumbing can make or break your decision. Plumbers should provide an estimate that includes an outline of the repairs and, more importantly, the cost of parts and labor. And this estimate should come only after they’ve accessed the issue in person. They may not provide an immediate estimate during their visit, but it should come shortly after. But be mindful—most plumbers don’t offer free estimates, so make sure you get all your questions in before setting up a visit.
Do You Offer Warranties?
A plumbing professional should offer you a warranty for their work, and most plumbers work with manufacturers who offer warranties on the parts they use in the process. Even though you’re hiring a plumbing pro in an emergency, you should still make sure your financial bases are covered.
How Do You Handle Parts?
If a plumber doesn’t have access to the part you need and has to leave your home to go and find the part in question, find out who covers that time if you are paying an hourly rate. This info is less important if you are paying for the job itself rather than by the hour.
Do You Get Permits for Me?
While not every emergency job requires that you get permits issued before completion, some might. In those instances, most plumbers will take on the responsibility of getting the permits, but that isn’t a guarantee, so it’s always good to ask.
Get a Contract and Arrange Payments With Your Emergency Plumbing Pro
While it’s important to find out how much a plumbing pro will charge for emergency services, it’s going to be hard for them to give you an accurate estimate over the phone. If they can’t nail down a price just yet, find out how much they typically charge just for a service visit.
Once the pro has arrived at your home and assessed the situation thoroughly, they will let you know how much the repair will cost. Make sure to get a breakdown of the costs in writing, including what’s going toward new parts and what’s going toward labor.
Plumbing services range in cost from $45 to $200 per hour or more, depending on the job, timing, and location.
Keep Records of Your Emergency Plumbing Project
Take photos of the issue before your plumber arrives, especially if you have water damage and may need info for a homeowners’ insurance claim. Be sure to ask for receipts once you issue any payment, and keep a copy of any contracts you sign.
After Your Emergency Plumbing Pro Has Finished
Once the issue is resolved to your satisfaction, pay according to your payment terms and discuss what to do if it arises again soon. If you’re happy with the work your pro did to get you out of your plumbing-related bind, leave them a great review. You can even offer to be a reference for any future customer who finds themselves with a leaky pipe or broken toilet.
Emergency Plumbing Following a Natural Disaster
Excess water and damage caused by snowstorms, hurricanes, and floods can lead to plumbing emergencies. Avoiding plumbing issues caused by a natural disaster starts with properly maintaining your system. Install a sump pump to prevent basement flooding, insulate pipes in unfinished areas to prevent freezing, and regularly inspect your sewer and water mains for problems to prevent storm-related damage.
After a natural disaster, perform a visual inspection of your plumbing system, both inside and out, to locate any issues. Complete this check sooner rather than later, as the demand for emergency plumbing services will be much higher after a storm. Common storm-related plumbing problems include burst pipes, sewer line backups, and water line leaks. Contact an emergency plumber as soon as you notice any damage to limit your wait time.