CRAFFORD PLUMBING & HEATING

In 2005 I hired a local contractor by the name of Mike Campbell to renovate an 1850s farmhouse I had just bought. (I should mention first that Mr. Campbell refused to give me a written estimate after several requests, insisting the project would take no more than a few weeks and walked off the job after 2 weeks with $4000 of my money that he did not earn, leaving a huge mess.) When I hired him, Mr. Campbell recommended Alliance Plumbing, which at the time was a partnership of Bill Crafford, who was the licensed plumber, and Jason Buttman, a local heating guy. I did not know that Mr. Buttman was not a plumber. Mr. Crafford assured me that he was a master plumber and highly experienced. 2 years later, I was still suffering with sewer gas in the new bathroom and water gurgling problems, indicating improper venting. When I phoned the old Alliance Plumbing number, I was told by Mr. Buttman's wife that he was no longer doing plumber and I was given Mr. Crafford's phone number. I called Mr. Crafford and asked him to come look at the problem, which he did. He brought a helper, who he apparently expected me to pay as well. Mr. Crafford insisted the bathroom was properly vented. When I removed the ceiling beneath the plumbing to show him that the vent pipe, which seemed to die into a wall, was not the proper pitch, he indulgently agreed to elevate the pitch, still maintaining that it was unnecessary and that the sewer gas smell was my imagination. Over a year later, when I began another renovation project in the same house that involved plumbing, we removed the side wall into which Mr. Crafford's "vent pipe" died, and discovered that it ended at a capped cast iron pipe well above the central vent pipe. For anyone who does not understand this, it means that the vent pipe from the bathroom may as well have had a cork in it. Three plumbers have since confirmed this. I should also mention that Mr. Crafford gave me a estimate of no ore than $500 for replacing some baseboard heating at the time and presented me with a bill for $1000. All together, Mr. Crafford had 3 different opportunities to properly vent my bathroom and has refused to do so. It is apparent to me now that he deliberately hid this fact from me. And THAT is what makes me really angry. Mr. Crafford, to his credit, can be quite charming, so much so that one particularly, however well-informed, is reluctant to challenge him. Do, however, challenge him. Or do yourself a favor and don't hire him to begin with.