Hiring A Plumber's Apprentice: How It Might Save You A Few Dollars

No homeowner likes the idea of having to hire someone to fix plumbing or electrical problems. However, it is to be expected when you own a house and have to have things fixed and you are neither electrician nor plumber. It may help save a few dollars if you know who to hire and what to expect when you are not hiring a master plumber for your minor plumbing repair. In fact, in larger cities, a lot of plumbers who have apprentices will send their apprentices out to do minor jobs, and this could be very helpful to you as a homeowner. Here is how.

Apprentices Generally Make Less Than the Master Plumbers 

Apprentices usually make less money while working under a master plumber. What you are charged by an apprentice could be anywhere from one third to one half of what the master plumber might charge you for the same job. Additionally, there is a common practice for first-year apprentices to make the least amount of money on the same jobs that second- or third-year apprentices make. Any job that an apprentice can do without supervision or guidance is one that most master plumbers feel they can assign an apprentice without accompanying said apprentice to the job. This could equal huge savings off of things like clearing a clog in your toilet, fixing the tub's drain plug switch, or flushing a sink drain.

Asking for an Apprentice to Do the Job at Hand

It is not common for most homeowners to request that a plumber's apprentice be sent to handle a plumbing problem. Understandably, you might want to make that request after finding out that an apprentice working jobs by themselves charge less, but there really is no protocol or precedent for customers to specifically request that a master plumber send an apprentice in the master plumber's place. It is more or less the luck of the draw if only an apprentice shows up, especially since master plumbers may accompany their apprentices on most service calls, and/or a master plumber would want to be sure that the plumbing issue is minor.

Sometimes the master plumber and the apprentice both show up. Yet, once the master plumber is certain that the apprentice can handle the repair on their own, the master plumber leaves to answer the next call. Sometimes the apprentice is the only one on call for emergency and after-hours service calls, but you never know for certain until only the apprentice shows up.

For more information, contact a plumber in your area.