PLUMBING PLUMBING BUSINESS
Do plumbing licensing laws really protect the public?
BY RICHARD DI TOMA CONTRIBUTING WRITER P 20
aul A. Baumgartner of Batavia Plumbing Co. in Illinois recently sent me an email about a problem plumbers are encountering with unlicensed
persons doing plumbing work in his state. To further exacerbate the problem, Paul said that government agencies were delinquent in performing their duties concerning that situation. These problems are not unique to his area. You have probably encountered similar situations in your area. Paul writes, “I have been a plumber since 1959, and I’ve
been in business since 1980. I will be honest with you. With the way things are now, it sucks being a plumbing contractor. You are better off being a handyman and doing plumbing. Why, you ask? I served five years as an apprentice. I took an all-day test to get my license. Now I have to do four-hour classes every year and send a copy of my schooling to the state to renew my plumbing license. Then I have to send copies of all my insurance and a $50,000 bond to get my plumbing contractor’s license. What for? “We have handymen, remodelers, carpenters, softener
installers and heating people putting in water heaters, etc., and no one is out there to stop them. Why do I have to go by the rules? Pick up any newspaper. Look under handymen ads. Most have the words plumbing, painting, etc. Most heating men here put in water heaters. You should see some of the installations done by water softener people. Carpenters do their own plumbing on their remodeling projects. Countertop people hook up their own sinks for their customers. Who is watching all this going on? Why are newspapers allowed to take ads with the word plumbing in them without a plumbing license number? “I used to take those ads and send them to the local state
plumbing inspectors. They told me ‘no more.’ The plumbing inspectors used to send the ads to the Illinois Dept. of Health in Springfield, but they say that they don’t have the money or resources to do anything about it. How do we educate the consumer to know that they must ask anyone in their house doing plumbing whether they are a licensed plumber and a licensed contractor? Isn’t this the State’s job? (That’s a big laugh.) It’s not fun being in the plumbing business if we have to compete with all the unlicensed people doing plumbing. “We pay the state health department a fee to be a
plumber and a fee to be a contractor. Where is all the money going? Imagine if we had everyone out there practicing medicine without a license. They would be in jail. How about someone policing our industry and putting a few handymen in jail for doing plumbing without the proper license? (Another joke.) “I have written to newspapers and to TV stations like
I’m writing to you. They are not interested. We have some very loyal plumbers in our industry to whom I talk. They tell me to call Springfield, but the people on the other end of the line can’t wait to get off the phone. If someone would listen to me, I would gladly talk to Congress, Springfield representatives, etc. As you can see, most of us
plumbers are disgusted with our industry.” Paul ended his email with, “Thank you for your time,
Paul the real plumber, not Joe the pretend plumber.” I know how you feel, Paul, and I’m listening. Your email certainly reinforces Ronald Reagan’s statement that
“Government isn’t the solution to our problems, government is the problem.” If legislators make laws that are not equitable, intelligent, purposeful and uniformly enforced, those laws become a joke, because they are capricious. And if the people who are supposed to enforce them don’t do so in a uniform manner, they are guilty of selective discrimination.
The solution The conundrum Paul has presented requires a few
simple steps to reach a solution that won’t happen overnight, but, with persistence, it will eventually occur. First, plumbing contractors must come to the realization that plumbing license laws are not enacted for the protection of plumbing contractors. The plumbers’ motto is “The Plumber Protects the Health of the Nation.” Like the plumbers’ motto, the purpose of plumbing license legislation is the protection and welfare of the public. As Paul sees it, government is not fulfilling its responsibilities. An old adage says, “If you want a job done right, do it
yourself.” Another axiom states, “The squeaky wheel gets the oil,” but, if the squeak is minimal it may not be detected. The “loyal plumbers” of whom Paul speaks would be wise to stop assuming that Paul on his own can succeed in addressing a problem which is theirs individually and in totality. They should muster up the courage to join
with Paul to face the problem head on in a relentless manner. They could then make the squeak annoying enough to be heard. Harry Truman had the words “The Buck Stops Here” on his White House desk. The solution to this problem must come from the spot at which the buck stops. That’s the plumbing contractors themselves. Those contractors must take it upon
themselves to initiate an educational program showing consumers the benefits of using only licensed professional plumbers. They should create a simple informational brochure for the public about the dangers of improper plumbing. Each contractor could distribute those brochures when speaking to consumers. To further support that information, they should include the following quote from Dr. Lewis Thomas, former head of New York’s Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Center and an author of numerous articles and books explaining the glories of medicine to the lay person. In the 1984 spring edition of the
e Turn to DI TOMA on p 22
phc june 2011
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