Plumbing guarantees are a source of constant confusion. A guarantee of the fixtures and fittings installed is always carried by the manufacturer not the plumber who installed them. Ultimately all a plumber can guarantee is his workmanship and service levels.
When you use Whywait Plumbing we guarantee you many things and we stand behind all those guarantees because we want you to have a positive experience. At Whywait Plumbers Gold Coast, we enjoy a 95% customer satisfaction rating and this is why:
We show up on time.
We send only licensed and trained plumbers to your home, each one a full-time Whywait employee.
Training and development are ongoing events for every member of our staff.
You receive a guaranteed up-front price before we start any work.
Our equipment and tools are the latest and best in the business which helps us do our job better and with a better end result.
We keep our trucks well-stocked enabling us to complete most repairs with just one visit to your home.
We’re ensure you and our team members are protected by:
Maintaining public liability insurance coverage for $20,000,000 that protects your property should a part fail in your home or business.
Maintaining WorkCover insurance cover should one of our employees have an accident.
Providing warranty protection on the jobs we undertake for you.
Ensuring we are fully licensed as plumbing contractors in Queensland and New South Wales.
Investing in state of the art communications systems to answer your calls and dispatch our plumbers to your home or business.
Investing in modern vehicles that are correctly maintained.
Complying with the Fair Work Act.
Responding promptly on a 24 hour, 7 day basis to customers who call us in a crisis because they have a water leak, a blocked drain or have no hot water.
I urge you to ask questions about how you will be charged for plumbing services, insurance coverage and licensing before deciding which plumbing company to hire. Because the more you ask, the more you’ll see that our family-owned and operated company stands head and shoulders above the rest in true value offered.
Fire is a likely consequence of DIY electrical or gas fitting.
Voiding insurance coverage is the risk you take every time you decide you can undertake your own plumbing, gas fitting or electrical repairs or installation.
Sure the rules and regulations differ slightly between each state in Australia but essentially there are no grey areas in the laws in each state because its completely black and white legally that when it comes to working on the plumbing, gas or electrical systems in your home or business you must be licensed.
Here at Whywait Plumbing every week we deal with the consequences of the weekend warriors who go to Bunnings or Masters and are convinced they can do it themselves after getting advice from a shop assistant. Usually the consequences are that we have to rip everything out and start again.
Everyone in the plumbing industry be it plumbers, manufacturers or council inspectors do not need convincing that DIY plumbing is no good for anyone and most of all it is ultimately no good for the general public. Unless you have a licence you are not insured to undertake plumbing, gas or electrical work.
What they don’t tell you at Bunnings or Masters when selling you all the plumbing pipes and fittings is that it is illegal to undertake you own plumbing. Certainly they do not inform you that DIY plumbing, gas or electrical work will most likely void your home insurance policy in the event of a insurance claim.
There are some plumbing tasks you can legally undertaken without a plumbers licence in Queensland and they are limited to:
Replacing a shower head or shower rose
Replacing a tap washer or jumper valve
Replacing a domestic water filter cartridge
Replacing a washer in a toilet cistern inlet or outlet valve
Installing, repairing or maintaining garden irrigation system
Cleaning or repairing the grate to a drainage gully trap
Replacing a cap on inspection opening to a drain
These plumbing tasks listed are all you can do without running the risk of voiding your insurance cover. More importantly there are no gas fitting or electrical tasks you can legally undertake that will not void your insurance cover. Listed below are links and warnings from Queensland Government and Allianz Insurance.
Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)
Using licensed plumbers and drainers is the simplest and most effective way of ensuring that plumbing work complies with regulations to minimise unnecessary risk to your family’s health and safety. Rectifying defective or non-compliant work can be far more expensive than the original cost. As a consumer, using an appropriately qualified plumber or drainer will help to protect you and your family as well as your bank account.
Allianz Insurance
Illegal DIY work can put you at risk of extra costs, injury or death. Leave electrical or plumbing work to qualified professionals. Some of us enjoy a spot of weekend DIY. Others are less enthusiastic but do the fix-ups anyway. And while there are many benefits of doing-it-yourself such as saving on labour costsi, there are safety and legal reasons why the majority of plumbing and electrical tasks need to be left to the professionals. DIY jobs can put you and other people at risk of injury or death. And if you don’t get something done right, you could end up putting people at risk and damaging property in the future.
We recommend that you should avoid DIY plumbing, gas or electrical as frequently you end up costing yourself more with the problems never being repaired.
Asbestos in your bathroom is just one of the many issues that can confront you when undertaking a bathroom renovation. Until the early 1980’s the use of asbestos sheets in bathrooms was the norm and can be sitting beneath your bathroom tiles with potential deadly consequences.
Asbestos removal by specialist licensed contractors is only one of the issues you must be aware of when undertaking a DIY bathroom renovation. Despite what you get told in big box hardware outlets such as Bunnings or Masters there are a number of areas that must be undertaken by fully licensed and insured professional contractors being:
electrical
plumbing and gas fitting
asbestos removal
water proofing
pest control
In all of the above DIY is not an option to reduce costs as doing so has consequences because it is:
illegal
dangerous to the point of being life threatening
usually results in non compliant and sub standard installation
non insurable with it creating a situation where any future insurance claims will be denied and the policy null and void
removes all warranty protection from products that are defective
If you are confident and capable Whywait Plumbing fully endorse undertaking labouring work yourself, purchasing materials and running the project but remember short cuts and cheap non compliant products will always come back to haunt you.
Can my gas BBQ explode is a question we get asked every summer as we all love a barbecue its part of our lifestyle. But every year far too many people suffer severe burns and injuries.
Most barbecues have been lying around, unused over the winter months and as soon as the warm weather returns we all fire up the barbecue without a second thought as to whether its safe to use.
Gas bottles with their regulator and hose connections are the most common potential for leaking LPG gas to literally explode when you are using it.
Before using your barbecue this summer we recommend that you spend 5 minutes to carry out the following:
check all your connections are tight
check the gas hose from the bottle to the barbecue to make sure it has not perished
a soapy water spray leak test on the gas bottle, gas regulator, rubber hose and hose connections
Above is a short video that will run you through seven simple checks before using your barbecue that shows all of the tests listed above including a soapy water test.
Once you have checked your connections are tight and checked the rubber gas hose for any signs of being perished please ensure you carry out a soapy water leak of all the connections.
You can create soapy water in a bowl with soap and brush it on, or preferably use a spray bottle where you put some gel soap into a spray bottle with water and spray all of the connections.
If a leak is present, the soapy water will produce bubbles indicating the location of the leak. If a leak is detected, you may need to disconnect the joint and clean the mating surfaces. Then re-connect and re-check for leaks again. If you continue to see leaks then it is likely that fitting needs replacing before using the barbecue.
A gas leak on a barbecue can spread very quickly as you can see in the photo above which is why you should follow these basic rules:
never use a gas barbecue indoors or in a confined space
do not connect or disconnect a LPG cylinder in the vicinity of a naked flame and always shut off the cylinder valve before disconnecting from the barbecue
do not use a gas barbecue in windy conditions as if the flames are blown out the LPG can accumulate and create a potential explosion
LPG gas cylinders seldom explode because they all come with a pressure relief valve so if there is a problem with heating up, the relief valve automatically allows the LPG to vent. Consequently rather than exploding the venting LPG in the worst possible scenario can ignite if there is an ignition source and you have a spectacular plume of flame going upwards. The cylinder will in a short time run out of gas and the flame will extinguish and this is why you always use a barbecue outside and away from the house in a well-ventilated area separated from ignition sources.
Remember if you smell gas always turn off the valve at the gas bottle. All gas installation work must be undertaken by a licensed gasfitter so if you have any questions contact Whywait Plumbing Services now.
A plumbing inspection by the council is not a guarantee and never has been. They are a compliance audit – nothing more, nothing less.
Recently Kelly from Hope Island sent me an email that began with the comment, “builders are liars, plumbers are incompetent, and the Gold Coast plumbing inspectors are frauds who take no responsibility…..”
I can only repeat to Kelly what many of us know and see every day in new or recently renovated buildings – “everyone who worked on your home did so because they were the cheapest, not because they were the best qualified and skilled to undertake the work.” Sadly that has become a reality in the construction industry.
The pressure by builders on plumbers to reduce prices and take “SHORTCUTS” increases daily, as I have stated previously, and in fairness, is frequently driven by the client demanding a “LOWER PRICE” and looking for the “BEST DEAL”.
In respect to Kelly’s comment about the Gold Coast plumbing inspectors, I understand the remark as there is a common urban myth that once your home or building has had a final inspection that it has been certified by the council and that the plumbing is perfect and that they are guaranteeing it.
This is incorrect as the plumbing inspector’s functions are set out in the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002. A plumbing inspector’s functions are to conduct investigations and inspections for monitoring and enforcing compliance with-
the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002; or
the Sustainable Planning Act 2009; or
the Local Government Act 2009.
The critical word in the legislation is COMPLIANCE. When the council inspector signs off the plumbing and drainage work on your home after being requested to undertake a final inspection by the licensed plumber responsible, you will only get a letter that says it is a PLUMBING AND DRAINAGE COMPLIANCE CERTIFICATE. It will state clearly, “This Compliance Certificate approves the regulated work or on-site sewerage work for the above property in respect of Compliance Permit number…..”
A compliance certificate from the plumbing inspectors is not a guarantee in any way, shape or form and should not be construed as such.
Unfortunately and sadly but these days, it is ultimately up to you to ensure that you are getting high-standard, quality work by dealing with reputable, experienced licensed contractors who perform work to the standards set out in the Plumbing Code of Australia.
Always ask to see the plumber’s contractor’s license, and always ensure for insurance purposes, you get a copy of either the council compliance certificate or the QBCC Form 4 compliance certificate, depending upon the work you have had undertaken.
