by Gary Mays | Aug 29, 2014 | Gold Coast Plumbing, Insurance, Leaking Pipes, Plumber Brisbane, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Water Leaks
Negligence causes plumbing emergencies as a fact I am becoming acutely aware of with over half of the plumbing emergencies we attend having been caused due to a plumbers negligence in the initial installation.
A large part of this negligence is driven by plumbing work being undertaken to a cost and not to the legislative requirements or standards that plumbers are legally obliged to comply with.
As I constantly have to remind clients who are victims of this negligence in near 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 is the reality in the construction industry.
The most common plumbing emergencies we see that are in most cases attributable to deliberate negligence by the plumber who did the initial work are:
- leaking water-mains laid in rock and backfilled with rock with no compliant bedding or backfill material
- broken house sewer drains once again laid in rock and backfilled with rock
- mixer taps installed without isolation valves
Negligence by a plumber in installing the examples above are just the tip of the iceberg that we see daily but all cause a great deal of damage and are frequently expensive to repair.
The pressure by builders on plumbers to reduce prices and take “shortcuts” increases daily but is not an excuse to ignore undertaking the work in as set out in AS3500 and called into law through the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002.
Under common law, the term “negligence” generally describes damage causing conduct that arises because of the defendant’s carelessness or failure to take reasonable care.
As an example, a plumber who installs a plastic polypipe water main straight onto the rocky ground and then backfills it with the same spoil he dug out has breached his duty of care. As a professional licensed plumber, he is fully aware that the job is not in accordance with clause 5.12 of AS3500 Part 1 for Water Services which states:
The water services shall be surrounded with not less than 75mm of compacted sand, or fine-grained soil, with no hard edged object permitted to come into contact with or resting against any pipe or fitting.
Material used for final backfill shall be free from rock, hard matter or organic material and be broken up to contain no soil larger than 75mm.
As you can see the wording and diagram in Australian Standards are quite specific on how your water main should be installed. They are specific requirements under law not options the plumber can choose to obey.
Very simply if your water main is not installed as above the licensed plumber installing it has done so knowing it is noncompliant and that it is reasonably foreseeable that failure and damage will occur.
In conclusion, I reiterate that most plumbing emergencies are caused by negligence and we are prepared to assist you if you have the willpower to legally seek compensation. It’s your choice but the industry will only be cleaned up when plumbers who continually break the law are hit in their hip pocket.
by Gary Mays | Aug 25, 2014 | Blog, City of Gold Coast, Consumer Issues, DIY Plumbing, Gold Coast Plumbing, Health Issues, Hot Water Temperature, Insurance, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Legislation, Plumbing Maintenance, Whywait Plumbing
It is normally the routine of a knock on the door by a friendly “salesman” stating they were in your neighbourhood doing some work and that a neighbour had suggested they do the same “free check” on your hot water service.
This unsolicited pitch or a variation of it is a signature of rip-offs who prey on gullible homeowners, especially the elderly. They commonly show a great deal of empathy and concern and are only doing the “free check” of your hot water service as your neighbour had already had theirs repaired and were concerned for you.
In the photo on the left the anode on the left was replaced by Whywait Plumbing with the one on the right with the differences between old and new perfectly illustrated.
Take it from me knocking on your door and cold-calling is not a professional or viable way to market or operate a plumbing business. And yes to work on your hot water service you must be a licensed plumber. In all likelihood the person knocking on your door is not a licensed plumber or a licensed plumbing contractor and in our experience they are ordinary old con artists who have no experience or knowledge in servicing a hot water service.
Yes your sacrificial anode on your hot water service should be checked at least every 5 years. But if it has never been checked and your hot water service is over 7 years old you are wasting your time replacing it as the damage has already been done to your steel storage tank.
by Gary Mays | Aug 13, 2014 | Consumer Issues, DIY Plumbing, Gold Coast Plumbing, Health Issues, Insurance, Leaking Pipes, Plumber Brisbane, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Legislation, Plumbing Maintenance, Plumbing Renovation, Queensland Government, Sustainable Plumbing, Toilets, Water, Whywait Plumbing
Not Compliant? It’ll Be Expensive!
Plumbing Costs for Correct and Compliant Work
Plumbing is expensive if not done correctly and compliantly. Quality plumbing is not a luxury but is a legal requirement under the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002.
Cheap, illegal plumbing repaired by Whywait Plumbing after sewer odours were escaping inside an office because there was a 35mm gap allowing the odours to escape where a 65mm pipe had been pushed inside a 100mm pipe
Not everyone can afford a Lexus GS450h at $130497 or a BMW 7 Series 760Li 4 door Sedan at $141,200, but everyone can afford and should ensure they use a quality plumbing company. So if price is your only consideration, PLEASE phone another plumber as there are plenty of “cheap”, “competitively priced”, “discount”, “budget priced” plumbers out there who will do your work to a price but for your own sake please make sure they are:
- licensed plumbers by the Plumbing Industry Council
- licensed plumbing contractors with Queensland Building and Construction Commission
- insured for your protection with at least $10 million of Public Liability
However if you have come to the conclusion that your home is your biggest investment and you want to maintain your home to peak value then please phone Whywait Plumbing provided you want the work undertaken legally and compliantly with Australian WaterMark approved materials and highly skilled licensed plumbers who guarantee their work.
Please don’t phone us and ask for free quotes or free advice over the phone as no professional plumber can give you a price over the phone without an on-site diagnosis. Believe me, every plumbing installation is a one-off no matter how similar they appear.
Just remember if you use the cheap meeting the standard market price plumber ask to visually to see their plumbing license and their contractor’s license as they are required to carry them with them by law. In the end, these licenses are put in place by the Queensland Government for your protection, not for the plumber’s protection.
If you want cheap plumbing or free plumbing estimates or discount to meet the market pricing please do both of us a favour and save each others time by calling someone else.
By Gary Mays
by Gary Mays | Jul 26, 2014 | City of Gold Coast, Consumer Issues, Drain Odours, Gold Coast Plumbing, Health Issues, Insurance, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Maintenance, Sustainable Plumbing
Aquatemp Odour Neutraliser used in the basement of Seabank Building created a safe environment for the plumbers from Whywait and building tenants.
The recent replacement of Seabank’s stormwater basement pumps resulted in our having to pump out the basement stormwater pit. Pumping out over 20 years of silt buildup along with inflows of storm water meant we had to utilise a small vacumm tanker from Power Pumping that could fit into the basement. However this meant we could only pump out 2000 litres at a time which resulted in multiple trips to the basement which created a buildup of diesel fumes in the basement.
As can be seen in the photo above the diesel exhaust fumes fogged up the lower basement which made it impossible for Whywait’s plumbers to work in an atmosphere that made them nauseous.
Exposure to diesel fumes in a confined area such as a basement are dangerous to everyone in the area and frequently basement extraction systems are not designed to remove the fumes as quickly as industrial vehicles discharge them.
Fortunately for both Whywait’s plumbers and Seabank’s tenants we were able to spray the basement area with our new Aquatemp Odour Neutraliser which changed the chemical structure of the odourous diesel fumes. The noxious diesel fumes were neutralised within 5 minutes of application allowing work on replacing the pumps to continue in a safe working environment.
Using the Odour Neutraliser the hydrogen in the diesel fumes were converted into a complex organic sodium salt that becomes a non volatile, non odourless and non poisonous compound.
From a safety perspective we had not used a masking agent but had actually neutralised and removed the fumes. Masking agents simply just create a perfume but still allow the insidious actions of the noxious gases to continue which have potential to cause health problems to everyone working in the area.
Aquatemp Odour Eliminator is a water based organic compound derived from betaines and amines that is 100% biodegradable and will be used by Whywait Plumbing in all situations where noxious fumes and odours can impact on everyones health.
By Gary Mays
by Gary Mays | Jul 19, 2014 | City of Gold Coast, Cold Water, Consumer Issues, Gold Coast Plumbing, Gold Coast Water, Leaking Pipes, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Queensland Government, Water, Water Leaks, Water Meters
Increases continue for average Gold Coast water bill in 2014
The average Gold Coast water bill continues to increase. Did you know another water bill will arrive soon, in October despite the fact you have not yet received your six-monthly water account for the first half of 2014?
Due to legislative changes as from 1 July 2014, your water account will be issued quarterly, usually in July, October, January and April of each year.
The rationale behind this law change is that quarterly bills will assist in monitoring your water usage plus the bills will not be as large as they have been previously when bills only came out every six months.
Tugun Desalination Plant that was constructed entirely from borrowed money that we repay for now in our water bills even though it only operates in “hot standby” mode when there is a critical supply emergency
For most clients of Whywait Plumbing that means you will be getting another bill from Gold Coast Water or Logan Water in October, albeit only about half of the one you will receive for the first six months of 2014.
Many of us remember when water was virtually free on the Gold Coast and the only time you got charged for it was if you used excess water over and above the very generous allowance that was paid for as part of your council rates.
However, cheap water is the past thanks to poorly costed projects such as the construction of the South-East Queensland water grid and the Tugun desalination plant.
The reality of today is that water is expensive. The only guarantee anyone can give you on the cost of water is that it will continually increase every year.
For Gold Coast and Logan residential property owners who use the average water consumption of 250k/L annually your yearly bill on the Gold Coast will be $1887.20 compared to Logan of $1939.60 which is a slight difference of $52.40.
Ultimately we all have to be vigilant in ensuring that the integrity of our household water reticulation pipes is maintained at all times because a small water leak left to flow can add up to thousands of dollars in a very short time. This is why Whywait recommend every home should have water leak monitoring installed.
