Hello InterNachi fam. This is my first time actually posting something. I dropped by because I got my first negative review today and I’m pretty bummed about it. Something I missed. The homeowner has been in her home for a week and she emailed me and said there are 3 leaks under her kitchen sink. The drain is sweating on the opposite side of the garbage disposal and there is a leak in the P trap of the drain. The plumber told her the entire sink was installed improperly. It’s upsetting for me because I run all water and not once did I discover any leak. Needless to say the homeowner is pissed and I’m beating myself up for not performing in excellence. Has anybody gone through this before or am I the only one? Its not a good feeling I tell ya.
Fix it. Turn it into a positive experience.
I have seen some careless homeowners just throw there crap under there kitchen sinks and knock traps and tailpieces out of whack and wonder why it leaks now! Maybe you did inspect correctly. And I would not just take it for granted that this plumber is right about saying everything needs corrected. Contractors like to build themselves up by down grading others knowledge to the homeowners who don’t know a thing. For such a minor repair you are going to lose all of your profit, I feel that is messed up. I have said in other posts to fight for yourself and not to many others agree with that, but I can’t take a homeowner walking all over me when I know what I did was right. If you feel by any chance you made a mistake yes refund, but if you did right don’t pay for for the cry babies. If you can fix it you might be looking at $20 and time, if you pay a plumber probably $200.
Were there any signs of leakage in the cabinet itself?
Anything can happen after the inspection.
Home inspectors are not perfect…we are human. We only try to be perfect. I always try to establish a very friendly human repore with ALL my clients. That will always help if something comes up after the fact. Go back and fix it for free and wish your client the best. Establish a friendship will all your clients…it speaks volumes.
Don’t fix it . If you do - you will take all responsibility for performance of this fixture. If any leak develops in the future ( as Greg mentioned in his post - owner can overload under sink cabinet and knock down connections ) liability is on you to fix it again and pay for all potential water damage. You will not win in court - you are not licensed plumber. Your insurance may deny this claim as well.
If you believe that you really miss something or it is not worth to make waves
pay for repair by others and get signed release form from your client.
I learned the hard way William. Good luck.
You should be ecstatic it just some plumbing pipes under the sink and not something significant. I mean really, the time and money involved would be extremely minimal.
You really have 3 options:
- Just have them send you the bill and pay it
- Go over and fix it yourself
- Do nothing & argue your case. They’re not going to spend the time and money to sue you over something so trivial like this.
I always wipe my hand around all drains and valves. Or hit it with my IR imager.
Thank you all for you advice and positive words. I just offered to pay for repairs. Like my father always taught me. “Do what’s right because it’s right.”
Make sure you have them sign a release …
NACHI has one.
I think this is it…
https://www.nachi.org/release.htm
Thanks Roy
I thought we couldn’t work on houses that we inspect for two years… Does that ring a bell?
For profit.
It is 12 months, and as Roy said, for a fee.
I’m clearly new to home inspection but this thread has my alarm bells ringing. I’m surprised by how many of you told the op to just fix the repair. As a GC for years, one thing you learn quickly is - whoever the last person to touch or work on something owns the potential problems and liability of the repair, regardless of how well meaning your intentions are.
What if he did the repair and in 2 months it fails and causes extensive water damage to flooring or a ceiling below? Clients forget about your good intentions when s*#t hits the fan. I would never offer to perform a repair, particularly in a trade I’m not specifically licensed and insured in; it is an invitation for unnecessary exposure to risk.
No problem if they signed the release.
Yeah I was just going to have her sign the release and have a qualified plumber do the repair. I am not doing the repair myself. Apparently she has already had a plumber come by. The problem came when they did not honor her home warranty. This is when they said everything was installed wrong. So instead of it being under warranty she is left to pay for it out of her pocket.
I asked for the company information, detailed description of the problem, and the total cost. I need to make sure I am not getting burned by a plumber that is just saying anything to make money. The buyer is a first time homebuyer. She is not going to know.
I’m not suggesting that he personally perform the repair, unless he is a licensed plumber. Besides, his time should be worth more than the cost of the repair.
Now the details, AKA Home Warranty. It sounds like the leak happened after they moved in and the Home Warranty company is doing everything they can to avoid paying for it…and putting the burden on you…so typical.
Yes! home inspector will miss many slow leaking fixtures that can later turn into bigger issue just by looking and nothing else. Under certain light conditions the water becomes invisible. Great tip, Roy!