When does the plumber stop plumbing

November 5, 2014 8:05 PM

I did a kitchen remodel and the only person I wanted to use was my plumber rather than the contractors because my plumber knows my house and situation pretty well.

He does the work and then when it is all over I realize he has left some tools, a cooler, a bench he works at, some real stuff.

I also owe him and unknown amount of money

It is now over month and aI have not heard from him, I left him a message a few weeks ago and no response.

When do I move on and just get rid of the stuff he left behind, what is the best protocol?

posted by silsurf to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

He may be ill or otherwise indisposed. You need to leave more than a single message. Try again, and try other avenues such as email until you reach someone.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:15 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

I don't know how long is long enough, but I do know that a month or so is not yet it. If you have a garage or basement, store his stuff there. If not, put it somewhere out of the way. Call again. Google him. See if anything happened or if there is another way to contact him. Keep trying.
posted by 724A at 8:24 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

Do you have physical address for him?
I would consider taking at least some of his smaller items to his place of business along with your contact information in an envelope with a request for him to "please bill me for the work performed from or approx. 40 hours."
posted by calgirl at 8:57 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

Presumably until now your dealings with this person suggested he was responsive and professional and competent and was on top of his invoicing and that's why you used him this time round? That is to say this behaviour is uncharacteristic?

If so try to reach him again. Suggest you'll store his things until xx.xx.xxxx but if you don't hear from him by then and he's not arranged to get his stuff it will have to go. Follow up with a signed for letter to the same effect.

You have got a written quote for the work, right? Because there is a risk of aninflated bill in six months time when he gets round to writing it, having just tried to pick up his stuff to find you have disposed of it?
posted by koahiatamadl at 9:54 PM on November 5, 2014

I hired a painter this summer who did a great job, communicated well, and finished on time. When it came time to pay, he wouldn't answer calls or texts. A few weeks later I got a call from the county jail -- it was the painter trying to raise bail.
posted by PSB at 7:10 AM on November 6, 2014

Response by poster: OK,

I went by his residence and it is an apt complex. His van was parked right in the front of the garage and someone placed a note on it for me. That person said he has not seen that Van move in a long time.

I left a message at the Management Company that runs the Apt complex

I sent him an email

I actually doubt I will hear back on any of it, so my question stands, what should I do next? In other words how much work do I have to do to try and get someone his tools back or to get them paid?
posted by silsurf at 11:25 AM on November 6, 2014

It is totally a function of how much space you have to store them. If you have a lot, store them for a year. If a little, two or three months. As for paying him, I would try one or two more times then just set aside an amount mentally that you think he could bill and live with it knowing that one day he could ask for it. I believe that if he comes to you in the next two years (maybe three?) he should be paid as he did the work. I don't think it is a debt to be carried in perpetuity, but for a few years, yes.
posted by 724A at 12:03 PM on November 6, 2014

Response by poster: I have zero space, the stuff is all outside between the garage and the property line
posted by silsurf at 12:06 PM on November 6, 2014

Stuff-You give them a deadline to collect their stuff and if they don't collect it by then you dispose of it.

Money- you do nothing, wait until they invoice you, pay them if the bill is in line with quote/work done. In most jurisdictions there is a time limit after which they can no longer bill you and enforce their claim to payment for work done.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:16 PM on November 6, 2014

If you want to be helpful and nice, I'd try to call a few more times, as if he has become seriously ill a person caring for him might not be checking email or using the van. If he's ill the money might be very helpful.

If you just want to know your legal obligations, check your state laws or turn the items in to your local police as abandoned. Wait on the bill until you hear from them, if you are wondering about the time limits after which they can bill check your state laws.
posted by yohko at 2:02 PM on November 6, 2014

Sounds like he's in jail.
posted by sixpack at 3:30 PM on November 6, 2014

...or the hospital, in one way or another. It would be different if he seemed to be actively, you know, plumbing. But it sounds like he's indisposed in some way. (If you have any other personal contacts in your network I might even be concerned, say, that if he lives alone he could be in need of a welfare check.)
posted by dhartung at 4:46 PM on November 6, 2014

Response by poster: Well, late in the day that I emailed he called, sounded as if nothing had happened, said, "Oh, I guess I left some stuff there" Said he would be by to pick it up over last weekend, no sign of him. But at least I know he is out there.

Thanks MeFites
posted by silsurf at 3:40 PM on November 10, 2014