The plumbing industry went through a bit of a bumper time recently, as people all over the UK realised that it could be lucrative. That’s because plumbing is the one truly essential service supplied to the UK house. It covers water supply and gas supply. It is the difference between a house with water and a house without; a house with heat and a house without. The money in plumbing has always come as a result of the fact that the service itself is both unavoidable and nearly always urgent. And that has made a lot of plumbers pretty charge happy – which in turn has made finding a plumber whose servicing and repair charges are proper and fair, like finding a golden egg in the garden.

There are, of course, plumbers out there who charge the right rates for everything they do. In fact, a great majority of Britain’s plumbing and plumbing installation services are probably charging the exact right amount for what they do. It remains the case, though, that UK customers have a fixed idea that a plumber is liable to take them for a ride – because they know, when their stand pipe explodes at 3 a.m., that the plumber is the only person who can fix it for them. So it is wonderful when one comes across a plumber with clear and fair servicing and repair charges – the same rate, all across the board, for in hours servicing and a clear rate for out of hours repair.

That’s one of the ways you can tell a good plumber – you will usually find that he or she (or the company, if you are talking about a plumbing company like Pure Plumbing and Heating) advertises his, her or its prices with clarity and according to a simple sliding rule. What you are basically looking for is a plumber that will charge on an hourly rate for servicing and repair, and will break that hourly rate down into sensible increments – so for example, a minimum call out charge of one hour’s rate, followed by increments of 15 minutes, chargeable to the nearest full 15 minutes worked. It’s no hardship to ask the question before your plumber turns up: all you need to do is quiz whoever you speak to on the phone about whether you will be charged hourly per hour gone into, or per fifteen minute portion of each hour after the first one.

Be prepared, too – that will give you a much better chance of finding the right plumber for every job you ever need. Why not take a look around the Internet while all the plumbing applications of your house are still in good order? That way you can do some calm, sensible research into the servicing and repair charges of all the plumbers and plumbing firms that serve your area: meaning that you already know who to call in the unfortunate event that something does go wrong. Be prepared and be happy, with competitive charges from the majority – the honest plumbers of the United Kingdom.