I made a huge mistake trying to hire an unlicensed plumber to do repairs on my house.
I simply needed someone to put new p-traps underneath the two bathroom vanities.
By the next day, both of the new p-traps were leaking water into the base of the bathroom vanity. When I tried to call the plumber back to get a refund, he refused to answer my calls. At that point, my only choice was to find a better and more competent plumber to fix the sinks for good. The new plumber was licensed and bonded and had lots of knowledge and expertise. He said that the p-traps weren’t even screwed in properly and that the first plumber used nothing to seal the connections. He didn’t even use plumber’s tape, which is used for connecting shower heads of all things. It’s so common that people often have a spool sitting in their tool box. Even though the second plumber cost more money than the first, he was worth every penny that he charged. My brother had the same experience as I did but with an HVAC crew he hired for a new system installation. He thought that he could save by hiring someone who is independent and has a small business with little to no footprint in the surrounding community. He was entrusting something as serious and expensive as a new stem installation to a crew of guys with licensing whatsoever. The expected happened—the air conditioner quit working within two weeks of being installed and the man was nowhere to be found when my brother reached out. He had to start over with a new company after losing nearly four thousand dollars from the first.