Thanks to Tom, Masterserv recently came out and re-patched several spots. The results can be seen in the album. I will be continuing the story as soon as I have some time.
I went with MasterServ because they were more professional than the other companies I had spoken to, and have been around for decades, even though they were about $2k more than my second choice. My main goals for repiping the house were to (1) increase the pressure, especially when 2 faucets were on at once, and (2) to prevent water damage caused by old failing pipes (I had had a small leak in each of the two showers in the preceding months.) Unfortunately, due to two stupid mistakes, they put much more water in each of two walls than both of my shower leaks combined. The first was caused by forgetting to solder a joint for the upstairs toilet. The joint blew about 15 minutes after turning the water on. It was splashing on to the stairs, down the inside of the wall, and into the dining room ceiling, where it fell out like rain into the dining room. The second was hanging the drain hose for the washing machine in a hole in the garage wall, so the washing machine drained into the wall, which leaked into the garage and basement. They still need to come and patch the walls. I can only hope that goes well. Update: It's now 20 December, and they've yet to call me about coming to patch the walls. Also, I left 2 messages last week for the estimator who wrote the contract, and he hasn't called me either. In the meantime, their competition has called to see if I have any questions about their service. I also noticed that the edges of the plaster in the stairway appears to have turned yellow where the first leak was. I'm doing a test to confirm this.
I have an album of the whole repiping process.
Update 2004/12/31I called Valerie last Monday (20 DEC) to have them fix some outstanding issues:
Got a call at 0724 today to confirm that the patching was to start today. I
told him that Richard was supposed to be out last week and never showed up.
He said that Richard was in a meeting, but should be out "in 10 minutes"
and he'd have him call me. The patcher showed up around 0830. I showed
him around, then he said he had to go to Home Depot, and would be back in
40 minutes. When he returned, he began working in the stairway. I asked
him how long it would take, because I needed to go to work. He said he'd
be leaving between 1300 and 1400. I left at 0945. Valerie called at 1027.
She said Richard had been by and knocked, but nobody answered. I told her
I had left for work, but the patcher was there. That just makes me mad. I
waited hours for him last week. He was supposed to call me after the meeting
that was supposed to end at 0730. I didn't leave the house until 0945, was
late to work, and then he shows up, "oops, he's not here!" Valerie went
on to say that the outside valve was fixed. One down. And that they
couldn't do anything about the whistling, which I had already discovered
this morning: it appears the shower head does not like the new pressure. Two
down. Then she said that adding insulation to the pipes would require
a change order. The contract is sitting right in front of me. Here's the
line; red indicates crossed out,
green indicates circled on the contract:
Pipe Insulation:
Under House /
Underground /
Between Floors /
In Attic /
Hot / Cold
I'm not sure what the change order would change it to. It already says that
hot and cold pipes will be insulated under the house and between floors.
Richard's supposed to be coming tomorrow, but I may just call him off. The access to under the bathroom floor is now probably sealed off. I doubt I'd even be able to call him off. I'd probably just leave a message for him and he'd show up anyway. This is frustrating.
Update 2005/01/06 (FINAL, I hope)
Tuesday
Richard didn't show up on Tuesday morning. The patcher finished up and Amanda
told him that I wasn't paying until the contract was fulfilled. Amanda
called me to say I was supposed to call the office and tell them we were
withholding payment. I called Valerie, and told her that the patcher was
done, but Richard hadn't shown up yet, so she needed to let the patcher
know he could go, and I'd send the last 10% check when it was done. She
asked if I could give her a credit card number over the phone. I told her
no. "Why not?" I said I wanted to pay by check. She said that I was supposed
to pay the last 10% when the patching was done. Ughhhh. Didn't she
know that part of their sales pitch was to say "don't pay us the last 10%
until you're completely satisfied!"? I told her
that was assuming that everything else was done. Why didn't they just send
the patcher out the first day, then ask for the final payment then? She
reluctantly agreed, then asked if I would agree to serve as a reference for
potential customers in my area. Many different things to say flashed through
my mind at that point, but figuring that I'm already serving as a reference
here, why not? "OK."
Valerie called back a very short time later to say that Richard was in my area and could stop by immediately. Funny what withholding payment will do. I told her I'd drive home to meet him. I showed him the basement, and he agreed that it wasn't finished. He even pointed out some hot lines that I hadn't noticed weren't completely insulated. He was disappointed that the patcher had patched over the other area that needed insulation, and asked if I really wanted it torn open again. He explained that the insulation in the floors was mainly for sound. I told him that at this point, they can leave it. I'm getting tired of waking up early to see if people are going to show up or not. He asked if it was OK if he just came back and finished it himself next week. I said that was fine. I mentioned the second major problem I had had, and he didn't seem to remember me calling him about it, so I showed him where the washing machine hose had been left in the (now patched) wall, and he seemed shocked. He said we'd just have to wait to see if there was any damage from that wall or the inside wall where the unsoldered joint had burst. He seemed to be genuinely apologetic for everything on his way out, which was a good change after Valerie's earlier "they tell me this will require a change order" comment.
Wednesday
Valerie called at about 0730 to ask if I Kevin could come out and
finish the job that morning. I agreed, and she said he'd be there by
0900. He wasn't. I left at 0945, late for work again. She called just
before lunch to say he could be there in an hour, but Amanda was leaving
for work, I couldn't see leaving work again, so we rescheduled for "first
call" at 0800 the next morning.
Thursday
Kevin showed up at 0800 on the dot. It was the first time the van actually
had the company logo, and the first time they parked in the driveway. Anyway,
he was nice and quick, and was done in about an hour. He asked for payment,
and I handed him the check I had written yesterday. He seemed a little
suprised, and said it's usually not that easy. I said, "it would have been
much easier if you guys had sent someone two weeks ago, when I originally
called." 6 DEC 2004 - 6 JAN 2005. I think it's over.