The Hidden Dangers of Using Customer-Supplied Fixtures

I never claimed to be smart , but you know , people probably know what they're listening to . You know without me saying it .

Just because a lot of times I'll be like , hey , we recorded this two weeks ago and my brain , my memory like short term memory for like things like this is like 45 seconds , so it's like new info to you . Yeah , you click the end and I'm like I don't even remember what we talked about like 10 seconds ago .

Anyway , so I'll listen to it in like two weeks and be like oh yeah , that sounds like good , or or I sound like a complete doofus there . Um , you know , but it's it's . I appreciate it , because there's times when I will be listening to a podcast , like if I'm on like a two or three hour drive , sure it , I will .

It will bounce through several different episodes and it's nice to hear who it is that is starting to talk . So I think it .

And I'm like no , those they're not the same person . Yeah , why is Travis talking about , you know , getting into pipe fitting ? I don't , this is not . I don't understand this .

Maybe I'm just kind of venting a little bit . But , uh , I got a customer who I have done work for over the years . It's been a number of years since he's slowly like selling his business to his son , and his son uh definitely thinks that he doesn't need to hire anybody to do anything , uh , which I don't think is lovely , right .

But this business is a coin operated . Um , car washes , yeah , and uh , still , I mean , there's there , there's , they're the relics though , right . So , like these car wash franchises , businesses are have blown up and they're going in every town every time . Everywhere there's a crappy , you know , commercial lot .

You might think , oh , there's going to be a car washer in the next six months . I'll put money on it , you know right .

And so , long story short , like basically , uh , this particular owner says I got that one building , you did the water heaters in you know , like 10 years ago . And uh , they want to take them out and put something else in .

And I'm not exactly sure why , but in his voicemail it's I , I'm going to buy , uh , the you know XYZ brand from Menards it's a , you know local home center and I'm like I , no , I don't , I'm not interested in piping up your store bought tankless .

That isn't going to be engineered for the job , anything is just going to be what you could get out of the shelf , whatever was cheap . Yeah , yeah , whatever was cheap , and that's what it's come down to , I think , and I've avoided as calls enough .

I had to answer finally , and I'm like I told them I'm not interested in the project as is , but if you'd like to have the proper design done by the resources we have at our disposal , I can get that , and you're going to pay for my time and we will put together the right system for you .

And so you're not , you know , replacing them in 10 years or five , eight years I think it's been since I did the last set . You know I don't want to put other people's equipment in because I don't make any money off that . That's just the way it is as a business owner and anybody listening that , if you don't love that answer , I can't help you .

I started this business to make money . Part of that in the kind of business that we run , andy's is very similar . Material does matter . It does , it does play into my bottom line eventually , and ultimately I'm not .

You know , regardless of what's been written on paper or what your agreements are , I put somebody else's equipment in and two years from now , when it breaks down , they think that I owe them the repairs , and this is just not the kind of business , the kind of stuff I need to spend my time doing .

We did a job here a few years ago for the guys as salesmen in the plumbing and heating PVF in Washington , right , so a couple of states away , he's in the trade , he's in the business , he knows the game , he , you know whatever . And he came to me and he's like hey , you know , my in-laws have this house . They've passed away . We inherited the house .

It's out . You know , it's an hour from you . We're going to do this remodel , we're going to do an addition , blah , blah , blah . We're doing a bathroom and a kitchenette in the end . So you know , it's family owned now . So there's a , you know , a brother and a sister that own the house . I think is what the deal is .

There's this like four car garage that was never finished . They got turned into quasi living space . Yeah , that they wanted to put a kitchenette in a bathroom in and that way there was a separate kitchen in a bathroom for both ends of the house , you know .

So sister had one end of the house brother had the other , and it didn't matter if anybody was there or not or whatever . Nobody had to time share , if you will . So he says , hey , here's what I want to do . I want you guys to come in and plumb this thing , do all the rough plumbing , and I'm going to provide all the fixtures .

And I said , Okay , well , here's how we're going to here's . And I was at the time I was like Nope , no way . And then I was like , Okay , here's the deal , I don't care , Tell you what , you provide the fixtures , I'm doing the rough plumbing and then we're out . Right , that's you do all the trim out . That's all your problem .

I'm not , I'm just going to do the rough in . Yeah , we'll do the rough in Soon , as soon as it's ready for drywall , we're , we're going to bail and you just do , you , and you know we did that . And then he's like calls me like a month later . He's like yeah , I just don't know how to do this . Can you come do the trim out ?

And I'm like I , you know , drag my feet . Yeah , I mean nice guy , you know . And he's like I just this isn't my game , you know , blah , blah , blah . And I'm like All right , so why did you provide this stuff then ? Why , I mean , why were you so hell bent on providing it ?

Well , you know the cost and this , that and the other , and I can get it for cheap . And I was like All right . So I himmed and hot and we ended up back , went back to him and I said , All right , well , it's going to be $50 an hour , more Time of material and the warranty's on you . Wow , geez , you know that's expensive .

And I'm like , well , okay , we should have , let me provide the fixtures . Then , yeah , I mean one way or another .

It's somebody saying I'm buying this off of buildcom , or I'm buying this from Kohler Direct , or I'm buying this from you know Lowe's , you know eFaucets or whatever . It's the same thing you're gonna provide , but I'm buying it at your cost , right , you know ? Because , like Kohler , for instance , and this drives me actually .

Yeah , well , regardless of what they pay , though , go ahead .

But this drives me bonkers , because I'll go onto you know Kohler's website and I'll be like , okay , we're gonna get this freestanding bathtub , you know , and it's list price is $2,500 , right , so I buy it at whatever you know , let's say you know 75% of list , and I mark that up and send it back to the customer .

And the customer goes well , I can buy that exact same bathtub on Kohler's website and it's 30% off this week , yeah , yeah . And I'm like , well , okay , that's you know , 15% less than I was paying for it , or whatever the deal is . And I'm like , I mean , how do you argue with that ? You know you come out and you look bad .

And so we've kind of just taken that stance and said you know what , if you want to take , if you want to provide your own fixtures , if that's where you're going , here's our hourly rate and here's the waiver that you're gonna sign , saying that you assume all responsibility for everything on this job in relation to that and it doesn't hurt people .

It's a pain .

I think all of that , I think that approach maybe I'm over simplifying it , but I'm using it as an example obviously right and so like I think that approach just waste time , like I don't want to spend time telling people all the reasons why I don't want to install your stuff , and it's not the only way I make money .

But the thing is it's not about the money today .

forget that it doesn't work and they're not going to forget that you charged them yeah you put that in . We paid you to put that in , you know . So , like it's all of that that I shy away from , I could look at this tank list , this car wash thing .

I could look at it this way , like I could kind of go the route what you're saying and just say , like here's the cost from me to install and pipe it , and then you do the startup . Right , maybe I look at it that way Because I , you know , it's not like I don't want the work .

Yeah , I just wish it was a little more on my terms , and so maybe I maybe I look at it that way and I just deal with the guy and propose that to him and see what he says . Otherwise I'm telling him no , I'm not doing it that way . If you want me to do it , I'll go .

I won't get back into it , but we'll design it properly and we'll put in our equipment .

you're going to go to , you know , the nicest steakhouse in town . You don't walk through the door and go , hey , nice steakhouse , man , this is , this place is awesome , that steak looks phenomenal . And you don't . We've reached in your pocket and pull out a T-bone and be like , hey , cook this one .

Yeah Right , they're going to be like , yeah , beat it , get out of here . I mean , it's the same kind of concept .

And , ultimately , if , if you go to the steakhouse and they cook your steak well done , and you wanted it medium rare and they cook it well done and they bring it out , who's on the hook ? The chef ? That's the bad guy Right . So , if , if , if I , if I come and install your toilet and the tank's leaking and it ruins the floor , who's on the hook ?

The plumber Right . Yup Cause , that's the way this works .