retirement dreams of a plumber: chasing pipe dreams while dodging lawsuits

you ever think about hanging up the wrench and just chillin, but then some half-assed install comes back to bite you in the ass years later? i mean, im out here sweat soldering copper lines with my ridgid torch, dreaming of a fat 401k, but liability insurance premiums are killing me faster than a burst pvc pipe. saw a thread on r/plumbing where a guy got sued over a leaky sharkbite fitting from a decade ago, and it made me laugh-cry. someone in plumbers united group was ranting about how apprentices like me shouldnt even touch solo jobs without supervision, cause one wrong move and youre on the hook forever. watched a roger wakefield video on proper expansion tank installs to avoid callbacks, but tbh, who has time for that when youre buried in service calls? gotta start saving now or ill be snaking drains at 70. ngl, its funny how we joke about 'dying with our boots on' but nobody talks about the real nightmare of post-retirement plumbing disasters.

fuck these companies sending out greenhorns to do master work, its a lawsuit waiting to happen and screws the whole trade.

exactly, and then the insurance rates skyrocket for all of us because one idiot cant crimp a pex line right.

the industry's full of these shortcuts that come back to haunt you when youre trying to retire.

had a similar mess with a client who hired a cheap outfit for repiping, now theyre calling me to fix the code violations and im stuck eating the liability.

frustrated doesnt cover it, boss had me solo a whole house re-plumb and now im sweating every gurgle in the lines.

collective bullshit, these firms prioritize profits over proper training and leave us holding the bag.

goddamn right, and the master plumber shows up too late to save your rep.

i feel you brother, been there with a botched drain install that almost derailed my savings plan.

yeah, the what-ifs keep me up at night, especially after reading those horror stories in the groups.

its all the same crap, companies dodging blame while we pay the price in stress and premiums.

damn, that hits close to home, im already paranoid about every fitting i install.

bro, dont even get me started, had a callback on an old job that ate into my vacation fund.

warning: always get everything in writing and take pics of installs, saved my skin once from a false claim.

haha, picture this: youre on the golf course at 65 and get a call about a leak from 20 years back, classic plumber retirement.

how do you even start building a solid retirement fund with these constant liability threats?

set aside 10% of every job into a sep ira, and maybe get some umbrella insurance to cover the plumbing-specific risks beyond your gl policy.