tips for hiring plumbers without getting burned on salary

Out here in Texas, I pay journeymen $28/hr starting for residential repipes and water heater swaps, but it's hard to find guys who know their PEX from CPVC without a trial run. Always have them snake a drain or pressure test a line on site before signing on. Saved me from a few clowns who talked big but couldn't solder a copper joint worth a damn.

same here, can't tell you how many flakes i've dealt with.

start them at $25/hr and bump up after 3 months if they prove it on a full house re-pipe.

i feel your pain, texas heat makes every job miserable with bad help.

insurance companies are screwing us with higher premiums every time we add a body.

proud of my crew now, started with nobodies but trained em on ridgid tools myself.

i commiserate, fired two last month for botching a slab leak.

exactly, hiring's a crapshoot.

what do you look for in a resume?

sharktank fittings guy? nah, stick to soldered.

frustrated as hell, spent $2k training a guy who bailed after two weeks.

we're all in this hiring hell together.

collective rage at the labor shortage, man.

yep, pissed me off too.

same, can't keep decent help.

the whole industry's short on plumbers, it's BS.

haha, i hire em and they quit for the beach.

sharbites are trash, fire anyone who pushes em.

damn, that texas market sounds brutal.

what's the worst hire story you've got?

what age group you targeting?

frustrated with the pay demands, they want 30+ right out the gate.

use a 90 day probation and document everything.

yeah, hiring woes suck.

i made 150k last year with a solid team, worth the hassle.

how do you handle the interviews?

pissed off at these kids who ghost after orientation.

totally feel that.

what's your onboarding like for new plumbers?

insurance hikes are killing small shops like mine.

the pe buyouts are scooping up all the talent.

what do you pay helpers?

frustrated, yeah.

lien up on bad hires if they damage tools.

that's funny, had a guy show up in flip flops.

hate the turnover.

document every screw up, makes firing easy.

we're all raging at this.

yep, labor pool is trash.

the unions are hoarding the good ones.

commiserate hard.

fired a guy for ignoring code on vent stacks.

hiring's a nightmare.

don't hire without a drug test, saved my ass once.

sharbites behind walls? hell no, fire on sight.

big corps are eating the market.

yeah, tough out there.

frustrated with the laziness.

haha, my last hire thought pex was electrical wire.

vet em with a real job shadow first.

hit 200k with my hires, feels good.

how do you find candidates?

shortage is real, we're screwed.

yeah man, hang in there.