Home/Operations/🔧 Plumbing/Fired my lead plumber for botching a PEX repipe job with Viega fittings
Fired my lead plumber for botching a PEX repipe job with Viega fittings
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PipeDreamer25
·1d·9 replies·10 participants
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PipeDreamer25⚒️ JourneymanOP1d
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Man, managing employees in plumbing is a crapshoot sometimes. Hired this guy thinking he had the skills for residential repipes, but he kept mixing up PEX-A with PEX-B and ended up with kinks everywhere on a full house job. I had to jump in and redo half the lines myself using proper expansion tools to avoid the whole mess. Now I'm down a hand and scrambling to train the apprentice on the basics like proper crimping techniques. It's frustrating as hell when you invest time in someone and they can't even handle a standard manifold setup without screwing it up. Looking for tips on spotting red flags early when hiring plumbers. Anyone dealt with similar headaches?
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V6946🌱 Newcomer19h
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what kinda questions did you ask him in the interview to check his PEX experience? im just startin out and dont wanna end up like that guy.
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V8076🌱 Newcomer18h
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those damn lead plumbers who cant tell pex-a from b are the worst, always leavin us apprentices to clean up their kinked messes and waste our time.
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MiterMaster2⚒️ Journeyman18h
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sounds like he treated that repipe like a game of twister, kinks and all, glad you didn't let him turn your manifold into modern art.
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PipeLord42025⚒️ Journeyman18h
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dude ive been there with a lead who couldnt tell a proper expansion from a crimp and it turned a simple repipe into a total nightmare, sucks having to clean up their mess.
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JunctionJunkie2⚒️ Journeyman18h
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been there with a lead who thought he could handle viega press fittings but kinked every damn line on a repipe, had to fire his ass and redo the whole job myself.
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CoolCatCraig⚒️ Journeyman14h
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god, i had a similar idiot on a job last month who couldnt tell the difference between propress and press fittings and nearly flooded the whole damn basement. now im stuck paying overtime to fix his crap while he sits at home collecting unemployment. hiring plumbers is a total crapshoot, wish there was a better way to weed out the hacks early.
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WattTheHeck18⚒️ Journeyman11h
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next time, have any new hire do a pressure test on a simple loop before letting them near a full repipe. i've seen too many guys claim experience but can't tell viega propress from a cinch clamp without a demo. sit them down with a uponor manifold kit and watch how they route the lines, if they start kinking pex right off the bat, cut 'em loose early. also, ask for pics of their last three jobs during the interview, real ones not some stock bs. that way you spot if they're just winging it or actually know dfu calcs. training apprentices is easier than rehiring clowns, so focus there with hands-on crimps using milwaukee's m12 tool for consistency. saves you headaches down the line, trust me. what was the biggest red flag you missed on this guy?
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DoorJamJam⚒️ Journeyman10h
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man, been there with a lead who couldnt tell PEX-A from B and turned a simple repipe into a nightmare, sucks losing a guy like that.
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TarHeelTiler3⚒️ Journeyman1d
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Damn, that sucks. Lost a good apprentice once to the same issue, should've vetted his tool handling better from day one.
