Waterworks

My Plumber's Dream Home. Probably.

I am expecting a very nice postcard from some exotic location from my plumber this year. I don't even know what I owe him just yet, but I am guessing it is a figure close to Iceland's Gross Domestic Product. Here's hoping he can live it up on his new beach house in Fiji, Barbados or the Maldives.

On Sunday, Mrs. Sherwood sent me a message saying, "The water problem is back. It is flooded and the floor is ruined." You may also remember that a few weeks ago my home in Alabaster had a similar issue. In that case, it was because nobody bothered to tell me the weather stripping needed to be replaced. And better yet, that issue wasn't conveyed to me right away. Instead, upon hearing there was flooding I went with "call a plumber."

This time, raw off that experience, I asked a couple of relevant questions to indeed find out 1) there is a problem with the washing machine drain and 2) a plumber is truly necessary. The best part was this entire exchange only took five minutes, versus the seven hours it took with Flunky. And by the way, this house isn't in property management. I may be seeing a pattern.

I resolved the water issue simply with Mrs. Sherwood calling my plumber and setting up a time for them to meet her out there. I would be the one paying the bill. When I asked her about the flooring, she assured me she would take care of it. It wasn't in a very conspicuous place and she felt letting it dry out and cleaning it would take care of the issue.

But, Mrs. Sherwood has been living in this house for almost 10 years. And frankly, if she looked around, she would figure out she is paying more than market-priced rent. And, she is a rock star of a tenant. So, if there is a flooring issue, I would rather pay a little extra, replace the floor and keep her much longer than let her be the least bit miserable. However, I don't feel that way about all my tenants.

Also this week I got a note from Mrs. Roebuck. In her home there is one potty and apparently it is broken. She told me this as I was driving my teenagers from one particular location to another--which frankly, is all I have done this week. And because I was not in a place to take notes, I told her the same thing I told Mrs. Sherwood: call the plumber. My big concern about this is that this was probably a rush job--which always costs more. However, it sure beats not having a working toilet.

So far, I haven't heard from either tenant or the plumber, so hopefully they were easy fixes. If they weren't. hopefully my plumber and I are friendly enough at this point where I may just call him myself and ask if I can borrow his beach house for a week or two. After all, I financed it.