Hiring someone and checking them

Work out which license the job needs, then look up that person with the agency that issues it. Plumbers are with TSBPE, well drillers and pump installers with TDLR, and septic, irrigation, backflow and water treatment people with TCEQ. Get the number before any work starts, and check it yourself.

34-1 Which license for which job

The last chapters have mentioned a good many trades. Here they are together. Water work in Texas falls under several agencies, so one card does not cover it all, and asking "are you licensed?" is only half a question. The better one is "licensed by whom, for what, and what is the number?"

Two rows have loose ends. TCEQ's page on water treatment says "Private wells that do not meet the definition of public water system" are outside that chapter's requirements, while the statute speaks of "public or private water systems." This book could not settle that, so ask.⁸⁹ And no page was found that says who exactly must hold a backflow tester's license, beyond the rule that assemblies "shall be tested upon installation by a licensed backflow prevention assembly tester."¹⁰

34-2 Checking a plumber

TSBPE's lookup can search by name, name and license type, license number, city or county.¹ Use the number. Names repeat. The consumer sheet says "Licensed or Registered plumbers in Texas are required to carry their license cards with them while on a job site," and the statute says holders "shall carry the license or registration on his or her person while engaged in plumbing."¹¹¹² So ask to see the card, and match it to the lookup. A license is "valid throughout this state," so a plumber from elsewhere in Texas may work here.¹²

Scale matters too. The sheet describes one level as "Limited to residential repairs and installations" and one that "Must work under a Master Plumber's supervision." Ask who the responsible master plumber is on anything larger than a repair. In cities that issue permits, the plumber's insurance is checked at "not less than $300,000 for all claims arising in a one-year period."¹² Out of town, ask to see a certificate, because nobody else may be asking.

A firm's web page tells you what it says it does and little more. Here is a service page from a Pennsylvania company (Central Plumbing & HVAC, run by the same team as this book), as an example of how such a page is laid out: a list of jobs, a list of counties, and the word licensed. That company does not work in Texas, and this is an example, not a recommendation. Whichever firm you are reading about, the page is where you get the name and number to look up. The lookup is where you find out.

34-3 Checking well and septic people

Well drillers must mark their license number on their rigs, and TDLR's search is at its own site.²¹³ Look before the rig arrives. Chapter 6 has the rest. On septic work, TCEQ keeps both a license search and a list of court judgments against OSSF professionals.³ Remember that "A maintenance provider is an individual person," so a contract should name one.¹⁴

TCEQ's advice on hiring a septic installer travels well to other big jobs. "Obtain at least three estimates." "Do not pay large sums of money in advance."¹⁵ TCEQ adds that Texas Property Code 162.006 "requires a construction trust account to be established for any amount over $5,000 when a contractor enters into a written contract with an owner." If you are spending that kind of money, it may be worth asking a lawyer how that applies to you.

Irrigators have a rule worth knowing: "it's against the law to conduct or advertise landscape irrigation services without a Texas landscape irrigator's license," and their materials "must display a valid landscape irrigator's license number."¹⁶

Figure 34-1 and Figure 34-2 show Clarksville and Bonham, two of the towns this book's readers may hire from. The state's lookups work the same for a firm from either town as for one from Dallas.

34-4 If it goes wrong

Start with the person, in writing, with dates. Then go to the agency that issued the license. TSBPE posts a general complaint form.¹⁷ The board "may investigate an alleged violation of this chapter by a person who: (1) is licensed under this chapter; (2) is the owner of a plumbing company subject to this chapter; or (3) performs plumbing without holding a license under this chapter." It must tell the parties how the complaint stands "at least quarterly."¹²

It may hold off where the parties are in a lawsuit, "if the board determines the complaint process is being abused," unless health or safety is at risk.¹² Disciplinary information is public, but "may not include the name of the person who filed the complaint."¹² So what a board finds can become public, without your name on it. TCEQ has its own complaint page for septic work.³