Your Home Services Representative Might Be a Salesman

The plumbing and home services industry used to be simple, but over time, large companies, backed by private equity firms, have taken over, and many of them see your home as nothing more than a profit center.

There’s a quiet game happening behind closed doors in the service industry, and homeowners are the target. Every day, honest San Antonio residents, your neighbors, get caught in it. These companies profit from what homeowners don’t know, with one goal in mind, to get you to spend as much money as possible.

We’re Leaky’s Plumbing·Heating·AC. We are a locally owned and operated San Antonio home services company, and we feel that it is our responsibility to speak up and to educate homeowners. We’ve seen firsthand how sales-driven companies operate, and we believe protecting our community matters just as much as serving our customers. That’s why we’ve created a separate division within our company focused specifically on combating these predatory, sales-first practices.

Here’s one example of what we see far too often in this industry.

We recently went out on a service call where a homeowner told us her toilet had stopped working. Another company had already been there and told her it would cost $2,000 to replace the toilet with parts and labor.

When we took a look, it was immediately clear that a replacement wasn’t necessary at all. The issue was minor, a simple repair that cost about $200. You could see the relief on her face when we told her, but you could also see the frustration, and rightfully so. She had almost spent thousands of dollars that she didn’t need to spend if she hadn’t been wise enough to seek a second opinion.

One of the challenges in the home services industry is that many issues aren’t visible without the right tools or experience, so homeowners have to rely on what they’re told. But what happens when the person in your home isn’t really a technician, but a salesperson instead? How will you know? There are honest technicians out there. But there are also many who take advantage of that trust.

At Leaky’s, our strongest recommendation is that when something breaks, don’t go into panic mode. That sense of urgency is exactly what sales-driven companies rely on. Ask questions. Get a second opinion, or maybe even a third, if something doesn’t feel right. Honest home repair should never come with pressure or fear.