 This happened a few years ago but I still worry about if I was an asshole here or not.  There had been an influx of new subcontractors in my area due to a booming construction industry in our somewhat small town. One plumber in particular I had become acquainted with was one of these guys. He had come from across the country looking for work 3-4 years earlier and had done a good job from what I could tell. When he found out I was building a house, he begged me to do the plumbing. He told me he would do it for $1,000 cheaper than my best bid. The best bid came back at 12k and true to his word, he agreed to 11k.

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Everything seemed to be going fine although we had our typical minor disagreements about certain things. At the end of the job, I paid them and these two guys basically had decided they were moving back home as the economy was tanking nationwide. I go to pull my certificate of occupancy and find out that while the plumbing for the water had been approved, the gas had failed due to a minor issue with an extra emergency shutoff that was required. I called the plumbers and they basically never responded to me. So I called the building inspector and he informed me that another guy was actually the plumber of record for the gas portion of the project. It was a guy I'd never heard, never met, and had never been to my house. I found out that my plumber had a plumbing license but didn't have a license for gas line installation in my state.

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So now I'm in a jam. I need to move in in a couple of days and to get them off as the plumber of record and get someone new on who may then have to take responsibility for the work already complete would be nearly impossible and certainly can't happen in time for me to move in. So I called the plumber of record and told him the situation and asked him to come fix the issue. He told me it would be $275 and he'd be there the next day. He asked me if I would pay him and I told him I had already paid the other guys who he pulled the permit for. He said that had nothing to do with him and I would have to pay him. I told him I would.

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He fixed the plumbing and got it inspected and then sent me an invoice. At this point,I called him and told him I didn't appreciate him pulling a permit on my house for an unlicensed plumber and that we had two options. First, he could walk away from the $275 and chalk it up as a loss, or I would pay him but only after we had a conversation with the state licensing board about what he had done and why I felt it was inappropriate. He cursed me and hung up and that was the end of it.

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The part that I feel bad about is lying to him. I knew I wouldn't pay him but I also was in a tight spot. I had to have him specifically out there to fix it and felt like I had no other options. Anyway, it's been weighing on me for ten years. Am I the asshole?

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