Plumbers

In Annandale, Sandy remembers a garage at the bottom of a hill that flooded whenever heavy rain arrived. Good Hands drew water from elsewhere on the property into a new pit and pumped it away. It was a tailored fix for a familiar local combination: sloping blocks, rock close to the surface and stormwater systems that may be as old as the houses they serve.

Sandy has been plumbing since he left school in 2007. Before starting his own business, he was a foreman on large commercial projects, sometimes trying to keep 30 plumbers moving in the same direction. The stress pushed him to quit, and he started the business the following month. It began as My Home Plumbing, then became Good Hands a few years ago as the work shifted fully towards homeowners.

That shift suited Sandy. Residential maintenance is less about following a set of construction plans and more about explaining the problem clearly, laying out the options and letting the homeowner decide what makes sense. Good Hands quotes before work starts, offers approaches for different budgets and does not pressure customers into a particular choice. Sandy says the cheapest quote is often not the same scope: one repair might last a month, while another is designed for 20 years.

There are four plumbers on the road alongside Sandy, plus a full-time office manager. That means calls are handled by someone at a desk, not by a plumber under a sink trying to remember a message. Sandy is proud that the people entering customers’ homes are both capable and friendly, and says he would happily have any of them working in his own family home. Their workmanship comes with a lifetime warranty.

His most useful advice is to treat home plumbing more like a car service. For existing customers, Good Hands offers an annual check that can include putting a camera through the drain and looking for changes before there is sewage on the floor or a bathroom has to be dug up. The team handles drains, hot and cold water, gas and stormwater across the Inner West. Mention the Troll for a free drain camera inspection when you call.