Every now and again local news reporters will go out and do the water heater story.

It works like this. They find some house with a water heater and unscrew the overflow valve faucet so it drips.

Then they call local plumbers to come take a look at it. Then they hide a camera in the basement to film the interaction between the homeowner and the plumbers.

Some of the plumbers just tighten the faucet and say, “No charge, but here’s my card, call me next time there’s a problem.”

Some of the plumbers tighten the faucet and write up a bill for the minimum service visit fee to cover their mileage and time.

Some of the plumbers invent stories about what could be wrong, up to changing out the whole water heater. To some of these the hidden camera crew might jump out and intervene and try to film the reaction of the plumber when they’ve been caught trying to rip off the unsuspecting homeowner.

It’s something to think about the next time someone at work proposes “fixing” some minor problem that crops up from time to time. Estimate the cost of the problem as it is now, if we do nothing vs. the cost of building out the system to “fix” the problem. If we do nothing does the problem generate work every year? Is it predictable? Could we schedule the work in advance? How much do these annual or semi-annual interruptions cost? What is the true cost to fix it once and for all? How many years would it take of ignoring the problem would it take to justify the cost of fixing it? Remember to discount money in the future versus money today.