Just the other day, my kitchen faucet started leaking. It was a familiar leak. I had seen it happen before, shortly after we built our home. The first time it occurred, the plumber who did the original installation came and fixed it under warranty. Now, almost six years later, that warranty has expired, so I was faced with either A) hiring a plumber at a rate of $125+ per hour to fix it, B) replacing the faucet myself for $250, or C) trying to fix it myself. I initially opted to fix it myself, only to find a bad gasket at the neck of the handle, which I knew I couldn’t source easily.
I reconsidered option B), however, my wife and I really like the faucet, despite its obvious design failure. Wrestling with the prospect of shelling out a couple hundred bucks for a plumber, I remembered Steve — a plumber who had done some remodeling work for us in the past. My wife taught his kids in elementary school, and his family owns a local hardware store. Two text messages later and Steve was in my kitchen pulling the bad gasket out of the faucet while chatting about his twins, the kid’s activities, and the vacation he took last year. A day later, my faucet was fixed and I had a whole bag of gaskets so I can fix it myself the next time it happens. Problem solved for $40 cash, a slice of homemade zucchini bread, and some friendly conversation.