Plumbing Charge

A plumber removed an existing faucet in the bathtub and replaced it with another provided by the customer. The charge was $285, he was there 2 hours. Does this sound like a reasonable price? Thanks for any input. I'm asking for a friend who doesn't have access to the internet.

Reply to
Pat in Atlanta
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Was he quoted 285 before hand, if so then yes.

Reply to
m Ransley

I'm not sure about you're area, but here near NYC plumbers charge ~$90/hour and count time to the nearest 1/4 hour. So from that alone, I'd say the guy _might_ be a little high, but he's in the ballpark. But there's more involved than just time.

When you say faucet, you mean the shower body, right? That's the part that fits in the wall and has the control knob sticking out. I wouldn't know what else was involved without seeing the old situation and the new shower body that was provided.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

What corners did he cut on the job? Sounds pretty low to me.

Reply to
Oscar_Lives

She's an old lady who lives in a small town and didn't ask ahead of time what he would charge. She also gave him a hot lunch. I think she's feeling used and abused.

Reply to
Pat in Atlanta

insurance, overhead taxes it all that adds up. The days of a guy coming out for $50 are long gone. But what do I know I'm just a plumber

Reply to
Sacramento Dave

I don't know, could your friend do it cheaper than the plumber?

Reply to
sleepdog

Always get a price first, then you can get bids if it sounds to high, which it might have been. My neighboor was charged 900 for a new kitchen plastic sink and I got Sears to cut 400 off the price. My parents had their "trusted " plumber tell them for 80$ they needed a new toilet but I went over and put in a new flapper,[ like the ass didnt have one on his truck]. Crooks, are everywhere, get bids on any work. Call them, and others ,pretend to be asking for work and see what they say about pricing, if its alot lower, stop pay and repay a fair amount. But check all the plumbing, im no pro and it would take me a day, so figure that to.

Reply to
m Ransley

Thanks. I suggested to her that she get prices from two other plumbers in the area.

Reply to
Pat in Atlanta

Dang! I'm astounded that plumbers get $90/hour anywhere. I'm so glad I'm handy.

I wonder if he charged the old lady for the time he was eating her food.

Mike

Reply to
upand_at_them

Homes around here start at ~$600K. Maybe, just maybe, there's a connection.

Surprisingly, that is actually a good question.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

I would say that if plumbers are getting 90 bucks an hour, there will soon be many more plumbers in the area.

I imagine that they have one of those flat rate pricing policies, which I don't completely understand, but usually I think it means that had it taken him 6 hrs because of unforseen issues, it would still have been 285.

My suggestion would be to have her place a very polite call to the owner of the company to see if perhaps there was an 'error'. You never know.

Always quote first, even if you like the company.

Reply to
yourname

Send the plumber a bill for the lunch. $150 sounds about right. Plus 15% gratuity, of course.

And yes, he should have asked before he sat down at the table.

Reply to
HeyBub

Perhaps if the plumber is called first, he/they might give a ballpark figure as to what the costs "might" be. Otherwise, once they come out, (just like a refrigerator repair man) he's going charge you a service fee regardless if he doesn't even touch a thing.

Correct, those days are long gone, where a plumber charges $20 to put in a faucet.

A few weeks ago, my father who lives in Chicago, had to call a plumber to fix 3 leaking faucets. Two small gaskets, and one replacement cartridge later, the bill was $221.00. $21 in parts, and $200 in Labor for 2 hours labor.

The price the original poster mentioned doesn't sound too out of line, but agreed, he probably charged her the time while he ate her lunch. Maybe she should've handed him a bill for lunch, $30! :-) Mark

Reply to
Mark D

Actually, they're having trouble getting qualified help, and there are a fair number of established companies already. Most of the kids growing up around here dream of working in the financial markets and having people hand them large bags of cash without having to do much in the way of earning it.

I know of no plumbing company that would do that. You'd alienate people when it didn't take "enough" time, and you'd end up doing the other jobs for free. Not a good business model.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Right, send him a bill for the lunch just deduct 100$

Reply to
m Ransley

I had a plumber come for a bid to replace some pipe on a main in the basement, he came out in his Eddie Bauer "Bid clothes", he opened his 3" "Bible" bid book to find the price and found it " Replacing incomming supplys" and said "see here we will do it for 275" I said see here , you are going to look at a dam book to quote me 1 hrs work, Get Lost. He said " but it in the book its fair" I said BS, yur gone. I got it done by another plumber for 80. Just like auto repair "bid books" plumber have that crap to. They are for the idiots that never did the job but need to price " fairly" yea fair is the key word, fair to them, not the consumer.

Reply to
m Ransley

Around in the NY area, you have lots of guys who dont even call you back. They only want big jobs, the small shit adds up but their too thick to realize that.

As for NYC plumbers getting 90/Hr. Wouldnt surpise me, the union guys rip off the contractors left and right. Its ok though, after union dues etc, its significatly lower.

Its a nasty cycle... Plumbers charge the contractors, contractors charge the owners, owners pass off their expensive home costs back to whatever the hell they do.

Reply to
BocesLib

"As for NYC plumbers getting 90/Hr. Wouldnt surpise me, the union guys rip off the contractors left and right. Its ok though, after union dues etc, its significatly lower. "

When you take your car for service, how much an hour do they charge you? Here in NJ it's around $85 at dealers and even at many good independent shops. They aren't union are they? And they don't come to you. Seems to me $90 an hour for a plumber in NYC isn't a rip off for a small repair job of a couple hours. You seem to forget that the plumber has to pay for a truck, insurance, gas, parking, parking tickets, tools, plus if he has even minimal health benefits to cover, that is a big hit.

Reply to
trader4

Just a couple of weeks ago, a couple of the guys down at the supply house were saying they've increased their rate to $100 and hour and still have more work than they can handle. I don't know about lunch, but they do charge travel time.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

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