This is a question for professional plumbers.
I had a problem with a kitchen drain that was ultimately diagnosed as a separation of the drain from the sewer beneath the house. The conclusion was to reroute the 2" kitchen drain into a 4" (I think) metal drainpipe in the basement. The estimate was for some amount of labor plus $200 in parts. I agreed, so he came back a couple of days later to do the job.
When we opened the wall, we saw that there was another 2" drain already built in (apparently for a future bathroom) and was merely capped off. The decision was made to route the kitchen drain into that drain, which was a much simpler job.
I noted the parts that were used for the job. He used about 12 to 15 PVC elbows, and 4 rubber junctions (not sure what they are really called) to connect the old copper pipe to the new PVC replacement pipe. The plumber also used about 12 feet of 2" PVC pipe.
When he wrote the bill, he used the $200 figure for the parts. I was certain that the task was easier than originally though, as it did not require cutting into the existing 4" pipe nor require whatever parts were needed to hook that all up again. In fact, the 12 to 15 elbows, at Home Depot's retail price, are about 80 cents each. The rubber junctions were about $2.50 each. This adds up to about $22.00, plus whatever 12 feet of
2" PVC costs. which I think is not that much. I did not feel that the labor charges were unfair, but the price for the parts left me feeling a bit ripped off.Should I feel that way, or are plumbing parts typically priced with a 600 to
800 percent markup? I complained to the plumber, but he essentially said that since I had agreed to pay $200 for parts, I have to pay it. (I asked, does this mean if he discovered that all he had to do was replace a washer, that it would've been $200 because I had agreed to it? He refused to answer that question.)Of course, I am quite thankful the job didn't cost thousands, as one plumber had estimated (he was going to dig up the basement, destroying a finished bathroom in the process). But I still would like to pay a fair price for what I got. Should I feel ripped off?