Plumber cost. Is it reasonable

I need to get a pressure regulator installed near my main shutoff valve.

That sounds about right for my area, in San Mateo county. I would guess he is figuring about 3 hours time, which equates to about 80 bucks per hour. I would check with friends/neighbors in your area for reasonableness, and for recommendations. A local plumber is best, with local recs, and the ones I use don't travel very far.

That actually doesn't sound too far off the beaten path -- I just had some plumbing done in the East Bay and that would be about two hours of labor at the rate they charged me. Unfortunately, that includes the time they spent going and waiting in line for parts, but this was a reputable plumber so I guess it was legit.

Try asking on news:ba.consumers as well and see if anybody knows there. Hopefully your ISP's news server will have it. If not, try Google Groups.

If you were a REAL man, you'd change it yourself and save a bundle of money...........

You didn't indicate how difficult it is to get to the main valve. There's a huge difference if that valve is located just inside a basement wall and one located in a crawl space or some place difficult to get to and difficult to work on.

Best bet is that it is unreasonable, but that doesn't mean that it isn't the going rate. A fairly handy person can spend 1-2 hours reading about how to make the repair, buy all the plumbing tools needed, and make the repair, paying himself at least $40 per hour, for that price.

Yes. Especially if he has a hard time shutting the water off outside at the street to change the valve. Ed