Questioning faucet install charges

re: No one can force you to work over 40 a week

I wonder how my commanding officer would have reacted to that statement?

Reply to
DerbyDad03
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re: Figure there's 2,000 working hours at best in a year, for a CEO to earn millions a year.

Do you really think a CEO only works a 40 hour week? Do you think he became a CEO by only working 40 hours a week?

I'm not saying that they are worth the money they make, but let's at least be somewhat accurate. There aren't too many multi-million dollar CEO's punching a 9-5 clock.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Reasonable for many, but the high paid CEO of a multi billion $$$ company is probably working closer to 3000 hours. Many years ago I used to work all the OT I could get and probably worked 2500+. Today I don't have a clue how many hours I put in. I'm salaried and don't keep track. I also come and go as I please. I'd guess in the 2000 hour range. When I "retire" I expect to work maybe half that.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

No, not for what should have been a trivial job. For a big job, sure. For a little job, no.

Excuse me but who said anything about cancelling a check? Certainly not me. No one is cancelling a check or even asking for a refund.

Fascinating but completely off topic.

Should she have asked for estimates first? Clearly yes since there are plumbing contractors out there who charge senior citizens almost 500 dollars for what was likely a 150-250 dollar job.

Water under the bridge. But you're wrong if you think I have no business even raising the question. If someone walks through a bad neighborhood in the middle of the night flashing a lot of cash and jewels and they get robbed you can fairly call them foolish. But that doesn't make it any less a crime. (Only an analogy; I'm not saying this was a crime. Just in spirit.)

Reply to
Steve Kraus

The OP should have asked questions before hiring someone. I'd consider it an expensive lesson and remember to do your homework before jumping in.

Get at least 3 estimates on something like this in the future. I wonder, was the plumber asked for a ballpark price at all. If not, I'd say you gave him a blank check. And he should have, at least, kissed your mom on the lips after screwing her...

CP

Reply to
Charles Pisano

When I hear "how much someone makes an hour", sometimes, it's highly ambiguous. Ironworkers ARE PAID a very high rate per hour. Yet, sometimes, they are on unemployment for part of the year because of the weather or lack of work. When they SAY they get $50 per hour, that doesn't mean they get a W-2 for $100,000 at the end of the year.

So, a person has to take their gross pay for a year, divide it by 2000 (that is only the ones that can compute 50 X 40 + 2,000) , and that's what they REALLY make an hour. And that does not account for overtime. Same with salaried workers, except they usually have a longer work week than 40 hours.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

re: getting estimates...

First you said: No, not for what should have been a trivial job. Then you said: Clearly yes.

Which is it?

I can't think of any situation where one shouldn't need to ask for an estimate when contracting a service. The fact that there are unscrupulous contractors that will rip off naive clients is just *one* of many reasons to get an estimate.

Piece together some of the other things mentioned in this thread:

- No main shutoff in the house

- Non-standard installation of the current fixtures

- A mess above and below the sink

- Location of plumbing that makes access time consuming

- etc. etc.

Asking upfront opens the window for the contractor to say "I charge $80 and hour. A typical faucet install takes 2 hours." If he doesn't offer details as to what could make the install non-typical, you should ask. Then everyone knows upfront what the cost range of the job could be and the correct decisions can be made.

Part of this conversation should also include questions about insurance, clean-up and warranty.

In plumbing, as with many other repair jobs, the expectation of a "trivial job" is a dangerous assumption and should be inquired about upfront.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

What we do not know is if the plumber had run into other problems and how long the job took. Yes, in most cases it is a couple of hours work, but there may be circumstances we don't know about. I'll reserve judgment until I do.

I'd like to see you do the faucet at my MIL's previous house in an hour.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Seems high? That's forcible rape. I can do one of those in an hour if the old one is hard to take off. And another hour for the shut off valve even if I have to sweat it on. I'd say $166 an hour is high. I only charge $80 for what I do.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Just changed one today on my mop sink. Went to one with the pull out handle faucet. Had all kinds of problems. Took me a WHOLE hour. Sheesh.

These things aren't rocket surgery. I know you can run into problems, but they are basically simple.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Steve, that is the dumbest conclusion I've seen in a while. Do you know the situation with the sink I'm talking about? The plumbing leading up to it? The frozen open shut off valves? The fact that the main shutoff does not? It is not that simple.

You don't know the situation of her house. You don't know the situation of the house the OP was speaking of. Just because you did yours in an hour, that does not mean every faucet in the world can be done in that time. I've done my share of older work and it can be troublesome at times.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

I think it's a fair price.

You don't deserve any of the normal breaks that a customer gets for being a long-time customer or having a lot of work to do. Travel time is the same if he is there for 5 minutes or for 4 hours. Plus there's probably a PITA surcharge from the sounds of it.

Figure a $100 fee for a service call plus $90/hour for a 4 hour minimum (including travel) plus parts. Not too bad for a big city. You're not going to get this done for $50.

Next time, have him supply the faucet and you'll probably get the whole thing done for the same price.

Reply to
Pat

166.00 per hour? Holy cow! I did not know USD is so worthless lately! Here plumbers charge ~40.00 an hour.
Reply to
Tony Hwang

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote

Thank you very much. I am glad I hold this position of honor in your memory. I do not know everything, nor claim to.

I do know that I do think that $166 per hour for changing a faucet is what I do think is excessive. If it was that complicated, or rusted up and frozen up that much, it would have taken more than two hours.

YMMV. And probably does.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Obviously you are one of the rip off plumbers yourself. No right thinking person would think this is a proper charge.

s

Reply to
S. Barker

Obviously you and Tony Hwang dont have a clue. Maybe get out in the world once in a while and look at the price of things lately. Have you noticed gasoline is well above $3.00 a gallon? No, I didnt think so. Start your own service/installation business and come back here in 6 months and tell me how well you ARENT doing charging $40hr. Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

I've got 5 rental houses all which are about 100 years old. You don't have to tell me about real world. 3 of them i've rewired myself and 2 have been replumbed. I've NEVER taken more than an hour to install cutoffs and a new faucet. I'd dare someone to show me one I'd take more than an hour and a half on.

Also, the price of gas has no bearing on this thread.

s

Reply to
S. Barker

That's exactly why I don't own any stocks. As for using gasoline, I wouldn't even go out if I didn't have to go to work.

Reply to
Molly Brown

re: That's exactly why I don't own any stocks

Just curious: What are you invested in?

Reply to
DerbyDad03

That's exactly why I don't own any stocks. As for using gasoline, I wouldn't even go out if I didn't have to go to work.

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What does owning stocks have to do with the fact that some CEOs make outrageous salaries?

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

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