Thanks. Just paying back. Maybe some future shower fixer might get some ideas. I still would rather have a reliable plumber or handy man do these things. Now looking for a garage for the car. Same story ... they use "the book" for labor charges which tells me they either don't know how to do the work or don't understand how to set their own prices.
I used to run a small service and repair bidness and we used our own records of costs, overhead and margin to set pricing. It's not that hard to figure out. You never hit it right where you plan, but at least that's a start. You can always adjust prices.
I used to go to a small garage for basic auto mechanic work, until they started using "the book." I was over there last week and they said business was really slow. Every other car repair place is covered up with work. He's a good guy, so I told him to go back over the year and figure out his true costs and overhead, and then use that to set his rates. Plus, the dude's shop is only open M-F 9-5.