How much to fit a kitchen tap?

[Hypnotist]

We could use some advice on the price of some work we had done. Our kitchen tap broke so we bought a new one and hired a plumber to come out and change them over. There weren't any complications but it took him three hours in total, so the firm have billed us =A3156. That seems a lot of money just to plumb a new tap into an existing fitting.

Is that what you guys would expect to pay or are we being overcharged? How long should it normally take for work like that to be done?

Thanks in advance,

Don

[Ken]

Sounds a bit steep. If it was straight forward, I would have thought £40-£50. But 3 hours sounds like it wasn't straight forward.

ken

[Colin Wilson]

Holy crap, i`m (seriously) crap at DIY, even worse at plumbing, and=20 think even *I* could do that in

[Lobster]

No complications? 3 hours?! Something doesn't add up. What was he doing for all that time? He should be able to justify it.

David

[Cicero]

Is that what you guys would expect to pay or are we being overcharged? How long should it normally take for work like that to be done?

Thanks in advance,

Don

===================== If you haven't already paid, don't do so. Ask for an itemised bill and challenge it.

I think a competent professional plumber would be ashamed of himself if he couldn't change a tap in less than half an hour. Assuming of course that this was as straightforward as you've suggested.

Cic.

[Phil L]

Did you ring an emergency plumber by any chance? - it's just with your opening statement, 'our kitchen tap broke' - it implies that there was water gushing everywhere. If it was a normal plumber (not an on call one) then you have been vastly overcharged, there's a bloke around here who fits outside taps for a living and advertises them in the local press (front page no less) at £35 fitted and he supplies the materials.

Get in touch with their office and tell them that the bill must be a mistake.

[Rusty Nail]

=A3156 to fit a kitchen tap seems fair enough to me, as the job probably included vat and was, carried out after 5pm weekday or on a saturday or a sunday. You would be too busy during normal working hours conning people out of =A399 for a self hypnosis workshop, going by your previous posts anyway!!

[Brian Sharrock]

On the other hand; the 'old' story goes that a customer balked when the fitter presented him with a bill for one pound. 'But you only hit it with a hammer, that's not worth one pound!' 'You're correct", said the fitter, 'give me the bill back". The fitter scribbled on the bill and represented it; 'it now read;- For hitting with hammer ..... six pence. Foe knowing where to hit hammer .... nineteen shillings and sixpence. Total .... one pound.

[The Medway Handyman]

Difficult to say what complications occurred if any, but three hours seems excessive to me. Even if it was a 3 hour job I'd have charged around £100.

[Rusty Nail]

Have you seen his previous posts?

[Lobster]

But this was a bill for 3 hours work, totalling £156... had it been for

1 hours' work, totalling £156 then that would have been different (just an extortionate hourly rate). It's the duration of the job that the OP should be quibbling about.

David

[Phil L]

How do you know it was carried out at unsociable hours? - it could have been this morning.

I've not seen any of his earlier posts

[Chris Bacon]

There's not really enough information to say... there may be a fair amount of work even without "complications". Have you an itemised bill?

[Rusty Nail]

[Chris Bacon]

What? Whose?

[Rusty Nail]

It could have been completed 15 minutes before he posted this message!

[Rusty Nail]

He advertises self hypnosis classes at a knockdown price of =A399, but you also need to buy his pack at an unbelievably cheap price too!!

Next to the poster of a message it says view profile, click on that it gives you all the previously posted messages.

[Hypnotist]

I don't see why you have a problem with the classes I run, that's my business, I'm a psychotherapist and corporate trainer. I object to you accusing me of "conning" people; that's just not true. Perhaps you could hold fire, I was just asking a question and this group seemed like it might be able to help. Some people have been kind enough to offer their advice.

Anyway, to return to the original post. It was just one tap that broke. I was working in an adjacent office while the plumber was doing the repair. It was a weekday morning, during office hours. No parts, just labour. The problem wasn't the hourly rate, it was the length of time he took. I was very busy at the time and I just didn't realise how much time had passed until the bill arrived. I suspect he must have been killing time, I would have thought it would have taken an hour maximum and you guys seem to agree.

Anyway, thanks for your help.

Best,

Don

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Either there were complications or he was twiddling his thumbs for much of the time.

But was the new tap identical? I recently changed my kitchen mixer, and the threads were much longer than the original, and it being connected to solid copper pipe meant a deal of modification.

[John Rumm]

and this has what exactly to do with fitting taps?

It does? Only if you are some clueless twonk using google groups.