Hi Guys, I know you’re mostly GC’s but I have a little plumbing question to pose to the group and I don’t see a plumbing board here. I’ve been extremely busy with my job lately and at the same time noticed that both of our toilets have been leaking pretty bad (from the tank into the bowl, not on the floor). I tried adjusting the float many times but no luck. I finally told my wife I’d call our local handyman franchise and have them fix it…thinking it would take an hour or two at most.
Well I got home and he replaced everything inside the toilet – which it may have needed since the house is 20 years old and one of the toilets was probably original. However he charged $130 for parts/material and $300 (3 hours at $100/hour) for labor. Total bill to fix two leaky toilets was $430!!! Holy sh*t, I’m thinking I could have had a plumber come in (I know…why DIDN’t I!?!?!?) and REPLACE the toilets for that kind of money. Before I talk to the owner about this bill I thought I’d see what other guys think. If it matters I live in the upper Midwest so prices are not out of control here. Am I nuts?
– Rob
Edited 5/13/2004 8:21 pm ET by strokeoluck
Replies
you my friend got f**ked without being kissed.
My wife replaced our toilet flapper (2.99 or so) in less than five minutes..in both terlets
to shut off the H20 and do the ballcock or float assembly too would be another 10 bucks and 15 mins. each. The hardest part is findin the wrenches in my tools and draing all the water out..
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
Stroke,
I don't know, sounds slightly on the high side for the upper Mid-west, but are we talkin' Chicago or Rippon?,.... there is always more to stuff like this than one says.
The BIL (at the time in Kenosha) once asked me to swap out a leaky shower faucet for him a 2:00pm on a Sunday afternoon. I told him no, 'cause if I ran into trouble........... so he get's the other BIL to "do it" for him.
Well, 8 hours ,$400. bucks and a real plumber later the leak was fixed.
Pro's charge what they do because they are pro's. Should he have suggested replacing the toilet instead? Whole 'nother can of worms.
Jon
I can't think of how to put $65 worth of parts into any toilet.
There just isn't anything in a toilet.
Joe H
You said you have two toilets...I would just tackle one of them and see what one does before calling a plumber. It is really a easy thing to do. All those things are really basic, the whole kit to replace all the washers, flappers and wax would just cost maybe twenty dollars. You can do the whole thing in maybe an hour to two hours tops. Around here in Chicagoland they always charge twice, say I would be needing a hot water tank (which I did last week) and they said $350. for the tank and $350 for labor so that came out to $700. dollars! I ended up doing that job myself in three hours. Total cost: $368.50 for the tank and parts.
Bluegillman
All toilets are not created equal. I have an American Standard 1 piece and the seat alone is $140.00 its plastic and if you drop it in the middle of the night it makes a very expensive crashing sound. None of the parts are generic next time it leaks it's going to the dump.
But if you have a run of the mill toilet you got ripped. Get 2 more and at that price I'd come out from Maryland and fix it right up.
Good line! I may take you up on it if I can build up a big enough honey-do list. Thanks for the responses guys.
- Rob
strokeoluck,
Seen it before. Do you have a nice place? Nice cars?
My bro called me 6 mos ago POed about the same thing. He's a major corporate guy, house worth a couple million, his housekeeper handled the deal, and they billed him $850. I guess they figured he would just pay it, or his accountant would. I called and they backed off real quick. Wrote the bill down to $160, took me five minutes.
I hope that you haven't paid yet.
Good Luck.
skipj
Way too much, UNLESS you have a couple of fancy toilet with special parts inside. But I doubt it. You can go to any plumbing house and buy a Fluidmaster replacement guts kit for twenty bucks. It will make an old toilet work like new, and take maybe half an hour to put in including time to clean up and open a beer. Call 'em up and say f*ck no!
This reminds me of my MIL in the bay area, CA. She bought a simple peep hole for her front door and calls up a local handyman. He wants $200 to install it. She offers him $100 and he turns it down. She calls a few other guys and they won't come over and do it either.
Things must be going good when you won't do a five minute job for 100 bucks.
Sphere hit it on the head, unfortunately for you. If adjusting the float doesn't stop the leak, then it isn't a water level problem. It is a flapper valve problem. All generic flapper valves fit almost all toilets, and cost about $3 each. All flapper valves eventually leak. No tools whatsoever are needed to change them, and you don't even need to turn off the water. You got royally screwed.
BUT.. I hope you paid with a credit card. In that case, you just notify VISA that there is a billing dispute and that you authorize them to withhold payment to Ripoff Plumbing, Inc. until you notify them it's resolved. Then Mr. Ripoff has to do something to pry the money loose. The credit card company is called a "holder in due course," and although they hate getting stuck in the middle like this, that's the way it is all through the U.S. It works with mail-order companies, everything. Never, never, never pay someone you don't know and trust with cash or a check, because then you've got no recourse.
Next time, why not ask here for advice before you commit any money or hire anybody? Good luck. Write the state contractor's board and the Better Business Bureau, detailing the circumstances and quoting this forum as expert witnesses, and indicate that the correct charges should have been on the order of $30. Send cc's to Mr. Ripoff, so he knows you're on to him. If he sees that everyone knows he's been a bad boy, he may even just dry up and blow away without contesting the issue.
You might need this,
I think you just made my day - laughed my *ss off. - Rob
Damn! I should be a handyman!
This actually WORKING for a living can be tough at times. Costs money just to stay in business, materials are usually expensive and sometimes hard to come by -- unlike toilet repair kits.
People ask you to do stuff that they either don't know how to do, or don't have time to do, and then grouse about the bill....
:-)