I just spent $708 for plumbers to clear the soil drain from my house to the sewer, about 90feet away. They were at my house about 30 minutes and showed me beforehand what it was going to cost. The plumber is a large company and I’m sure the prices are standard.
My question? Is this REALLY expensive, or am I out of touch with reality.
Thanks.
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Replies
That's pretty high.
Isn't there a somewhat sorry comment in the joke about the lawyer that calls a plumber in at 1 in the morning. The plumber spends 15 mins on the job and bills the lawyer $450. The lawyer, of course objects - "I work for the most expensive law firm in town ,and the most we charge is $400 per hour" The plumber replies "Yeah, I had a hard time making it as a lawyer, too".
Quite the indictment, eh.
cheers
***I'm a contractor - but I'm trying to go straight!***
Thanks everyone. Good info. I was a carpentry contractor in Bucks County PA some years back, so I've done my share of damage. ;)The plumber I used did, in fact, have a full 2-page yellow pages spread. It was slick operation, and if I'd had more time I would have looked for someone in my neighborhood. After hours weren't a factor, I left work to meet them at the house in the middle of the day. Here's the breakdown. I was shown this beforehand.
"Snake Main line through clean out - 234.75"
"Additional cable or bai... if needed - 171.75"
"Required assistent - 195.00"
"Video inspection - 350.00"Luckily I opted out of the video inspection. Thanks again,
Mark
>>>"Here's the breakdown. I was shown this beforehand.
"Snake Main line through clean out - 234.75"
"Additional cable or bai... if needed - 171.75"
"Required assistent - 195.00"
"Video inspection - 350.00"Where did the extra $106.50 on the bill come from?
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
I wonder what the 'required assistant' does.
I have to call up Roto Rooter every 5 years or so, to clean out the tree roots in my 90 year old sewer pipe. One guy comes out, spends an hour or so in the basement, and gets the job done. I don't recall exactly what the bill comes to but I know it's less than $200.
I bet the required assistant is like the city road or sewer crews I always see around with 1 or 2 guys doing the work and 3 or 4 standing around watching. I guess they are supervising.
If they have someone down in a trench or a manhole or something like that, for safety reasons the city crews need to have antoher person standing up on top in case something happens to the guy down in the hole. I don't know about the situations where you see three or four shovel-leaning observers standing there, though.Maybe it's the same deal with the sewer line cleaner guy...if he accidentally gets his head stuck in the pipe the assistant can pull him out. ;-)
Good one! I understand the safety aspects. Like you said its the number of shovel leaners that at times makes me wonder, especially when its me thats paying them with my taxes.
Oh, come on, guys! You know darn well that if you send several guys out to, say, dig a hole and fix a pipe, you get to a point where there can only be one or two guys in the hole at a time. Repair work especially is this way, since there's usually not another job in the area that folks can occupy themselves on when they aren't needed.And if you send a crew around to fix three or four things at different places, there will be some places where only a couple of guys are needed at a time.I can kind of understand folks who don't work in construction griping about "shovel leaners", since they don't know how it is, but I'd expect you guys to be a little more realistic.
who don't work in construction griping about "shovel leaners", since they don't know how it is
Yep, there was, once, a time and motion study on such things as "heavy labor" like shoveling gravel. The optimal, per the study, was 25' or work to 35' of rest. Now, the fine print also stated that optimum was hit with 5-6 work sessions of 4-5' each.
Just tough sledding in the "real" world, "You ain't burnin', you ain't earnin'!" being what I heard one too many times.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
You still didn't mention where you're located, and it does have a bearing on your question.
Up here, that kinda price for that kinda work during regular hours would get a guy a fast ride outta town. But as some others have mentioned, this is not true everywhere.
I charge a minimum of 3 hours to go out on a repair call, be it plumbing, electrical, a downed tree, busted window, or whatever. I think most plumbers and electricians here bill residential customers the same way.
But it sounds like the outfit you called uses task-based billing rather than hourly. Kinda like an auto shop that charges the flat-rate from the book.
You could check with your province's construction trades regulatory board to find out what billing practices are permitted in your area.
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
there are specialty trades out there that have a trick to do what they do, and we all pay for that knowledge
you say they showed you the price before hand
did the price tell you what they were going to do other then clear the drain
were you expecting dig up the pipes, replace them, backfill and new sod
was that in the contract
or just clear drains
contracts, kind of funny huh, kind of sad too
and just how many times have many of us after doing something heard a client say
heck I could have done that
but you didnt and I did
yes price sounds high
a backed up toilet flooding a house with ship sounds like not much fun either
it all depends on attitude and stuff
you are sitting there saying thats a lot
Ibet ther eare people out there saying
these guys are artists, thank you very much, I can flush the toilet now and not worry when I go to work
Depends.
Might want to be wearing them when you get That bill.
Sounds high to me. Then again 'welcome to capitalism'. Whatever the market will bear. If your situation just oozes money, you were an azz about it and you insisted on 'helping' it might be dead on right and entirely justified. You don't sound too outraged. And you seem to have written the check so it must not have been too rich for your blood.
Not that it applies in this case but I always get a kick out a $400 an hour lawyer telling me that $80 an hour is too high after I have spent an hour in his 150F attic because he tried to play amateur electrician and burnt the cables out of the boxes. Turning a simple half hour repair into a two hour ordeal.
Also has something to do with prevailing wages, cost of living, any specialized equipment or skills used and perhaps how far into the sticks your located. And, of course, if you insisted they come out a 2AM on Sunday morning, in a snowstorm, while his wife was giving birth to their first child the bill is bound to be a bit heftier.
Two plumbers and what other equipment ,like the big pumper truck or did they clear it with a snake 90' ?
Their time starts at the shop and ends back there.
They quoted you a price in advance so if it took a lot longer that would of been their problem
In the land of quoted prices some times the customer wins sometimes the contractor wins.
PS. I had this same job done for a customer and the blockage was a tree root and when the roto-rooter caught it the operator 's hand got twisted and he was off work 3 days so you figgure
Welcome to Breaktime, Mark.
Around here, plumbing rates are in the range of $55 to $75/hr. With a 4 hour minimum charge. That is for scheduled service and repair work. Unscheduled or emergency repair services start around $75/ hour and go as high as $150/hr.
Your area may have higher rates.
Someone else mentioned the truck, and tools associated with the trade. That is only a portion of the cost of doing buiseness, as most here will tell you.
Most home owners never give a thought to the paid holidays, insurance benefits, retirement plans, and comfortabel office or working environment that thier employer furnishes for them. When you load all those burdens on the wages a company pays a talented, good employee, the total cost is sometimes as high as 2 or 3 time the actual wage the employee receives. Now add a a lttle profit for the risk takers/ owners and you start to see how quickly the cost of products and/or services can climb.
That is not to say that the quoted price vs time spent on the job wasn't a little high, but you had the option of shopping around.
Somedays you get the bear, and somedays the bear gets you :)
Dave
Here in Los Angeles County, the most expensive ones are those with full page ads in the Yellow Pages.
They have nice new trucks, white uniforms with fairly young guys.
90% of the workers are not Journeymen, never went to years of trade school or have a license of any type. Those that are honest won't work for those companies long.
That's what's known as a barrel roll. You were over a barrel and got rolled.
Greetings, and Welcome to BT, your first post was certainly popular.
Another issue not addressed, was this "regular hours" or "after hours." it can be almost twice as expensive for "after hours" work on an hourly rate (that's because the labor cost to the company is constant, and the work load is not).
Your location matters too (if you could, click on your own name and fill in a bit profile info, it can help answer questions). In the Bay area, I'd imagine that's a fair price. It'd be about twice too much for my town, but there's a quarter-million dollars in median house prices from my town and the Bay area too.
I'm late on this post, but you should have checked the local area plumbers and found out what the going rate for this type of operation was. If you got one that was way too high, then you would have known someone was trying to rip you off. Most plumbers are not crooks. {I am one!]. Do some research the next time. Lots of luck.
Most plumbers are not crooks. {I am one!].
Wow, not too many people willing to admit to being crooks. And on the internet !
; )
Are we there yet ?
Have you updated your forum profile lately? Please Do!
Lets be nice. You know what I meant. I assure you that I am a much better plumber than I am a writer [The thought rremains the same, most plumbers are not crooks]. Have a nice day and stay away from crooked plumbers!
I was joking.I put a "wink" smiley in there...=0|
Are we there yet ?
Have you updated your forum profile lately? Please Do!
I missed it. Im not the brightest bulb on a computer. Have a good one.
shacko... i agree.. he got mugged by one of the big operations...
a legit plumber would have charged half and made good money...
these operators are based on instant gratification with most of them never sending a real plumber out to the jobMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I am still not 100% sure that he got screwed. Like I was trying to say, rates are local. He should have done some research before hiring a plumber; most plumbing firms will give you a ball park figure over the phone. Hindsight is something that everyone has, foresight is what we need. [ Most plumbers are not crooks; I am a plumber]. Have a good one.
I think you can expect a higher price from a plumber than a drain cleaning outfit to clear a lateral because the drain cleaning companies generally have a much lower skill level, and a much lower overhead. One of the local plumbing companies here subs out drain cleaning because they can't make enough to justify doing it themself.
Mark - there's something I don't like about your post, and I'll tell you what it is. The price you paid was agreed upon beforehand. Nothing in your post indicates that the work was not done to your satisfaction. So if you agreed to pay this price for this work, and it was done to your satisfaction, what's the beef? It seems to me the problem lies in this statement: "They were at my house about 30 minutes...
In other words, they made just too dang much money for the time spent. The implication is that if it had taken longer, then it would have been OK. That bugs me because I've encountered this attitude from time to time in my own work (although I've never made that much money in that short of a time...but if I did, whose business is it to criticize me for it?). If you found the price agreeable, and the work satisfactory, I don't see where you have any room to gripe about the time it took, unless it were to complain about a job that dragged on unnecessarily. But too fast? Nope, I don't see grounds for complaint.
If I seem a little cranky its because I'm up nursing a toothache that's probably going to be my constant companion for the long holiday weekend!
And the plumber was thinking all along "I hate these piddly little jobs, By the time we get back to the shop and restock the truck for the next job it'll be mid morning, almost lunch. Half a day spent on a loose tampoon".
What if the Plumber invested a few grand in a piece of specialty equiptment? Should'nt time saved be to his advantage?
My buddy used to work for a plumbing company full time and quit to just do mainly drain cleaning. He gets $350.00 for a normal service call during regular hours and about a hundred more if you drag him out in the middle of the night. He figures that this is enough money to cover the 8-10 thousand investment in equipment, his time, insurance, and to cover any unforeseen problems (like tearing apart or getting stuck in a main line and having to fix it). I have done my own before with just a hand snake and between digging out the tank, doing the work, cleaning up, and getting everything back in order it can consume three to four hours, where having him do it might be an hour total. Most people don't want to mess with their sewer lines anyway and gladly pay the cost.
Someone else mentioned getting hurt and not being able to work for a couple of days - my buddy was changing a sump pump once and ended up getting a staph infection (I believe that's what it was?) that put him in the hospital for a week or so.