Hi Kathy...

Hard to say if this is expensive or not...really depends on where you live.

In my area (Boston, MA) this price is not entirely unreasonable considering all factors.

Are you or a friend handy people...? 'Cause if you are we could probably talk you through installing a new hose bib yourself?

Basically need to shut water off to house (at meter or pump), cut old hose bib out, enlarge hole, install new anti-freeze hose bib and then connect piping. This is especially easy today as they have some very reliable connectors that do not require any soldering skills. Just a couple basic hand tools and some pipe/fittings and I'll bet maybe you can put that money in your pocket...Hmmm...?

Let us know..ok?

MARK

Mark gave you good advice: Buy exactly same hose bib, shut of water, remove old bib, install new one... It is done in five minutes...

How old is the hose bibb? What climate do you live in( does it drop below freezing in the winter) If the hose bibb is to old, you may not be able to find exact replacement. If you live in cold winter climate, best to install frostless hose bibb. Is the supply water line to the hose bibb accessible near the hose bibb? If so, you should have no problem doing this yourself.

Getting an estimate here is just like trying to get one over the phone. We can't really say whether the quoted price from your plumber is too high. If there are other plumbing contractors in your area, maybe have them come give you an estimate and see how it compares to the first plumber. If fairly close, just go with the one that you feel best about. Good luck, and please let us know how it all works out.

A very good frost proof faucet should not cost more than around $30, so that leaves a lot of money left for the labor. I know that you could live miles away and he should gt paid for his truck expense and mileage time, also he has insurance to pay, he has license to pay for and each year some have to pay for continuning education and he might bring a helper. But even then that leaves a lot of money left fot profit.

This is probablythe reason I am not a rich man.

Hi Kathy,

What is wrong with your hose bib?
Please tell us if is a sweated type or a threaded type, if it is threaded type it is very simple to replace, every one above have given you a good advice, if you can tell the deference of the sweat type or threaded type, please post a picture of it, thanks.

John

Cathyhd response:

Thank you all for responding to my question. I should have stated that I had already paid them to do it. (I was leaving town and it was expected to freeze for the next night or two. It was dripping badly and I didn't want a problem while I was out of town.)

I told the Plumber that I was wary of that price and would definitely contact them back to challenge it if my input was showing that that was an unusally high price.

Answers to questions: I live in north central Texas. It freezes here generally about 5-10times a year, mostly just in the middle of the night. I am not handy and my fianc? Is handy in some things but wasn't confident of doing this himself or with the tools he possesses. We didn't know about this site before or that someone would walk us through the steps if we had the proper tools.

The Master Plumber I had come out had an assistant, they left to buy the part, and they took about 30 minutes to do the job upon their return. I did not stand out there and watch them because it was cold outside at the time and I was rushing to get things done before leaving town.

If this additional information makes it easier to list a price for same, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

You would have been charged from the time they left their shop, until the time they returned to their shop or to another job. This includes the time they spent going to get the parts they needed. Not sure what they were charging per hour for master and apprentice, or how far they had to travel, so its hard to say. Just glad you got it fixed(sorry it cost so much). Hope next time you will come here first and maybe we can help in the future. Take care.

I also live ing Texas, and we have more and worse freezes than you said you did. Here at one time it was a city code that we had to install the frost proof or (freeze proof) that some people call them. For the past several years the plumbers quit using the frost proof because they would be installed wrong, the faucet has to be installed with the hose bib part lower than the part that attaches to the water pipe, this lets the water in the barrel drain out of the fuacet, otherwise water remains in the barrel of the faucet and it splits the pipe. Then next summer when you start to use the faucet you find it is split and the water is going into the house because the split is back in the wall. Even if the faucet is installed right people left there water hose attached in the winter and it caused the same problem that I mentioned above. Therefore the city resinded that part of the code and now we use the regular faucet. If something happens to it is is just a matter of replaceing the faucet, somewhere around $100.00 or less.

Well you learn be experience, and also your faucet was running water so it would have been less apt to freeze that if it had not been leaking.

If the work was done from the outside of the house, then you did not have a frost less hose bib installed. You had a sill cock installed.

If you had a frostless installed, the plumber would have had to go in the house to make connections.

Note to all. Install frostless hose bibbs in areas that reach below freezing temps. Grade bibbs so that they slope downwards to the outside of house.(the more the better). Then make sure to tell the homeowner how important it is that they disconnect garden hoses before freezing wheather. Explain to them how important it is to do this, and the problems that will occure if they don't.

I believe frostless hose bibbs are an excellent idea, as long as the homeowner know enough to disconnect hoses. And the bibb is correctly installed.

Lot easier than installing a valve inside to shut off sill cock, then opening sill cock to drain. Seems to me like remembering to unhook garden hose is a lot simpler than going downstairs(or in a crawl space) and shutting off a valve, then going outside and opening sill cock.