I have a plumber here who has given me a price of $376 to replace my hose bib with a good quality part (says good quality bronze) and a 5 year warranty. His price of $376 shocked me. Is that reasonable or is he overcharging? It is impossible to get people to give estimates over the phone to compare and they charge for diagnosis/estimates but apply that to the repair. Let me know if there is some better way to approach this type of thing in the future.

I just thank you all for answering. I'm not sure I ever got a range of an appropriate charge, but I'm going to discuss this with him (who is the owner of his company) and press for a partial refund or for free plumbing work that I have to do at my new house. Interesting that he would overcharge me when he knew that my certain, future work at the new house was only his if his work was good and price was fair, plus I found him through Angie's List and promised him a good or poor report based on same. Is there any other organization that he would not like to have a complaint issued on this overcharge? I appreciate good work and abhor those who take advantage.

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 fiancé 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.

Cathy...

Where are you getting the idea you were overcharged..? A couple people here..?

Please do not base your response to this plumber based on what 1... 2... or more plumbers say here... especially kepdawg! We have no idea what that plumber and his helper did to get that job done.

Only issue I see is that the plumber proceeded to do the job without being sure you were satisfied with the price..

Anyway, just my thoughts...

MARK

I have to quote something she said, "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"
Thats almost 800 dollars an hour!
Lets say he had to go to the store and that took 40 min.
Thats almost 400 dollars an hour!
Lets say he had to travel round trip and that took an hour.
Thats almost 200 dollars an hour!
He had a helper that he is paying very, very, very, very, well at 50.00 an hour that did nothing but push the shopping cart.
Thats almost 100 dollars an hour for each of them!
Pay me a hundred an hour, and I'll be right over with a smile! :)
Justify that!
I'd be talking to the BBB!

Hi all...

Fact is, whether you like it or not kepdawg (I received your email), we don't know what work had to be done and we don't really know how long the job took from start to finish...

MAYBE this job involved driving to job, assessing job, schmoozing customer a bit, running to supply house (maybe took a while, maybe not), returning to job and shutting off water main (can be risky here), draining water system, breaking old pipe and shutoff out, drill/enlarge hole, install new shutoff and new antifreeze faucet, fill system with water, purge air from all faucets, clean up, make out bill, schmooz customer again... Helper is running all the time getting drills/soldering stuff, correct fittings, pipe, etc... and while plumber is schmoozing helper cleans all up.

MAYBE the job didn't involve all that..?

There are also material costs here... valve, solder, gas, flux, sandcloth, etc... never mind insurance, advertising, worker's comp, fica, medicare, SS, truck costs, tool-replacement, helper's salary, helper's vacations, holidays, bonuses, his own salary/taxes, etc.. etc... etc...

On top of all that the plumber has offered a 5 year warranty (not sure if includes labor) and offered the price BEFORE he started the job.

Cathy has said she was not thrilled and would discuss based on what she found out but she agreed to have the job done... so to argue with plumber now is probably useless. Better to resolve that when price is given or rescedule to allow time for other estimates... ;)

All I do know is that I have had quite a few customers myself over the years that made similar statements... suggesting something only took half hour... and was usually closer to 2 to 2.5 hours... amazing what people don't see sometimes, especially when it comes to plumbing and they don't have a clue.

Just my thoughts...

And finally, Cathy, I just think that it is very hard to say $100... $200 is a fair price when we know nothing about what was done. Perhaps next time you can get 3 written estimates and then comapre apples and apples to get best solution... OR, you could buy some tools and let us help you next time!

Have a good night all!

.

In So.California, customers are charged for plumbing work in excess of $100.00 per hour, per plumber. On top of it, there is also basic charge for coming out with fully equipped van. I don't think she was overcharged. I am sure the plumber will justify his charges if necessary.

kepdawg,

I think we are wasting our time for something that is already done and Mark is not protecting the guy who have done the job, also we were not there when the guy was doing his job what problem he had and Cathy was not present at the time the plumber was replacing the hose bib some times it is a 10 minute job some time it will take more that an hour, we only hear one side of the story and we are assuming what should have been done.
Mark is the best and most experience/knowledgeable person on this web site, please take my advice lets close this thread and let Cathy handle her problem, Thanks.

Best Regards,
John

Thank you for your input.

To begin with, they are unusual in that they quote a rate for the job instead of a per hour. When they gave me the set quote ahead of time, I told them that I was very surprised and asked how long the job would take and how much the price of the part would be. They could not answer my question, nor did they upon their return from buying the part. They only worked about 30 minutes. I let them know then afterwards that I couldn't understand why they just didn't charge me per hour and for the part and have all this secrecy or have the charge that high for so little time. I should have let them go but if I didn't go forth, I would have been charged $75 for the diagnosis, harsh weather was coming in that night, and I was leaving town the next day.

If you are a plumber, what would you have charged?

Many plumbers work by the "job" not by the hour. If you divide their actual time spent on repairing your plumbing problem - than it could amount to higher-then-usual-per-hour amount.

It is kind of "take it or leave it" situation". You should call somebody else if you thought the price was unproportionally high to the work requested.

But I fully understand your situation: I get ripped off in the same manner at the car dealer service shop on consistent bases.

Hi Cathy,

I agree with Melo take it or leave it, if you were not happy with his job you shouldn't have hired him or you shouldn't have paid him, now we are talking after the fact the job is done and we are going back and forth, what ever we say here we are just assuming we don't know what happened why he charged you too much and we hear your side of the story we would like to hear his side of the story too, Thanks.

My Best Regards to all
John

I really tried to respect mark and handle the issue out of public, so all I can do is say sorry for battles past and I'm willing a fresh start.
As for Cathy's question?
40 bucks and hour 2 hr min including travel plus parts.
So for around 100-130 dollars it would have been done and done right. If I had to drive further than 30 miles I would have referred her to someone else unless she was willing to pay for the extra travel time.
I also would have inspected the rest of the plumbing of the house for any problems and give my advice from there.
Also Cathy can you post a picture of this hose bib that started WW3?

OK Guys! Opinions have been posted and discussed. Mark's correct. Nobody knows either the labor rates, (union or nonunion) or what the job involved. We all kinow that the simplest jobs can work up into a real hassle. I thank you all for your input but
THIS THREAD IS CLOSED! Regards to all. Tom