Chritter
New Member
Hi all, I hail from the Fraser Valley, British Columbia Canada... I need to know if I'm totally out to lunch on this?
brief story: I just hired a plumber, I was stupid.... lets get that out of the way. I stupidly I got an estimate of $k4-$6k from the contractor, not an actual signed quote. I thought that 4K would have been in the high side, but I was willing to work with that. Yes the plumber has done an ok job (give credit where credit is due). He came in with his kid apprentice who far as I could tell is a total greenie whom he spent time explaining what to do, did 6 hours of work one day, 4 hours the next, and 2 hours the third day. I even pared back some of the work from the original estimate, so in effect less work than the estimate. I know how much all the parts were, I can see it all and have cost them out (not at a plumbers discount) and even on the really high side it wouldn't be over $1000. He had all the parts in his van. There are no faucets, bathtubs, or toilets installed or bought involved in this quote Just little plasic pipes, copper elbos 9
the bill came in over $5000
And the kicker (for me) is that he will not give me his hours and material costs. The bill was priced out as a per "thing" cost... as in "bathtub fittings" (not the price of the bathtub BTW) $350, etc etc.... Is his normal? No materials pricing and no hours? But funnily enough I did finally get out of him that he charges 150$ and hour (????) after the fact. Sorry but the guy needs a class in math... at 150$ an hour he'd be at measly $1800. I guess if he wanted to pad the numbers and call it 8 hours for 3 days: that's $3600, then maybe. Arrrgh, What the heck... is over 150$ per hour a norm???? I always thought 75$ an hour was heading to the high side? But what I'm really confused about is the method of charging... no hours? and no materials costs? it seems so cryptic.
And yes I feel gouged. Anyone out there can explain?
brief story: I just hired a plumber, I was stupid.... lets get that out of the way. I stupidly I got an estimate of $k4-$6k from the contractor, not an actual signed quote. I thought that 4K would have been in the high side, but I was willing to work with that. Yes the plumber has done an ok job (give credit where credit is due). He came in with his kid apprentice who far as I could tell is a total greenie whom he spent time explaining what to do, did 6 hours of work one day, 4 hours the next, and 2 hours the third day. I even pared back some of the work from the original estimate, so in effect less work than the estimate. I know how much all the parts were, I can see it all and have cost them out (not at a plumbers discount) and even on the really high side it wouldn't be over $1000. He had all the parts in his van. There are no faucets, bathtubs, or toilets installed or bought involved in this quote Just little plasic pipes, copper elbos 9
the bill came in over $5000
And the kicker (for me) is that he will not give me his hours and material costs. The bill was priced out as a per "thing" cost... as in "bathtub fittings" (not the price of the bathtub BTW) $350, etc etc.... Is his normal? No materials pricing and no hours? But funnily enough I did finally get out of him that he charges 150$ and hour (????) after the fact. Sorry but the guy needs a class in math... at 150$ an hour he'd be at measly $1800. I guess if he wanted to pad the numbers and call it 8 hours for 3 days: that's $3600, then maybe. Arrrgh, What the heck... is over 150$ per hour a norm???? I always thought 75$ an hour was heading to the high side? But what I'm really confused about is the method of charging... no hours? and no materials costs? it seems so cryptic.
And yes I feel gouged. Anyone out there can explain?