plumers cost to replace hosebib

[lisa-li]

A plumber here who has given me a price of $300.00 to replace my hose bib which was dripping and wouldn't stop.
He gave me a 1 year warranty that is in writting on the bill.
Is this reasonable?
The plumber had a helper.
They left to get the part-s at a "plummers supply house".
They came back, and about 1/2 hour went by and they said "DONE" then billed me $300.00.
I wrote them a check for $325.00 so they had extra money for lunch.
The hose bib is upside down because of the type hose I use works better that way.
Here is the finished replacement:

[WV Hillbilly]

That guy made out like a bandit . Hope it doesn't freeze where you are .

[jimbo]

If it works it works. But that is a "garden valve" which is more often installed on a vertical pipe. The difference is the angle that the hose takes off at. The garden valve is a higher flow valve then a "regular" bibb, and maybe that is an issue for you.

Without more information, I would have installed a different model valve, and of course not upside down.

He should have had a regular bibb on the truck, but if you specifically wanted the garden valve, he had to go get it.

Looks like a threaded valve, so other than the trip, this was a 10 minute job. $300 may be a little high, but he did show up to do this small job, which sometimes is a problem to get someone.

[Terry]

That is an illegal valve to put on .
It should have had a vacuum break on it that acted as an anti-siphon device.
A "hose" bib faucet would have angled way from the house, like Jimbo mentioned, that one belongs on a vertical pipe, and a vacuum breaker needs to go on before the hose attaches.

[Gary Swart]

If you live in a climate where there is any danger of freezing temperatures, you should also have frost free hose bib. Even though you specified the type of faucet you wanted, any ethical plumber would have explained that what you asked for was improper and illegal and educated you on the proper hose bib to use. More over, that faucet is about a $5 item at any neighborhood hardware store and total install time would be less than 10 minutes. So even though a plumber will charge a minimum for just making the trip, it certainly isn't a $300 job. I'd say you got screwed big time!:eek:

[hj]

That faucet costs more than $5.00 but does not cosst 300 to install, nor is it the proper valve for that application. The hose is also not going to last long crimped like it is.

[Redwood]

Let me guess who you had for a plumber...

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2/Redwood39/rooterpirate-2-1.jpg

[Ian Gills]

I do not see why a garden faucet is required to have anti-siphon unless we know its height above ground, which we do not from this post.

I have them on all of mine (as good practice) by they are not a code requirement unless the faucet is low enough to the ground to require them.

[Joe Six Pack]

I do not see why a garden faucet is required to have anti-siphon unless we know its height above ground, which we do not from this post.

Ian, I agree. What's all this nonsense about anti-siphon. This is America and I don't have to do any damn thing like that. It's my water and I don't need no stinking water cops telling me about anti-siphon.

[Ian Gills]

No, I have checked. It varies by municipality. Most new builds require them.

http://www.abpa.org/originalsite/pnw-all.htm

[Basement_Lurker]

I have a question for you lady, if you feel comfortable answering that is..

Did you ask about an estimate/quote at all before allowing this guy to "fix" this for you? And if you did, did you feel his price was reasonable?


What a shame, it's guys like this who give all plumbers a bad name. Time and time again I have to fix the installations of hacks and so called journeymen plumbers...and when the customer tells me what they were charged for the original installation...my jaw drops.

[jimbo]

I do not see why a garden faucet is required to have anti-siphon unless we know its height above ground, which we do not from this post.

I have them on all of mine (as good practice) by they are not a code requirement unless the faucet is low enough to the ground to require them.


Around here, all outside bibbs regardless of where or how they are located, are required to have a vacuum breaker. This is enforced at new construction, remodel permits, and at time of sale of a property.

[Ian Gills]

What a shame, it's guys like this who give all plumbers a bad name. Time and time again I have to fix the installations of hacks and so called journeymen plumbers...and when the customer tells me what they were charged for the original installation...my jaw drops.

That's why I started DIY. Thank you America!

In England I would never had dreamed of doing work that should always be left to a licensed professional.

Here, you can often do a better job than the electrican/plumber/builder/landscaper sent round.

Well if you use the Yellow Pages anyway.

Can consumers really only trust word of mouth, or is there another way? I do not know anyone here you see. So I could only use Yellow Pages.

[master plumber mark]

they put the faucet in upside down ...

they did not even get the right facuet for the job


I have never seen a hose bib that angled back towards the home like that one does


That should not have been over 200....

and it should have have had a vaccuum breaker on it.


I would call the BBB and angies list about that sloppy half assed install job
call the owner of the compnay and
tell him that you want a Woodford hose bib installed.......


and you even tipped them, that makes it even
more the worse....


If you are in a area that freezes,,,
that will freeze and break


you cant hardley get the hose on the facuet in the first place...



If you ever want to sell the house this will
probably have to be repaired to make it right

[lisa-li]

No freezing issues that are drastic, maybe high 20's and some snow 2-8 times a year. Lower santa fe NM.
That hose is on city pressure which I was told was around 80-100 psg.
I wanted a good flow so that must be why he put that one on as per Jimbo
says it has better flow so I can wash the cars and water plants.
I'm not selling the house and the hose is usually only attached when in use.
I's about 30" above the sidewalk and there is a 30' drop down a flight of stairs so if I ever got a puddle up there that high I think my butt would be on the roof with the cats if the water ever got that high.
That was the over-all bid for the job and thought they did good.
Yes I am blond.
Yes out of the budget.
Should I try to stop payment on the check so they come knocking?
Did I miss any answers?

[99k]

Don't stop payment ... just learn from this.

[99k]

Ian, I agree. What's all this nonsense about anti-siphon. This is America and I don't have to do any damn thing like that. It's my water and I don't need no stinking water cops telling me about anti-siphon.

You need a vacuum breaker TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY. There are many documented cases of a main line break that will immediately back flow water from peoples homes ... now what if you had your hose in a bucket to mix pesticides. It will all flow back into the public water supply.
I know a plumber who was fixing a hot water furnace and there was a water main break miles away ... he heard a huge sucking noise and in a short instant the entire furnace was sucked dry (no back flow preventer) ... into the potable water supply in went.

[Redwood]

Here is an excellent read that tells you why backflow prevention is needed.
WATTS STOP BACKFLOW NEWS CLICK HERE (http://www.watts.com/pdf/F-sbn.pdf)

Here is just one of the many stories.


February 1974
Poultry Farm cross-connections - virus vaccine
The following are details regarding an article which appeared in the February, 1974 issue of “Poultry Digest”
regarding cross-connections in the Poultry Industry.
The feeding of live virus vaccine into potable water to immunize poultry against disease is a popular practice, but
one that creates a serious cross-connection. Significantly, the Food and Drug Administration published a list of twenty-
two live virus vaccines used to immunize cattle, swine, and poultry; and most of these are pathogenic to man.
There are over 57,000 poultry farms in the United States. Last year a cross-connection survey was conducted at
twenty-six farms located in five counties of a southern state... resulting in the discovery of 13,000 cross-connections!
Therefore, in order to prevent the possibility of the virus flowing back into the drinking water supply, it is essential
that backflow prevention devices be installed.

Many possibilities exist for cross connection. Sprinkler systems, Boilers, Hosebibbs, even the fill valve in the toilet tank.

[Terry]

http://www.terrylove.com/images/legend_hosebib.jpg

Ian,
In third world countries like England, they may not have these protections for the public water supply.
Here in the US, they have plumbing codes for outdoor faucets that will be used with hoses.
That's why we can drink our water from the tap, we don't need "bottled" water. Pretty sweet huh?

This is a washerless frostfree hosebib that I like to use. It's a 1/4 turn faucet, turns smoothly, protects the public water supply, and it's frostfree.

I don't have a problem with the price that the other plumber charged.
My sister was quoted $450 each to replace hosebibs in Tacoma Washington from a plumbing outfit down there.
With any faucet replacement, there will be travel time, and shuting down and turning the water back on.
That will take some time right there.

My only knock on the job listed at the top of the thread, was the type of hosebib installed.
It is a high flow valve, granted, but it should have been legal too.
She can still thread a anti-siphon to it though.

[master plumber mark]

.
Should I try to stop payment on the check so they come knocking?
Did I miss any answers?


Personally ,, I would stop the check....

New Mexico can get pretty cold, and I remember quite a few
storms that brewed down there that dumped major blizzards on Denver..


of course, they probably already have cashed it,




being a blonde does not mean you cant still be
a bit//......

I have known many blonds that could throw a pretty
mean fit when pushed..

its healthy to throw a fit on occasioin
, and you are certainly entitled to do it to them.



Terry, putting an anti-siphon valve on that up-side down hose
bib would certainly make it freze solid in the winter time.

what is that hose bib used for anyway???

I dont think I have ever seen one like that before....
and why would they go to the trouble of going to a supply house
and picking out that one in the first place???..

..

..

[Terry]

Terry, putting an anti-siphon valve on that up-side down hose
bib would certainly make it freze solid in the winter time.



After I typed that, I was thinking,

Now how in the world is she going to do that.
Then I started thinking of ducks flying South, No, I mean maybe I was thinking of a short section of hose and then the breaker, but no, that's dumb too.

Hey! I didn't put that silly thing on.
I bet the plumber had a cell phone up against his ear and he was texting as he was plumbing.
Yeah, that was it.

It should be pointing down, with a breaker.
I was trying to be nice since I was feeling bad that it looked so blonde, I mean dumb.
I know plenty of really smart women that are blonde. One of my friends has her own law practice. The blonde bit causes her some grief when it comes to dealing with people, but she handles them just fine.
Kinda under the radar on them you know.
They never see it coming.

[nhmaster]

300 bucks to put a hose bibb on upside down?, and a non code compliant one at that? One of two things has happened here. Either the plumbers were not plumbers or, the original post was pulling your leg..:D

I swear though, not by me.

[hj]

Or maybe the original plumbing company had the word "rooter", or a variation, in its name, and the plumber couldn't even spell plummer six weeks ago.

[Cass]

No wonder plumbers get a bad rap at times...it only takes a few rotten apples to ruin the barrel...

[nhmaster]

I'm still kindo thinkin we's gettin our leg pulled.

[ExpertPlumberSVC]

Aarrgghh I am angry .. those guys should not be able to sleep at night .. you over paid, sorry and there is no excuse for having a "Wrong type of Valve" installed "Improperly".

If my company had done the work is would have been likely $175 to $200 and would have featured a 1/4 turn handle Ball Stop Hose Bib that would never again need servicing.

I am Sole Proprietor. My Reputation stands on everything that I touch.

[Cass]

This may well be a joke and I hope it is...I do hose bibs for $189.00 as long as there are no unusual problems like the HO / plumber installing the original bib covering it with roofing tar before installing it...that one was lots'a fun removing it...that hose is gona kink big time along with all the other problems...I would guess 300.00 may be a going rate in some areas of the country...

[kingsotall]

Aarrgghh I am angry .. those guys should not be able to sleep at night .. you over paid, sorry and there is no excuse for having a "Wrong type of Valve" installed "Improperly".

If my company had done the work is would have been likely $175 to $200 and would have featured a 1/4 turn handle Ball Stop Hose Bib that would never again need servicing.

I am Sole Proprietor. My Reputation stands on everything that I touch.
Never's a pretty long time. :)

[Ian Gills]

I think we need to seperate the incorrect installation and equipment from the issue of the price.

There is nothing wrong with the price and everything wrong with the installation.

Where I live a licensed plumber or electrician will not get out of bed for less than US$500 and I have never paid less than that for a job no matter how small. I have even been quoted small jobs for US$500 that, when agreed, the plumber/electrican subsequently never turned up for. That's how mad it is on the East Coast.

It all depends where you live. And around here you'd better learn to DIY.

And Terry, in England we do not use back flow preventers for garden hoses because we do not use hoses to water the lawn. The rain does this for us. :)

And you may have also noticed that we do not get power outages affecting millions when it snows or there is a bit of wind. That's because we have the sense to bury our utility cables underground, which is obviously too complex for my poor American neighbors. It looks a lot nicer too.

[Terry]

http://www.medfordhistorical.org/images/shipbuilding/donquixote240.jpg

My relatives left England because there was no power.
They had to use wind power.

I like underground utilities too.
My neighborhood has them, but as long as some power is above ground, you can still lose it.

http://www.terrylove.com/images/back_view_fall.jpg

[Ian Gills]

So our relatives are one and the same.

Welcome to the family Terry.

Your neighborhood looks nice. Beautiful trees and small, teeny-weeny ;) houses.

Great roofs but a few homes do not have chimney caps though. Tut tut.

[burleymike]

In town most houses are connected to the low pressure irrigation system(40-60psi). They use hose bibs just like that one for the system. Everybody has one in the backyard and the front yard.

They drain the system in the fall to prevent freezing. I have never seen a vacuum break on any of them. I think they rely on back flow to drain the system. Since it is not potable water I guess they don't worry about contamination.

I wonder if that plumber was working 50 years ago on my house. He installed the sillcocks right on the sheathing then they applied the stucco. You have 1/4" between the threads and the stucco. I cannot wait to replace them, no more busted nuckels.

[Redwood]

And you may have also noticed that we do not get power outages affecting millions when it snows or there is a bit of wind. That's because we have the sense to bury our utility cables underground, which is obviously too complex for my poor American neighbors. It looks a lot nicer too.

Underground Cables never fail?
Thats news to me!
And usually it takes far longer to get them repaired as well!
Neat Video Click Here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPHHr75qWAA)

:cool:

[SewerRatz]

I would call the city;s plumbing inspector and show him your invoice and the job this "plumber did" I have seen boiler drains used as sillcocks and such. In Illinois the sillcock must be frost free, and the vacuum breaker must have the ASSE #'s stamped in plan view for the inspector to see. For a while the ones that have the built in vacuum breakers where outlawed in Illinois due to the lack of the ASSE markings so they allowed the ones that screw onto the hose threads. The vacuum breakers that screw onto the hose threads of the sillcock are allowed as long as they have a break away set screw so it can not be removed.

Now to do what that plumber did My bill would of been around $160 bucks 1/2 hour minimum labor charge service call and parts. But to do the job right and install a frost-proof sillcock with vacuum breaker it would of ran around 300 bucks.


Oh I also noticed you said the working pressure is 80 to 100 PSI?? That is a bit to high. Unless you have a presure reducing valve at the water meter. PSI rattings that high will casue your piping to wear quickly.

[kingsotall]

Call the "plumber" back to install a PRV :D

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Good gosh,


Lisa,

Buyers remorse is a victim created by the one who signed the check.

If you can't properly protect yourself by asking questions and getting estimates first,

You are to blame for your situation, the extra costs. But look at it this way; you're faucet is working, that's it, you bought christmas presents for the 2 guys *why did it take 2 guys to do this job?* who did a short fast job. The faucet is incorrect, unsafe.


This thread reminds me of my third wife and a bottle of jack daniels.

One couldn't fix the other and they both ended up in the freezer for safe keeping. :D





G2G, police knockin' on my door. :eek:

[Cookie]

Well, Lisa,

If this isn't a joke, and if you acted like a so-called, dumb blonde in front of them, trying to be cute, it backfired and they did what came natural. (No offense intended to you.) Call them back on a serious note and tell them what they have to do to fix it correctly. If they don't pay attention now to you, which they may not; tell them the truth, which should be, you will call the Better Business Bureau. The check I would imagine is already cashed. Good luck to you I hope you can get this fixed.

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Yeah! Just think of how much beer you bought those fools!


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1208/695328321_3d4a9ecebe.jpg?v=0

[svcalypso]

http://www.terrylove.com/images/legend_hosebib.jpg

Ian,
In third world countries like England, they may not have these protections for the public water supply.
Here in the US, they have plumbing codes for outdoor faucets that will be used with hoses.
That's why we can drink our water from the tap, we don't need "bottled" water. Pretty sweet huh?

This is a washerless frostfree hosebib that I like to use. It's a 1/4 turn faucet, turns smoothly, protects the public water supply, and it's frostfree.

I don't have a problem with the price that the other plumber charged.
My sister was quoted $450 each to replace hosebibs in Tacoma Washington from a plumbing outfit down there.
With any faucet replacement, there will be travel time, and shuting down and turning the water back on.
That will take some time right there.

My only knock on the job listed at the top of the thread, was the type of hosebib installed.
It is a high flow valve, granted, but it should have been legal too.
She can still thread a anti-siphon to it though.


I came from the UK (10 years ago) and I could always drink from the faucet over there - not what I would call a third world country. Over here where I am on a well (and thus no risk of contaminating a public water supply because last time I checked my pump will not pump from the house to the well) and I can't drink from my faucet unless I have inline filters for the whole house and also on the fridge.

Just my 2c

[Scuba_Dave]

I have 2 outside faucets & had them both replaced with the frostfree hosebibs. There wasn't anything "wrong" with the old ones. But they weren't frost free & did not have the syphon breaks. Since I had a plumber in for other work I figured I might as well have them replaced
With the addition I'll need a 3rd hose on the new garage side of the house. This line will need to be setup to drain the entire line where it exits the house & enters the garage

I'm curiuos if any other work was done inside to install the hosebib?
I can't tell if that is a screw on bib or a solder connection?
I've never seen a valve tilted back towards a house like that
20 degrees is freezing, you don't need a "bad" freeze really to freeze water in a valve