Plumbing charges

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MarkMark

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wondering if anyone has a rough cost of having a 3/4" main water shutoff replaced. i took care of contacting the city to have the supply shutoff. Also is it a standard practice to be charged double labour (2 hours) for 20min of work just because two guys show up? Feel like i was over charged here final bill $186. I'm from Halifax Nova Scotia if that helps
 

Cass

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It's hard to say not knowing the economy of your area, I know several plumbing companys that would be higher than what you were charged. The best thing you can do is to develope a trusting relationship with a plumber.
 

MarkMark

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is it normal practice to pay for two people when only one is doing the work? If I were to get my oil changed I wouldn't pay 2 mechanics to do the job
 

Dunbar Plumbing

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One was a dummy

or he was the lookout

and the other one knew what he was doing.


Anything after 5pm raises the price considerably.

If you didn't ask for a generalizing or set price before you committed for services rendered, you have only yourself to blame on buyer's remorse.....something an internet forum will not fix for you.

That number does not seem high for services rendered. $350-$400 is high....and that charge is given out by some of the more "pristine" national plumbing companies.
 
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Dubldare

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Yes, and think of the quickie lube example you bring up. If you were to have the following service done to your car, (which I have done on my service van for $24.95 in 15 minutes or less, with no appt) how long would it take one person to do:

supply material and have it ready to go
change oil (underneath and above vehicle)
lube chassis
check for leaks
top off wiper fluid
check tires (air and wear)
clean exterior glass
check lights
check air cleaner
check tranny fluid
check antifreeze
vacuum interior
compose bill
take money.

Hmm, I'm pretty handy and do as much as I can on my personal vehicles, but I'd be busting my hump to do that in an hour. In that situation volume is how they get by, replacing air filters, bulbs, tranny flushes, diff lube and other *EXTRAS* are where they make money.

Now, with plumbers... It is customary to be billed for apprentices/extra man. I will tell you right now as a plumber that nobody is just 'dead weight' when it comes jobs (and if they are they don't last long). The extra man was most likely getting stuff from the truck, cleaning fittings, learning whilst being productive, cleaning up, etc. Without that ancillary work, the job time can increase twice easily, if not more.
Additionally, we don't have the luxury of having transporters like those space guys on tv. We still have to come to the work, and go back to where we were (like to see the quickie-lube guys do that). Just getting to and fro is a larger and larger cost nowdays.

$186 canadian, yeah... that's a good deal!
 

Geniescience

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Assuming you have already paid it.

It may be a tad high for Halifax, but all I'd shoot for is a slight discount on the next day's work if you bring them back in for something else right away.

These guys trained for years. That is the past.

Today, they are available for you. They came right at the time the appointment with the city called for. Both ready, competent and with their wits. Anything could have gone wrong, and they were both there. Other cases were told to wait, or were told "we'll be there sometime within...."

Where I live, it can be demanded that certain functions only be performed by a Master Plumber, and not by the homeowner. Since you shut city water down, I wonder if that is one of these situations. Master Plumers cannot afford to make mistakes at this level. You had to pay for that level of proficiency. They pay thousands in personal professional insurance too just to cover themselves.

For them to remain in business, all their overhead has to be covered; it gets spread out among all the customers. A reasonable starting point just to get in the truck, spend time getting to you and then being there with you is a couple hours. It can't be billed to any other "client". I once knew a law firm that billed the time spent on a fire drill to their biggest client; that call was made by the top man at the firm; it had a hundred people on staff who all had to walk down 15 flights of stairs and wait outside in the cold for many minutes.

To get this level of peace of mind, security and insurance you have to pay a reasonable share of all their costs, past, present and even a bit of the future as mentioned above. My take on this. Just in case you think two hours is a lot of time, being prepared in advance, being ready for you, getting to you, standing around and being available to you right in your house, and not booking time with anyone else.

david
 

Kordts

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Would you have been happier if took 40 minutes? You paid for their time driving and doing the job and the knowledge to get it done in such a short time. That was more than reasonable around here.
 

TedL

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Did you ask the price/rate in advance? Did they charge you differently?

If you're price sensitive, you have to learn to ask "how much" before saying "I want that". Basic common sense.
 

hj

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price

My price starts from the moment I start the truck until I finish the job. If a company has two men in the truck, I personally do not but many do, then the second guy would really like to get paid even though he is not "needed" for that particular job. Either the company has to charge you for one hour each for two men, or double their minimum charge to cover the cost of the second man.
 
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