Cost Estimate for Bathroom Rough-in

Hello,
I am putting in a bathroom on the first floor. I had a contractor in to price out the job. The bathroom is 5x6. I wanted him to quote me a number for the plumbing rough-in. He said any bathroom he does is $4,000 for the rough in (as long as it is typical).
Here are some of the specifics...a 2 inch vent pipe is already in place in the room (not a waste stack). The main pvc waste line is directly below the room in the basement. The $4k will include the shower supply lines and drain , vanity supply lines and drain and the toilet supply and drain. The price also includes setting all the fixtures after the room is finished but no materials are included. Does this sound right? I am putting in a 1-piece fiberglass shower/tub, standard 2-piece toilet and a typical vanity.
Thank You
Shawn

For the difficulty level it sounds high to me. However I'm not there looking at the job. I find that generally a contractors price is dependent on so many variables. He may not want your job and may bid it high. If they have to much work they may give a high bid. Lots of variables.

Tom

pay slow, hold back enough so he does a good job at the end, and then it will be worth it. I think he is OK to quote a flat rate not knowing whether it will take three times less or three times more effort. The rough is just one part of the whole picture; that part might be easy to eyeball quote over the internet if you posted a lot of diagrams. Getting a rough done just right so that the finishing is a breeze is hard to manage; requires a lot of thinking, or experience, or both. Also, some fixtures require a lot of time. That's as much as i can add.

david

spetrucco said:

Hello,
I am putting in a bathroom on the first floor. I had a contractor in to price out the job. The bathroom is 5x6. I wanted him to quote me a number for the plumbing rough-in. He said any bathroom he does is $4,000 for the rough in (as long as it is typical).
Here are some of the specifics...a 2 inch vent pipe is already in place in the room (not a waste stack). The main pvc waste line is directly below the room in the basement. The $4k will include the shower supply lines and drain , vanity supply lines and drain and the toilet supply and drain. The price also includes setting all the fixtures after the room is finished but no materials are included. Does this sound right? I am putting in a 1-piece fiberglass shower/tub, standard 2-piece toilet and a typical vanity.
Thank You
Shawn

Click to expand...

Shawn,

When you say contractor, are you referencing a renovations contractor or a licensed plumber? Did he include permits? Does your town require them?

Sounds like a ballpark, not a quote.

bathroom

pay slow, hold back enough so he does a good job at the end,

Pay slow, and I will make sure the job progresses slowly, because I will start getting the impression you do not intend to make the final payment, or you do not have the money available. My supply houses do not like me to pay slow regardless of how the customer pays. And the customer had better pay me what I invoice to him, or the same thing will happen.

if he is invoicing you every day, then that was only a ballpark figure. How you handle it is your business if it looks like he is going to go way over that number.

If he gave a number and said what he said so you'd let him do it for that number, then it is a firm number, and that is often called a quote. In that case, what fraction is payable when, is still negotiable, and is best done NOW, assuming you accept the overall number. E.g. $1200 for this, $800 for that, another $800 at the following milestone.... etc. This is how you can pay in stages, which is to me in short-hand speech, pay slow. Otherwise you can be left in the lurch after paying 80% of the stages, and he makes it look like you aren't conceding to valid points he makes about unforeseen reasons why it should cost more. He is a pro; you aren't.

The worst thing is to let a guy start and then find out later that he interprets all the un-negotiated parts of the deal to his advantage. Suddenly the number is no longer meaningful; imagine that, you have an open ended contract and you don't even know his hourly rate yet.

It does seem stange that he would just toss out a figure.

David

The quote was a fixed price from a gc. He said his plumber gives him a flat rate of $4,000 for a bathroom. (his plumber never even looked at the bathroom)

As it turns out my neighbor is a retired plumber. He stopped over and gave me his 2 cents. He said it woul take him a 1.5 days to rough in and another .5 day to finish. He estimated the cost of this work to be around $1200.

I think either my neighbor has been retired waaaaay too long or
that gc was gonna profit highly from my bathroom install.

Thanks for everyones advice....as it turns out I have hired my neighbor as a consultant and I will be doing the plumbing!
Thanks for everyone's advice.