Plumbers Running Wild!

[jponder]

I noticed I had a leak underneath my kitchen sink. It has been leaking for awhile. I got underneath and looked at it and it was the pipe going to the wall after my P-Trap on my Garbage disposal. Well it was totally disentegrated. It was old style like lead-sweated into the pipe in the wall.



I thought- well the way to do it right is to remove the lead and get a new pipe and sweat it into the old pipe on the wall. There was a line right beside it going to the dish washer. I was worried that I might hurt it so I thought... ... hell I'll just call a plumber. I mean I could get one of those rubber boots to put on where the pipe met the wall pipe but hey it cant cost more than 50 or 60 busks so let the pros do it.



I called "Mr. Plumber" , he showed up..... eyeballed it and said, "let me go get you an estimate. He was gone for maybe 5 minutes and I thought DAMN... what is he thinking about. Its 1 7 inch pipe and sweating it in, if you dont use a rubber boot.



Since, "Mr. Plumber" hadnt mentioned a service call, I went outside acting like I was working on my truck. He gave me a price and I almost passed out, I couldnt beleive it. I wanted to cuss him but just said,"I dont have that much money", I looked at him and said look I can go get a pipe and a boot for less than 15$ and do it myself. I thought he was going to say 50 or 60 bucks to fix it.



I did go ahead and fix it myself for 13$ but I am just wondering what yall think something like that should cost? I think $60 buck would be high.



SO GUESS WHAT THE ESTIMATE WAS!!!!!!!! YOU WONT BELEIVE IT!

_________________

SPACE SHUTTLE

2001 2500 4x4 ETH/DEE Reg Cab

 

[Jdonoghue]

I forgot how expensive it was to have the 'pros' come out and do something. Everytime I catch myself thinking about calling a plumber, electrician, etc. my thoughts always come back around to this: If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

(Can you tell I've been ripped off by the 'pros' a few times in the past? )

 

[jponder]

I forgot how expensive it was to have the 'pros' come out and do something. Everytime I catch myself thinking about calling a plumber, electrician, etc. my thoughts always come back around to this: If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

(Can you tell I've been ripped off by the 'pros' a few times in the past? )

Yeah, I had forgot about the electricians. 5 years ago I had an old Zinsco Panel in my house that was arcing. You could hear it and smell it, If you turned off the lights you could see it. I called an electrician out the yellow pages. He came by and looked at me and said, "look I can drop my calls to fix this since it is an emergency" I said, "how much?" He said,"$800" I said " it dont look that dangerous to me, get out my house"



I went to home depot and got a new panel and breakers for $150 and did it myself. Dont get me wrong, in hindsight, $800 was a good price, besides all the laws I broke by doing it myself.



I still want a guess on that $13. 00 1/2 hour plumbing job though



Just guess

 

[Plazman]

I'll go to about $250. 00

uncle is a retired plumber, he says the only thing you need to know about plumbing is, "**** runs down hill and payday is on friday"... lol

hope I don't affend anyone!!

 

[outlawram]

Well, I am a plumber and a service call is 35 and I charge 65 an hour. That is the going rate around here. You can get all the rubber boots and cobble it together and it will probably last, but that is just like cobbling a truck together if you think about it. Do you really want your house to be cobbled together? When you look at the price you have to figure the pay for the employee and the gas to get there, that is a costly thing in it self not counting the pipe and fittings and solder and mapp gas. Anybody can do plumbing but some prefer to have it done so they do not have to worry about doing it wrong. If you guys need any help with plumbing let me know. I am not here to flame anybody I just want you to know that it is just like anything else you pay for, like paying a mechanic to work on your truck for example. YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT THE LABOR. That is how a places keep running.

 

[jponder]

Well, I am a plumber and a service call is 35 and I charge 65 an hour. That is the going rate around here. You can get all the rubber boots and cobble it together and it will probably last, but that is just like cobbling a truck together if you think about it. Do you really want your house to be cobbled together? When you look at the price you have to figure the pay for the employee and the gas to get there, that is a costly thing in it self not counting the pipe and fittings and solder and mapp gas. Anybody can do plumbing but some prefer to have it done so they do not have to worry about doing it wrong. If you guys need any help with plumbing let me know. I am not here to flame anybody I just want you to know that it is just like anything else you pay for, like paying a mechanic to work on your truck for example. YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT THE LABOR. That is how a places keep running.

Now that sounds fair, 35$ to come out and an hour labor comes to 100$, I wouldnt have done it but that seems fair. I'd give you the 35$ and check you later. It was a 7 inch pipe coming off the p-trap! Do you think 250$ sounds fair?



I wish those guys would do biz where I am from and they would get an A$$ whipping!!!!!!!!!

 

[jponder]

Oh yeah I forgot to add that those blood suckers got nothing!!!!!!! I'll sleep good tonight!!!!!!!!!

 

[Lnwing]

Yeah, I had forgot about the electricians. 5 years ago I had an old Zinsco Panel in my house that was arcing. You could hear it and smell it, If you turned off the lights you could see it. I called an electrician out the yellow pages. He came by and looked at me and said, "look I can drop my calls to fix this since it is an emergency" I said, "how much?" He said,"$800" I said " it dont look that dangerous to me, get out my house"

$800 doesn't sound so bad to me, but I guess I see it a little differently. 9 years ago we had a major house fire caused by a malfunctioning Zinsco box. There were melted wires everywhere around the source of the fire, which was an electrical short, yet there wasn't even a single breaker thrown!

FWIW