Have I been ripped off?

[Sleeper]

This is a maintenance issue but thought this would be the best place to ask.

For plumbing savvy people, how much would you expect to pay a plumber to fit these items to a toilet.

2 body washers
1 geberet inlet valve side
1 plumflex 15mm x 3/8 suite caroma

don't knpw what any of them are except the washers

I ask this because I recently watched a plumber fit a rubber washer to a toilet fill valve and charge $90. He was already on site for another fix.

I will let you know how much the bill was when after I see some estimates.

Thanks for your time.

 

[arms]

plumbers and electricians and most other service industries charge a base rate for going to the job to even look at it ,this usually includes about 15 minutes of time on the job ,parts are extra,

 

[skater]

If your IP is in a regional area you might have the problem of the tradie being able to charge a premium because they have a monopoly in the area. We have been hit extremely hard for maintenance in one of the areas we invest in.

 

[willair]

I ask this because I recently watched a plumber fit a rubber washer to a toilet fill valve and charge $90. He was already on site for another fix.

Sleeper,
I have rough idea of what the materials will cost,i would just like to know
how many hours the licensed plumber charged you for,most plumbers
call out rate starts at $80.00.
I was the pub the other day having a $2.99 counter lunch and the
guy i was talking an english plumber who was out backpacking around
Australia told me that when he was working in London a few months ago
he was earning 5000 a week as a subby maybe all the Aussie are working
in London.

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

Sleeper,

Keep in mind he's had to come out to your place. I'm no tradie, but 90 bucks to come to yours and do a bit of work seems reasonable. Don't forget there are costs he needs to account for that you may not know or think about. Personally I wouldn't think that a plumber coming out to do that for me for 90 bucks was a rip off, but that's just me.

Mark

 

[geoffw]

Keep in mind he's had to come out to your place. I'm no tradie, but 90 bucks to come to yours and do a bit of work seems reasonable. Don't forget there are costs he needs to account for that you may not know or think about. Personally I wouldn't think that a plumber coming out to do that for me for 90 bucks was a rip off, but that's just me.

He was already on site for another fix.

Though he probably charges a callout fee regardless.

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

So he's charged you 90 bucks for the lot? Seems very reasonable to me.

Mark

 

[kitdoctor]

Heh,

Don't feel bad. We have a Caroma Leda 2000 suite in our bathroom (cost about $1100 from the plumbing supplier in 2001 so by all means is a top of the range WC!) and a small washer the size of a ten cent piece inside the Geberet float valve assembly split. As a consequence the cistern was always running.

Anyway after chasing around for a month trying to get one (Caroma have since changed the whole float valve assembly twice since 2001) I found that the Geberet float valve assembly was still being made (and used in other applications). Any the washer replacement kit was $67 + GST. Ouch!!!! So after trying a few plumbing outlets and getting quoted the same price I became suspicious and just rang the Caroma wholesaler. Anyway it seems that $67 was the standard price charged for a non-current part. Managed to get it for $25 from the wholesaler and fitted it myself!

Ciao
Noel

 

[Sleeper]

So he's charged you 90 bucks for the lot? Seems very reasonable to me.

Mark

Mark, if you read the post again you can see that the $90 was for another unrelated job. I was alluding to the probability that in that case it was a rip off because the plumber was already on-site for another job, so the call-out fee should have been billed against that part of the visit.


OK, - the amount billed for fitting the items listed was $189.22

I don't know what percentage was for parts and what part was call-out, labour etc. - just "time and materials $189.22"

The reason I listed the items fitted was because I thought someone might know if one of those items is especially expensive or hard to fit and that might help explain the large bill.

Thanks
Sleeper

 

[willair]

I don't know what percentage was for parts and what part was call-out, labour etc. - just "time and materials $189.22"

Sleeper,
even though there is a shortage of plumbers, particular in north qld i think
the price you paid $189.22 is in line with the work..
i would just like to know what time was the plumber on the job the problem
with some plumbers they do the apprenticeship start with no business
training then use the general public as scapegoats to line their own
pockets.......
good luck willair

 

[myla]

hello,

cant the plumber charge whatever he likes

get a quotation or fixed price prior to start

what about when you want to sell a property and want $100K but someone thinks its only worth $90k are you ripping them

no, youre in the market place

thankyou
myla

 

[Sleeper]

Sleeper,
even though there is a shortage of plumbers, particular in north qld i think
the price you paid $189.22 is in line with the work..
good luck willair

G'day willair

The property is actually in Brisbane. But I believe the shortage of plumbers is a worldwide problem anyway

What if this "giberet inlet valve side" had been replaced 10 months previous with an associated cost of $261.76 (included re-sealing shower screen - which probably means running a bead of silastic around it)?

By the same plumber I might add. Maybe there is another problem that is causing the "giberet inlet valve side" to fail regularly ?????