Plumbers cost for small job!

Ace in the Hole

Ace in the Hole

Hi People,

I had a small job done today which basically had to be done.
I am replacing my stormwater drainage system myself and only got the plumber to install a new plastic pipe from my front fenceline to the gutter of the street, which is about 3 metres.

The cost to me for this service is $1642.30.
I knew plumbers costs were high but was a bit shocked at this bill.
Do they all charge the use of their equipment separately?

Here is the breakdown:

Run stormwater line to street to council regulations.
Council to restore concrete.

Service call $90.00
Labour 6 hours $360.00
Materials $208.00 (5kg sand + cement, 3m 100mm pvc, 1/2m bitumen)
Wacker $48.00 (he put a little bit of bitumen in 1/2 sqm)
Concrete saw $150.00 !! (2 short cuts across the footpath)
Small Kanga $50.00
Council Fee $90.00
Council Restore $497.00

Sub Total $1493.00
GST $149.30

Total $1642.30


When the plumber originally came out (different worker) to inspect my stromwater he used a few pieces of equipment too, which would have been about an extra $450 for less than 1 hours use, but I am selling him something cheap so he wanted to keep me happy.

Does this look right to those with more experience with plumbers?
I think I'm going to check with the council how much they really charge.
Before I left for work, I saw the plumber digging under the path instead of cutting it, it would have saved me most of the bill to not cut the path, so I'm thinking he may have cut the path to make money by charging me for use of the equipment.

Thanks

Adrian
 
adrian_see said:
Hi People,

I had a small job done today which basically had to be done.
I am replacing my stormwater drainage system myself and only got the plumber to install a new plastic pipe from my front fenceline to the gutter of the street, which is about 3 metres.

The cost to me for this service is $1642.30.
I knew plumbers costs were high but was a bit shocked at this bill.
Do they all charge the use of their equipment separately?

Here is the breakdown:

Run stormwater line to street to council regulations.
Council to restore concrete.

Service call $90.00
Labour 6 hours $360.00
Materials $208.00 (5kg sand + cement, 3m 100mm pvc, 1/2m bitumen)
Wacker $48.00 (he put a little bit of bitumen in 1/2 sqm)
Concrete saw $150.00 !! (2 short cuts across the footpath)
Small Kanga $50.00
Council Fee $90.00
Council Restore $497.00

Sub Total $1493.00
GST $149.30

Total $1642.30


When the plumber originally came out (different worker) to inspect my stromwater he used a few pieces of equipment too, which would have been about an extra $450 for less than 1 hours use, but I am selling him something cheap so he wanted to keep me happy.

Does this look right to those with more experience with plumbers?
I think I'm going to check with the council how much they really charge.
Before I left for work, I saw the plumber digging under the path instead of cutting it, it would have saved me most of the bill to not cut the path, so I'm thinking he may have cut the path to make money by charging me for use of the equipment.

Thanks

Adrian
Click to expand...
Wow! I'm no expert on plumbing costs but it does seem suspiciously like a large amount. Maybe he has added the costs of the day before into this bill, so that you only think you got the first day free. Also, if he was digging under the footpath, why did he end up cutting it?

Did you get a quote for the work before you went ahead with it?
 
Damn I'm steaming now, so I just rang the mofo to tell him what I think of his bill.

Straight away he went all soft and gave in and said he'll look it over and fix it up.

His excuse wats that he just used the rates straight out of the book.
I bet he tries to rip everyone off like that.


Adrian
 
plumbers!

adrian_see said:
Damn I'm steaming now, so I just rang the mofo to tell him what I think of his bill.

Straight away he went all soft and gave in and said he'll look it over and fix it up.

His excuse wats that he just used the rates straight out of the book.
I bet he tries to rip everyone off like that.


Adrian
Click to expand...


Indeed!

We wanted a job done, and the quoted price changed from $2250 to $1800
when he knew we wouldn't come at the original quoted price.
Said the materials were expensive.
Still a bit steap, but we can't DIY plumbing.
Heh, I guess the main thing is the QUALITY of the work carried out!

Perhaps I can ask a discount for the number of times I had to ring him to get some action?
 
Did you get other quotes?

If not this is what can happen.

Good on you for ringing though most people would just except it and pay.
 
Hi

I didn't bother getting quotes, for such a small job it wasn't worth the hassle of trying to get plumbers to come and quote. I just wanted it done and I knew exectly what was involved. I would have done it myself, the only reason I decided not to was that it was on council property and I was not willing to take the small risk of something bad happening such as cutting cables or injuring a pedestrian.

If it weren't on council property I would have done it in 2 hours tops for $50.00, but it was.
 
It seems from the two latest posts (plumber & PM fees) that simply questioning the charges gets you a discount. I did the same last night for the rubbish skip, only saved $20 but that's still about 15% discount.
 
Hi Adrian,

From what I can understand you've been ripped twice. The first plummer probably told his mate ( the second plummer ) how much he made from you.

* Service call $90.......a bit rich IMHO
* 6 hrs labour.............I don't think so ( 2 hrs or 3 hrs incl smoko )
* Materials $208..........5kg sand, cement, pvc pipe ( $30 tops ) bitumen $178
hmmmmmm suspect.
* Wacker $48............. reasonable I guess.
* Concrete Saw $150..........That's a full days hire there.
* Small Kanga $50...............wearable.

as for the other charges I'd be checking them out with the Council if I was you. $497 for Council restore what exactly does this include ?

Good on you for approaching him about it hopefully he will reduce it accordingly but remember you still have the upper hand as you are the one with the cheque book.

Cheers

Jared :)
 
Hi Guys,

2 cuts were made through the footpath, probably because there were tree roots under the path so he couldn't just dig under the path to place the pipe. So after the cuts were made, the slab to be removed would have been about 900mm x 500mm. So he tries to charge me $50 for the use of a Kanga to break this up !!!!
I told him a couple of smacks with a sledge hammer would have done it, only 75mm thick with no reo. $150 for the use of a concrete saw !!!!
The only other bit of work would have been to cut the kerb, place the pipe in and then patch it up with sand + cement.

I'm waiting to see what he comes back with.
I'll make sure he's not profiting with the council fees either.
$497 + gst to patch a 900mm x 500mm slab !!! I'll do it myself if they let me.


Adrian
 
Hi Adrian

Years ago when I was on Council we approved for the local Playgroup to have some tan bark spread under the play equipment.

Imagine our surprise when, at the next Riding meeting, amongst the payments for approval was $767.50 for the tan bark.

Pardon?

We sent for the Director of Physical Services.

He came into the meeting grinning from ear to ear. 'I was waiting to see how long you'd take for the reaction to set in' he said.

He then produced a report which said (in essence)

Estimator to attend site: 2.5 hours

Travel from Depot to site and return: 25 kilometres

Hire of Vehicle 25 kms @ $0.75 per kilometre

Time spent in calculcating estimate: 30 minutes

Time spend on telephone for quotes for materials: 45 minutes

Cost of materials delivered to Depot: 3 cubic metres @ $35 per metre plus $50 delivery

Labour shovelling tan bark to stack: 2 men @ .5 hours = 1 hour

Labour shovelling tan bark on to tray truck: 2 men @ .5 hours = 1 hour

Time involved from time of leaving Depot until return to Depot: 2 men @ 2.5 hours = 5 hours

Truck expense from Depot to site and return: 25 kilometres

Hire of Truck 25 kilometres @ $2.25 per kilometre

Inspection of completed works by qualified health & safety inspector: 2.5 hours

Hire of Vehicle 25 kms @ $0.75 per kilometre

Compilation of report for Health & Safety records: 0.5 hours

Typist time to type, distribute and file report: 0.75 hours

Cost of photocopying five copies of report: 15 pages x 5 = 75 pages @ $0.12 cents per page

Attendance at Council Meeting to explain report: Director's time after 7pm 2 hours x Time & a half

Provision for Public Liability Insurance: $x

Total Cost $767.50.


Considering I was also on the Plant and Equipment Committee which had decided to charge all equipment use out at cost, and that the Auditors required a record of all personnel time spent on all projects, this cost was probably a bit under the actual expenditure.

Nevertheless, the next time a playgroup requested tanbark under play equipment, we referred the request to annual Estimates rather than benevolently saying 'Oh, that's OK, we support our Volunteers in the Community'. If it meant closing a play area because the tan bark had compressed to less than the regulation 30cm, then tough: But if the volunteers were prepared to use their own trailers and their own petrol and their own time to go and collect the tan bark from the garden nursery, we would be prepared to consider reimbursing the committees for maintenance expense.

So $497 to repair the concrete footpath? Sounds fairly reasonable to me.

Sayonara

Kristine
 
Service call $90.00 - About right. Plumbers are damn expensive.

Labour 6 hours $360.00 - Ridiculous. But it could easily be 3 hours, maybe 4. It depends on the council regs for joining to their main pit. Some councils are anal about this, some are not.

Materials $208.00 (5kg sand + cement, 3m 100mm pvc, 1/2m bitumen) - Bit rich, well, it's been marked up quite a bit.

Wacker $48.00 (he put a little bit of bitumen in 1/2 sqm) - Hire?

Concrete saw $150.00 !! (2 short cuts across the footpath) - He can't just 'wack' it with a sledgehammer. He is obliged to cut it and wack it. Pub Liab issue with the council.

Small Kanga $50.00
Council Fee $90.00 - Permit?
Council Restore $497.00 - Wouldn't surprise me one bit. Blame the council, not him. Councils require 45 yapping blokes dressed in yellow vests + 1 to do the digging. The fees they charge for this restore are disgusting.

Seems many of the fees here are either council or hire. It really hurts when they hire stuff and find they don't need it. A plumber mate of mine NEVER hires anything before starting since every job is different. He tells the client this, so that when he takes off again you know what they're doing, what they have to hire, and how much it's going to cost.

Cheers
 
Adrian

Most the prices etc. (including time to do the job) seem reasonable to me, but surely any self respecting tradesperson would own the tools to do the job and not have to hire them, after all he would have to use them on a regular basis.
Also maybe next time consider hiring a retired plumber who is just looking for a little bit of pocket money to do the job. I have seen this done many a time with large savings.
 
Adrian

I find with most trades people the best way to get a good price is to get a recommendatoin from your property manager of the firm they use (especially if you have been billed by them before and are happy with the price) This way you are buying into the purchasing power of all the properties that are managed. This can be a reasonable amount of work and althought they don't mind loosing you as a client they won't want to loose their property manager clients. As to the costs it will be interesting to see what he comes back at.

Silas
 
Adrian,
from a plumbers side of things,i think the price is in line with job
you look at the materials take off costs,this plumber is not making
much money,once you take workers compensation,personal insurance,
council red tape costs,just a simple question how many quotes did you have
on paper before you started this job.
good luck
willair.
 
The last time I bought a run down house which needed several plumbing jobs done - replacement of hot water system, replacement of toilets - a few other things, the plumber's bill started looking quite outrageous however I did not have time to organise other quotes so as the days passed, the plumber got quite talkative with me and I asked him how he charged his customers and he told me that he charged what he thought the customers would wear. He obviously had me down as someone about to make a profit from a renovation and he wanted a piece. I never used him again.
 
Pablo said:
Adrian

Most the prices etc. (including time to do the job) seem reasonable to me, but surely any self respecting tradesperson would own the tools to do the job and not have to hire them, after all he would have to use them on a regular basis.
Also maybe next time consider hiring a retired plumber who is just looking for a little bit of pocket money to do the job. I have seen this done many a time with large savings.
Click to expand...

The only time I have used a plumber, to unblock a drain, he charged me hire of his own tools (electric eel). Plus call out, plus labour etc etc.

A law into themselves.

The problem really is the oxymoron refered above, "self respecting" and plumber.
 
Thanks for the comments guys,

He called me 7:30 this morning to say he will take off the Kanga charge $50 and knock $100 of the concrete saw charge of $150.
So a total reduction of $150.

That's about as much as I could expect.

I may look stupid to some for not getting quotes, but it was laying 3.0 m of pvc pipe! It costs what it costs within reason. His bill was not within reason so the negotiating was done after the work took place. This way, action is taken early and the job gets done. I need to get preventitive termite treatment done asap, so need to hook up all my stormwater. If I were to ring around chasing up plumbers for quotes then who knows when the job would have been completed, very possibly a month or 2 later.

I am now satisfied with the result. I understand he has to make money, there are all sorts of expenses/insurances with business, but he did push it over the top by charging me $55 for a kanga when 1 single hard smack with a sledge hammer would have done the same. That is just like stealing from me.


Regards

Adrian
 
adrian see

I can't believe that he charged you for the use of his equipment! We are builders and if we have to hire something specially for the job eg. jack hammer, the client is charged at whatever we have to hire it for. But if we use our own equipment, you've got to be joking! charge the client for the use of it! No way! That's our expense, part of running a business.

SS
 
Sticky,how do you account for wear aned tear on your eqipment then?Have you increased your rate to cover the costs?And if you operate your business as you say,why would you incur the capital costs and maintenance and wear and tear if you could hire it and charge it all to the customer?I am not defending the plumber,but some do charge for the use of their own "out of the ordinary" tools to cover these costs.Dunny divers cost around $3000,a demo saw around $1800,and a blade for a demo saw around $300 ( and it wears out),fuel for demo saw etc,Kango around $1500,sharpening of points and chisels etc....someone has to pick up those costs.

Tools
 
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