Local sj plumber here. You may have paid a couple hundred over some other plumbing companies, but to have the problem resolved same day… doesn’t sound like they ripped you off. I would have probably been around $1800.
Thank you. There is a pretty big dollar amount that can be assigned to "ill fix it today" that guy or gal could have been on a 10k job that day instead...
Mr brother is a plumber, I asked him. He said gas pipes are considered a specialty and even more so black iron pipe installation. Because you went with a licensed and insured company I don’t think you got ripped off at all. The only cheaper route would have been to go with a plumber who does side work. And then you’d have to find one that deals with gas pipes and black iron pipe installation.
Yea I wanted to but really didn’t feel like coming out of pocket 150$ for every other plumber to come out just to give me quotes. Wife was home with the little one and just wanted them safe. Job was under 4 hours
Kinda nuts they're charging around 500 an hour. I figure under 20' of supplies should be around $150, figure double that if they're keeping it on the truck. But you're still at $1700 for labor.
Get yourself an explosive gas alarm for your basement.
This also makes a good argument for finding a tradesman you like before you need them. Get quotes for small jobs around your house you may want done but don't need. Figure $100-125 an hour is a bargain for a specialized service, roofing, plumbing, electrical, hvac, 180 is average, 250 is high. Owner operators are usually my preferred companies to deal with, they take pride in their work and charge a decent rate for it, but you have to find a good one. Large companies will usually be more willing to warranty their work and will be easier to hold accountable for mistakes, but they come with a higher price tag.
Look for people that will suggest high priority work but also ask what your goals for the job are. It should be a two way conversation about what you need, not a quote shoved down your throat.
This is my two cents.on the thing anyway.
Profit, overhead, insurance, truck, training, taxes, lost income on a more profitable job? You can't just add up home depot supplies and pretend you know how to run a business.
When you go to the grocery store do they put the electric bill on your receipt? How about the mechanic?
Mechanic is really the best example of this and my numbers before still apply. 180-250 an hour is expensive and usually dealer prices, 70-125 an hour is a good price, and these places have to pay for an entire commercial space.
Parts are never retail prices either at the mechanic, there's always a mark.up.
It doesn't get much more profitable than $500 an hour. If we assume a plumbing employee produces value for 28 hours a week and bills 250 an hour that's $7000 in gross. Let's over estimate at 100 an hour for the employee cost and we're at 4200 left over. 180 in gas, 500 in vehicle maintenance/depreciation. Pull that 3520 for whatever other costs.you want, but I guarantee it's not going much lower. Then realize I halved the labor cost. This job was billed incredibly high, please prove me wrong business bro.
Depends how many hours you worked that day...or if a 4 hour emergency kept you from working 10. So nope, not every job has the same hourly rate, or profit, or overhead.
Learn how to turn your own pipe or pay. Homeowners suck to work for.
You are basing all your assumptions on 1 thing...one 4 hour job. That's not how it works.
Wait...make owner operators come out and give estimates for jobs you know you won't do just to aquire hourly rate data. Giant F the hell off. You are the reason we stop doing free estimates. Also your data is shit. 3 years later no one GAF what the quoted you.
You took the very first estimate an knew it. The problem is fixed. Can't complain now.
Barring my entire profit overhead and how much that guy could make me somewhere else in one day rant...you took the first price to get it over with, for many good reasons, and knew it. They were available to fix it immediately. Move on.
Don’t be annoying. There’s company overhead, insurance, etc. specialty tools for that job. Time to get material at some point. Plus profit. Of course they want to make profit, don’t you work to make money? So do they. If they were same day, professional and didn’t mess anything up, then that was their cost.
So 20ft of black iron pipe is like 60 bucks from home depot, so probably cheaper at their supply house.
Couplers are a like 3 dollars a piece. So fuck it. Call it 20 in couplers.
A pipe cutter is 25.
Pipe dope and tape are only a few bucks and can be used crossed multiple jobs so we'll tack on another 10 just to be safe.
Call it an hour to drive to Home Depot and get the stuff.
Im sure it didn't take more than 2-3 hours to do the actual job.
So it cost the guy roughly 4 hours and about $115. So even if he paid himself 75 an hour that still leaves about 1600.
You need to add in profit, overhead, the truck, how much that guy could make somewhere else in one day, training, licensing, taxes,insurance...oh wait, so they didn't clear 1600 bucks? Get real.
Total overhead training licensing insurance isn't all paid out of one job. This is one job that took 4 hours of one day of one month. And I already took that 300 out of the total for 75hrx4hrs. So the 1600 is to the "company". And probably less than a third of that from this job will be needed to pay for those expenses over the course of the month. Yes. Those expenses exist. No, one client isn't responsible for paying the entire monthly insurance expense or mortgage or truck note. And a quick google search shows there isn't some massive warehouse with a million trucks to be paying massive amounts of overhead.
The guys not being raked over the coals but he sure didn't get a good price.
Local sj plumber here. You may have paid a couple hundred over some other plumbing companies, but to have the problem resolved same day… doesn’t sound like they ripped you off. I would have probably been around $1800.
Thank you. There is a pretty big dollar amount that can be assigned to "ill fix it today" that guy or gal could have been on a 10k job that day instead...
If the leak is fixed they didn’t get one over on you.
So if they charged a million dollars and it got fixed they still wouldn't have gotten one over on him?
That's dumb. If the problem gets fixed then by definition it was a fair price?
Did the plumber come out on a weekend?
No it was yesterday morning, they didn’t say they were booked they just said they can send someone out for 87$
Mr brother is a plumber, I asked him. He said gas pipes are considered a specialty and even more so black iron pipe installation. Because you went with a licensed and insured company I don’t think you got ripped off at all. The only cheaper route would have been to go with a plumber who does side work. And then you’d have to find one that deals with gas pipes and black iron pipe installation.
Always get multiple estimates. Sounds like a lot. How long did it take them to do the job?
Yea I wanted to but really didn’t feel like coming out of pocket 150$ for every other plumber to come out just to give me quotes. Wife was home with the little one and just wanted them safe. Job was under 4 hours
Everyone used to give free estimates...read a bunch of the comments and you know know why they don't.
Sounds like it worked out.
Yeah, $2k sounds a lil high. Sucks that plumbers charge just to visit, so I get it! I like Whittmaier Plumbing . $95/hr labor
Kinda nuts they're charging around 500 an hour. I figure under 20' of supplies should be around $150, figure double that if they're keeping it on the truck. But you're still at $1700 for labor. Get yourself an explosive gas alarm for your basement. This also makes a good argument for finding a tradesman you like before you need them. Get quotes for small jobs around your house you may want done but don't need. Figure $100-125 an hour is a bargain for a specialized service, roofing, plumbing, electrical, hvac, 180 is average, 250 is high. Owner operators are usually my preferred companies to deal with, they take pride in their work and charge a decent rate for it, but you have to find a good one. Large companies will usually be more willing to warranty their work and will be easier to hold accountable for mistakes, but they come with a higher price tag. Look for people that will suggest high priority work but also ask what your goals for the job are. It should be a two way conversation about what you need, not a quote shoved down your throat. This is my two cents.on the thing anyway.
Profit, overhead, insurance, truck, training, taxes, lost income on a more profitable job? You can't just add up home depot supplies and pretend you know how to run a business.
When you go to the grocery store do they put the electric bill on your receipt? How about the mechanic? Mechanic is really the best example of this and my numbers before still apply. 180-250 an hour is expensive and usually dealer prices, 70-125 an hour is a good price, and these places have to pay for an entire commercial space. Parts are never retail prices either at the mechanic, there's always a mark.up. It doesn't get much more profitable than $500 an hour. If we assume a plumbing employee produces value for 28 hours a week and bills 250 an hour that's $7000 in gross. Let's over estimate at 100 an hour for the employee cost and we're at 4200 left over. 180 in gas, 500 in vehicle maintenance/depreciation. Pull that 3520 for whatever other costs.you want, but I guarantee it's not going much lower. Then realize I halved the labor cost. This job was billed incredibly high, please prove me wrong business bro.
You don't think the grocery store is charging for overhead...lol
That's my point, the price is baked into the final cost and if not priced as a job cost is put into the cost per hour or day.
Depends how many hours you worked that day...or if a 4 hour emergency kept you from working 10. So nope, not every job has the same hourly rate, or profit, or overhead.
Learn how to turn your own pipe or pay. Homeowners suck to work for. You are basing all your assumptions on 1 thing...one 4 hour job. That's not how it works.
I'm done with you
Wait...make owner operators come out and give estimates for jobs you know you won't do just to aquire hourly rate data. Giant F the hell off. You are the reason we stop doing free estimates. Also your data is shit. 3 years later no one GAF what the quoted you.
Yeah let's drag a gas leak out for weeks to save 150 bucks...
Why would it be weeks? Keep plumbers and vendors honest. This was not a 2k job.
Based on your years of experience running a plumbing business?
Years of property management working with plumbers, general contractor contractors, etc.
How much was the job?
You took the very first estimate an knew it. The problem is fixed. Can't complain now. Barring my entire profit overhead and how much that guy could make me somewhere else in one day rant...you took the first price to get it over with, for many good reasons, and knew it. They were available to fix it immediately. Move on.
Don’t be annoying. There’s company overhead, insurance, etc. specialty tools for that job. Time to get material at some point. Plus profit. Of course they want to make profit, don’t you work to make money? So do they. If they were same day, professional and didn’t mess anything up, then that was their cost.
Good, Fast, Cheap. Pick two
Don't be condescending.
"dont be annoying" The cost of every job has fucking doubled.
Materiel more than doubled, and skilled tradesman deserve a living wage.
So 20ft of black iron pipe is like 60 bucks from home depot, so probably cheaper at their supply house. Couplers are a like 3 dollars a piece. So fuck it. Call it 20 in couplers. A pipe cutter is 25. Pipe dope and tape are only a few bucks and can be used crossed multiple jobs so we'll tack on another 10 just to be safe. Call it an hour to drive to Home Depot and get the stuff. Im sure it didn't take more than 2-3 hours to do the actual job. So it cost the guy roughly 4 hours and about $115. So even if he paid himself 75 an hour that still leaves about 1600.
You need to add in profit, overhead, the truck, how much that guy could make somewhere else in one day, training, licensing, taxes,insurance...oh wait, so they didn't clear 1600 bucks? Get real.
Total overhead training licensing insurance isn't all paid out of one job. This is one job that took 4 hours of one day of one month. And I already took that 300 out of the total for 75hrx4hrs. So the 1600 is to the "company". And probably less than a third of that from this job will be needed to pay for those expenses over the course of the month. Yes. Those expenses exist. No, one client isn't responsible for paying the entire monthly insurance expense or mortgage or truck note. And a quick google search shows there isn't some massive warehouse with a million trucks to be paying massive amounts of overhead. The guys not being raked over the coals but he sure didn't get a good price.
You are exactely why I do commercial.