Plumber charges - does this sound reasonable?

discotrout · 9 Mar 2005

Hiya,

I started a thread earlier about replairing my leaky cylinder.
Have just had the plumber out and it seems we do need a replacement cylinder (after them trying several other options first).
It is an Economy 7 cylinder with two immersion heaters.
He has quoted 200 + vat for the cylinder, says he can't re-use the immersion heaters from our exiting cylinder, so those need replacing too.
So all in, has quoted
Does this sound fair?
Just for re-assurance purposes, as what do i know!

Many thanks & much appreciation.

mod

please see [item9

discotrout · 9 Mar 2005

Complete quote is - 400 for some reason that did not show on my original mail, sorry.

mod

please see ITEM 9

potty · 9 Mar 2005

I'm not a professional plumber, but last year I replaced a hot water cyliner with an identical model. The job took half a day because althougth I thought the existing pipe couplings would mate exactly with the new cylinder, I still had to chop out some of the older pipework and solder in new sections to make a good the connections. Also, I had to wait arround for 45 mins to drain the cylinder and header tank. I re-fitted the old emersion but fitted a new gasket.

The new cylinder cost £105. Why not search around on the internet to see how much your cylider costs, and if your still unhappy, use the golden rule - GET MORE QUOTES.

PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN · 9 Mar 2005

Sounds a cheap job to me.

mrcrow · 9 Mar 2005

i have had 2 plumbing jobs done recently

1 a complete bathroom suite tear out and replace..i bought the new suite
£340 one man for nearly 8 hours and a come back for an hour next day to do some odds and ends..sealers etc...
hardware..3 flexibles..2 traps..some speedfixpipe and fittings and a toilet waste adapter..

2 a rad added to my c.h...i bought the rad
£140 two men for 4 hours
hardware...some speedfix and fittings..floorboarding.

both i feel were well worth the cash..!!

ps..i also had a joiner doing a wall and doorway
£280 man and mate for 6-7 hours
hardware...door architraves studding and mdf boarding

all were the best out of 3-6 quotes locally...

oilman · 9 Mar 2005

I don't know how people manage to get things done so fast or cheap. I'd charge you a lot more than that.

DP · 9 Mar 2005

It is more a case of job done on the cheap with a self destruct fuse burning also fitted. Not the first time I have been caled out to repair a boiler where plenty corners had been cut. Last boiler needed a main heat exchanger and a HW heat exchanger and had very little access to carry out repairs. HW HE had blown because the main pressure is excessive- no pressure reducing valve fitted. Benchmark logbook is completely blank.

PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN · 9 Mar 2005

Joke posting or what.

Newboy · 9 Mar 2005

Can anyone let me know where these guys are buying components from / which tip the rubbish is going too / where they are getting public liability insurance / which tax office handles their returns etc etc etc

PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN · 10 Mar 2005

Excellent point Newboy, I said on another posting about some of these so called tradesmen not being able to run a business on the prices they are "alledgedly"charging, no wonder the hedgrows are full of rubbish, apart from the fact I have to pay for a waste carriers licence. there is also a minimum of £40.00 to tip where I live, so ONE builders bag of rubbish or say one bathroom suite means it's £40.00 on the quote right from the start, then there is the time to take it which is going to take a least an hour, it took 20 minutes just to get to the counter to pay my £40.00 last week when I went, I also get the impression that some of the materials are stolen as well judging by the prices bandied around.

Just_back_from_the_pub · 10 Mar 2005

PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN said:
Excellent point Newboy, I said on another posting about some of these so called tradesmen not being able to run a business on the prices they are "alledgedly"charging, no wonder the hedgrows are full of rubbish, apart from the fact I have to pay for a waste carriers licence. there is also a minimum of £40.00 to tip where I live, so ONE builders bag of rubbish or say one bathroom suite means it's £40.00 on the quote right from the start, then there is the time to take it which is going to take a least an hour, it took 20 minutes just to get to the counter to pay my £40.00 last week when I went, I also get the impression that some of the materials are stolen as well judging by the prices bandied around.

When you provide your customer with your estimate could you not specify that the removal of the old bathroom suite is down to them and can me arranged with their local council? Most councils provide a collection service starting at about £15. Even if it were as much as PDV's £40 it would save the task of transporting the damn thing to the site and the hour and half or so of pointless @rsing around! Might be worth checking out on-line what the particular council provides.

PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN · 10 Mar 2005

I always ask if the customer wants to dispose of the rubbish themselves, however most people want it taken away, with the amount of queing and red tape at the free council tips for householders, it's easy to see in this bolllokks to everyone else society we live in why there is so much flytipping happening.
While I am at it, is spitting classed as fly tipping, just seen an escapee from the jungle gobbing a right mouthful onto the pavement, could it be classed as
an hazardous substance what with TB and Meingitus etc on the increase.

ChrisR · 10 Mar 2005

All figures quoted above seem to be in the "reasonable" band as far as I can see.

Easy to get insurance etc out of proportion - it's around a pound a day. Most other overheads we moan about also become small when divvied up.

PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN · 10 Mar 2005

Yes but, dump one turd in the ocean and it will not be noticed, (except by the fish that eats it) but keep dumping more and more turds in the ocean and it will eventually rebel into a dead stinky unworkable mess with no life to it, get my drift

brumylad · 10 Mar 2005

last job I needed to get rid of lots of waste, inc. cast iron bath, I hired a mini skip £50, saved masses of agro, carting it away would have been a nightmare.

You could charge £40 for disposal and hoard up the junk till you had a skip full, or even keep a skip somewhere near home. It might prove a right little earner.

diynot

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Plumber charges - does this sound reasonable?

Newboy

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