Cost to repair cracked soil pipe?

[McKendrigo]

Hi,

I clipped the soil pipe on the side of my house when reversing my car up our driveway It cracked around the T-junction where the horizontal pipe coming from inside the house joins with the vertical soil pipe on the external wall.

I had the boiler serviced just before Christmas and asked the guy from the gas/plumbing firm to take a look and he said he'd provide a quote to repair it. The total quoted, ex VAT, is just under £800. This was quite a bit more than I was expecting. To be fair I know next to nothing about plumbing, but to my untrained eye it didn't look like a particularly time-consuming job or one that needed lots of materials (besides a new pipe and fittings), so £800 feels quite steep to me.

I was just looking for some advice if this seems like a reasonable price or if it seems too high?

I've attached photos showing the pipe externally, and internally (under the floor where the pipe exits the side of the wall).

Thanks!

 

[terryplumb]

Is that price to replace the entire stack ? If it's to make a repair to part of it ,show us the part that is cracked and needs replacing.

 

[Mottie]

Could it be done on your house insurance?

 

[McKendrigo]

Is that price to replace the entire stack ? If it's to make a repair to part of it ,show us the part that is cracked and needs replacing.

The quote is to replace the stack.

The cracked section is the elbow of the T-piece and the lower part of the vertical stack. There's some "emergency repairs" my Dad did on the damaged section that at least reduced the amount of water leaking out, but combined with the tight space means it's not straightfoward to get a decent photo of the cracked area. Sorry I can't provide a clearer image.

 

[McKendrigo]

Could it be done on your house insurance?

I have thought about that, our excess is £500 though so it's still going to sting! Was thinking if it was possible to get the repair done for less, at a price close to the excess, then it might be better to avoid going through the insurance? Haven't had to make a claim before, not sure how much a claim would hike up future premiums and when to decide if it's worth going through the insurance or not.

 

[Agile]

Although it is not my preferred type of work, I needed to replace a soil stack several years ago.

I bought all the bits needed and started on the job. I have to say that it took about three times longer than expected even though I had all the tools and had bought exactly the parts required.

My suggestion would be to obtain two more quotes and see how they compare.

But it should not be necessary to replace the whole stack and with careful investigation perhaps only a relatively small part could probably be replaced. Although most now use solvent weld which makes any repair quite difficult.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Take the denso tape off and post a picture of the fault.

Andy

 

[McKendrigo]

Just to close this thread off - I got another quote, for £230 + VAT, 1/3 of the original £800 quote! It took two guys just over one hour to cut out the damaged sections and replace them.

Thanks @Agile for the sensible advice to get another quote.

 

[Agile]

Yes just shows how some people will inflate a quote way beyond what is a reasonable figure.

The guys who did it still earned a reasonable payment in most people's opinion.

Could be the expensive quote were overloaded with work and did not want to do any more unless it was very well paid.

Its also a cold job for an hour outside!

Anyway I am glad my advice was helpful to you.

 

[Bod ...]

I was going to say £350.00

That would have covered me for an easy half day job.

Two hours sounds about right.

 

[big-all]

I was going to say £350.00

That would have covered me for an easy half day job.

Two hours sounds about right.

i havent got a clue but £300 sounded right to me buuuuut
it cost what it cost not the value i put on it
i suppose what i am saying is 800 i will automatically find a a diy solution [possible bodge] as 800 in my eyes is profiteering quite a lot towards evil or at least very heavy profit over care for the consumer

 

[Bod ...]

i havent got a clue but £300 sounded right to me buuuuut
it cost what it cost not the value i put on it
i suppose what i am saying is 800 i will automatically find a a diy solution [possible bodge] as 800 in my eyes is profiteering quite a lot towards evil or at least very heavy profit over care for the consumer

£300 ist far out with hindsight. But plumbing is an unpredictable game. I've learned to cover myself.

The OP hasn't posted the finished article, it could be another bodge.
Or someone not experienced but struck lucky.

The £800 may be alot with hindsight but maybe someone who's been about the block has covered himself..

I see every week no end of slap ups.