Plumber visit

[elizilla]

I just had a plumber here to fix five leaking faucets and upgrade the water hammer prevention devices on the laundry taps. The guy was a pain in the neck: First he didn't show up as scheduled last week but instead rescheduled for today. I had to source some of the parts myself before he started, and then dispatch D to the hardware store in the middle of the project. He was pesky while I was trying to work from home. And then the final cost was nearly $1200.

Sheesh. Next time I should just buy new faucets and install them myself; it'll be cheaper and less troublesome.

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

With leaky faucets, often it's a simple matter of shutting off the water to that fixture and replacing a cartridge or an entire stem that simply drops in. Definitely easy for someone who can do her own work on a motorcycle.

I do suggest going to a "real" plumbing-supply place that sells to the public for the replacement parts, though, as opposed to a large-box home-improvement store. The parts quality is better. (Like a genuine Honda oil filter versus some cheapie from an auto-parts chain.)

One minor warning: state law may require that such work is done by a licensed plumber, and, if your pipes suddenly explode and your house gets drenched as a result of DIY home repair, your insurance company may try to deny your claim.

[elizilla]

Yes, I have fixed a lot of faucets over the years. I definitely know how to do it. But mobility issues make this type of work especially hard for me these days. Steve would have had to take it over, and I already ask him to do so much for me. If it had been one faucet I'd have asked him to do it, but with five at once, I figured I'd be getting enough done to justify the service call.

This service call method is how I am used to being billed: It's maybe $100 for them to show up and do up to 30 minutes works, and then $75 or $100 per hour thereafter, and add a few bucks here and there for parts. I've had a few different plumbers out over the years at my old place, and they all did it that way. And I've had these guys out to do some more complicated work before and not felt ripped off. But it turns out that this company, when called for this type of bread-and-butter plumbing work, bills according to some kind of per-item book rate, and their plumbers flutter around uselessly until the homeowner provides the parts, instead of showing up with a well-equipped truck and dealing with parts themselves. Maybe they think they're too good to do basic stuff? I dunno. But I am never calling them again ever. I'll call around and find someone with normal price structures next time. Lesson learned.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Yeah, makes sense. I had no idea how much experience you did or didn't have WRT DIY home repair stuff. And that sort of billing scheme does seem kinda hinky. Maybe look at Yelp or Angie's List for plumber reviews?

[elizilla]

I have been a homeowner since 1993. Before that, four out of the five rental places I lived in had landlords that wouldn't fix anything ever, and I didn't have the cash to hire plumbers on their behalf (or to hire a lawyer to make them reimburse me / fight over withheld rent). If I wanted the faucet to not leak, I was on my own.

I also grew up on a family where everything had to be DIY, though thinking back on it my folks were only moderately competent (and occasionally they were WAY over their heads). I was tapped as the one with a talent for fixing things, very early on. My brother was thrust into the role when I started resisting (and when he could get past the crazy he was spectacular at it), but I was in my 30s by the time that happened.

It's just in the last eight or ten years I feel economically secure enough to just call a plumber for the sake of an easier life. Plumbing can be a huge hassle! :-)

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Are we done editing? :)

Hooray for trading cash for time and convenience.

My parents' house--the house I grew up in--was new construction. Other than a couple of early "infant mortality" failures (which unfortunately included the septic tank), the place was pretty solid for the time I lived there. By the time stuff started wearing out and/or breaking, I lived on my own, far enough away that I couldn't be "Mr. Fixit" at the drop of a hat. It turned out that my mom was the parent who had mechanical aptitude, long-undeveloped because back then, Women Did Not Do Those Things.

Not that I could have helped them that much with the stuff that eventually did end up needing repair or replacement. Most of that was some fairly big jobs that required calling in a tradesperson anyway. Replacing a gas-fired hot water heater, replacing a gas-fired forced-hot-water furnace, replacing an old breaker panel of a make that's been alleged to be a fire hazard, are some of the things I remember from the '80s and '90s.

[sendthewolf.livejournal.com]

$1200 ?!?!?!?!?!? WTF, did they install fixtures from the goddamned space shuttle?

Please share the name of that company so I can be sure to never do business with them.