Plumber charging £45 by the hour ...

clarissab

Hi All

I was wondering if this is fair? I had a plumber over to fix a leaky outside tap for me (none emergency call). In actual fact, he couldn't fix the tap due to its age and shape apparently, which I can handle. However, he still charged me £95 for sealing off the tap (2 hours work + parts that weren't even needed in the end). He had actually sealed off the tap within 1/2 hour and the extra 1.5 hours was spent failing miserably to fix it.. he then left a nasty response when I rated him on googlemaps... is it just me, or is this appalling? I'm a woman on my own, with a full time job and a 3 year old. I live on lentils and walk everywhere to save costs. I don't mind paying people to do a good job, but I feel really taken advantage of here and the more I think about it the more it upsets me!

My review can be found by typing "ng4 plumbing" into google (sorry as I'm new I can't paste the proper link). This is his response though:

" REPLY TO THIS RUBBISH ‎ - 15 Jun 2009For a start i only charged the woman for 2 hours and i was there for 3 hours. The pipe she wanted me to fix was an old lead pipe ( in a bad old state ...For a start i only charged the woman for 2 hours and i was there for 3 hours. The pipe she wanted me to fix was an old lead pipe ( in a bad old state ) so being the experts that me & my lads are. We thought it best to cap the pipe off to stop a faulty pipe flooding the garden. If the lady wanted some cowboy plumber to leave a pipe that could flood the garden she should of rang some body else!!!!!!!!! WE SIMPLY WONT DO FAULTY OR DANGEROUS WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Lifeisbutadream

DId you speak to him about the charges before doing the review?

The price seems about right for a plumber - they are expensive because they have to pay out continuously to be able to keep their registrations (such as Corgi) up to date. They also look like a medium to large organisation who I would have expected to be quite expensive. I would also have asked at the start what he thought the price might be.

In future I would say to ask others for recommendations for tradespeople.

mojomcl

I haven't read your bit on G.maps, but from his reply above it sounds fair enough.
I don't mean to sound harsh, but it isn't his problem whether you're living on lentils or caviar. You employed him to do a job, which he did, and he levied his charge, which he is more than entitled to. If you really weren't happy, perhaps you could have comlained to him, in writing even, before going online to sully his reputation?
On the other hand....there's no way I'd be accepting a charge for parts he didn't use. It isn't your fault if he didn't need them!

capita_guy

You asked for a job to be done and it was.
What relevance to the cost is your saying you live on lentils, walk everywhere and have a 3 year old child?
If you had been flooded it would cost a lot more. The price of £45 per hour is reasonable. You should have made clear what you wanted not leave it up to the plumber then moan.
Do you expect everyone to work for free? If not what do you think is reasonable?
Get real.

bryanb

I wouldn't have expected him to try repairing the tap, much cheaper to fit a new one and it only takes 5min.

skinback69

hi if the pipe was lead what did he use to cap it off if he did it properly he would have had to have bought a lead lock which are around 20 quid and thats from bnq then put a peice of copper in and a cap on the copper been a plumber myself i would love to know how they capped it off

Cknocker

I don't believe the justification for plumbers charges, the reason they are what they are is because they can as simple as that, theres no point getting shirty about it, they can provide you a service that you need, if thats the market rate thats it.

That said, my first question would have been how much to repair the tap, and that would then be the price as at that moment you and he have entered into a contract for him to fix the tap at the agreed price, if it uses more parts than he expected thats his problem.

Golden rule, never let anyone do anything unil you have agreed a price and don't agree to an hourly rate!

hethmar

Im sorry to contradict, but married to a man with a small business, I can assure you all that money doesnt go into the plumbers pocket. He will have a mass of overheads to fork out for.

cattie

For small jobs such as fitting new taps etc, the plumber I used before I moved charged £50 for the first hour & £35 per hour thereafter if the job took longer than an hour. I found he often wouldn't charge me the extra if the job ran 15-20 mins over the first hour.

For larger jobs he would quote per job & not per hour

I think you'll find it's a pretty standard rate & if you find a plumber you feel you can trust he is worth his weight in gold.

Beckymarshall07

hello - 45 quid an hour is a fair rate. I had a plumber out before to fix a burst pipe and was charged considerably more! We have a v good friend who is a plumber and he charges slightly more than 45 quid an hour as he has recently set up his own business. If anything like this happens again be sure to get a quote for the work and not an estimate. That way you know what you'll be paying up front and will have the option of taking your business elsewhere if you dont like the quote. All the best.

skinback69

hi im a plumber but work for a big firm looking at these charges i think i might start up my own business the thing is nowadays every other van in our area is a plumbing one so they all start under cutting people as full bathroom suites in hull are now down to 150 for labour i think if i started my own business id have to move