Why Do Some Plumbers Charge So Much?

HUMBUG

Got a quote to service boiler (£68 inc Vat). Phoned another in same area who quoted £98 + vat (both do the same 24 safety checks) . Got a quote for a new boiler installation £4.3k inc vat . Another quoted over the phone £3k, and another £3.5k . Finally got a quote from another 2.7k (inc vat). All Gas Safe Registered but why the big disparity (£1.6k between the lowest and highest)? Is the cutting of pipes, removing and adding of valves so specialised that one Gas Safe engineer be more of an expert than the other? Can the argument that you pay for what you get really be true in the plumbing industry if all the employees (in these different companies) qualified to the same standard? Most of the time you see these companies linked to various bodies like CIPHE , Trustmark, Trustatrader, Checkatrade, Gas Safe, APHC, etc etc . And I suspect the owners might all be very qualified people in their own right but I suspect many of their employees are not. So 'Fred Bloggs Plumbers Ltd' employees are probably around the same standard as 'HM Queen Plumbers'. Yet the latter is probably charging 30-50% more to fix a leaking pipe. I feel we are getting ripped off by plumbers who regard themselves as the 'crème de la creme' without any real substance to back them up.

roddydogs

Ditto any tradesman you care to mention. So it seems thesedays.

Jonesya

You're coming at this from the wrong angle, the plumber is a businessman and they're all quoting what they they think they might be able to get away with charging, they may even quote high if they are busy and don't really want the job.

They're no different to a shop, you find the same goods available if different stores at different prices.

So you do the same thing, shop around and get several prices before you buy.

Ruski

There are good plumbers/heating engineers and there are bad... I've worked with both and the difference is astonishing - to me quality of finish is everything as I base my business on it.


Yes - they are the highest cost I've got, but sometimes it's worth it.


HTH


Russ

warmhands.coldheart

I think it is also a case of Buyer Beware in so much as, in the case of a plumber, one plumber may be thinking of using plastic pipe and push fittings, the other Copper Pipe and soldered fittings......
A generation ago there was never really the vast array of different solutions that there are now-a-day to do trade jobs... Again using plumbing as an example...... back in the day plumbing was done in copper pipe and solder fittings with the odd compression fitting where required... that's it... everyone was in the same boat. Now-a-day there is copper pipe which can use solder, compression or push fittings.... plastic pipe that again can use compression or push fittings... and to top it of there are about 5 or 10 different brands at least of each all of differing quality and price........ so going back to buyer beware... if you are doing a costly enough job now-a-day it's worth doing some research and stipulating what you are expecting and getting a full quote done with as much detail with regard materials...... Just my thoughts anyway

cyclonebri1

As has been indicated it's simply a case of supply and demand.

If they are busy they may quote more, short of work and they want the job?, the price may be more reasonable.

But the answers the same, and it applies to all trades and product;

If you don't like vote with your feet and go elsewhere.

It's the single most piece of advise offered on this forum, always get several quotes, just ensure they are like for like.

HUMBUG

Interesting that there is mention of quoting too high so that job won't be accepted because of existing workload . How unethical is that ? So if there is some old aged pensioner who needs an urgent fix done, then the plumber with a high workload is going to quote 30-40% more rather than say "honestly governor, I just don't have the people to do the job at this time , best you get someone else". So the OAP will probably pay over the odds and not be aware he is being ripped off!!! This is why plumbers are not exactly my favourite tradespeople. I hired one highly reputed company to do some basic powerflusing . Okay I paid over the odds £560 for what should be a £350-450 job. He didn't check that all the safety vents in the boiler were shut off before starting the powerflush machine and flooded a part of my kitchen . So IMHO its all a matter of luck who you get no matter how much you pay. Okay , people make mistakes so I got a quote from the same company for a boiler installation and he basically tried to rip me off big time (I won't go into the details but it is now obvious). Needless to say , I won't be using him again and all he'll get is a fair google review (thank god for the internet as it's better than nothing when trying to choose an honest tradesperson).

Dan-Dan

HUMBUG wrote: »

Interesting that there is mention of quoting too high so that job won't be accepted because of existing workload . How unethical is that ? So if there is some old aged pensioner who needs an urgent fix done, then the plumber with a high workload is going to quote 30-40% more rather than say "honestly governor, I just don't have the people to do the job at this time , best you get someone else". So the OAP will probably pay over the odds and not be aware he is being ripped off!!! This is why plumbers are not exactly my favourite tradespeople. I hired one highly reputed company to do some basic powerflusing . Okay I paid over the odds £560 for what should be a £350-450 job. He didn't check that all the safety vents in the boiler were shut off before starting the powerflush machine and flooded a part of my kitchen . So IMHO its all a matter of luck who you get no matter how much you pay. Okay , people make mistakes so I got a quote from the same company for a boiler installation and he basically tried to rip me off big time (I won't go into the details but it is now obvious). Needless to say , I won't be using him again and all he'll get is a fair google review (thank god for the internet as it's better than nothing when trying to choose an honest tradesperson).

I think the idea is that the `old dear` will be using someone that is A) available earlier and Cheaper....

System

HUMBUG wrote: »

Interesting that there is mention of quoting too high so that job won't be accepted because of existing workload . How unethical is that ? So if there is some old aged pensioner who needs an urgent fix done, then the plumber with a high workload is going to quote 30-40% more rather than say "honestly governor, I just don't have the people to do the job at this time , best you get someone else". So the OAP will probably pay over the odds and not be aware he is being ripped off!!! This is why plumbers are not exactly my favourite tradespeople.

hence why you should always get a few quotes for a job involving any trade - I'm afraid quoting high for a job that is not wanted happens across many trades, not just plumbers.
Also an urgent job would be different (and usually expensive for everyone!) but it's a good try to use an OAP for the extra impact…

Most contractors/subs will have different rates for different jobs etc, it will vary on qualifications/experience/availability etc etc - again that's why you get different quotes to compare these things

cyclonebri1

HUMBUG wrote: »

Interesting that there is mention of quoting too high so that job won't be accepted because of existing workload . How unethical is that ?

I'm afraid ethics don't come into it, just don't blame plumbers alone. blame all the trades them blame the people that employ them, ie, yourself :A

Are you perfect in your dealing with your employer?, with other people.

Well maybe you are, possibly 75% of the time.

That probably equates to the likelihood of getting any genuine trades folks on the job, ie, about 1 in 4 will be "unethical", in your terms.;)

missprice

HUMBUG wrote: »

Interesting that there is mention of quoting too high so that job won't be accepted because of existing workload . How unethical is that ? So if there is some old aged pensioner who needs an urgent fix done, then the plumber with a high workload is going to quote 30-40% more rather than say "honestly governor, I just don't have the people to do the job at this time , best you get someone else". So the OAP will probably pay over the odds and not be aware he is being ripped off!!! /QUOTE]

Urgent usually costs more anyway.
How is it unethical, if they have no spare time they would have to drop another job to do the OAPs, therefore may as well make up this job and the lost job. They don't work as a charity, they also have quieter times but staff/office whatever still needs paying/upkeep.

If the OAP had got more than 1 quote they would know what a good price was.

But no this was an urgent job.