Plumbing Work

NibblyPig

I have three plumbing jobs which need doing
- Replace the kitchen sink with a kitchen sink with a drainer (will require cutting a piece out of the cupboard wall to fit the drainer) and the tap (I already bought the sink/tap, comes with connections)
- Plumb in a dishwasher
- Replace the stoptap to the house
I thought these would be fairly trivial, as the new sink is the same size as the old one and there are plenty of water connections so the dishwasher is probably just plug it in and go.

I was quoted £300 to do these jobs, which I thought was a bit high. Am I grossly underestimating time and cost? I'm in the south west.

Penguin_

Is this a one man band plumber or part of a larger company? I ask because these seem smaller tasks & I know when I have had smaller plumbing tasks needed doing, I always found the bigger outfits quoted higher prices.

NibblyPig

One man outfit

Mickey666

It's probably the best part of a day's job by the time the plumber has sorted out the materials and his travelling.  Perhaps a tad on the high side but any small savings would soon pale into insignificance compared with a poor quality job, so I'd be more concerned about his reputation/recommendations . . . . which is often the really difficult thing to determine.

Just one point about replacing the stopcock to the house - do you know the condition of the external stopcock to the house?
I ask because, for a long time I used a very good 'old school' plumber (he was in his 80s when he did his last job for me!) until I moved and he always insisted on getting the water company to come and turn off the external stopcock if it had any sign of resistance or jamming. 

When I asked him why, he explained that he'd seen so many external stopcocks that were seized up after decades of never being used and needed such force to operate that they broke and needed replacement.  Since the external stopcock belongs to the water company then if THEY break it, they pay for its repair and replacement, which as you can imagine is usually quite a big and expensive job.  He was a lovely old character and would gleefully recount tales of "young plumbers today" not having a clue and simply applying more and more force until they broke things, which I'm sure is not generally the case but you can probably picture the scene

NibblyPig

I'm not sure what materials he would need, other than a £15 stop tap as the sink is supplied with all fittings etc and should be for the most part, a straight switch. But perhaps it is worth the money if he is reputable, then again I only engage with tradespeople that have high ratings rather than leaving it to the wind...

My stopcock was seized and when I tried to shut it off it started leaking, which is why I want to get it replaced. I had an emergency callout to fix it (under my home emergency insurance) but he didn't do the greatest job. I can turn the tap off in the street, I did so a couple of times. I can absolutely believe that about the external stopcock though, it required a lot of force to close, and it looked like such a cheap crappy plastic thing. That's another reason for wanting the tap replaced!

womble12345

I would say its a days work so the price is fair.

Aspiration

Maybe feels a touch high but for a day rate I’d expect £250ish so if they’re known for doing a great job I’d pay it. 

mcplumb

£250 a day, really I doubt that. Obviously rates are regional, but not a hope in hell of getting someone the South East for that money  

Aspiration

mcplumb said:

£250 a day, really I doubt that. Obviously rates are regional, but not a hope in hell of getting someone the South East for that money  

So without the hope in hell, what’s the right rate for your location? 

mcplumb

£350 plus vat. 
This is the problem with everyone wanting a fixed price - the contractor needs to cover their self if its a nightmare. Always difficult as I appreciate customers don't want to be strung along on a hourly rate, although they always moan if the job takes less time than they thought. 

mcplumb

Regarding the OP, I would guess that's about 4 hours work - but on a fixed price a days money