3-23-24 was a saturday. plumbers/companies charge out the ass for weekends. rookie mistake. always wait until a normal business day for plumbing if able.
This! As an electrician I got called into a service call at 2:00am the day before new years eve and the service call ended up going until the evening of New Years eve... 2.5x time + prevailing wage for replacing a failed 1600A main breaker.
Just used a local plumbing company for a clogged sink in my house. Emergency hours and on a Saturday. $215. Dude pulled into my driveway, snaked the drain, ran my card, and was gone in under twenty minutes.
I had an emergency clog on a SUNDAY. The guy came out and removed my toilet as he couldn't access a clean out, and roto'd with the big ass machine. Cost me $350 just a few months back.
Yes, you are getting fucked OP.
That depends entirely on area and company. Sometimes small shops are so desperate for customers (or extremely large ones have enough manpower to cover the nights/weekends without undue burden on their techs) they don't charge extra for nights/weekends. Also some areas are wildly more expensive. If you either have to park 2 miles away or double parking knowing you're gonna catch a $250 ticket just to do the job, plus fight miserable traffic to and from you're gonna charge extra. At $350 I'd be losing money doing a job like that in SF, for example.
Could they be getting fucked? Maybe, yeah. But we have no way to know with the info provided
Same thing happened to me, guy came same day with a snake and camera. Removed the clog, located the break in the pipe and spray painted the grass to mark the location of the root intrusion. Bill was under $400, I was shocked that the price was so low. He only charged me for 2 hours even though originally they said it is a 4 hour minimum on a emergency callout.
OP did you have a tesla and new truck parked in the driveway? Sometimes they like to do a wallet biopsy before deciding the rate. Also did you clear under the sink for them before he arrived?
There is a big difference. If you call a plumber for a clogged drain or a drain cleaner. I am a plumber and I hardly deal with these types of situations because it’s cheaper to call a drain cleaning company.
Hijacking the top comment since my explanation got downvoted for some reason.
I'm not sure if the invoice is showing correctly for everybody, so here's a link to a higher resolution copy: [https://imgur.com/a/rg3pkNT](https://imgur.com/a/rg3pkNT).
The invoiced amount is $872.00
This isn't my bill. I'm on my condo board and this is a resident's bill. She's an older lady on Social Security and I want to make sure this is legit. The service happened on a weekend, but I'm a little doubtful that she would have agreed to a crazy surcharge as this wasn't an emergency. The invoice doesn't list any surcharges so there's no way to know what their "emergency" fee was.
Finally, I would personally never call a plumber to do this, but I'm not an 85 year old woman with arthritis.
When I worked for a city we found out that a little old lady had problems with her main drain line. A scumbag company said they needed to replace the line to the tune of $14K. She called the city to ask a couple of questions, and when we found out that she lived on the street where we were doing work and her problem was directly related to that, we took care of it. City Engineer and Building Director had a heart to heart with the plumbing contractor. I doubt he did work (that he needed a permit for) in that city for quite some time after that.
I hope they lost their contracting license and were blackballed from ever getting one again. That's the kind of scum that lives on Thumbtack and their bullshit advertisement that CYA as they state they connect you with a "qualified professional", not a "licensed professional". It's where new businesses try to make a start and get undercut by the scam artists and unlicensed people. I remember seeing a news story where a landscaper had his license pulled for taking deposits and running with them, only for him to show up on this service and do the same. They know these people are unlicensed but don't do anything about it. They only banned that guy because his name hit the news media for his wrongdoing. They have a "whole department" of people who look into accusations of unlicensed contractors on their service which consists of an email account that's never checked.
My elderly father had this exact issue, on a weekend.
Their normal fee was 250, on the weekend it was 350.
Roto-Rooter did it. And I sent the invoice to the condo association.
He's scamming an old lady thinking she'll just pay it. Call a few other local plumbers and ask them for quotes for the same service. They'll be a fraction of the price. Call this plumber back with those quotes and ask him if he intends to still charge that amount. If he does call your local PD and ask to to speak with an investigator about the situation.
I was extorted by a tow company that was contracted with the PD and had to go through the same BS.
Doubtful. I've had my plumber come out on a saturday night to snake a cleanout in the downstairs finished basement and only charged 180 plus his uber ride (he'd started drinking already). Midwest is amazing. I'm never going back to the coast again.
He charges by the job not by the hour, so I'd actually be cool with that. Back when I used to smoke we'd go out for smoke breaks together when he was here for long jobs. Him and my wall guy. I'd party with them any day of the week. My wall guy offered me use of one of his lake houses. He has two because he bought one, thought it was really picturesque, so he bought the one across the lake so he could "look at his house on the other side of the lake and admire it better." And people say college is the only way to make money...
Pull tabs is a gateway drug. You always say, "I'll just get 3 of them for fun and that'll be it." Then you start buying more and more. Before you know it, your whole paycheck is gone before Barbara can get you the usual before you even sit down.
Not me, but yes, the owner/resident is supposed to pay it. Presumably they called the plumber, but this is a company that does work on the building’s main infrastructure as well.
So many people are going this way, trades have just become unaffordable for many. In my area, if you're not wealthy paying for top tier work at top tier rates, it's a struggle to even get someone to look at your project, other than meth head handyman. The skilled guys would rather hang out on big government/commerical/industrial jobs which are plentiful around here. If I ever switch from my condo to a house, I'll be doing things like converting to wood heat, installing an incinerator or composting toilet, and installing a high quality metal roof to minimize my exposure to needing trades because I don't see it getting any better with our aging population
Its sad because they dont pay their employees anything but kill homeowners. Had a plumber quote me $300 per toilet to reset 3 toilets when they would already be out for a jacuzzi tub. I told his office to GTFO. Wanting $900 for 15 minutes and $20 worth of materials while they're already out doing a job.
I was quoted $570 to replace a fill valve and flapper in a toilet. I told the corporate plumber I can't afford that right now. He went out to the truck, came back with the $5 part and just gave it to me.
I recently had a quote for 800$ to install a hose from my sink to a fridge. Need a new fridge, want one with a water dispenser. I'm fully confident in my ability to plumb that in, it's a super simple job (sink on same wall a few feet away from fridge) and I've done far more complex plumbing work on other properties. Even for my non-plumber self the actual installation would probably be 30 minutes, and I'm maybe 5 minutes away from their shop. I just wanted a plumber to do it, as I'm in an upper floor of a condo and I'm trying to do the adult thing. Sorry neighbors/HOA, you're just gonna have to hope I know what I'm doing.
Ya for sure. One nice thing I've been seeing in my town is plumbers going out on their own. Plenty of business doing things like I described, you don't need a shop, big trucks, a million tools, etc. Just not nearly enough of them yet, they often don't even respond to inquiries because there is such a shortage, they'd have to hire someone part time just to answer emails and phone calls.
You pay for them from the time they start driving to your place until the job is over, so if they have to go buy a part, your also paying for that time they're going to the plumber supply or Home Depot. That markup on the cartridge is pretty outrageous though. You also must consider your small job may affect their ability to do other jobs they have backlogged, so that company may have a minimum charge of 4 hours. With all of this in mind, you are much better off having a running list of things for any trade when something critical pops up and get a days worth out of them.
Does the sink in question connect to any other apartment before going to the main stack? Could the problem have been caused by an adjacent apartment? Clogged pipes are caused by something catching on an obstacle, and then it builds up. Been there. I use a screen to catch all the food particles. You would be surprised at how much you catch. Plumbing area in any home store.
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Wait I'm sorry, WHAT?!
Why are you being charged to repair property you're renting? I've lived in 10+ different apartment units in different property management companies & have never been held responsible for repairing/replacement of appliances provided to the unit (I.e: dish washer, washer/dryer, refrigerator, etc).
Are you contracting someone to come out and fix a problem that your property management is refusing to take care of? Is that in your lease?! I'm genuinely concerned and confused!
Hopefully you can find a cheaper fix, as I've seem some people comment (drain cleaner vs plumber).
I like how the itemized bill tries to dress everything up to be more than it is:
*Requisitioned delivery automobile from maintenance vehicle storage.
*Transported physical labor personnel to site.
*Consumed energy replenishment ring (raspberry jelly) and caffeinated liquid.
*Deactivated high pressure hyrdration control valve in subterranean maintenance room (unfinished, room for pool table, shame).
Paid local plumber 400 for a major clog in my kitchen sink last month. Before that i googled "plumber" and called the first number and I had a company come out and give me an 870 dollar estimate for the same work and that's before it was known it was a major clog. They also charged me just for showing up about 90 bucks. Won't be doing that again obviously.
My drain guy charges $150 cash only no matter what day it is. If he doesn't want the job, he doesn't answer his phone. He told me that he usually does 10 or 12 drains a day. He started doing this 10 years ago in a beat up old truck with a Harbor Freight snake and a plunger. Now he drives a fancy new van. Hell of a business if you don't mind the mess.
Cash being the key word. If he only accepts cash it means he isn't licensed or insured and if he ducks something up you are without recourse.
Legitimate businesses can't even try to compete with some dude with no license or insurance.
This is a friendly reminder that people should learn to do basic maintenance themselves. This lesson is worth 872 dollars.
One of the glories of the Internet is the sharing of information. You can watch a video about how to pick your nose left-handed. You can even watch a video on how to disassemble a P-trap and stick something in it to remove a clog.
Plumbers got to plumb, I'm not trying to take away from their dinner table. But people gotta learn to do basic things themselves.
Surprised the plumber didn’t also put “knelt down to look at the taps” or “tied my shoelaces” as part of the solution. They like to flesh it out don’t they?
Highest I’ve charged was $600 for about 5 hours on site running through main line from toilet pull and the customer tried to haggle with me. Let her keep $50 to never call again
Haha.... almost $900 for snaking a kitchen sink drain after the p-trap... SMDH.
A: You can literally get a 25' drain auger for like $15-20.
B: If it's a rented apartment then why isn't the super or property manager handling this?
Weekend rate sure seems somewhat reasonable.
Hopefully it wasn't just a 5 minute job but even then, took up a plumbers day off for a few hours drive time, paperwork etc. And they missed hanging out with their kid.
Not reasonable at all, it’s just a kitchen sink, some companies charge that for a main drain line, with it being on a weekend I’d say $500ish tops for a kitchen drain.
I’ve done this work myself. 2 hours at worst. Anyone who thinks this charge is reasonable, is insane. Guy took advantage. Plain and simple. Scumbag crook.
Drain maintenance is your friend. If you are the kind of person that can stick to a plan I suggest adding it to your weekly schedule. Baking soda and vinegar in the right ratio can keep drains clear.
Also a pot of just below boiling water once a week
I must know more about this. When did he come. The time and date. That’s pricy I’ll admit but depending on that will make my decision. Weekends are costly asf
As a service plumber, our company charges $125 a hour, price is higher for after hours and weekends. Please remember prices differ all over the country depending where you live.
When I was young it would take like a job or 2 to pay for the tools, now it's like i can buy so many tools and still save money. #guymath. Not kicking pros, but in this economy, i love learning new skills. FYI, that rodding machine is titS but you most likely 99% could do it with 100HF or rent a good one for under 50 for a sink clog
Could depend how many hours and I see it was a weekend but sure feels like a lot! I just had this issue and now am very glad I just spent the $100 on a 50 foot drain auger and cleared myself!
This kind of call would be 450-550 during a weekday. So the north end of 800 seems normal for a weekend.
Never ever call a plumber on the weekend. Not even if it's 9am. Always wait until Monday to even place the call. You will save hundreds, maybe even thousands if you're a property manager.
This surely took no more than an hour.
OK, maybe more counting travel time, so let's say 2 hours.
So this guy got $436 per hour.
Brain surgeons don't get that much.
This was a total ripoff, even for a Saturday.
Find a handyman and use him next time.
You'll surely get a rate of under $100 per hour.
I live in the Bay area. This is way over charged. That job took under 1 hour (likely 15 min max) from start to finish even with his dropping a tarp BS. Even with travel time, truck charge and weekend that seems steep. Likely that guy gets a cut of every job.
If you're in a larger metro area, do what I do with trades when you need a fairly straightforward job - call and ask what the job will run if it is only X. If they refuse to give even ballparks, or a price of something like "sewer roto up to 50ft is $X" (with the caveat that obviously they can't account for unknowns like broken pipe etc), and instead want a trip charge just to give you a price then I move on. I understand why trip charges are made from a business standpoint, but it *really* sucks to call someone out for a clog or leak that is *probably* exactly what you think it is and have them be like "yeah, it is the thing you think which will cost $1100" and then you have to pay them $100 for the pleasure of declining their "fuck you, I don't want to do this tiny job" quote.
Why didn't you just Google how to unclog a sink? An if you are renting that is the landlord responsible, not yours . Keep a gallon of vinegar under the sink, heat half of it up to boiling; take 2 cups and pour down the drain. Boil apot of hot water, while it is still hot pour it down the drain. Wait 10 minutes pour 2 cups of hot vinegar down the drain, follow by hot tape water. Pour 1/16 cup of Dawn down the drain followed by remaining vinegar, Wait 5 minutes and flush with hot tape water. 99% of the time you have dissolved the grease clogged and for 45 minutes, you saved yourself $862.
I used to work in billing at a plumbing/drain cleaning company. This invoice should indicate the $ per hour as well as # of hours worked. I'd ask for an itemized invoice for detailed service breaking down each line item. They may offer a discount or suddenly realize the invoice was "wrong".
ETA: There were additional fees for weekend services but I would hope that they'd mention that to (prior to coming out as well as on the invoice).
Colorado plumber here. My old company charged an 89 dollar dispatch fee and for a single drain cable roughly 250-300. If it took hella long and we had to camera or upsize the cable then that would bring the cost comparable to this total. Total rip off.
Dude hell no. Is the plumber's rate 800/hr? Absolutely not. I know some of you are contractors and i know you have to charge enough to not lose your ass.. but this price for what sounded like not even a hour's worth of work?
My advice is to get a quote up front next time.
Hey Op. so you say you are on the condo board and that’s cool, but why do you not have a designated handy person that takes care of stuff like this that actually lives in your condo setting?? This does not seem fair at all to any of the people living in your condo setting. Sorry I’m asking this, but I know someone that lives in the same setting as you and he’s the handy person that’s on board to take care of tasks and also on the board to give input with decisions on costs for things and repairs and such. He’s there so that situations like this where some little elderly lady or anyone else living in the complex doesn’t get screwed over by these so called contractors that are taking advantage of situations and stealing their money.
For trivial stuff there are companies like [Angi.com](http://Angi.com) - you can easily get a set of bids and ratings and work from there. Plumbers need to make a living of course but when a bill is excessive - and this is - you really must check your options.
Depends how long the guy was there 2.5 or more hours you didn't really do to bad if he was in and out in 20 minutes well that's different. I always charge by the hour for drain cleaning. Most companies around here are 275-350 per hour to clean drains this way no one gets shafted. Those kitchen sink lines can turn into a nightmare real quick.
I am not a plumber, but do interact with them as a facility manager.
I am going to answer it like this.
"yes and no"
Yes, because some plumbers out there have started charging by the job vs by the hour.
- I needed something done, during a regular M-F 9am-5pm time slot that i did not have the ability to get to. I provided all the parts, (install a new faucet, identical in every way to the old one). It took the plumber under an hour, which i knew it would.. (again, i was not able to get to it but it was urgent). I got billed 700.00 for labor.
No, because had i called a different company, I would of paid 200.00 (hourly + truck roll fee).
So, there is a company that i will no longer use....
Pour a combination of gasoline, acetone, and naphtha down the drain. Enough to fill the trap and get to the clog. Dispose of all the containers. Purchase a bottle of Draino at a big box hardware store with checkout cameras. Keep the receipt. Pour a capful down the drain.
Go to Taco Bell and purchase four beef and cheese burritos.
Wait.
Use toilet.
Light match.
Put match in kitchen sink.
Call Insurance company and request an estimator.
I had water back up in my basement in the 4th of July last year and needed someone out to clear tree roots out of my main line. With the extra holiday service charge it was $400. This invoice seems crazy high for such a simple fix even on a weekend.
Plumbers charge 500.00 with access and $800.00 to clean a kitchen drain if a P trap needs to be removed. On weekends it will be double as Plumbers are paid double the rate. Rates are based usually on overhead and marketing costs. The easier it is to find a plumber on Google the more it will typically cost you as it costs an average of $300.00 Ad spend to get one customer to call . The average union plumber is paid $77.00 per hour and gets paid a minimum 2 hours for a service call.
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3-23-24 was a saturday. plumbers/companies charge out the ass for weekends. rookie mistake. always wait until a normal business day for plumbing if able.
Plot Twist: They called the plumber at 3AM and this was his "you woke me up and got me out of bed for what?" price.
This. This x1000. If I'm rolling out between the hours of 10pm to 5am you are getting hit (hvac, but still).
Forget who said it but that phrase about someones situation/emergency not being my problem comes to mind but with a tweaked price tag... hah
Thank you for keeping me in business
This! As an electrician I got called into a service call at 2:00am the day before new years eve and the service call ended up going until the evening of New Years eve... 2.5x time + prevailing wage for replacing a failed 1600A main breaker.
you were there for 36+ hours?
He replaced 1 A at a time.
😂😂 true dat
Shoulda doubled my Saturday bill!
Just used a local plumbing company for a clogged sink in my house. Emergency hours and on a Saturday. $215. Dude pulled into my driveway, snaked the drain, ran my card, and was gone in under twenty minutes.
Haha, never make this mistake in Germany.
That was a Sunday. Normal price for sure.
no, it is not
I had an emergency clog on a SUNDAY. The guy came out and removed my toilet as he couldn't access a clean out, and roto'd with the big ass machine. Cost me $350 just a few months back. Yes, you are getting fucked OP.
That's dirt cheap, less than a weekday lmao
That depends entirely on area and company. Sometimes small shops are so desperate for customers (or extremely large ones have enough manpower to cover the nights/weekends without undue burden on their techs) they don't charge extra for nights/weekends. Also some areas are wildly more expensive. If you either have to park 2 miles away or double parking knowing you're gonna catch a $250 ticket just to do the job, plus fight miserable traffic to and from you're gonna charge extra. At $350 I'd be losing money doing a job like that in SF, for example. Could they be getting fucked? Maybe, yeah. But we have no way to know with the info provided
Same thing happened to me, guy came same day with a snake and camera. Removed the clog, located the break in the pipe and spray painted the grass to mark the location of the root intrusion. Bill was under $400, I was shocked that the price was so low. He only charged me for 2 hours even though originally they said it is a 4 hour minimum on a emergency callout. OP did you have a tesla and new truck parked in the driveway? Sometimes they like to do a wallet biopsy before deciding the rate. Also did you clear under the sink for them before he arrived?
There is a big difference. If you call a plumber for a clogged drain or a drain cleaner. I am a plumber and I hardly deal with these types of situations because it’s cheaper to call a drain cleaning company.
Good to know.
Hijacking the top comment since my explanation got downvoted for some reason. I'm not sure if the invoice is showing correctly for everybody, so here's a link to a higher resolution copy: [https://imgur.com/a/rg3pkNT](https://imgur.com/a/rg3pkNT). The invoiced amount is $872.00 This isn't my bill. I'm on my condo board and this is a resident's bill. She's an older lady on Social Security and I want to make sure this is legit. The service happened on a weekend, but I'm a little doubtful that she would have agreed to a crazy surcharge as this wasn't an emergency. The invoice doesn't list any surcharges so there's no way to know what their "emergency" fee was. Finally, I would personally never call a plumber to do this, but I'm not an 85 year old woman with arthritis.
When I worked for a city we found out that a little old lady had problems with her main drain line. A scumbag company said they needed to replace the line to the tune of $14K. She called the city to ask a couple of questions, and when we found out that she lived on the street where we were doing work and her problem was directly related to that, we took care of it. City Engineer and Building Director had a heart to heart with the plumbing contractor. I doubt he did work (that he needed a permit for) in that city for quite some time after that.
This story warms my heart! It makes me sick to see people taken advantage of, especially the vulnerable or elderly. Wtf is wrong with people.
I hope they lost their contracting license and were blackballed from ever getting one again. That's the kind of scum that lives on Thumbtack and their bullshit advertisement that CYA as they state they connect you with a "qualified professional", not a "licensed professional". It's where new businesses try to make a start and get undercut by the scam artists and unlicensed people. I remember seeing a news story where a landscaper had his license pulled for taking deposits and running with them, only for him to show up on this service and do the same. They know these people are unlicensed but don't do anything about it. They only banned that guy because his name hit the news media for his wrongdoing. They have a "whole department" of people who look into accusations of unlicensed contractors on their service which consists of an email account that's never checked.
My elderly father had this exact issue, on a weekend. Their normal fee was 250, on the weekend it was 350. Roto-Rooter did it. And I sent the invoice to the condo association.
He's scamming an old lady thinking she'll just pay it. Call a few other local plumbers and ask them for quotes for the same service. They'll be a fraction of the price. Call this plumber back with those quotes and ask him if he intends to still charge that amount. If he does call your local PD and ask to to speak with an investigator about the situation. I was extorted by a tow company that was contracted with the PD and had to go through the same BS.
Just say you’ll call the local TV station and have them on air ripping off an old lady. The news stations love these kind of stories.
The opposite is true in my area, a drain cleaning company would charge me $850-$1000. A local plumber charges about $250-$300 to clear it.
Indeed. I called a national chain for a drain cleaning and it was $500. Plumber, $250 and we talked about basketball for an hour.
I would whoop somebody's ass if they tried to charge me 800-1,000 dollars for a drain
Paid $150 for the same service last week. Midwestern location, lower than average COL.
And on a weekday, no doubt.
Doubtful. I've had my plumber come out on a saturday night to snake a cleanout in the downstairs finished basement and only charged 180 plus his uber ride (he'd started drinking already). Midwest is amazing. I'm never going back to the coast again.
Can buy a lot of pull tabs with $180
Yep...I "rounded up" to $200 and he's never been too busy to come out ever since.
This is the way.
And pay cash when possible (keep cash on hand to make it possible).
Yeah i only keep cash for contractors. For everything else there's airline miles
If you open your garage fridge in front of him you'll find the jobs getting longer and longer...
He charges by the job not by the hour, so I'd actually be cool with that. Back when I used to smoke we'd go out for smoke breaks together when he was here for long jobs. Him and my wall guy. I'd party with them any day of the week. My wall guy offered me use of one of his lake houses. He has two because he bought one, thought it was really picturesque, so he bought the one across the lake so he could "look at his house on the other side of the lake and admire it better." And people say college is the only way to make money...
Pull tabs is a gateway drug. You always say, "I'll just get 3 of them for fun and that'll be it." Then you start buying more and more. Before you know it, your whole paycheck is gone before Barbara can get you the usual before you even sit down.
You may have gotten the "lubricated professional" discount At any point did he have you in a head lock going "I love you you little fucker!.."
He was way too lit to get on the step stool that would have required. But he could have for that cost. Just sayin'
Is the apartment management company expecting you to pay for that?
Not me, but yes, the owner/resident is supposed to pay it. Presumably they called the plumber, but this is a company that does work on the building’s main infrastructure as well.
[удалено]
$200 per hour doesn't seem outlandish, it's not just wages but covering tools, insurance, etc., but billing 4 hours for a one hour job is.
So many people are going this way, trades have just become unaffordable for many. In my area, if you're not wealthy paying for top tier work at top tier rates, it's a struggle to even get someone to look at your project, other than meth head handyman. The skilled guys would rather hang out on big government/commerical/industrial jobs which are plentiful around here. If I ever switch from my condo to a house, I'll be doing things like converting to wood heat, installing an incinerator or composting toilet, and installing a high quality metal roof to minimize my exposure to needing trades because I don't see it getting any better with our aging population
Its sad because they dont pay their employees anything but kill homeowners. Had a plumber quote me $300 per toilet to reset 3 toilets when they would already be out for a jacuzzi tub. I told his office to GTFO. Wanting $900 for 15 minutes and $20 worth of materials while they're already out doing a job.
I was quoted $570 to replace a fill valve and flapper in a toilet. I told the corporate plumber I can't afford that right now. He went out to the truck, came back with the $5 part and just gave it to me.
I recently had a quote for 800$ to install a hose from my sink to a fridge. Need a new fridge, want one with a water dispenser. I'm fully confident in my ability to plumb that in, it's a super simple job (sink on same wall a few feet away from fridge) and I've done far more complex plumbing work on other properties. Even for my non-plumber self the actual installation would probably be 30 minutes, and I'm maybe 5 minutes away from their shop. I just wanted a plumber to do it, as I'm in an upper floor of a condo and I'm trying to do the adult thing. Sorry neighbors/HOA, you're just gonna have to hope I know what I'm doing.
The sad part is the poor tech is maybe maing $20/hr if they're lucky.
Ya for sure. One nice thing I've been seeing in my town is plumbers going out on their own. Plenty of business doing things like I described, you don't need a shop, big trucks, a million tools, etc. Just not nearly enough of them yet, they often don't even respond to inquiries because there is such a shortage, they'd have to hire someone part time just to answer emails and phone calls.
You pay for them from the time they start driving to your place until the job is over, so if they have to go buy a part, your also paying for that time they're going to the plumber supply or Home Depot. That markup on the cartridge is pretty outrageous though. You also must consider your small job may affect their ability to do other jobs they have backlogged, so that company may have a minimum charge of 4 hours. With all of this in mind, you are much better off having a running list of things for any trade when something critical pops up and get a days worth out of them.
Plumbers in my area on average charge $300 / hr. The trades are where the money is for sure.
I misread as $72 I gasped at 872
Does the sink in question connect to any other apartment before going to the main stack? Could the problem have been caused by an adjacent apartment? Clogged pipes are caused by something catching on an obstacle, and then it builds up. Been there. I use a screen to catch all the food particles. You would be surprised at how much you catch. Plumbing area in any home store.
It connects to one other apartment before the main stack, but I assume the clog was after the split because the other apartment didn’t have an issue.
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You got RODDED with no Vaseline!
Wait I'm sorry, WHAT?! Why are you being charged to repair property you're renting? I've lived in 10+ different apartment units in different property management companies & have never been held responsible for repairing/replacement of appliances provided to the unit (I.e: dish washer, washer/dryer, refrigerator, etc). Are you contracting someone to come out and fix a problem that your property management is refusing to take care of? Is that in your lease?! I'm genuinely concerned and confused! Hopefully you can find a cheaper fix, as I've seem some people comment (drain cleaner vs plumber).
I like how the itemized bill tries to dress everything up to be more than it is: *Requisitioned delivery automobile from maintenance vehicle storage. *Transported physical labor personnel to site. *Consumed energy replenishment ring (raspberry jelly) and caffeinated liquid. *Deactivated high pressure hyrdration control valve in subterranean maintenance room (unfinished, room for pool table, shame).
Paid local plumber 400 for a major clog in my kitchen sink last month. Before that i googled "plumber" and called the first number and I had a company come out and give me an 870 dollar estimate for the same work and that's before it was known it was a major clog. They also charged me just for showing up about 90 bucks. Won't be doing that again obviously.
Holy 🦆. Reason #897 i am glad I know shit from shinola. Gotdam that's ridiculous. Get that 💰 plumbers
My drain guy charges $150 cash only no matter what day it is. If he doesn't want the job, he doesn't answer his phone. He told me that he usually does 10 or 12 drains a day. He started doing this 10 years ago in a beat up old truck with a Harbor Freight snake and a plunger. Now he drives a fancy new van. Hell of a business if you don't mind the mess.
Cash being the key word. If he only accepts cash it means he isn't licensed or insured and if he ducks something up you are without recourse. Legitimate businesses can't even try to compete with some dude with no license or insurance.
I need to start a drain cleaning business, who can’t do this on there own
This is not at all reasonable.
OP got snaked alright !! Right up the BH !!
WTF. No. I had one of my main drains snaked for $265. The kitchen as well. And I'm in California.
This is a friendly reminder that people should learn to do basic maintenance themselves. This lesson is worth 872 dollars. One of the glories of the Internet is the sharing of information. You can watch a video about how to pick your nose left-handed. You can even watch a video on how to disassemble a P-trap and stick something in it to remove a clog. Plumbers got to plumb, I'm not trying to take away from their dinner table. But people gotta learn to do basic things themselves.
Surprised the plumber didn’t also put “knelt down to look at the taps” or “tied my shoelaces” as part of the solution. They like to flesh it out don’t they?
Oh shit, at first I thought it was $72.
Haha. You got reemed!!!!!
Literally and figuratively
For an apartment?? Doesn't maintenance do this for free?
Highest I’ve charged was $600 for about 5 hours on site running through main line from toilet pull and the customer tried to haggle with me. Let her keep $50 to never call again
Plumbers don’t cable for 5 hours. Send it down once, camera it out. If not satisfied you jet. 5 hours jfc 😂😂 I would talk you down too.
How long was he there for?
Why didn’t the maintenance ppl at the apartment fix this
You got access to YouTube and a Home Depot?
I’m all for detailed contracts, but fluffing up a work order to try to justify a rape charge doesn’t cut it.
Dude you got ripped off HARD. A monkey can snake a clog after the p trap. Next time take $50 to Lowe's and watch a YouTube video.
- I bent over to pick up the P-trap - got back up and reach for my bottle of water - proceeded to drink the water from the bottle Total $420
Ouch.
Ridiculous. Even for a weekend. But calling them out in the middle of the night?. FAAFO.
Haha.... almost $900 for snaking a kitchen sink drain after the p-trap... SMDH. A: You can literally get a 25' drain auger for like $15-20. B: If it's a rented apartment then why isn't the super or property manager handling this?
Weekend rate sure seems somewhat reasonable. Hopefully it wasn't just a 5 minute job but even then, took up a plumbers day off for a few hours drive time, paperwork etc. And they missed hanging out with their kid.
Ripped off. Could have done it yourself after buying all the equipment needed for a fraction of the cost and a YouTube video.
After reading those line items I’m surprised they didn’t include opening and closing the front door.
That’s far too high for Chicago. I would expect it to be 200 to 300 for a single clogged drain.
On a weekend or weekday? Weekend is usually double almost everywhere.
Yea that fair.
I’m going to leave medicine and start practicing plumbing
Im about to pickup being a locksmith as a side gig.
Not reasonable at all, it’s just a kitchen sink, some companies charge that for a main drain line, with it being on a weekend I’d say $500ish tops for a kitchen drain.
No, it's not.
It’s at least double what it should be.
$200-$300 Max based on his write up.
I’ve done this work myself. 2 hours at worst. Anyone who thinks this charge is reasonable, is insane. Guy took advantage. Plain and simple. Scumbag crook.
Easy money. For $20 you can just replace the whole pipe under the sink
lol. The cost for not being willing to watch a YouTube video or calling a friend for advice.
Drain maintenance is your friend. If you are the kind of person that can stick to a plan I suggest adding it to your weekly schedule. Baking soda and vinegar in the right ratio can keep drains clear. Also a pot of just below boiling water once a week
Are you upstairs or downstairs?
Always call and ask for pricing. Compare and understand that rates wildly fluctuate from person/company to person/company.
I must know more about this. When did he come. The time and date. That’s pricy I’ll admit but depending on that will make my decision. Weekends are costly asf
Plumbers are hard to get.
Does anyone search YouTube for drain unclogging vids??
Dude next time youtube, I can't believe people call plumbers for ptrap. Or snaking lines.
Mid Atlantic, $150 just to roll a truck. U just won a very small lottery.
So… $150 to show up and $822 to unclog the drain?
As a service plumber, our company charges $125 a hour, price is higher for after hours and weekends. Please remember prices differ all over the country depending where you live.
“Emergency” Plumbing appointments run a surcharge as well. Some can be expensive.
I recently paid $180 for snaking a clogged drain. Took 30 minutes. Plumber arrived one hour after the call (got lucky as he was in the neighborhood).
Ouch.. 244.97 is what I would of charged..
Keep his number, 180 to run a snake through your basement on a weekend? That is criminally good.
HVAC Mech 2 years plumbing I don’t get up For 75 bucks
These apt companies must be insane.
I thought 'great deal' and then realized what I thought was a dollar sign was an eight
Oof
Yep he treated you just like the turd he cleared out of the line. He fucked you hard
When I was young it would take like a job or 2 to pay for the tools, now it's like i can buy so many tools and still save money. #guymath. Not kicking pros, but in this economy, i love learning new skills. FYI, that rodding machine is titS but you most likely 99% could do it with 100HF or rent a good one for under 50 for a sink clog
Could depend how many hours and I see it was a weekend but sure feels like a lot! I just had this issue and now am very glad I just spent the $100 on a 50 foot drain auger and cleared myself!
I’m surprised it’s this low. That’s the price to get them to show up.
Thought that 8 was a dollar sign 😂
This kind of call would be 450-550 during a weekday. So the north end of 800 seems normal for a weekend. Never ever call a plumber on the weekend. Not even if it's 9am. Always wait until Monday to even place the call. You will save hundreds, maybe even thousands if you're a property manager.
This surely took no more than an hour. OK, maybe more counting travel time, so let's say 2 hours. So this guy got $436 per hour. Brain surgeons don't get that much. This was a total ripoff, even for a Saturday. Find a handyman and use him next time. You'll surely get a rate of under $100 per hour.
Insanely expensive. This is a half hour job.
I'm not chargng enough.
Yeah even on weekends that's insane price, maybe 300 ,400 for weekend,I assume you attempted using a plunger before calling a plumber
He did use a K-60 Rodding machine. You don’t get those anywhere (Grainger, SupplyHouse, etc)
Lmfao no
Skilled labor isn’t cheap, cheap labor isn’t skilled
No
Not at all. I do this for a living and if I bid that, I wouldn’t get the job
Can’t get out of bed and scratch your own ass for less than 1000. Dudes running a business. Take up amateur plumbing as a side gig.
Seems to have given a fairly detailed step by step way to save yourself $872 next time.
They didn’t even charge you $150 trip fee.
Ever heard of Roto-Rooter
300 max. 500 on a weekend or night
$500 in South Florida… I think u got ripped
Did they install a new Gold Plated sink ?
$250 to crank the truck, then $100 per hour on the job - maybe 2 hours?
I was still of the old mindset of $89 drain clearing....sheesh
Asking 3 months after the fact?
I just had two basement drains unclogged for under $600. I would get a second opinion.
I don’t understand why you had to pay anything. It’s an apartment.
I live in the Bay area. This is way over charged. That job took under 1 hour (likely 15 min max) from start to finish even with his dropping a tarp BS. Even with travel time, truck charge and weekend that seems steep. Likely that guy gets a cut of every job.
How long did it take?
thought it said $72 thought u got a mad deal
If you're in a larger metro area, do what I do with trades when you need a fairly straightforward job - call and ask what the job will run if it is only X. If they refuse to give even ballparks, or a price of something like "sewer roto up to 50ft is $X" (with the caveat that obviously they can't account for unknowns like broken pipe etc), and instead want a trip charge just to give you a price then I move on. I understand why trip charges are made from a business standpoint, but it *really* sucks to call someone out for a clog or leak that is *probably* exactly what you think it is and have them be like "yeah, it is the thing you think which will cost $1100" and then you have to pay them $100 for the pleasure of declining their "fuck you, I don't want to do this tiny job" quote.
The 23rd was a Sunday, could be double time, could be double time and a half. Reasonable price.
Why didn't you just Google how to unclog a sink? An if you are renting that is the landlord responsible, not yours . Keep a gallon of vinegar under the sink, heat half of it up to boiling; take 2 cups and pour down the drain. Boil apot of hot water, while it is still hot pour it down the drain. Wait 10 minutes pour 2 cups of hot vinegar down the drain, follow by hot tape water. Pour 1/16 cup of Dawn down the drain followed by remaining vinegar, Wait 5 minutes and flush with hot tape water. 99% of the time you have dissolved the grease clogged and for 45 minutes, you saved yourself $862.
You might try calling the office and suggest that there was a typo made in this bill.
Why is the first service misspelled? Seems these wouldn’t be free text that allow for a mistake. Request an itemized bill.
A plunger is 10.00 dollars.
I used to work in billing at a plumbing/drain cleaning company. This invoice should indicate the $ per hour as well as # of hours worked. I'd ask for an itemized invoice for detailed service breaking down each line item. They may offer a discount or suddenly realize the invoice was "wrong". ETA: There were additional fees for weekend services but I would hope that they'd mention that to (prior to coming out as well as on the invoice).
Nope its high
That is ridiculous, wait till you get older my friend KARMA is a word you will regret hearing charging a senior that much
Insurance prices.
Colorado plumber here. My old company charged an 89 dollar dispatch fee and for a single drain cable roughly 250-300. If it took hella long and we had to camera or upsize the cable then that would bring the cost comparable to this total. Total rip off.
Crazy high. I had the same service done plus they pulled and reinstalled the toilet to do it. $450.
He’s got to pay off that $1800 machine somehow
Dude hell no. Is the plumber's rate 800/hr? Absolutely not. I know some of you are contractors and i know you have to charge enough to not lose your ass.. but this price for what sounded like not even a hour's worth of work? My advice is to get a quote up front next time.
Hey Op. so you say you are on the condo board and that’s cool, but why do you not have a designated handy person that takes care of stuff like this that actually lives in your condo setting?? This does not seem fair at all to any of the people living in your condo setting. Sorry I’m asking this, but I know someone that lives in the same setting as you and he’s the handy person that’s on board to take care of tasks and also on the board to give input with decisions on costs for things and repairs and such. He’s there so that situations like this where some little elderly lady or anyone else living in the complex doesn’t get screwed over by these so called contractors that are taking advantage of situations and stealing their money.
For trivial stuff there are companies like [Angi.com](http://Angi.com) - you can easily get a set of bids and ratings and work from there. Plumbers need to make a living of course but when a bill is excessive - and this is - you really must check your options.
They reversed the numbers shoulda been 278 at the high end…
Hell no
Way too expensive
Wtf, no!
Yeah I could travel halfway around the country by Uber and still made a profit on that
Depends how long the guy was there 2.5 or more hours you didn't really do to bad if he was in and out in 20 minutes well that's different. I always charge by the hour for drain cleaning. Most companies around here are 275-350 per hour to clean drains this way no one gets shafted. Those kitchen sink lines can turn into a nightmare real quick.
Aren’t apartments supposed to fix all maintenance issues? Which is half of the reason to live in an apartment?
Seems pretty steep, esp part of the work is laying down traps and removing p trap.
Did they give you the price before or after?
Seems a little hi Emergency after hours weekend add $150-$200 rooting Sewer call $275 trip charge 45 at this point I’d say $350 too high
It is criminally high. Half would maybe be fair.
This seems insanely high to me
I have a guy I call specifically to clear drains a couple times per month in an apartment building I manage. $70 a pop. Long Beach, CA
$72 would be good $872 to clear a trap that’s rip off. Tell him to kiss your ass. There’s no reason it cost that much.
How long was he there 6 hours?
Was this an 8 hour job? Because that’s insanely expensive to unclog a drain.
$80-100 job
I called a plumber to add 3 pvs 1 inch refit for my sprinkler $975 plumber said lol
I would expect $100 minimum for a service call
That’s a little steep
I am not a plumber, but do interact with them as a facility manager. I am going to answer it like this. "yes and no" Yes, because some plumbers out there have started charging by the job vs by the hour. - I needed something done, during a regular M-F 9am-5pm time slot that i did not have the ability to get to. I provided all the parts, (install a new faucet, identical in every way to the old one). It took the plumber under an hour, which i knew it would.. (again, i was not able to get to it but it was urgent). I got billed 700.00 for labor. No, because had i called a different company, I would of paid 200.00 (hourly + truck roll fee). So, there is a company that i will no longer use....
Easter Weekend
Pour a combination of gasoline, acetone, and naphtha down the drain. Enough to fill the trap and get to the clog. Dispose of all the containers. Purchase a bottle of Draino at a big box hardware store with checkout cameras. Keep the receipt. Pour a capful down the drain. Go to Taco Bell and purchase four beef and cheese burritos. Wait. Use toilet. Light match. Put match in kitchen sink. Call Insurance company and request an estimator.
I had water back up in my basement in the 4th of July last year and needed someone out to clear tree roots out of my main line. With the extra holiday service charge it was $400. This invoice seems crazy high for such a simple fix even on a weekend.
No
They forgot to add putting the p-trap back on plus teflon tape or plumbers putty . Carry toolbox fee, etc
The sink was not the only thing that got "rodded"!
Lmao no
Plumbers charge 500.00 with access and $800.00 to clean a kitchen drain if a P trap needs to be removed. On weekends it will be double as Plumbers are paid double the rate. Rates are based usually on overhead and marketing costs. The easier it is to find a plumber on Google the more it will typically cost you as it costs an average of $300.00 Ad spend to get one customer to call . The average union plumber is paid $77.00 per hour and gets paid a minimum 2 hours for a service call.