 | Plumber billing practices |
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Question: We recently did a minor kitchen/bathroom remodel (new solid surface countertops) which required detachment/reattachment of a few sinks, garbage disposal, and gas cooktop. We contacted a local plumber to do the job. The plumber arrived an hour late, indicating that he had gotten lost. The detachment took about 15 minutes, and the plumber spoke with us for about another 10. We asked the plumber for a bill right then, but he said that they'd bill us after doing the reattachment a week later. When the plumber came back to hook things up again, he was accompanied by his assistant. They were late arriving (by another hour and a half), because they were driving to various supply houses, looking for a new specific garbage disposal drain (we had already told him that the old one was ok). The assistant did the bathroom (installed new faucet/drain and replaced the water supplies). The gas range had a separate downward vent, so the plumber and I set it in place on the kitchen island. The senior plumber then reconnected the garbage disposal to the new built-in sink. The disposal side of the sink was deeper than it had been in the old sink, so he needed to reconfigure the drain pipe and trap. He also installed a few kitchen faucet. In the meantime, I set the cooktop in place, secured it to the cabinets, and plugged the vent's electrical source into the range's. Shortly after I had put the cooktop in place, the plumber reconnected the cooktop gas supply. On this second visit, they spent a little over two hours at our home. We received the bill from their boss, and were shocked to see the number of labor hours claimed on the bill. The senior plumber claimed 5 hours, and the novice claimed 3.5 . Is overbilling a common practice among plumbing services? Is it common to charge a customer for travel time, to the work site, and to plumbing supply sources? We plan to discuss the bill with their boss ASAP, but we'd like any wisdom or experience others may wish to share.
Answer: Yes, we do charge for travel time and for the time to get nontruck stock materials. We can't afford to drive around the truck sucking up near $2.00/gal gas and not recoup the cost. We have to pass all costs of doing business onto the customer. Every business does. For us, there are no ten minute service calls. Minimum of 1hr. Some contractors go for fixed rate pricing, I mean flat rate pricing. That's where there is a flat charge for each sink, fixture, ect...
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