thats about the going rate I dont think you got ripped off if you feel good about the work no need to lose sleep over the cost. sure you could probably find somebody cheaper but not much.

Thank you. Your answer makes me feel better about myself. My partners been just relentless about how I should have gotten a second opinion so in order for me to even continue my conversation I had to promise to him that next time I would get another estimate. I told him point blank that I thought it seemed a little overpriced, but I have no concept of it, and didn't feel I got ripped off. He said that overpriced is the definition of being "ripped off". He said that "his" plumber would have spent only an hour. He also said it sounded like a one person job and I should have insisted that one person do it. I really didn't have the money to do any of it anyway, but I had to get it done because of the leak, and was too stressed to be spending time back and forth with estimates, so I'm glad to hear from you that I wasn't "ripped off". Thanks again.

Fair price here in MD suburbs of DC.

There is no such thing as a “certified but not licensed” plumber. Either they hold a license, and insurance, or they don’t. If it’s fixed, it’s the going rate for someone with a license and insurance. It’s high for a unlicensed handyman. If it’s not fixed....

Tell the other half that you were tired of waiting on HIM to fix it. So you took care of it. Now where’s that sandwich he‘s supposed to be making for you?

:)

No idea what "not licensed" but "certified plumber is".

That said you not being charged based on how much crawling around he will be doing, you being charged for materials, labor and overhead and everything else that it takes to run a business nowadays that if they're in business.

As the price goes, you got a good deal to do all that.

I feel sorry for plumbers that have to bid on $450.00 jobs. I'd work at the Wendy's drive-thru before I'd ever do such a thing.

I reject any potential customer who estimates how long something should take or the degree of difficulty. Absolutely none of their business.

@joe d: If it's fixed, that was probably a reasonable cost. I'd tell your other-half to take a step back as well. Critics are so much easier to come by than do-ers.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC: What-ever. Look, Houzz is full of spoiled people who hire designers to do $80,000 kitchen remodels and whine about their $2,000 faucet not going with their new granite top. If you don't have to stoop so low that you have to bid $450 jobs, well good for you. Not everybody gets to play in that ballpark.

For the majority of people, $450 is a lot of money. Those people still need plumbing work done. I don't begrudge anyone making an honest living, but there's a ton of trades doing retail work who aren't providing the quality or value for what they are charging. I see it repeatedly. If customers are concerned about being "ripped off" it's for very good reason.

Picasso says it better than I.

So, I think the moral of that story is:

1. Although they think they are, not every plumber is a "Picasso" (although, come to think of it, I've seen some jobs that look like Picasso did them).

2. If you are price sensitive and just need a sketch on a napkin, then don't hire Picasso to do it.

I get it that knowledge, experience and skill add value. I don't like it when people try to de-value or commoditize my work either. But I stand by my point that there are A LOT of bad actors out there and the best protection is for homeowners to understand the job and get a couple of bids.

joe-

I don't know where you live, but in my area that would be a bargain. Next time, tell your partner to handle the procuring of plumbing services...maybe he could have saved $17.29 on this one.

You always pay proportionately more for small jobs than large ones.

Decades ago, I came across a "handyman" a dissertation away from his Ph.d in sociology. He would go on at eloquent length about "babyboomers" desiring all sorts of material things but unable to do most anything of such a demeaning nature as plumbing and wiring. A perfect market! I don't know if he ever bothered to finish his dissertation.

Huh?

Thanks everyone.

The way it was explained by the plumber, what that "certified" meant he went to school and has a "degree" of some sort which he said he could show me, and he also had many years of experience, but was not officially "licensed" (which I don't know anything about because I'm one of those regular college types so I took him at his word). But I accepted it.

450.00 yes is a lot of money for me, but I'm NOT going to have 3 people over for free estimates on an ultimately 450.00 job on a friday afternoon, just to get the price down a bit. The expense and stress is not worth it.

So..my better 1/2 then sort of berated me for not getting a breakdown on parts and labor. wtf I agreed to the 450.00 and they finished the job who the hell cares. They had to go to home depot during a pandemic and get the pipes etc.

Bottom line: If I was a plumber and I had years of experience, and had to spend two hours plus a trip to home depot and figure out a strangers house and plumbing, I would want 450.00 too. I would want a partner to help me as they did as well, and I would charge extra for that too to pay him (I think his partner owned the business and was probably licensed in other trades, but I didn't ask, I can't go around distrusting 90% of the people in life). Jake, how many people do you trust?

Not out of line for three hours work and picking up materials.

My point is that if you're interested, basic skills can be learned.

A former friend of ours--now moved to Northern Ireland--has the following credentials: PhD, MB, BCh, BSc, FRCSI (Gen Surg), FRCS (ORL-HNS)

When we knew him, he didn't think a thing of replacing the w.c. in his rental house when the landlord was slow to act. If you can do surgery on the human skull, what's to worry about a w.c?

" If you can do surgery on the human skull, what's to worry about a w.c?"

I have an engineer friend who designed and oversaw the construction of a $6,000,000.00 fuel gas recovery system in a refinery.

When he couldn't get his wash machine apart, he called me.

Obviously next time your partner will handle getting things fixed. I paid $125 for the plumber to change the filter in my Delta faucet.

I paid a plumber $99.00 to turn on a dishwasher supply valve that my employee turned off and failed to turn back on.

After a home inspector turned off our ac as part of his check for the homebuyer, I couldn't get it to re-start.

I called an HVAC repairman who double-checked with me that I was OK paying $125-$150 min whatever the repair was. Then he whacked the two pole contacter in the compressor with a hammer. Voila!

Turns out bugs love the warm contacter and their carcasses regularly short-circuit the system come summer. I looked at it as a lesson. And it paid off in the future!