Plumber Dear Price

[Patrick20]

We just ordered a plumber to fix our boiler which costs £80 for the first hour.
We are a bit dubious as to the pricing and we would like some advice on the rates of Plumbers, thanks. Me.

[mccfluff]

my plumber charges £65 ph, have you tried one of those tradesmen sites for your area?

[Patrick20]

Is £80 an hour dear? He says that's for the first hour and then does it get lower?

[237SJ]

It`s £80 here as well.

[mccfluff]

http://www.mybuilder.com/tradesmen/in/uk?gclid=CJSBufv2x7cCFeTLtAodzQEABg

I wouldn't pay £80 per hour it sounds like the £80 is to diagnose the problem, then i would assume he would give you a quote for the repair

i'd ring around and get a few prices for comparision, you may live in a more expensive area

[Stargazer]

What about parts on top of that and then add VAT at 17.5 %? I reckon it is worth getting an apprenticeship to train as a plumber.

[ummmm]

The £80 would include his call out fee.

It's about the norm.

[Patrick20]

He's gone to get a switch for the boiler to fix it. The whole job should take about one hour. The part is £25 and he's charging in total £110. This is too much really.

[jackthehat]

I rather think *he's* the one you should be talking to about this.
Now you've let him make a start on the job after he's quoted you a price, you're rather duty-bound to pay.

[mccfluff]

stargazer, vat is 20% now.

sorry i didn;t realise he was already there, its a bit late now, as JTH has said....

[Patrick20]

There is no call out charge. Do you think that is too much?

[mccfluff]

no need to be so rude, JTH has made a valid point

[ummmm]

How rude!!

I don't think it's too dear. I used to work for a plumber.

[237SJ]

I don`t think there is cheap anything when it comes to boilers. I recently had a problem with my Vaillant combi and the part (diverter valve) was going to be expensive. My (honest) plumber said it would be cheaper to get Vaillant to fix it. When I phoned Vaillant, they wanted a £288 set price which included a year`s servicing and that price excluded a couple of components (I was pretty sure it was the diverter when I called them). Anyway, the guy came out and found that as well as the diverter, there was another component that needed replacing, which he did. He said he had put at lease £500 worth of parts in my boiler which I got for £288. Bargain!

[jackthehat]

Erm........you might view me as a buffoon.......but I'm not the one paying more than I am comfortable with, simply because I neglected to carry out a few basic enquiries before getting the job started, am I?

[ladybirder]

I agree Patrick ...JTH is wasting her time trying to help you.

[bednobs]

I personally think that's probably a middling price. I am lol at the "we ordered a plumber to fix our bioler...." after reading your latter rather rude posts, i have visions of you standing over the poor plumber shouting "fix that now"!

[Buenchico]

My friend is a fully-qualified plumber. He doesn't charge a call-out fee and never charges more than £20 per hour. That's largely because of the competition from East European tradesmen around here, who often charge as little as £12 to £15 per hour.

Shop around!

[Zeuhl]

FAO Bednobs

(apologies for hijacking thread)

a few weeks ago you asked a question about the nice looking Asian lady dentist in the Pro-Namel TV ads. Her mysterious accent was causing arguments with your OH between Irish and Canadian

Last weekend I met up with an old colleague who works on the campaign and knows the lady involved;

Her name is Vinnie Thandi, she works in a practice in Leamington Spa, she comes from British Columbia in Canada

Hope that settles the Domestic!