I'm calling around for labor estimates to have my 3-knob bath faucet
replaced with a single handle Moen. I'm explaining that on the other side of
the wall, there's an access panel that was designed in heaven. 4' wide, runs
from floor to ceiling. It's as if you were looking at just the framing in a
half-built house. It's on the first floor. Pipes are also totally accessible
from below. Matter of fact, there's a 6" x 4' slot in the floor. You can
reach right up from the basement, if you needed to.

I've called three plumbers who live within 5-10 minutes of my home. Take a
guess at the estimates. Labor only.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
Doug Kanter wrote:
I'm calling around for labor estimates to have my 3-knob bath faucet
replaced with a single handle Moen. I'm explaining that on the other side
of the wall, there's an access panel that was designed in heaven. 4'
wide, runs from floor to ceiling. It's as if you were looking at just the
framing in a half-built house. It's on the first floor. Pipes are also
totally accessible from below. Matter of fact, there's a 6" x 4' slot in
the floor. You can reach right up from the basement, if you needed to.

I've called three plumbers who live within 5-10 minutes of my home. Take
a guess at the estimates. Labor only.

$150.00

Nope. Let's wait for a few more guesses.

On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 15:52:14 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


I've called three plumbers who live within 5-10 minutes of my home. Take a
guess at the estimates. Labor only.

$360.00

bb

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
Doug Kanter wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
Doug Kanter wrote:
I'm calling around for labor estimates to have my 3-knob bath faucet
replaced with a single handle Moen. I'm explaining that on the other
side of the wall, there's an access panel that was designed in heaven.
4' wide, runs from floor to ceiling. It's as if you were looking at
just the framing in a half-built house. It's on the first floor. Pipes
are also totally accessible from below. Matter of fact, there's a 6" x
4' slot in the floor. You can reach right up from the basement, if you
needed to.

I've called three plumbers who live within 5-10 minutes of my home.
Take a guess at the estimates. Labor only.
$150.00

Nope. Let's wait for a few more guesses.


I try to hire union retirees to handle my plumbing or electrical work. The
plumber I call now is a retired steamfitter. There's nothing in the way of
household plumbing he can't handle. He usually charges me $50 to $100 plus
materials for a simple job, such as adding service to a privacy wall in my
basement. He cut into existing supply and drain lines, and set me up to
connect a future sink. $110, plus about $20 in PVC pipe and fittings.

I don't mind paying good people, especially plumbers. I have a thing for
shiny, new pipes, and knowing I won't have to spend a day dealing with a
flooded basement, which would probably be the result of my own soldering
adventures. But the prices I'm getting....holy ****!

Some of these guys are insane. Example: In my previous house, there was a
problem with the water heater, covered by the manufacturer due to a class
action suit. It required that consumers use one of 10 designated plumbers in
this area. When the guy was done, I pointed out the ancient iron pipes under
my kitchen, said they tended to clog often, and asked what it would cost to
convert them all to PVC. $350.00. I said "Wanna do it right now?". 90
minutes. Done.

3 months ago, I called the same guy to have the same thing done in my
current house. He stopped by and gave me an estimate of $1500.00. More space
to work in, better light, less pipes & bends to deal with. His explanation?
"Travel charges - I was already at your other house". WTF? The guy lives 5
minutes away and works from his home!

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 15:52:14 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

I'm calling around for labor estimates to have my 3-knob bath faucet
replaced with a single handle Moen. I'm explaining that on the other side
of
the wall, there's an access panel that was designed in heaven. 4' wide,
runs
from floor to ceiling. It's as if you were looking at just the framing in
a
half-built house. It's on the first floor. Pipes are also totally
accessible
from below. Matter of fact, there's a 6" x 4' slot in the floor. You can
reach right up from the basement, if you needed to.

I've called three plumbers who live within 5-10 minutes of my home. Take a
guess at the estimates. Labor only.

Somewhere in the vicinity of $400 plus or minus $25.

Yep. Time estimate: 2 hours, barring any nasty surprises. They quote a labor
rate of $75-ish, and can't explain how two times 75 equals 400.

Doug Kanter wrote:
I'm calling around for labor estimates to have my 3-knob bath faucet
replaced with a single handle Moen. I'm explaining that on the other side of
the wall, there's an access panel that was designed in heaven. 4' wide, runs
from floor to ceiling. It's as if you were looking at just the framing in a
half-built house. It's on the first floor. Pipes are also totally accessible
from below. Matter of fact, there's a 6" x 4' slot in the floor. You can
reach right up from the basement, if you needed to.

I've called three plumbers who live within 5-10 minutes of my home. Take a
guess at the estimates. Labor only.


The first $250 bucks covers hauling the toolbox into your house from
the plumbing truck.
After that you can figure about $200 an hour, IMO.

My plumbing nightma Hired a company to clean out a clogged drain
under a tub in a ground floor apartment. Their power snake *broke* in
the pipe, and try as they might they couldn't figure out how to extract
it. They wanted to blame the mess on the clog in the pipe, of course.
Ultimately wound up having to jackhammer up the cement floor in the
bathroom and cut out a section of the drain pipe to recover their
broken tool. The plumbing company originally wanted over $10,000 to fix
their own mess........needless to say we finally agreed on an amount
about 10% of that price and I wouldn't have paid that
if I had time to take the *******s to court. It did take two guys just
about all day to jackhammer the floor, cut out the pipe,and patch in a
new section so that $1000 was both the biggest rip off and the cheapest
plumbing I've contracted for in quite a while.
Two plumbers, one day.....the $1k probably just covered wages.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 11:14:31 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

I try to hire union retirees to handle my plumbing or electrical work.

I knew that was coming. :)

Hey...I want experienced, *licensed* journeymen on the more difficult
projects, or supervised apprentices on the simpler ones. When I have a
union mechanic on my property, I don't have to worry about him screwing up
the job, nor do I have to wonder what he was doing on his last job.

IIRC, I once called the local union to ask about finding a plumber. The
retard on the phone made like I was asking how much Jupiter weighed.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
I'm calling around for labor estimates to have my 3-knob bath faucet
replaced with a single handle Moen. I'm explaining that on the other side
of the wall, there's an access panel that was designed in heaven. 4' wide,
runs from floor to ceiling. It's as if you were looking at just the
framing in a half-built house. It's on the first floor. Pipes are also
totally accessible from below. Matter of fact, there's a 6" x 4' slot in
the floor. You can reach right up from the basement, if you needed to.

I've called three plumbers who live within 5-10 minutes of my home. Take a
guess at the estimates. Labor only.


Yeah, thats why if anyone one says economy is bad, I tell them about stuff
like this. I tried to get an electrician, took me months. Everyone is doing
commercial jobs. I also wanted my curb cut, and I can't get anyone either. I
am willing to pay, no one wants to bother with a small job.

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:44:30 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 11:14:31 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

I try to hire union retirees to handle my plumbing or electrical work.

I knew that was coming. :)

Hey...I want experienced, *licensed* journeymen on the more difficult
projects, or supervised apprentices on the simpler ones. When I have a
union mechanic on my property, I don't have to worry about him screwing
up
the job, nor do I have to wonder what he was doing on his last job.

IIRC, I once called the local union to ask about finding a plumber. The
retard on the phone made like I was asking how much Jupiter weighed.

ROTFL!!!

Last year I helped a friend of mine set up at a hunting/fishing/boat
show and the convention center was "union". We set up the booth and
were working on the lighting for the boats when along comes a union
steward who told us that we needed to have a union electrician inspect
the lighting rack. That in and of itself wasn't a problem - we paid
the hour electrician's fee, the guy inspected the lighting, passed it
as "good" and charged us and additional fee to plug in the extension
cord - I kid you not.

Guess how much the plugging in of the extension cord cost?

$50.00

"Dan J.S." wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
I'm calling around for labor estimates to have my 3-knob bath faucet
replaced with a single handle Moen. I'm explaining that on the other side
of the wall, there's an access panel that was designed in heaven. 4'
wide, runs from floor to ceiling. It's as if you were looking at just the
framing in a half-built house. It's on the first floor. Pipes are also
totally accessible from below. Matter of fact, there's a 6" x 4' slot in
the floor. You can reach right up from the basement, if you needed to.

I've called three plumbers who live within 5-10 minutes of my home. Take
a guess at the estimates. Labor only.


Yeah, thats why if anyone one says economy is bad, I tell them about stuff
like this. I tried to get an electrician, took me months. Everyone is
doing commercial jobs. I also wanted my curb cut, and I can't get anyone
either. I am willing to pay, no one wants to bother with a small job.


If I was flush right now, I'd take the cheapest quote (which has been about
$350) and just do it. But, I simply can't part with money like it's water
right now. I'm still recovering from divorce proceedings, buying furniture,
etc. Guess what's next? The roof. First quote, from a guy who came highly
recommended by 5 different people, was $8500.00, and this is a small house.
It's a tear-off, and the guy's an unbelievable perfectionist, but still....I
may blow a vacation week doing it myself.