I just had a plumber give me an estimate on making the repairs necessary for me to close the house on the 11th - there were two leaks in the crawl space that had to be repaired. His price was $850 to do what was needed - replace a cracked pipe and replace a valve.Â
After I recovered from my shock at the price, I called my son who has his plumber’s license but who usually just works on irrigation systems. He told me he could do the work for me for much less and that I shouldn’t pay that much. So I told the plumber that I was going to have my son do the work instead.
He immediately said he’d call his boss and see if they could do it for less. And guess what? They can do the whole job for just $398. LESS THAN HALF THE ORIGINAL ESTIMATE. They are going to “throw in” a valve that was $450 in the first estimate.
I called my son. He said he couldn’t do it for less than $398. So, the plumber got the job and is working on it now.
Interesting sidenote: As the plumber was writing up the work order he chatted with me about his son and raising his son right, and how he knew God would take care of things. How just this morning he had to take money from his son’s college fund to pay the mortgage. Was he trying to play on my sympathies? Or maybe make me feel guilty for not paying the original quote? I don’t know. If so, it didn’t work.
Amazing, isn’t it? Less than half the original estimate. Most people would have just had them do the job and paid the $850. Dishonest bastards!
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June 30th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
That flabberghasted me, Carol. I immediately turned to the guy I share an office with and he agreed. It’s so annoying that they build in that much overhead in their bills. I need to have some work done on my A/C next week–it stopped working 4 days ago–and I’ll try to use your advice!
June 30th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
It seem to me, the dishonest folks are the builders. Your condo is not old enough to have that kind of problem.
July 1st, 2006 at 6:59 am
Yes, the dishonest party BY FAR is the builder - The Jones Company of Tennessee. Most unethical people I’ve ever dealt with. The leaks were most likely there from the time the townhouse was built. However, it’s past the 1-year warranty phase. Same thing with the AC problem. I would have taken it up with Jones Co., but I’m so sick of them. They’ve lied to me repeatedly. However, the plumber is also dishonest. To tell me that it will cost $850 to take care of the problem and then - just as soon as they realize I know someone who is licensed as a plumber who can do it for less - the price plummets to less than half that. Idiots.
July 1st, 2006 at 9:54 pm
I hope they didn’t use lower quality gizmos to make up the cost??? I don’t trust builders. I’ve been dealing with them as long as I have had my current job - with one buidling project after the other. And the games they play. They’ll price you higher quality products and make up the cost by using the lowest quality they can get by with.
July 1st, 2006 at 10:44 pm
Beth, I don’t really care. I just want it to be fixed well enough that I can close on the sale of this place and be done with it. I have a “satisfaction/work guaranteed” certificate from the plumbing company - and that will be part of the closing. So if the folks who buy this townhouse have problems with anything, they can call them to fix it.