# Did I get ripped off by the plumber? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 12, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928 "2014-07-12T13:36:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928/21 "2014-07-12T21:25:26Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I’d chalk it up to “don’t pay for things while pregnant!” experience and not worry about it too much except that we’re considering having our next project be adding a shower stall to that bathroom, so if I liked this plumber I was going to use him for that. I asked him for a ballpark on what it would cost to do that (it would involve a new sink, the shower, fixtures and all, and moving the connections) and he said probably around $4500. Is THAT a fair price? I don’t mind paying a bit more to hire somebody dependable who stands behind his work, etc., but I don’t want to be ripped off either. It’s hard to tell without seeing the layout of your house. You’re adding a shower where one doesn’t exist, right? Is it on the first floor, 2nd floor…? How much work to tie into the drain? To redo an existing bathroom with one sink and shower, I’d expect the cost to be about $1500 - $2000. But that’s with a shower that’s already there. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928/22 "2014-07-13T19:02:51Z")
Single story structure with a crawlspace (very nice one that, in that end of the house, you can actually stand up in, BTW. Workmen compliment my crawlspace all the time.) Old house, however, build in 1928, so occasionally there are Surprises. Currently there is a sink and a toilet in the bathroom; the shower would need to go in the corner where the sink is and a small pedestal sink would need to be added where currently there is nothing. No idea what the drains are like. He did indicate that moving a sink and adding plumbing for a shower is a much easier job than moving the toilet would be, which makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928/23 "2014-07-13T20:26:26Z")
I just replaced two toilets last weekend. They were a little above midrange at home depot, Kohler instead of their house brand. They were $250 each out the door. If I were a plumber covering overhead and earning a living I can’t imagine charging less than $500 to replace a toilet. Adding a shower can be a sticky thing. Very likely the plumber will have to hire other tradesmen to handle different tasks. He could only be a plumber and not have a general contractors license which would prevent him from hiring other tradesmen and managing a project. Maybe he doesn’t like doing full remodels, which is what adding a shower really is. Maybe he can handle everything and he’s delighted to take it on and that’s really his best off-the-cuff educated guess. There’s really no way to tell without the old fashioned legwork of figuring out what you want, making calls, and getting detailed bids from several contractors and weighing out price vs perceived reliability. If you’re satisfied with the work the plumber did, great. I don’t think you overpaid nor do I think he gave you unrealistic prices for other work. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928/24 "2014-07-14T18:27:33Z")
At 8 months pregnant you cannot trust your brain on things like this. Seriously, I got in a fight with my boss at one point due to pregnancy brain and made seriously inappropriate comments that normally wouldn’t ever have come out of my mouth. Beyond that, I just felt insanely vulnerable all the time, which meant that even people doing nice things for me were suspected of attempting to cause me some type of harm. Reminding yourself not to be insane is a full time job during pregnancy! Don’t fret, wait until you are un-pregnant for a few months and then do a little more research on plumbing stuff in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928/25 "2014-07-14T20:20:56Z")
Dunno about Columbia, S.C. - but in lots of places plumbers would charge $225 just for crossing the threshold of your home and having a look around. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928/26 "2014-07-14T20:30:12Z")
Okay, THAT would be a ripoff. I’m not sure if I’ve ever paid more than $75 for a service call - certainly never more than $100. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928/27 "2014-07-14T20:40:13Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > It’s easy to say that a fair price is whatever price you agree on, but when it’s a Sunday afternoon and something evil is coming up through the drains, frankly you’re not in a position to determine that with a clear head and the guy you’ve got is there right now. You need somebody you can trust. So I need to know, is that this guy? Are you saying the plumber came out on a Sunday afternoon? And left the bathroom cleaner than when he started? And only charged $225? I can’t get a plumber to come to my house in the middle of the week for less than $200. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928/28 "2014-07-14T20:47:03Z")
I did this in my kids bathroom last summer for the same reason. IANAP, but it took me a little over an hour without counting cleanup and aggravation. Had I not had the stuff laying around, 225 would seem pretty fair. By the way in case anyone is wondering a rebill kit goes for like 20-40 bucks. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928/29 "2014-07-14T20:51:28Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Are you saying the plumber came out on a Sunday afternoon? And left the bathroom cleaner than when he started? And only charged $225? I can’t get a plumber to come to my house in the middle of the week for less than $200. No, it was a Friday. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928/30 "2014-07-14T21:36:27Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > Adding a shower can be a sticky thing. Very likely the plumber will have to hire other tradesmen to handle different tasks. He could only be a plumber and not have a general contractors license which would prevent him from hiring other tradesmen and managing a project. Maybe he doesn’t like doing full remodels, which is what adding a shower really is. Maybe he can handle everything and he’s delighted to take it on and that’s really his best off-the-cuff educated guess. There’s really no way to tell without the old fashioned legwork of figuring out what you want, making calls, and getting detailed bids from several contractors and weighing out price vs perceived reliability… In my last post, I was assuming the plumber was doing the pluming only and that the OP was acting as the GC. I would be very suspicious of a plumber acting as a GC. Depending on the materials selected, I would expect $10 - 20K for redoing an entire bathroom. You could do it cheaper with Home Depot prefabs stuff, but I’m talking a decent, custom job. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928/31 "2014-07-14T22:08:09Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > [This site](http://www.homewyse.com/services/cost_to_install_toilet.html) (when supplied with a SC zip code) estimated the cost of a toilet installation (“calculated from average material costs, unit labor producitivity rates and national average hourly labor wages”) at $326. That includes about $200 for a new toilet, about $100 for labor, and about $25 for miscellaneous costs. But [this site](http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/Need-a-new-toilet-How-much-will-that-cost-232103481.html) says that a new toilet would cost anywhere from $200-$400 with labor costing anywhere from $125-$250 more. > > Based on that it would sound like $500 for the installation of a new toilet is at the mid-to-upper end of normal. This is why I love this place. Anyone can post anecdotal replies, or guestimate an answer to the OP’s question. Leave it to a Doper to go the extra mile and do the research. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-get-ripped-off-by-the-plumber/692928.md?page=1)