Rick S.
11/11/2011 12:00:00 SA
Applewood Plumbing? You would be better off having a burglar come into your home and steal your valuables. At least you could file a police report.
The larger problem is that plumbers have nurtured a horrible reputation for gouging and, to a lesser extent, shoddy work. Plus, water damage is horrible and the prospect of leaks can lead to sleepless nights for many homeowners.
So many consumers, especially elderly homeowners, are happy to pay extra for customer service. But this is ridiculous, it is above the pale, it should be criminal. I hope I'm making myself clear.
I finished a completely remodeled a kitchen last week. We installed a new faucet that fit the new cabinetry and tops and saved the existing one, less than a year old. The homeowner figured her daughter could use it. We could not re-use the existing disposal only because the mouth was a bit too wide to fit through the bottom of the porcelain farm sink.
She had them installed by Applewood less than a year ago, as her existing kitchen was then 20 years old and starting to show wear and tear.
She showed me her receipt. I was shocked and prompted to write this review.
The new kitchen faucet was a solid unit, professionally installed, no worries. Solid brass, single handle pull out with sprayer. I checked the pricing for it before I sat down to share this with everyone. A Premier brand, Sonoma line. For DIY'ers, they can be had for less than $100 online. Expect to pay maybe $250 or so retail.
The disposal, a Waste King 9930 1/2 hp. Not a bad unit. Again, about $75 online, anyone who pays more than $150 retail is wasting their money.
Also on the receipt was a new Kohler toilet, the Wentworth. I saw it at Lowe's today for $149.
Check out these charges:
They charged this elderly woman $1399.20 for the toilet. Plus $310 to remove the old toilet and install the new toilet. $1,709.
To remove and install the new disposal, $744.49. No new drains were required for this, the kitchen drains were not re-plumbed between the fixture and the wall.
The kitchen faucet? A bargain at $1,030.74.
How long does it take for a qualified plumber to remove and replace a toilet? A couple of hours, from uncrating the new one to checking the new install for leaks.
Faucet and disposal? Worst case scenario, maybe 4 hours. In this install, the old piping was still there, so there were obviously no major problems with old piping.
Companies who sell service have a lot overhead---big trucks, insurance, gas, advertising, office costs, phone costs, tools, they do add up. Plus, there is time spent off site preparing for the job and disposing of old products. This is something some consumers don't factor in when looking at a bill.
And to be fair, the disposal had a ten year warranty, labor and parts, and there was a similar 2 year warranty on the toilet and faucet. This is what the consumer expected to be paying for.
But at these prices, they should come by once a week for two years and clean your toilet bowl and scrub your sink.
No matter how you figure it, that's about a $2500 fee for maybe a days' worth of work.
That's over $300 an hour. If you call them on the phone, they won't tell you their hourly rates-now you know why!
My advice: Talk to friends, talk to neighbors, check out Yelp! do whatever, and find yourself a plumber BEFORE you need one. Interview them, put their name on the emergency list next to the police, fire dept., and poison control. Many of them advertise in small community papers.
There are lots of ethical tradesmen who have been plumbing for years, and there are still companies who don't gouge consumers. If you pay these prices it's because you have an emergency, they have you over a barrel, and you are operating out of fear. So if there's a problem down the line---pretty unlikely, actually, if you use solid tested products and have a competent conscientious tech, and I'm not saying they don't---you are reassured down the line, and of course that's worth something, that can be had for much less than $300 hour.
Homeowners don't realize that plumbers who work for a large company are actually trained by management to upcharge. They are supposed to invent problems. Part of their job is to turn what you thought of as a simple job into a complicated job.
I had a company come to my home and snake my main drain after a large party once---something I was not personally inclined to do. He kept telling me the main drain went this way and that and he had to dig up the back yard. I was armed with knowledge and authority---I told him I actually installed the drain myself over a dozen years before, I knew exactly where it was. Still, he didn't believe me. I had to send him out the door. Most homeowners can't do that.
But you can find a good and reasonably priced plumber before you need one.