The prices you are quoted come out of our pricing guide. We have looked at the most common tasks we are asked to perform and figured out the average time to perform the task, cost of the materials and the cost associated with running a plumbing business that is able to stand behind that work.
To come up with the price to complete your plumbing project, your plumber will figure out the tasks needed to complete the work. Each task has a price associated with it. Your plumber will add those tasks together to come up with your total. This method allows us to identify tasks that don’t need to be performed on your project and save you money where we can.
This also allows us to be fair and transparent when pricing your plumbing project. What I mean by fair and transparent is, the cost to perform the work should have nothing to do with how nice a neighborhood someone lives in. When designing our pricing guide, we asked ourselves, “what does it take to perform this task” NOT “how much can we get a person to pay”.
When you charge by the hour, you can’t give a price until after the job is finished. And we don’t want you to have to wait till the end of the job to find out how much it cost.
We believe there are too many variables that make “charging by the hour” more of a win for the company, not the homeowner. If a plumber has to go get a part, is slower than another plumber, the job takes longer than expected, etc. — are all things that a homeowner has no control over but ends up paying the price for. There’s no accountability on the plumbing company to have their trucks stocked better, train their plumbers better or run their business more efficiently.
There are many other reasons, but they all revolve around us trying to do right by everyone involved; the homeowner, the plumber, and the company.
It is rare to find 2 plumbing companies that charge the same price. Without digging into the details of your specific plumbing project, it is hard to know exactly why. Our prices are based on what it takes to do the job, not what another company charges.
Most plumbing service/construction companies are started by a plumber that is trained to be a plumber, learning the plumbing trade. They are not trained in how to run a business. This is why so many plumbing companies come and go.
Most of the plumbing companies that have been around for a long time were started by a plumber that happened to be good at business too. This is also why you see so many plumbing companies spring up during a good economy, most of them a one-man band. Unfortunately, they have to close their doors when there is an economic downturn.
There are so many little things that go into running a business that is there when you need them, not only today but for years to come. All of those costs have to be taken into consideration when pricing your goods and services. A lot of plumbing companies don’t take into account all of the expenses associated with doing the job and they do the best they can coming up with a price, sometimes it is a bit of a guess. They can be higher or lower than another company’s price. This could be one explanation why our price is different than theirs.
Replacing a water heater is one of those plumbing projects that a plumber needs to see before quoting a price. The issue we run into is many water heaters over 5 years old need additional updates to make them as safe as manufacturers say they should be. Common items missing from many water heaters are flexible gas lines, expansion tanks, earthquake straps, gas sediment trap, upgrade exhaust venting, etc.
If you need your water heater replaced, one of our licensed plumbers can come to your home and quote you a price after inspecting your existing heater. This visit is free. Call to schedule an appointment.
The staff that we have answering phones and scheduling appointments are not plumbers. They do not understand how the plumbing in your home works or how to price the work you need help with.
There are too many variables that need a plumber to look at before quoting a price. We insist on getting our plumber on site to see what needs to be done so no crucial details are missed. The price they give you before the work begins is what the price will be after the work is performed.
Anyone that quotes a price over the phone is guessing and I have not met a homeowner that is happy when a plumber shows up and quotes a higher price “now that they have seen the job”. We don’t want to quote you a low price just to get a plumber to your home only to find out something was not communicated, and your plumbing project is more difficult than originally explained over the phone.
I have asked our plumbers to give me ballpark prices in the past and they usually answer with a long list of questions that they need answered before being able to give a price. Until our plumber sees your plumbing project, they won’t give a ballpark price.
Most ballpark prices are a guess. Another company might give a range that they hope will cover the cost to do the job. And most of the time they have to come back and ask for more money. Our experience has shown that a ballpark price is usually not in anyone’s best interest.
We have a small dispatch fee to send our plumber to your home. Our plumbers will arrive in a truck stocked with thousands of parts. They’ll have everything they need to start your plumbing project while they’re at your home, unless the situation is unusual. They’ll perform a thorough evaluation of your plumbing system and explain what they’ll need to do to complete the work you called for. They’re not going to charge you by the hour, they will give you a total price, with options, before any of the work begins.
There are several large plumbing projects that we are willing to show you what options are available and the visit doesn’t cost you anything; basement finishes, water heater install/replacements, water softener installs/replacement, repiping, tankless water heater install/replacement etc. This is not a complete list so call us if you have questions about your project.
You will pay a little more to get a plumber to your home after hours but they do not charge more for the work you want them to perform. Our prices come directly from our pricing guide. We do not have a different set of plumbing prices for doing work in the evenings or on weekends. The price for the plumbing work you need done will be the same regardless of the time of day.
No, our plumbers don’t quote a price until they have seen your plumbing project. Once they quote a price, it doesn’t change, no matter how long it takes. At any time, you want to add more tasks to your plumbing project, your plumber will let you know how much it would cost to perform the extra work.
You can pay for your plumbing service with cash, check, or any major credit card. We collect, in full, upon completion of the project. If you would like to make monthly payments, we do have many financing options available through 3rd party finance companies, OAC. Your plumber can talk to you about your options when they give you pricing options for the HVAC work you want completed.
