(getting a little off topic…)
We aren't charging enough? Darn right, the plumber who just knocks on the door charges $140.00 just to say 'hullo'. My mom-in-law needed to have some home repairs done @ $140.00/hr, plus overly inflated prices for parts.
Don’t get ripped off by these guys! On two occasions I’ve gotten
bills for plumbing that were, to say the least, shocking. In both
cases I took them to task over it and got money back. If they send
out a journeyman/master and an apprentice/trainee and then charge
time for two journeymen/masters, don’t pay it. If they charge $3.50
for a $0.75 fitting, don’t pay it. In the two cases, I paid attention
to the time they spent on the job and who was doing the work and then
took the parts list from the invoice to the most expensive hardware
store I knew of and listed the prices the plumbing company charged
and the price I could have bought the part for in a letter to the
company. In both cases the amount of money I got back was
substantial. Sometimes it’s just a matter of paying attention and
taking a little trouble.
Yes. Plumbers, carpenters, electricians etc. have to make a living
too but their employers shouldn’t be ripping people off.
Also, sometimes it helps to get an estimate. In one of the cases
there was a huge difference in what was estimated and what I was
charged. And, the difference between the estimate and the charge was
what I got returned to me.
alonzo