Hey Plumber! Are You Going To Change The Price Estimate and Cost?

Plumbers (sometimes) do not have a good reputation, and changing a price after giving an estimate is one of the things that upsets clients the most.  We never do that as we don’t like when people do it to us as consumers purchasing other services and dealing with other companies, and you know it doesn’t leave a good taste when someone doesn’t complete his word.

There are Mainly Two Scenarios For Price and Estimate

 Most of the time, getting a price for your plumbing project and a quote before you get started, for a small plumbing repair to a big bathroom renovation or remodeling your kitchen, is something that a contractor can predict and a plumber can give a price that has no reason to be changed.  The costs for parts from Home Depot or a plumbing supply company are readily known and don’t change to much, and a few dollars here or there should not change the quote.  Where things get complicated are more likely to be in two areas:

1. When you go into a plumbing or remodeling project and someone forgot to include items like, a dishwasher pipe missing on the plan, washing machine pipe line that was not in the plan, an extra sink, water line for the tankless water heater, then those things would need to be considered as additions as the plumbing contractor did not include them in the original quote and priced the estimate without it.  So when you check your estimate and those things were not included int he original quote, then it is considered fair to add them to the price and they were not mentioned when the quote was given.
2. The second scenario may be a repair with hidden options which cannot be initially predicted as initial work needs to take place to locate the source and cause of the item that is leaking, broke down or is broken.  Things behind walls, inside the ceiling, under the floor or underground that needs to be opened up first so the plumber can get a visual on the item.  A broken water pipe that is leaking, the smell of gas from a hidden gas pipe, small leaking of a drain or sewer, specific plumbing noises like from water pipes, or low water pressure that we need to follow step by step and troubleshoot in order to find the problem, determine the cost of materials and the time to replace, fix and repair the missing and broken items.

The Ordinary and the Not Ordinary

For the minor repairs and replacement we give a straightforward price.  For new installations, every plumber should now the time and materials, and you should receive an estimate and it should state those clearly.  An experienced plumber, whether doing plumbing, heating or cooling repair or installation, should know the price 90% of the time and should stick to it without any additional costs or excuses.  There are very few cases where an ordinary plumbing project requires modification of the price and that’s why its important that you work with an honest plumber, one that is recommended, experienced, local or not matters less as long as they are a NJ licensed plumber.  So get your quote straightforward and you know what you will pay and that’s how it will stay.

One of the first signs of a good company, it doesn’t matter if you need plumbing service, heating service or cooling service is that they show you your options and minimize them to a few options with clear pricing and no hidden fees or doubts about what may happen in the future, especially when the price would only increase, never decrease right?  So the first meeting with your plumber will tell a lot about how he is going to handle the repair, replacement and entire project, so pay attention to the details and the flow of the conversation as this is the key to getting any repair, installation ro project at teh same price as was quoted to you.

Feel free to call us anytime, we are here for you for any free advice or estimate.  Have a great day!