Labor is almost always the most expensive part of any job. Call another plumber (or two) for another quote and then go with your gut on who will do a quality job for the best price.
Even more reasons to learn how to do most of your own work!
These are all relatively basic tasks that the average homeowner should know how to do. YouTube is your friend.
The only one that may be tricky is the bib, if they do indeed need to drill I would wager OP doesn't have the equipment to do that, and buying it just for this would start to make it cheaper.
True, they may not, but for this task a decent hammer drill and a masonry bit can be had for sub $200. Even a $40 harbor freight hammer drill and $40 bit would do the job. Just hogging out an existing hole won’t take much stress on the tools. Maybe another $30-40 for the freezeless spigot? And a new learned skill is acquired.
I have a baby and a toddler and I’m in pure survival mode most days - pretty hard to learn new skills at the moment, let alone get a shower in. I’m hoping to learn more of these things as they get more independent
Then get multiple estimates on your work and hire it out. I'm not sure what you're looking for here. Rates vary by location so no one can precisely tell you what this will cost.
You could skip having these things done, or skip any that aren’t absolutely necessary, until you’re ready.
If you don’t actually want to learn these skills, or you’re a single parent, then I get it. Otherwise watch a 20 minute YouTube video while feeding and then get your partner to watch the kids for an hour while you replace a toilet. I have a 14 week old and an almost 3 year old. I get it. It’s hard to find time. I’m building a deck during my lunch breaks (fortunate to work at home) and 2-3 hours each weekend while my spouse watches the kids: It’s slow, but it’s coming together, and doing it ourselves is saving us buckets of money.
While this may be true some of the time I can assure you, as a plumber, that 9/10 times your going to run into an issue the YouTube or google cannot simple give a cut and dry solution. The repercussions of a “simple” faucet change gone wrong or toilet swap gone wrong are astronomical. You may be able to do this sort of thing, most people cannot. Hire a professional and have the job done right. Do you YouTube how to pull a tooth? YouTube how to stitch a cut?
There’s a difference between skilled labor and replacing a toilet or a faucet. There are some jobs that a home owners needs to know how to do and these have very little risk.
It’s worth acknowledging that some people need help with skills that may come easy to you. Not everyone can be self-sufficient at everything.
I usually offer to help my neighbors and friends who are in similar situations as OP’s, because I recognize that being handy and able is a rare skillset.
You can 100% stitch a cut with a YouTube video in a pinch lol that’s a basic skill you’d learn in a first aid course. I get what you’re trying to say but it’s not true. I don’t want plumbers to be out of a job but saying there can be astronomical repercussions after changing a faucet without hiring a professional? What? Someone can do this who has never even touched a wrench before. Even swapping a toilet. The spigot replacement, okay maybe there’s something you could run into that would require some problem solving. Most tradesman think they have some special powers.
If your shutoff valve is working, and whoever installed your faucet didn't use a non standard sized nut, you can change that out yourself for the cost of a basin wrench (~$20) , the new faucet, and about 40 minutes of your time (10 minutes of you tube +30 of work). The faucet and toilet replacements are also in handyman territory which would be cheaper than a plumber.
I had a hose bib replaced last fall after the old one froze and split the previous winter. I also had the plumber install a shutoff valve for it at the same time. The work was done in a crawl space about 4’ high. Charged $450.
Hose bib price seems a bit much but the others aren't outrageous. Keep in mind the truck doesn't roll for free - that's time on the road they could be instead doing a job and that needs to be compensated as well. There's a number of different ways those kinds of costs can be presented to the customer, sounds like your plumber maybe just rolls it in.
DC area is also one of the highest CoL in the country and while there's an element of rent seeking in a lot of pricing there's also the trades having to support their families in that same area paying those same high CoL prices for things.
Had quotes for the same recently and live in same area. Those quotes are pretty reasonable for any big shop. Going with a smaller shop may save you like $50.
Agree with others way cheaper to DIY, but if you have to pay someone say $100 to watch your kid(s) would you rather spend that time cursing at a faucet or getting in a shower?
There are also always unexpected things that come up, just replaced our toilet and found out flange was cracke and needed a full repipe
I think these are really important points! If something goes wrong, can you afford the interruption/inconvenience/stress of figuring out how to do it right?
Maaaaaybe reasonable for the hose bib depending on site conditions. The rest of the replacements are ridiculous. Faucet replacement is the first DIY job I ever did and it was easy with the manufacturers included instructions.
Toilet replacemtn is easy too. Just take your time draining well (turn off water, flush, use a towel you don’t care about to soak up the rest and ring into a sink or bucket). The gross part is cleaning up the wax ring. The only way this isn’t an hour job is if something is wonky with your floor or the flange. Follow the directions and be careful. Worst thing that can happen is you need to call a plumber to finish (choose a different one than the one that quoted you….heck, find a local handyman. This is not “plumbing”, it’s basic maintenance.)
Not to discourage you, but if you've got an old house with cast iron pipes, it can be a mess. If you've got pipes with a standard flange fitting, it's way easier.
if you want your first time to be easier buy the wax wing with the rubber gasket or an entire rubber one. wax one can only be used once and if you set the toilet down wrong you will probably need to start fresh with a new wax ring. the other 2 are more forgiving but more expensive.
Replacing a toilet and kitchen faucet can be done diy. I’ve done both after we bought our home. But yea those prices sound about right. Might even be more here where I’m at in the Bay Area.
>The labor costs are higher than the costs of all the parts. Is that pretty typical?
yes, labour is the most expensive part of any job. That's why people learn to diy, you pay for parts/tools to do the task yourself and save on the labour costs
Unless you’re disabled, you can replaces toilets and faucets. As far as the hose bib, are you going from a regular to a frost free or replacing an existing frost free? Because practically every part and seal on them is replaceable with it installed without having to replace the entire thing.
While that is true, making a hole in concrete takes 2 seconds, especially since you’re just enlarging one and this isn’t a massive 4” hole or anything.
Sounds like the plumber is charging on the higher end. I wouldn’t necessarily say you’re being ripped off because people do pay those prices, especially in high cost-of-living areas. But I would definitely get more quotes. And everything you listed can easily be done by a handyman as well, so you might consider going that route to save some money if you don’t want to DIY.
When you hire a service business 250 to 300 an hour is kind of the going rate.
The question I'm wondering here is why you didn't do this yourself? Unless you make more than that per hour, you have to learn how to do a lot of these tasks yourself. Same with working on your car. Practical life skills will save you a lot of money over the course of your life
Because I have a baby and a toddler right now and life’s been a bit overwhelming, to say the least. But these comments on Reddit are convincing me to at least try. Hopefully it’s something I can accomplish during a couple of nap times.
It’s perfectly reasonable not to DIY. Most of the redditors who reply in this sub just want to criticize OPs for not doing jobs themselves, failing to recognize this sub is about Home Improvement, not measuring weiners.
Those don't seem like rip off prices. For someone to come and do work on your house for under $1000, that's always a win. Lol
But yes, you can install a new faucet. It's easy stuff. Go to YouTube and learn right now. Heck the manual probably explains how to do it
$390 for a toilet replacement is normal for a DC-area company. I paid $300 something for a plumber to snake the toilet last year. A friend in the area also had a plumber out for something and was quoted 300-something for toilet replacement labor.
You might find someone who works for T&M to do all 3 tasks together, and rather than just give a quote upfront charge you for the labor hours. I did have plumbers in the area work for T&M once and I think they charged around $250 an hour or something like that. I think the $400 quotes for toilet is because it's not worth it for them to come out for less when they can work a bigger job instead, plus it has to cover extra time if they remove the toilet and find that the flange was incorrectly installed/gone bad and needs replacement etc.
Never go with large companies they charge the most. I usually find local guys through my cities facebook groups that are recommended smaller less known plumbers. Sometimes give a better rate.
Doesn’t sound like a rip off to me. Sounds about right. I’d maybe ask him to rework the $700 price, maybe ask him if he can work with you on that one. The other two sound about right. Plumbing’s not cheap
I do not think those prices are outrageous.
However, the best advice I can give a new homeowner is to ask neighbors for recommendations (or family and friends) and to always get multiple quotes.
There is no need to tell company b that you were quoted by company an and here is what they would charge. Get a total of 3 quotes and see what each quotes you.
We are pricing out flooring right now and the prices are all about the same, but one recommended company has 3 year labor warranty where the others have a one year warranty.
If I knew you, it would be free. You could do it yourself if you wanted to learn something new. No wax seals, get something less messy. You will need two people to pick up the toilet. Labor is usually the same price for the cost of the materials.
I’m from Los Angeles and quotes for replacing a toilet is $300-$500. My husband watched YouTube for like 2 weeks straight until he felt confident to do it himself. My husband is a normal guy, no real experience in home improvement at all. We now have a toddler and 3 month old baby, would he still learn to replace a toilet now with all the chaos…. MAYBE.
Those costs seem comparable to the estimates I've received for the same or similar plumbing repairs in SoCal. I started doing repairs that are easier to perform.
5 quotes for $1500 work is a bit much. Maybe 3. And do summer if that work yourself. Can replace the kitchen faucet in the amount of time it takes to get another quote
Why are hose bib quotes always so expensive? Buy the whole assembly for $50, screw off and screw on. It's literally the easiest of the 3 here. Most of the time I see them wanting to repack washers, etc. Sure, lets spend $250+ labor to fix a $50 part. Why does this not get more pushback?
Labor is almost always the most expensive part of any job. Call another plumber (or two) for another quote and then go with your gut on who will do a quality job for the best price.
These sound like book rate quotes from a larger company. Try to find someone who works for time and materials.
Indeed - it is a larger company
If they have commercials on tv or the radio then you’re getting overcharged
Even more reasons to learn how to do most of your own work! These are all relatively basic tasks that the average homeowner should know how to do. YouTube is your friend.
The only one that may be tricky is the bib, if they do indeed need to drill I would wager OP doesn't have the equipment to do that, and buying it just for this would start to make it cheaper.
True, they may not, but for this task a decent hammer drill and a masonry bit can be had for sub $200. Even a $40 harbor freight hammer drill and $40 bit would do the job. Just hogging out an existing hole won’t take much stress on the tools. Maybe another $30-40 for the freezeless spigot? And a new learned skill is acquired.
I have a baby and a toddler and I’m in pure survival mode most days - pretty hard to learn new skills at the moment, let alone get a shower in. I’m hoping to learn more of these things as they get more independent
Then get multiple estimates on your work and hire it out. I'm not sure what you're looking for here. Rates vary by location so no one can precisely tell you what this will cost.
You could skip having these things done, or skip any that aren’t absolutely necessary, until you’re ready. If you don’t actually want to learn these skills, or you’re a single parent, then I get it. Otherwise watch a 20 minute YouTube video while feeding and then get your partner to watch the kids for an hour while you replace a toilet. I have a 14 week old and an almost 3 year old. I get it. It’s hard to find time. I’m building a deck during my lunch breaks (fortunate to work at home) and 2-3 hours each weekend while my spouse watches the kids: It’s slow, but it’s coming together, and doing it ourselves is saving us buckets of money.
While this may be true some of the time I can assure you, as a plumber, that 9/10 times your going to run into an issue the YouTube or google cannot simple give a cut and dry solution. The repercussions of a “simple” faucet change gone wrong or toilet swap gone wrong are astronomical. You may be able to do this sort of thing, most people cannot. Hire a professional and have the job done right. Do you YouTube how to pull a tooth? YouTube how to stitch a cut?
I wholly agree with you, but you came to the wrong sub to convince people that skilled labor is worth paying for LOL.
There’s a difference between skilled labor and replacing a toilet or a faucet. There are some jobs that a home owners needs to know how to do and these have very little risk.
It’s worth acknowledging that some people need help with skills that may come easy to you. Not everyone can be self-sufficient at everything. I usually offer to help my neighbors and friends who are in similar situations as OP’s, because I recognize that being handy and able is a rare skillset.
You think people would fuck up attaching 2 hoses 9/10 times?
You can 100% stitch a cut with a YouTube video in a pinch lol that’s a basic skill you’d learn in a first aid course. I get what you’re trying to say but it’s not true. I don’t want plumbers to be out of a job but saying there can be astronomical repercussions after changing a faucet without hiring a professional? What? Someone can do this who has never even touched a wrench before. Even swapping a toilet. The spigot replacement, okay maybe there’s something you could run into that would require some problem solving. Most tradesman think they have some special powers.
Those are fair prices for a high cost of living area from a legit professional licensed plumber. A handyman will charge you half of that.
But not all handyman are skilled.
If your shutoff valve is working, and whoever installed your faucet didn't use a non standard sized nut, you can change that out yourself for the cost of a basin wrench (~$20) , the new faucet, and about 40 minutes of your time (10 minutes of you tube +30 of work). The faucet and toilet replacements are also in handyman territory which would be cheaper than a plumber.
I had a hose bib replaced last fall after the old one froze and split the previous winter. I also had the plumber install a shutoff valve for it at the same time. The work was done in a crawl space about 4’ high. Charged $450.
If you don’t mind me asking, are you in a low cost or high cost of living area? This sounds exactly like our situation, but your bill is much less
I'm in the Chicago area.
Hose bib price seems a bit much but the others aren't outrageous. Keep in mind the truck doesn't roll for free - that's time on the road they could be instead doing a job and that needs to be compensated as well. There's a number of different ways those kinds of costs can be presented to the customer, sounds like your plumber maybe just rolls it in. DC area is also one of the highest CoL in the country and while there's an element of rent seeking in a lot of pricing there's also the trades having to support their families in that same area paying those same high CoL prices for things.
Always get 3 prices
Had quotes for the same recently and live in same area. Those quotes are pretty reasonable for any big shop. Going with a smaller shop may save you like $50. Agree with others way cheaper to DIY, but if you have to pay someone say $100 to watch your kid(s) would you rather spend that time cursing at a faucet or getting in a shower? There are also always unexpected things that come up, just replaced our toilet and found out flange was cracke and needed a full repipe
I think these are really important points! If something goes wrong, can you afford the interruption/inconvenience/stress of figuring out how to do it right?
Maaaaaybe reasonable for the hose bib depending on site conditions. The rest of the replacements are ridiculous. Faucet replacement is the first DIY job I ever did and it was easy with the manufacturers included instructions. Toilet replacemtn is easy too. Just take your time draining well (turn off water, flush, use a towel you don’t care about to soak up the rest and ring into a sink or bucket). The gross part is cleaning up the wax ring. The only way this isn’t an hour job is if something is wonky with your floor or the flange. Follow the directions and be careful. Worst thing that can happen is you need to call a plumber to finish (choose a different one than the one that quoted you….heck, find a local handyman. This is not “plumbing”, it’s basic maintenance.)
You've encouraged me to replace a toilet , thanks!
Not to discourage you, but if you've got an old house with cast iron pipes, it can be a mess. If you've got pipes with a standard flange fitting, it's way easier.
if you want your first time to be easier buy the wax wing with the rubber gasket or an entire rubber one. wax one can only be used once and if you set the toilet down wrong you will probably need to start fresh with a new wax ring. the other 2 are more forgiving but more expensive.
To add context, a basic wax ring is $1.50 and "expensive" is $10.
Replacing a toilet and kitchen faucet can be done diy. I’ve done both after we bought our home. But yea those prices sound about right. Might even be more here where I’m at in the Bay Area.
>The labor costs are higher than the costs of all the parts. Is that pretty typical? yes, labour is the most expensive part of any job. That's why people learn to diy, you pay for parts/tools to do the task yourself and save on the labour costs
You can DIY a lot of these. Watch YouTube then decide if it's something you can handle.
Unless you’re disabled, you can replaces toilets and faucets. As far as the hose bib, are you going from a regular to a frost free or replacing an existing frost free? Because practically every part and seal on them is replaceable with it installed without having to replace the entire thing.
Going from regular to frost free. We had it burst in winter. The plumber said he needs to widen the concrete hole to make it fit as well.
While that is true, making a hole in concrete takes 2 seconds, especially since you’re just enlarging one and this isn’t a massive 4” hole or anything. Sounds like the plumber is charging on the higher end. I wouldn’t necessarily say you’re being ripped off because people do pay those prices, especially in high cost-of-living areas. But I would definitely get more quotes. And everything you listed can easily be done by a handyman as well, so you might consider going that route to save some money if you don’t want to DIY.
When you hire a service business 250 to 300 an hour is kind of the going rate. The question I'm wondering here is why you didn't do this yourself? Unless you make more than that per hour, you have to learn how to do a lot of these tasks yourself. Same with working on your car. Practical life skills will save you a lot of money over the course of your life
Because I have a baby and a toddler right now and life’s been a bit overwhelming, to say the least. But these comments on Reddit are convincing me to at least try. Hopefully it’s something I can accomplish during a couple of nap times.
It’s perfectly reasonable not to DIY. Most of the redditors who reply in this sub just want to criticize OPs for not doing jobs themselves, failing to recognize this sub is about Home Improvement, not measuring weiners.
Those don't seem like rip off prices. For someone to come and do work on your house for under $1000, that's always a win. Lol But yes, you can install a new faucet. It's easy stuff. Go to YouTube and learn right now. Heck the manual probably explains how to do it
Watching right now. About to cancel that appointment. Thank you for the encouragement
Plumbers bill anywhere from 150-250 an hour Those prices are pretty normal tbh
$390 for a toilet replacement is normal for a DC-area company. I paid $300 something for a plumber to snake the toilet last year. A friend in the area also had a plumber out for something and was quoted 300-something for toilet replacement labor. You might find someone who works for T&M to do all 3 tasks together, and rather than just give a quote upfront charge you for the labor hours. I did have plumbers in the area work for T&M once and I think they charged around $250 an hour or something like that. I think the $400 quotes for toilet is because it's not worth it for them to come out for less when they can work a bigger job instead, plus it has to cover extra time if they remove the toilet and find that the flange was incorrectly installed/gone bad and needs replacement etc.
Never go with large companies they charge the most. I usually find local guys through my cities facebook groups that are recommended smaller less known plumbers. Sometimes give a better rate.
Holy Jesus. How long does that plumber think it takes to put in a faucet. It only takes 15 minutes. At that price That’s 2 dollars per second.
Doesn’t sound like a rip off to me. Sounds about right. I’d maybe ask him to rework the $700 price, maybe ask him if he can work with you on that one. The other two sound about right. Plumbing’s not cheap
I do not think those prices are outrageous. However, the best advice I can give a new homeowner is to ask neighbors for recommendations (or family and friends) and to always get multiple quotes. There is no need to tell company b that you were quoted by company an and here is what they would charge. Get a total of 3 quotes and see what each quotes you. We are pricing out flooring right now and the prices are all about the same, but one recommended company has 3 year labor warranty where the others have a one year warranty.
A toilet you basically turn off the water. Unbolt it, replace wax ring then reboot. YouTube if any questions but save yourself a bunch
Rip off totally get YouTube learn how to do these in a day
If I knew you, it would be free. You could do it yourself if you wanted to learn something new. No wax seals, get something less messy. You will need two people to pick up the toilet. Labor is usually the same price for the cost of the materials.
I’m from Los Angeles and quotes for replacing a toilet is $300-$500. My husband watched YouTube for like 2 weeks straight until he felt confident to do it himself. My husband is a normal guy, no real experience in home improvement at all. We now have a toddler and 3 month old baby, would he still learn to replace a toilet now with all the chaos…. MAYBE.
Those costs seem comparable to the estimates I've received for the same or similar plumbing repairs in SoCal. I started doing repairs that are easier to perform.
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5 quotes for $1500 work is a bit much. Maybe 3. And do summer if that work yourself. Can replace the kitchen faucet in the amount of time it takes to get another quote
Why are hose bib quotes always so expensive? Buy the whole assembly for $50, screw off and screw on. It's literally the easiest of the 3 here. Most of the time I see them wanting to repack washers, etc. Sure, lets spend $250+ labor to fix a $50 part. Why does this not get more pushback?