Price of Plumber

Bottom line is that you still can't compare a plumber's fees to those of a surgeon's.

It's easy enough to call oneself a plumber and get away with it. Calling oneself a surgeon and getting away with it wouldn't last for too long.

Celtic Tiger madness is creeping back. The trades milked it during the Celtic Tiger years and are now starting to milk it again.

My advice to the OP is to look for another plumber.

An aside ... I was doing work on a holiday home in 2010 and I agreed a fixed contract with a carpenter to replace the roof. All fine.

Moving on to internal work he wanted to charge me €260 cash per day. A quick look around got me another carpenter for €180 per day and a block layer/stone mason for €80 per day.

And with that, the second carpenter discovered that a velux window put in by the first carpenter was installed off square.

What's my point you may ask? My point is just because somebody charges more it doesn't make them any better.

We're back to crazy rates again but I doubt the quality of the work has improved.

I guess somebody has to pay for the increase in take away coffee and the revival of the breakfast roll.
 
Its hard to put a price on any trades these days. I got a lot of work done last year and go the best value out of my plumber and electrician, both were very reasonably priced.
 
Thanks for all of the input - didn't mean to cause such a stir but based on the majority I think the message is to shop around and get a detailed quotation - thanks again
 
Hi Guido,

I think your conclusion is valid.

Nonetheless, it's interesting that the surgeon can do say 10 procedures a day (€490 x 10) or €4,900 but what gets questioned is the plumber's €400. Just an observation. I know all the arguments and my sister is a medical consultant but still.
 
elacsaplau said:
Nonetheless, it's interesting that the surgeon can do say 10 procedures a day (€490 x 10) or €4,900 but what gets questioned is the plumber's €400. Just an observation. I know all the arguments and my sister is a medical consultant but still.
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When a person is sick they'll pay anything to get better. There's also the fear that you'll end up at the end of a long queue and stay there if you start questioning things.

I reckon there's a closed shop/cartel when it comes to consultants' fees ...
 
Exactly Paddy,

The cost of competitive services - e.g. plumbing are scrutinised to the nth degree - whereas the almost monopolistic pricing of specialist medics goes pretty much unchallenged.
 
...' A quick look around got me another carpenter for €180 per day and a block layer/stone mason for €80 per day'...

There's no way a stone mason is working for 400 a week unless he's claiming every benefit under the sun!
 
vandriver said:
...' A quick look around got me another carpenter for €180 per day and a block layer/stone mason for €80 per day'...

There's no way a stone mason is working for 400 a week unless he's claiming every benefit under the sun!
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Well I got him ... ok it was 2010 but that's what he charged me. I got him last September for some more stone work and he had gone up to €120.

But ..... that's what I was charged. I don't know what benefits he was getting or not.
 
elacsaplau said:
Paddy,

Did you get a receipt?!
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Yes. I have receipts for all the work I've done on the house ... materials and labour.

I even got the grant for insulation work ... so all had to be above board.

(Re. the block worker/stone mason rate ... this wasn't in the heart of Dublin but deep in rural Ireland)
 
I must admit I'd feel guilty paying a skilled tradesman such a paltry daily rate. If he works every single regular day - say 46 weeks a year, allowing for holidays and bank holidays, he'd have earned at the time 46 x 400, i.e. 18,400

This assumes that he has work every day and that rain doesn't spoil play ever! Not likely, eh. There is something very unequal in a society where the surgeon referred to earlier can earn this in a week.
 
elacsaplau said:
I must admit I'd feel guilty paying a skilled tradesman such a paltry daily rate. If he works every single regular day - say 46 weeks a year, allowing for holidays and bank holidays, he'd have earned at the time 46 x 400, i.e. 18,400
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I did ask him if he was happy with the rate and he was more than happy with it.

I didn't set the rate. He did. I paid him what he asked of me and for all the work he did for me.

I didn't see any need to pay him more than he asked for. Granted, he only worked for me when he had time ... he had sheep to deal with etc. The job also suited him because it was close to him and I didn't put any pressure on him re. time. I wasn't there to check how many days he worked. I trusted him and just paid his bill when he presented it. I still don't have any reason to doubt his honesty.
 
Some of you may have missed the year he paid the blocklayer/stonemason the €80 a day. That was a long time ago and they're not to be got at that ANYWHERE now and rightly so.
 
Plumber from Westmeath charged me 140 to move two rads and that included a few metres of copper piping as well as flexi pipe. The radiators were my own they were being moved to new positions. and 40 to install an electric shower. decent guy.
 
40 euro to install an electric shower ? Seriously I have just had a quote of 700 to supply and fit a new triton t90sr. There was no shower there before. Is this way too much ? Plumbing and electrics included. Anyone else get one done lately ? Also had a quote of 700 to supply and fit a 2 bar grunfos pump in the hotpress also a new fitting to power water supply around house. Is this about right ?
 
Nothing wrong with the price to supply and fit of new electric shower, just wonder if your insurance might ask for a cert from an electrician should anything go wrong? The grunfos pump though, is it a replacement? If so the price is steep. Just my opinion.
 
Susie, I had bought the Shower Triton TZ it was 270, 40 to fit - but existing pipework there as it was replacing a shower another plumber had installed that just blew - he was expensive too! My new Plumber Don - is just a decent honest guy. He also tidied up the tilework after fitting the new Triton.
 
Wow that's an amazing price. Yes both items would be new. No electric shower in ensuite or pump in hotpress. Is it extortion ? Ps do u need cert from electrician in the event of a problem ?
 
Susie2017 said:
Wow that's an amazing price. Yes both items would be new. No electric shower in ensuite or pump in hotpress. Is it extortion ? Ps do u need cert from electrician in the event of a problem ?
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Replacing one shower with another, and fitting one from scratch are two very different jobs.

The majority of the work in fitting from scratch will involve a plumber running new pipework to the shower location and an electrician fitting a new RCBO into the consumer unit and running heavy, unwieldy 10mm cable to the shower location. It is illegal for anyone other than a registered electrician to do the electrical element of this job.
 
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