Yesterday (saturday) we went down to our unfinished basement in our 1972 house, and found that every time we flushed the toilet or used the shower on the main floor, it would leak all over the place downstairs. As we bought the house only about 5 months ago, we had purchassed a home warranty through Landmark HW. We tried calling Landmark to have them help us get someone out to help us, but ended up being on hold most of the day, completely wasting he day. Finally, at about noon, we got fed up and started looking for a plumber to come out and help us. We were unable to get anything other than an answering machine untill calling a plumber from the next town over at about 4 PM. He sounded like he knew exactly what the problem was just from my description on the phone. He told us that he was after hours, and that there would be a trip charge to make the 1.5 hr trip to us, but that he would be willing to come. He ended up getting here at about 6 PM with his helper. They went down and looked around in our basement and crawlspace for about 10 minutes, then came up to let us know what it would take to fix it. The told us that we had old 4" cast iron drainage, and that the top of the drain pipe had eroded away from sewer gasses, and had cracked. They said that though that is a problem, that the drain line wass also plugged, which was causing it to overflow out the cracks, and flood the basement. They told us that to fix it, they would need to replace the cracked pipe, and clear the clogg. We told them that we couldn't use the house until it was fixed, so to please fix it. They worked until midnight, then they gave us the bill as follows:
- Service call fee: $150
- Trip charge : $150
- Clear clogged main line from cleanout in basement ceiling with main line snake: $250
- Replace 15' of 4" horizontal cast iron drain pipe in basemennt and crawl space with 4" ABS, and tie in drainage for tub, laundry, toilet, and lavatory. : $1200
- emergency after hours call : double = $1750.00
Total due: $ 3,500.00
Now, I really appreciated that they came out and helped us when we needed help, but they were only here for 6 hours, and charged us $3,500.00. Thats $583 per hour! Thats more than my family doctor or dentist! So I'm conflicted. Am I justifiably outraged at that plumber's price? Or should I just be gratefull I Got someone at all?
- Service call fee: $150
- Trip charge : $150
- Clear clogged main line from cleanout in basement ceiling with main line snake: $250
- Replace 15' of 4" horizontal cast iron drain pipe in basemennt and crawl space with 4" ABS, and tie in drainage for tub, laundry, toilet, and lavatory. : $1200
- emergency after hours call : double = $1750.00
Total due: $ 3,500.00
Now, I really appreciated that they came out and helped us when we needed help, but they were only here for 6 hours, and charged us $3,500.00. Thats $583 per hour! Thats more than my family doctor or dentist! So I'm conflicted. Am I justifiably outraged at that plumber's price? Or should I just be gratefull I Got someone at all?