Plumbers...

[bobg]

Robbing bastards..
I got a estimate yesterday for replacing 7 radiators and a living flame fire.... £3000 . I've just costed up the materials ... £1.100.

£1.900 labour charges for 2 days work max for 1 man. Hmmmm... I even said I'd drain the system and take all the old ones out! Second estimate "eagerly" awaited.

Come on you plumbers out there, justify it??

 

[yenrod]

.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Robbing bastards..
I got a estimate yesterday for replacing 7 radiators and a living flame fire.... £3000 . I've just costed up the materials ... £1.100.

£1.900 labour charges for 2 days work max for 1 man. Hmmmm... I even said I'd drain the system and take all the old ones out! Second estimate "eagerly" awaited.

Come on you plumbers out there, justify it??

well a new boiler and new radiators for my house which is a 4 bed detached was coming in at £3200, so yes i`d say Dick Turpin has gave you a quote.

 

[Paulus]

I've had three quotes for a new boiler, flush out the radiators and fit thermostatic controls on the rads and a new hot water tank. All three came in at around the same.......£4000. You've got it cheap.

 

[domtyler]

Bobg, you need to insist on a breakdown of their quote so that you can begin to negotiate. As I often point out on here, you never accept a first offer, you only use that as a starting point for further negotiation. You are right to get three quotes though as then you can play them off against each other, never revealing exactly what any other company has quoted.

A great line to use in these situations and one that I always use is "Ha, you'll have to do better than that." Try it and let me know what they come back with, it has never failed me.

 

[gary r]

I came back from holiday to find my boiler had died.Had a quote of £900 for parts & repair,or £1800 for straight replacement.A quick look in the screwfix catalogue i found the same replacement boiler for £600 (where did £900 for parts come from!!) So i bought the boiler myself & got a plumber to fit it |(corgi registered) for £200 (1 days labour)he also flushed all the rads through with chemicals & refilled the system.Lucky i didnt go for the first quote!!

 

[bobg]

yenners,... I think he came down the M62.......from that other place

Dom, Dont fret, I dont part with my dosh easily ( if at all) I plan a plumbers negotiating forum .. they dont go home till we agree a price!!

The one that just left actually removed two rads while he was measuring up the rooms so that I could decorate behind them... I warmed to him immediately. Everone else round here seems to have a son/brother/uncle in the trade who'll do it fot a pint... I wish...

Its not as if they're rerunning yards of pipework either, so the only job that is in any way tricky is installing the fire. I did one in the last house but it got a nice red label on it saying "dangerous do not use" cos the wall vent was about an inch too small. I pointed out the considerable ventilation blasting through the parting beads on the "listed" sash windows but that didnt seem to matter..........

The boiler gets a "not in accordance with EEC regs" at its annual service by the Gas Board ( or whatever its called these days ) cos it's an inch too near one wall. I pointed out that they'd fitted it 18 months before ....... but he seems not to hear that.
I did ask a plasterer if I might retrain and he said "sorry mate you'r far to f...... old. I appreciated his honesty.

 

[numbnuts]

you don't pay for what I do
you pay for what I know

 

[Globalti]

Be careful allowing plumbers especially from British Gas in your home; they can find any reason to condemn your boiler, which has been working fine for years. We nearly fell into that trap.

 

[gavintc]

Our boiler needs resetting every 2-3 days. It is a simple process - just press a button. However, with winter coming, we decided we need to get it sorted. Plumber (theiving git) came, spent 2 mins looking at it, and announced it would be £2500 for a new one.

I think i need some other opinions before shelling out that amount on simply a 3 bed flat boiler.

 

[beancounter]

Be careful allowing plumbers especially from British Gas in your home; they can find any reason to condemn your boiler, which has been working fine for years. We nearly fell into that trap.

What are the consequences of BG condemning your boiler - what does it matter?

bc

 

[gavintc]

What are the consequences of BG condemning your boiler - what does it matter?

bc

Illegal to operate - they can turn it off if you do not replace in a set timeframe.

 

[bobg]

I think I'll solve the boiler prob by cancelleing the BG agreement!! They're happy to take my £20 a month and say its perfectly save, it just doesnt accord to EEC rules which change every year. Having watched them service it thy only seem to run the hoover over the inside and drink my tea!!
The price for the fire and the rads is coming down... following a phonecall from another firm ( not a cowboy but a ltd company and Vat registered etc )providing a 10 year guarantee and going since the 60's, it's down from £3k to £2.3 ... Havng just necked 3 pints of lager I didnt feel up to high level negotiation so I'll ring them back tomorrow.

 

[peanut]

you don't pay for what I do
you pay for what I know

yeah but 3000.00 is havin a bit of a larf. He'll get at least 60% off the materials and VAT relief most likely


There is a huge shortage of time served plumbers and heating engineers and those that are any good are booked up months in advance.

Some don't want to pass up the work so submit a really high price on the basis that if you accept they'll drop the next job to do yours first make a nice profit and start the next job a little later than planned.

You can get a plumber to fit your rads and flush your system etc but when its finished your system needs balancing and boiler re-commisioning and for the latter you are required to use a Corgi registered fitter .

You could use a cheap local handyman who'll take twice as long, make more mistakes and probably end up bodging it and not commissioning the boiler. he'll not have any public and professional insurance and if anything gets damaged you'll foot the bill. There will aklso be no warrantee


If I were you I'd remove and replace my own rads ,flush and fill the system myself then get a quote to service and commision the boiler for about 150 squids

 

[peanut]

Our boiler needs resetting every 2-3 days. It is a simple process - just press a button. However, with winter coming, we decided we need to get it sorted. Plumber (theiving git) came, spent 2 mins looking at it, and announced it would be £2500 for a new one.

I think i need some other opinions before shelling out that amount on simply a 3 bed flat boiler.

If it needs re-setting that frequently it is probably overheating. It probably just needs one of the 2-3 temperature sensors replacing . They cost about fifteen quid at jayhard or Plumb centre .
I would advise you to have it serviced by a boiler servicing specialist not heating installers. It will save you some money.

by the way BG don't employ any engineers as far as I know they sub contract work to local heating companies who will look for any extra work they can con out of you