Plumbers please

lilyfield, Oct 20, 10:01am
What do you think about this bill
To replace caleffii valve:

Valve= 301.75
Sundries= 2.50
1/2 hour labour= 65.60
1/2 hour apprentice labour 49.60
Van charge= 20.00
Plusgst 65.92

Total 505.37

Do I have to pay the apprentice wages! I did not ask for two people to come, one could halved one the job easely by himself.
Also the hourly rate was noted at 82 $ , so half of that is not 65.60
Apprentice rate hourly 62$ half charged 49.60

What do you think, shall I battle!

All this for a tiny weedribble leak sob sob.
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ryanm2, Oct 20, 10:08am
yeah - those labour charges are very high. Also, if the apprentice did nothing I would battle that too. Im a sparky and more often than not the apprentice is unchargeable on small jobs.
kaddiew, Oct 20, 10:53am
Wow, $131.20 an hour for the plumber, and $99.20 an hour for his apprentice! Plus 15% GST!Surely a "slip of the calculator" when working out half an hour at the quoted rates. I'd definitely be querying it.
lilyfield, Oct 20, 12:40pm
Kaddiew re readmy bill, not THAT bad
rav413, Oct 20, 3:44pm
$65.60 x 2 = $131.20 at my school.
carter19, Oct 20, 4:06pm
Caleffimake many sorts of valves. Which one! What size! I wouldn;t pay the apprentice labour unless I was asked first.
lilyfield, Oct 20, 5:07pm
valve tempering LP CaleffiTV 20L 20mm.
Can someone check on that price for me please
carter19, Oct 20, 5:42pm
Thats retailprice from supplier, any plumber would charge the same
trade4us2, Oct 20, 7:18pm
That's why I would buy a valve from a shop and put it in myself, or even fix the old valve for 10 cents.
This is a DIY discussion group after all!
kaddiew, Oct 20, 9:02pm
I did read your bill. :)"1/2 hour labour= 65.60"equates to $131.20 per hour.and so on. :)
lythande1, Oct 21, 5:55am
Valve, yes, parts are expensive.
His hourly rate though, it's rather high.
No idea about the apprentice, I would doubt it, there is generally a labour charge (and not that high) but it shouldn't matter how many of them there were.
aredwood, Oct 21, 7:46am
Query the charge for the apprentice. Also check what their min labour charge is. Alot of companies will round it up if it is only a small amount.
amasser, Oct 21, 11:05am
Both labour rates seem high but would the time have doubled if the apprentice wasn't there! Not many apprentices would be worth near $100 per hour.
elect70, Oct 21, 11:51am
Miserable lot just how are apprentices to learn their trade if people wont pay for thier time . The boss still has to pay his wages. . But if thatshourly charge out ratehe ishigh . Go to dentist & you pay forhygenistdo youobject to them too , charging$200 hr +dentist could do iton his own
ladylow013, Oct 21, 1:54pm
When you take the $300 valve off there, $200 isn't too bad. You look at getting a Plumber out anywhere in NZ and you will struggle to get change from $100, once they step in the door. It is a Business and it takes a good 4 Years for guys to qualify. The Labour charge is probably a minimum call out rate for the company.
Nothings Free these days.
captain20, Oct 22, 1:04pm
That hourly rate is for usually a minimum charge of 1 hour. They may have only did half an hours work but u get charged a full hourly rate. Yes the apprentice should not have been charged for that job
trad, Oct 24, 2:03am
I had a plumber here to unblock the sewer a while back and he sent a bill for about 3 times what I thought was reasonable based on his hourly rate, the time here and travelling, so I sent a cheque for twice what I thought reasonable and heard no more from him.