Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainYooh
And that's a part of the game of being an independent contractor. If someone can do the same job cheaper, you will lose it. Will they do it worse or better - that's for a contractor to prove through reputation, explanation, marketing etc. Estimating the time to unplug a toilet should be based on plumber's experience unplugging thousands of toilets. One hour of travel time $100, one hour on site – $200. That's it. If the obstruction is in the service connection – there will be extra charges to snake it. I mean, seriously, this is not that difficult. Contractors bid on billion dollar jobs that are way more complicated than a cleaning a piece of sh$t from the sewer pipe.
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I agree that they should be able to tell you the charge up front to take a look but they can't guarantee a price to fix the problem without looking at it. I don't care how much experience you have. Until you're on site you don't know if some idiot kid flushed a toy down the toilet or they have service connection issue. Most people calling a plumber/contractor aren't able to accurately convey what the problem is just by describing it on the phone.
They have every right to ask for compensation to come to your house to look at it. That's over and above what it will cost to actually fix it.
The contractors bidding on billion dollar jobs have people whose only job is to write proposals/estimates. Solo contractors or small companies don't have those resources.
It's not a game if you're wasting people's time.