Time estimate?

[Mellyphant]

Hi, our plumber has recently invoiced us for 9.5 days to fix a new boiler and first fix a downstairs shower room and utility room, and fit 3 radiators. It seems like a lot to me and all the builders on site have said the same thing. Basically the job was as follows:

remove old boiler
fit new boiler
connect a new gas meter to the existing gas pipe work in the house
fit new soil stack (including connect to existing upstairs bathroom toilet waste and 1x40mm waste pipe)
first fix shower room (toilet, basin, radiator and shower)
first fix utility room (taps to sink - waste wasn't done, cold water feed for washing machine and radiator)
first and second fix 3 radiators in the house

The job was fairly simple as all the pipe work from the existing system was easy to access. I was anticipating about 5 days to do the job but he came back with 10 days and then reduced it 9.5 days when we questioned why he took so long.

He now wants to pursue this through the Courts so I need to get a sensible view from an experienced plumber as to how long it should have taken. Does anyone have a view how long that job should of taken?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Chalked]

How long was he there?
If he was there for that time, then that is the correct invoice.

 

[oz-plumber]

Simple solution, ask him for an itemised invoice.

It sounds like you had the plumber do the works -cost plus.
Which is not a bad thing until something like this happens.

We do a lot of cost plus work, but the hours and materials are recorded, by ourselves and some of the builders, we do work for.

Did you or the builder employ the plumber?

I would try and work it out amicably and ask him to produce the days, dates and hours worked + an itemised material list.

 

[Mellyphant]

We weren't counting the days he was here, but it was about 10 in total. He seemed to be very slow, the builder said he would have allowed 3 days for a fast plumber and thinks 5 days is very reasonable. The builder employed him but we are paying the bills. We have asked him for details but the most he will give is a breakdown of the jobs done and won't allocate time to each one. I've done my own estimate and it came out as 4.5 days so we have offered him 5 days.

 

[gassafe]

Who has a plumber doing all that sort of work on a day rate?

This should have been quoted & then there's no worry of dragging a job out!

It's difficult for anyone here to say how long the job should take as we haven't seen the job, the property or how difficult it was... A builders opinion is probably worth little too.

 

[Rickster123]

If you agreed to day rate working and the plumber was there for 10 days as you say then he needs paying for those 10 days.

 

[Deleted member 7121]

Builders always under estimate plumbing time

 

[SimonG]

What is in place in writing before the job commenced.

 

[jonnyswamp]

As said above, if he was there for 10 days, pay him
The thing with builders is they expect any trade to be at their beck and call and so when they ring them, they want you there asap
I don't know your circumstances, but if the builder wanted a pipe altered/moved etc the plumber would have had to drop everything and do the work for you, this may only take a couple of hrs but he would be quite within his rights to bill you for a full day
Why a full day for a few hrs work? he may have had to cancel/postpone/lose another job to make sure your job wasn't on stop/held up
This sort of thing happens regularly
Is the quality of his work in question or just the length of time he took
I work for 2 builders and if I have to be on site at the drop of a hat, I charge accordingly with usually a min of half days pay
As I said above, I don't know the circumstances but, if a customer of mine decided a job should take x amount of time, I would feel narked to say the least
What was agreed with the builder or plumber regarding day rates before the work started?

 

[Gasmk1]

as has been staed here already if you agreed 9.5 days and he was there for that time then you need to pay that, Builders do not have a clue about how long jobs take