You know you have plumbing problems that require professional attention. You keep putting the repairs off, knowing you are likely going to have an expensive bill to pay. You find yourself asking everyone you know why plumbing repairs are so expensive.
First of all, you are not alone. A lot of people are put off by the high cost of professional plumbing services. Second, rest assured that there are good reasons for why plumbers charge what they do. There may be some plumbers who charge excessively high prices simply because they can. But by and large, plumbers set fair and reasonable prices based on the many factors that go into running their businesses.
Salt City Plumbing is a local plumbing contractor based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They offer your typical services including water heater repair, sewer repair, drain unclogging, etc. They cite the following four reasons explaining why plumbing repairs are often so expensive:
- Labor Is Expensive
The number one influence on plumbing repair prices is the cost of labor. It is the same with any other business. Labor is always the biggest expense. In terms of plumbing, it’s not work just anyone can do. Plumbers have to be trained and licensed. They have to routinely update their training to stay current with technology and best practices. All that makes experienced plumbers more valuable.
Also remember that a plumber has to make a living. If they spend four hours on a job at your house, that’s four hours they cannot spend elsewhere. They have to make enough money on each job to earn their living.
- Insurance Is Expensive
The second biggest expense for plumbers is liability insurance. Plumbers are required by law to carry insurance that protects themselves and their customers against accidental damage, shoddy work, etc. Unfortunately, liability insurance is expensive. It only continues to go up year after year. A plumber has to build that expense into their pricing structure or they end up going out of business.
- Parts Have to Be Paid For
There are times when Salt City Plumbing might be called out to clear a clogged drain. In such cases, no parts are necessary. Yet there are also times when the company is called on to do repairs requiring an extensive inventory of parts. Someone has to pay for those parts, and it is always going to be the customer, regardless of if it’s steel or copper pipes. After all, the parts will be installed in the customer’s home.
- A Plumber’s Time Is Valuable
A plumber’s day can be filled with all sorts of jobs ranging from replacing a water heater to running a new line for a refrigerator or dishwasher. But guess what? The most expensive repairs are often performed in the evenings or on weekends. That’s when people are home. Evening and weekend repairs cost extra because a plumber’s time is valuable.
Evening and weekend hours are extra hours to the plumber. Customers have to pay a higher hourly rate as a result. It is no different than an hourly worker putting in several hours of overtime every week. That overtime is paid at a premium rate. The same is true when you call a plumber in the evening or on weekends.
Even though plumbing repairs can be expensive, paying a professional is well worth it for a high-quality job done right. You can certainly handle your own plumbing repairs yourself. But do you have the knowledge and expertise to do the job properly? If not, you could ultimately end up paying a plumber more anyway. Why take the chance when you don’t have to?
