Home Maintenance

Plumbers charge by the hour (time and material) or they charge by the job (flat-rate). There is nothing new about either method. All plumbing repairs represent some level of risk that the job will turn into a larger project than originally anticipated. The two pricing methods determine who is taking that risk. When a plumber is charging by the hour the customer is taking the risk that the job could take longer or be more costly. When a “flat-rate” or contract amount has been agreed upon in advance, the plumber is taking that risk.

The time-and-material pricing method for charging is typical. Historically, plumbing repair services are charged for by the hour. If the customer feels more comfortable with a firm price, he will ask for and get a firm price once the plumber knows enough detail about the job to intelligently estimate the costs. The customers seldom know, however, that in order for the plumber to give a firm quote he must feel secure that he will not be working for free and he will bid accordingly in the higher range of anticipated cost. This is reasonable and prudent in order to avoid any misunderstandings later. In most cases a skilled plumber working by the hour can effectively estimate the final cost and can convey that information to the customer upon request. So it seems that the time-and-material payment basis can optionally be converted to a “flat-rate” basis at the customer’s discretion (before the work begins).

The question, then, is how to determine what is fair. The fairest it can be is this: The consumer pays for what he gets and gets what he pays for—no more, no less. Consequently, the plumber gets paid for his time and his materials—again, no more and no less. From a fairness point of view this is as good as it gets. Time-and-material is the way to go with repair work, in my opinion, if you want a fair deal for both yourself and the plumber. Flat-rate pricing for residential service and repair work is designed to dramatically increase both the customer’s cost and the contractor’s profit. Increasing profit is not a new business desire. What is new is the hiding of the cost from the customer until it is too late to do anything about it, and the total disregard for the traditional concept of truthfulness and fairness in customer relations.

Flat-rate pricing means commission-paid plumbers in most cases. Most flat-rate service companies pay their mechanics on a percentage basis (our own survey). Do you really want a commissioned sales guy diagnosing the nature of the problem and recommending a remedy? Wouldn’t you rather have a mechanic with no obvious conflict of interest telling you what will be required to remedy the problem? It comes to you to decide who will be most likely to oversell, a mechanic working by the hour or a salesman getting paid on commission.

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