We were recently surprised and irritated to receive a bill for $300 to bring our gas line up through the floor from the T under the house about 6 feet away from the stove. The contractor, who was recommended by our plumber, came over for an estimate. He tried to tell me it could be up to $500 for the job if the gas T was far away, and that it would need himself and another man, each at $60 an hour. I told him that the inspector indicated the gas T was close and it shouldn't be that complicated of a job. I OK'd the two men and made an appointment.
He shows up with two additional men, not one, and they install the gas line in an hour. I'm not sure how licenses in gas appliance contracting work, but he seemed to be there solely in a supervisory role, and the two younger men (subcontractors, I later find out) do all the work. I figure one of them is an apprentice and don't say anything, since apprentices very frequently show up with contractors and I've never yet had them charge me.
A couple days later, I get a bill for $300, with no breakdown. I call and ask. In a series of several calls in which I express my surprise at having to pay for the third man and such a high price for parts when I was led to believe the labor was the major cost, he provides me an oral breakdown of the bill. He tells me that he charged $60 for his labor, $15 for a gas cock, $25 for the flex connect above the floor, and $17 for the floor flange. The subcontractors charged $123 for their labor (charging $61.50 each?) and $60 for parts. He said they didn't specify what their parts were, but it sounded reasonable to him to charge $60 for line under the house and brass fittings.
Sears charged me $8 for the flex connect that came with the stove, and since he also charged me for the same part at $25, I am suspicious of all the charges.
This angers me especially because our plumber did great work and we were counting on his referral. We were happy to give him a big chunk of change for his work, because he did a fine job and worked the entire time he was here and watched the clock and provided us with a list of parts he used and their cost. We don't mind a slight markup on parts -- that's the cost of having a contractor do business.
We do mind a lack of transparency in billing and taking advantage of customers.
I got the contractor to remove the $25 from the bill and am going to call the plumber and let them know what happened with their referral. At this point, I think we're just going to pay the rest and make sure other people know not to use this business.
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7 comments:
I'd like to know--who is the plumber you liked so much? Could use a good plumber.
And I plan to try the cranberry brisket soon! Thanks for that recipe.
His name was Gary (but I'm now doubting myself and thinking it was Greg) at Petersen Plumbing on 2nd Ave. I've also heard good things about The Plumbing Works.
Oh, and I'm glad you like the cranberry brisket recipe!
I completely understand your distrust of that scenario. However, I believe you may be looking at it the wrong way. I have worked for a New Jersey based Contractor Referral Service for the last 8 years as a Dispute Resolution Specialist. In that time, I have dealt with every kind of contractor issue immaginable! (Especially in New Jersey!) It seems to me that your issue may actually be the result of the referral from your Plumber... The contractor that performed the work knew he had the job, and may also have paid a % to your plumber for the referral.
Your first mistake was not getting comparable estimates from other companies. Most homeowners are uneasy about hiring any contractor, but the reality is that most are reputable and do the right thing. That being said, you really need to Check Credentials and play the game of checks and balances to weed out the bad to get to the good.
I publish my own blog that further leverages my years of experience in protecting homeowners from becoming victims of fraud. www.ContractorCons.blogspot.com
You'll also find links to a web site I found that really offers assistance offering detailed Hiring Tools and an Instruction Guide to help Reduce The Risk... Let me know if this helps you at all.
"whotohire",
I usually automatically delete comments from people who advertise their own products and services on my site. I'm keeping yours because I wanted to respond in hopes that Eugene tradesmen will see this and advertise their services more carefully and specifically, and especially on the internet. We tried to get other bids, and we were very uncomfortable with the situation from the beginning, our fears only allayed by our favorable impression of the plumber. This guy was the only person who was listed in the phone book or on the web as a person who did gas conversions, and we literally couldn't get any other recommendations. Is he the only one in our small town who does these conversions? Probably not, but we certainly couldn't find the others. It's easy to say "get lots of bids" when you're dealing with big city dwellers, not so easy when it's a small town.
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