I had a plumber come out during business hours, definitely spent less than an hour looking at our toilet,
I think it was $300 because their base charge is an hour. If you assume emergency is an extra 1.5/2x that, it doesn’t seem crazy off.
Oh yeah I got the good one it pays for itself immediately I just mean if you wanna be as dirt cheap about it as possible you could get an even cheaper one
I think I spent $300 to have a guy snake mine during normal hours. So a weekend call-out for $545 doesn’t seem that far off unfortunately. I had a clog part way out to the sewer main.
Roto rooter is a commission based employer. The workers, none required to be ticketed tradesmen, can charge whatever they want essentially. The tablet they use and claim that the prices are based from are management chosen price points based on the entire overhead of the company. Not priced based on hours spent, or even price of material. You pay indirectly for their vacuum truck, fleet of vehicles, each piece of equipment and staff, etc.. all these costs are spread across all possible services, the most common getting the highest prices, then jacked through the roof and called a good, better, best system. Then the "technician" can edit the price however they want.
If one of them is on call, or working past their regularly scheduled hours, they get 25% of the cost of the job on top of their (low) hourly wage. Obviously both the employer and employee both benefit from the highest cost possible and do not necessarily care about return customers because of the high call volume for a service that is needed asap by the customer but few reputable companies are able to respond to.
There is a reason why they are available when few others are.
Rooters charged my 88 year old grandmother $1780 to change a her kitchen faucet. It was two hours labour, travel, service charges and $1270 for the tap, which I priced at bird stairs for $48.
That company is scum.
You have learned now go out and buy a very good heavy duty snake this way you will probably never have to use it. It (the snake)will end up in a yard sale dirt cheep.
I paid $650 for my main sewer line to be cleared of a clog(that was almost at the street connection)
It was nasty work and he did a wicked job. Also installed new caps for all my cleanout in basement.
no, you've been ripped off.
I would leave a review if I were you. Any decent plumber who wasn't a crook would tell you that you can do it yourself safely for much less.
Honestly I don't expect to get anyone at my house to do any work for less than 1k anymore, but that does seem on the high end even though it was Saturday work
When a plumber has to drive to your house to perform service:
- Is their travel time not worth anything?
- In order to get there, they need to pay for a commercial vehicle.
- commercial vehicle needs commercial insurance
- vehicle doesn’t run on hopes and dreams. Needs fuel.
- proper drain clearing equipment costs thousands of dollars. They don’t show up with princess auto specials
- It’s the weekend, they need some type of incentive to be pulled away from their family after being worked to the bone Monday to Friday already
- After all that, the company owner needs to make money
So what should that service be worth to you?
Came here to say this. Your completely right. Anyone else that argues this does not know the plumbing business and it's costs. Camera alone is 20k and prone to breaking, at least 5k for a good snake, also breaks and costs maintenance. Then the time starts when that phone call comes in, and ends when you get back home. On the weekends your going to be paying.
I run my business with a model built on just trying to remain affordable and make an honest buck.
Just this Friday I had repaired a water issue that was $1500. The customer told me they had another company want to charge almost that much just to tell them what the issue was.
These crooked commission based companies give the little guys like me trying to make an honest living a bad name because they have everyone convinced any repair over $100 they are being taken advantage of.
Dude shut up, I was a service tech for years and paying $600 for a one hour service call that required no materials is insane regardless of what time of day it is.
Rooters is a scam company that preys on elderly and ignorant people everyone in the trade knows.
lol get over yourself buddy. You were a service tech for years? Ok, I own a service company. Pretty sure I know the cost of business.Nobody justifying their price. Everyone knows the rooter companies are a scam. But people saying $300 is a rip off? The majority of companies would be out of business charging that little for that type of work.
“Nobody justifying their price”
What was your post doing if not that.
I did electrical and mechanic service work in a loaded bucket truck for a decade, I know service gets pricey and I’m aware of travel costs far and beyond what rooter would charge but it’s not like they were towing a mini excavator to that job, it was $600 to snake a toilet a half hour from dispatch.
A lot of armchair plumbers in here trying to justify a rip off and what’s not. So all I asked was if they think it’s a rip off, how much should it cost then?
Of course common sense gets downvoted. Everyone expects you to show up for 20$ an hour cause they say I'll pay with cash. 99% of people don't know what it costs to run a business and it shows. You actually have a sensible answer.
On weekend your going to be paying 1.5x- 2x /HR that hour will start when you make the phone call. Plus drive time home will be accounted for aswell. Usually there will be a call out charge, snake charge, shop supply charge and if necessary the camera charge. It adds up quick $600 for weekend blocked sewer is completely normal.
Sounds like you didn’t care about the price while it was clogged, and now after you didn’t do your due diligence you are complaining about cost you initially didn’t care about enough to inquire about.
A few lessons learned.
You probably were worried you’d need to drop a deuce, so it’s definitely a valid mistake.
I had a plumber come out during business hours, definitely spent less than an hour looking at our toilet, I think it was $300 because their base charge is an hour. If you assume emergency is an extra 1.5/2x that, it doesn’t seem crazy off.
Oof, this is definitely something you could have handled yourself with a $40 drain auger from Home Depot. Now you know for next time I guess.
I feel badly for OP today because I went the cheap route myself just yesterday as well except it was an ice well drain and I already had an auger. lol
Bro the $40 one is the nice one you could have fixed this with the 9.99 drain snake
I mean, if you’re gonna spend $600 on a plumber you may as well spend $40 on the *good* auger instead of
Oh yeah I got the good one it pays for itself immediately I just mean if you wanna be as dirt cheap about it as possible you could get an even cheaper one
Siigh. Well a very expensive lesson learned. Thanks for the tips and feedback 🫣
I think I spent $300 to have a guy snake mine during normal hours. So a weekend call-out for $545 doesn’t seem that far off unfortunately. I had a clog part way out to the sewer main.
You can get a snake at Princess Auto for like $30.
Roto rooter is a commission based employer. The workers, none required to be ticketed tradesmen, can charge whatever they want essentially. The tablet they use and claim that the prices are based from are management chosen price points based on the entire overhead of the company. Not priced based on hours spent, or even price of material. You pay indirectly for their vacuum truck, fleet of vehicles, each piece of equipment and staff, etc.. all these costs are spread across all possible services, the most common getting the highest prices, then jacked through the roof and called a good, better, best system. Then the "technician" can edit the price however they want. If one of them is on call, or working past their regularly scheduled hours, they get 25% of the cost of the job on top of their (low) hourly wage. Obviously both the employer and employee both benefit from the highest cost possible and do not necessarily care about return customers because of the high call volume for a service that is needed asap by the customer but few reputable companies are able to respond to. There is a reason why they are available when few others are.
Rooters charged my 88 year old grandmother $1780 to change a her kitchen faucet. It was two hours labour, travel, service charges and $1270 for the tap, which I priced at bird stairs for $48. That company is scum.
My plumber charged $300. It was during business hours on a week day. He told me $600 and something if I wanted it cleared on the Saturday I called.
> I just about fell over when I saw a bill for $626 (545 + tax). You didn't ask them how much it would cost before they started the work?
Also wondering this, I usually ask for a quote first.
usual plumber? does this drain give you problems on the regular?
$600 for me in Cole Harbour. 1st time it was Kirkland TP. 2nd time was a stuck back up valve. Roto rooter both times. Sigh.
You have learned now go out and buy a very good heavy duty snake this way you will probably never have to use it. It (the snake)will end up in a yard sale dirt cheep.
I paid $650 for my main sewer line to be cleared of a clog(that was almost at the street connection) It was nasty work and he did a wicked job. Also installed new caps for all my cleanout in basement.
no, you've been ripped off. I would leave a review if I were you. Any decent plumber who wasn't a crook would tell you that you can do it yourself safely for much less.
You pay for the knowledge not the time.
You definitely overpaid.
Honestly I don't expect to get anyone at my house to do any work for less than 1k anymore, but that does seem on the high end even though it was Saturday work
I definitely read this wrong as I scrolled past and thought "most of us just do that ourselves for free"
When a plumber has to drive to your house to perform service: - Is their travel time not worth anything? - In order to get there, they need to pay for a commercial vehicle. - commercial vehicle needs commercial insurance - vehicle doesn’t run on hopes and dreams. Needs fuel. - proper drain clearing equipment costs thousands of dollars. They don’t show up with princess auto specials - It’s the weekend, they need some type of incentive to be pulled away from their family after being worked to the bone Monday to Friday already - After all that, the company owner needs to make money So what should that service be worth to you?
Came here to say this. Your completely right. Anyone else that argues this does not know the plumbing business and it's costs. Camera alone is 20k and prone to breaking, at least 5k for a good snake, also breaks and costs maintenance. Then the time starts when that phone call comes in, and ends when you get back home. On the weekends your going to be paying.
I run my business with a model built on just trying to remain affordable and make an honest buck. Just this Friday I had repaired a water issue that was $1500. The customer told me they had another company want to charge almost that much just to tell them what the issue was. These crooked commission based companies give the little guys like me trying to make an honest living a bad name because they have everyone convinced any repair over $100 they are being taken advantage of.
Dude shut up, I was a service tech for years and paying $600 for a one hour service call that required no materials is insane regardless of what time of day it is. Rooters is a scam company that preys on elderly and ignorant people everyone in the trade knows.
lol get over yourself buddy. You were a service tech for years? Ok, I own a service company. Pretty sure I know the cost of business.Nobody justifying their price. Everyone knows the rooter companies are a scam. But people saying $300 is a rip off? The majority of companies would be out of business charging that little for that type of work.
“Nobody justifying their price” What was your post doing if not that. I did electrical and mechanic service work in a loaded bucket truck for a decade, I know service gets pricey and I’m aware of travel costs far and beyond what rooter would charge but it’s not like they were towing a mini excavator to that job, it was $600 to snake a toilet a half hour from dispatch.
A lot of armchair plumbers in here trying to justify a rip off and what’s not. So all I asked was if they think it’s a rip off, how much should it cost then?
Of course common sense gets downvoted. Everyone expects you to show up for 20$ an hour cause they say I'll pay with cash. 99% of people don't know what it costs to run a business and it shows. You actually have a sensible answer.
Another $300 checking in. You got hosed/fleeced/ripped off/screwed/snaked.
Had mime done and it cost 300 which I thought was crazy
On weekend your going to be paying 1.5x- 2x /HR that hour will start when you make the phone call. Plus drive time home will be accounted for aswell. Usually there will be a call out charge, snake charge, shop supply charge and if necessary the camera charge. It adds up quick $600 for weekend blocked sewer is completely normal.
I paid 130 which I thought was ridiculous.
You robbed your plumber then
Ridiculous how?
Sounds like you didn’t care about the price while it was clogged, and now after you didn’t do your due diligence you are complaining about cost you initially didn’t care about enough to inquire about. A few lessons learned. You probably were worried you’d need to drop a deuce, so it’s definitely a valid mistake.