ᐅ High Plumbing Bill – Is This Realistic or a Rip-Off?

Dear forum community,

I have a question that comes up quite often: We are currently building our house with a general contractor, and we decided to exclude all sanitary items that are mounted "in front of the wall"; everything else was handled by the contractor’s appointed plumber. When I asked him if he would also install our two washbasins and the toilets, he grumbled but agreed. During a phone call, he said it wouldn’t cost "much." However, he has now allocated 19 working hours for these few items and is charging me a special price of 900 euros without an invoice. It should be noted that the washbasins and bathroom accessories in the main bathroom were mounted on porcelain tiles with a thickness of 1 cm (0.4 inches), which of course requires more time for drilling.

He and his employees installed the following (in the main and guest bathrooms):

- 2 x wall-mounted Laufen Pro rimless toilets, white, with Clean Coat (Note: items behind the wall were provided by the plumber, thus covered by the general contractor)

- 1 x ceramic washbasin, 60 cm (24 inches) wide
- 2 x wall-mounted toilet brushes
- 2 x wall-mounted toilet paper holders

These items were mounted on porcelain tiles with a thickness of 1 cm (0.4 inches):

- 1 x double washbasin "Villeroy & Boch Venticello" cabinet double washbasin white, with CeramicPlus, including two space-saving siphons, with 2 tap holes and 2 x Grohe Lineare single-lever washbasin faucets, S-size with push-open drain, chrome finish
- 2 x Keuco Edition 400 towel rails, single piece, fixed
- 2 x Keuco Edition 400 cup holders
- 1 x Keuco Edition 400 soap dispenser

What do you think about this, and if this seems unrealistic, what would you do? The issue is that this plumber also installed our heating system, so we have a 5-year warranty with him through the general contractor. We are also buying the water softener from him, which he is giving us 200 euros cheaper because we agreed to have the maintenance contract with him (though it has not been finalized).

Thanks in advance!

Sony

Absolutely fine in my view.

Now that’s what I call a special price. On one hand, he probably spent a few hours too many on it (that often happens with hourly billing)... on the other hand, a net wage of €47 per hour (about $51 per hour) is not cheap at all...

Well, the deal is done now. What do you mean by installed and set up? You agree on a price beforehand. Otherwise, you can take it to a lawyer. Oh wait, that’s tricky... undeclared work.

Well, he probably won’t have any problem issuing me an invoice in the worst case. Yes, it was a mistake not to agree on the price beforehand, but he said it wouldn’t be much... rubbish. Is there nothing I can do now? I mean, I could get a quote from one or two other plumbers and present that to him as an argument.

Alright, then 60€ net plus small parts plus VAT. That easily comes to around 1,500€. What exactly do you want to hear now? The matter is settled. I have something for you.