The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: rws on October 08, 2019, 07:50:45 AM
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Hi All,
Plumber's estimate to replace the main water shutoff valve in my house: $850. Does this seem like a fair price for central NJ?
The company is reputable and in business for 40+ years but first time I've worked with them.
(I know, get 3 estimates and all that, but I dont have the time to take off work on multiple days to wait for multiple crews. Also this is a level of diy i'm not comfortable with.)
It's leaking badly from the stem and in need of replacement. It's been dripping slowly for a few years, then it was closed last week to do some plumbing work, they turned it back on the leak was worse, and black sludgy stuff is coming out the stem.
Lots of forums said try tightening the nut slightly to compress the packing material. Well that just made it even worse.
It's the main valve coming into the house. Homeowners are responsible for it in this town, town will come shut the water off (for a fee of course).
Can't find anything useful on google.
Thanks
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Take time off work and get the estimates or just pay it.
And why'd you ignore a known leak? You could have picked a better time to get quotes and deal with it. Now, you're stuck.
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Hi All, Plumber's estimate to replace the main water shutoff valve in my house: $850. Does this seem like a fair price for central NJ?
It might be high, it might be low. A 2" valve runs about $50 (https://www.menards.com/main/plumbing/rough-plumbing/valves/ball-valves/watts-reg-sweat-lead-free-full-port-ball-valve/0960198/plumbing/rough-plumbing/valves/ball-valves/watts-reg-sweat-lead-free-full-port-ball-valve/0960199/plumbing/rough-plumbing/valves/ball-valves/watts-reg-sweat-lead-free-full-port-ball-valve/fbvc3c2/p-1503988338202.htm), so the VAST majority of the cost is in labor. If the valve is right against the wall, gunked up, difficult to reach, etc. I could see it easily being an $850 job.
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This was three years ago and not in your area, so probably of limited use. We paid $1475 to replace the water line to the street with horizontal drilling and all, which obviously also included the shut off. $850 seems kind of high given that, but if you can't take the time off work to get other quotes (which might come in near your first quote anyway) then you kind of just have to pay for the convenience I guess.
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Ytrium - It's not difficult to reach but it is close to the wall. I'll try to post a pic later.
Terran - are you located in a hcol area?
Thank you both for your responses.
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No, this wasn't a high cost area.
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This doesn't sound like a big deal, if you've had the leak for a few years, just let it keep leaking and run into a bucket tilted toward the street. You might be able to save a couple hundred bucks getting other quotes, and it will probably take several months of wasted water to equal that.
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This doesn't sound like a big deal, if you've had the leak for a few years, just let it keep leaking and run into a bucket tilted toward the street. You might be able to save a couple hundred bucks getting other quotes, and it will probably take several months of wasted water to equal that.
If it decides to catastrophically fail, there's now a flooded basement.
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Well if its inside the house, then just make sure you know how to turn off the valve at the street, or if you can't do it, then, I don't know, just hire someone to get it fixed. What's the most you're going to save with another company, $200? and what do you get paid an hour, $100? so is it worth it to keep shopping. If you have time to waste on this forum debating how good an idea it is to get a single bid, you got to rethink youre process.
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>>>What's the most you're going to save with another company
This question is why I'm here asking how much others have paid to have this done. If a few people from my area respond with prices in the $400 range, then the $850 quote raises questions.
If on the other hand a couple of people say "yeah i had the same thing done, and paid about the same" then it put my mind at ease.
I don't think it hurts to ask this kind of question on a forum full of frugal people.
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Yelp lets you get multiple quotes at once - I'd give that a shot.
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I am not in a HCOL area, so I can't comment on whether $850 is market rate.
I am confident I could effect this repair in less than 8 hours so I would not pay $850.
That seems like a huge waste of money and the exact opposite of a mustachian decision.
You could probably get someone from where I live to drive 5 hours to New Jersey, have the City shut off you water, replace your shut off, make you dinner, and drive home for that much.
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you gave no specifics, no pictures, no way to get an estimate from someone doing comparable work. bid it, don't bid it, change it, don't change it. The only piece of advice here, don't hire a plumber. They are all crooks, get a handyman to do it.