A week ago a game of darts resulted in a pin sized puncture of a copper pipe in my basement, causing a slow drip. I put some putty on it and covered it with two clamps and a piece of rubber. That worked for a little while but the dripping started again with much greater frequency and even spurting at times. I called a plumber and his solution was to replace the pipe completely; which is what I anticipated. What I did not anticipate though was the price he quoted me of $780!! I had anticipated that the price for this would be in the $200-$300 range. $780 seems quite excessive. Is this a fair price? I want to get this problem fixed properly and safely, but I don’t want to get ripped off? Any recommendations or insights would be appreciated.
That seems like a rip-off. To fix a small hole in copper pipe, all they have to do is clean the pipe, cut the hole out, and install a repair sleeve, not the whole pipe.
If the pipe is accessable, the whole job should take no more than an half hour, to one hour.
So, I would say your idea of about $200.00 would be in line with the correct cost.
find someone else if you think you are getting ripped off you probably are
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That seems like a rip-off. To fix a small hole in copper pipe, all they have to do is clean the pipe, cut the hole out, and install a repair sleeve, not the whole pipe.
If the pipe is accessable, the whole job should take no more than an half hour, to one hour.
So, I would say your idea of about $200.00 would be in line with the correct cost.
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$780 IS excessive if you completely described the situation. Perhaps you want to contact the Handyguys for instructions on how to repair it yourself without replacing a piece of pipe. It will require soldering and cutting to do it correctly but no clamps or caulk will hold it long.
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The Handyguys
http://www.handyguyspodcast.com
yep you are getting ripped off.
the cost of copper is way up (over $2.50 a lb for scrap) and it sounds like a easy fix,your est is correct.
look elsewhere for a better price.
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This is a simple fix and you are getting ripped off if you pay more than $100 (even this is steep) to have it repaired. All that is necessary is a repair coupling, flux, solder and a torch. Repair couplings don't have the raised nub in the middle. They are made to slide down the pipe in close areas and then slide back up over the cut copper piping. Probably less than 1/2 hours work.
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When I get screwed I like to get kissed!!!! Turn off the water and cut the pipe right on the hole (you can buy a pipe cutter at the hardwarestore for less than $20.00 )then put in a copper solderless compression fitting….again depending on the size of the pipe less than $20.00…..before you cut the pipe turn on a tap to release the pressure and just to be sure turn off the hot water heater (if it's electric and air gets in the element takes just seconds to burn the element)…once the repair is done run both hot and cold water before turning tank back on……Saying all this I assume that the only problem was the dart hole and not other reasons that would require complete replacement.Compression fittings do not require solder thus can be done with water or dampness in the pipe and require only 2 wrenches.Any handyman can do this if you are not confident..
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Where is the Pipe located?! It "might" cost that much depending on how tough it is to get to the pipe, if there is any wall repair, etc. If it was a simple exposed pipe, sure, 200-300 would be a good estimate… But, unfortunatly, there is sometimes more to plumbing repair that just plumbing.
Better yet, get a book on plumbing and try to fix it yourself. If you can, you save the do re me, if not, you can still call Mr. High Dollar for the repair.
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This is definatley a $200.00 or less job. You can fix it yourself very easy. Cut that section out and either couple it with compresion fiting couple or replace it with a small section of Pex hose and use Shark Bite fitting. The hardward person can probably explain how to go about this (Easy). It will take you less than 30 min either way and cost you less than $20.00.
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rip off
you can go buy a repair clamp/handi band from a good plumbing shop that will be a permanant fix basically is just a piece of rubber with a couple of bolts
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