My daughter and son in law used Angie’s list to find a plumber to swap out the hot and cold water shutoff valves to their washing machine for quarter turns. He wants $456, which is about 3X what I paid for the same job here as I recall. I’ve no way of knowing how he arrived at that figure but hopefully the S.F. brain trust can suggest someone.

Wacker Plumbing is a good company. My neighbor works there.

Cropp-Metcalf also has a decent reputation.

If they are willing to DIY it, I have the tools and know-how, but am still lame from my illness last year.

Stuff cost more in NoVA. Still seems high. Whatever she does DO NOT call Michael and Sons.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Stuff cost more in NoVA. Still seems high. Whatever she does DO NOT call Michael and Sons.

Thanks. I’ll pass that on. There’s a lot of gouging here too and thankfully I was finally able to find an honest one when I renovated . I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the tab for pretty extensive work. You wouldn’t believe the tall tales I heard from some others. My favorite was about ships from India having been bringing defective pipes when my place was built and I needed every pipe replaced because they were an immediate threat. Meanwhile I had the walls all open as part of the work and I was looking at perfect condition pipes that were clearly marked showing US manufacture.

Call around for a few prices. Off the bat that seems high for NOVA.

How easy is access to the valves? How easy is it to shut off and drain the house water lines? This should be an easy job. In and out in an hour if things are easy to get to and work out. Could also take 1/2 day or more if things are complicated.

I was at a friends house in Reston last weekend. If I was down that way right now I would help.

Some of the young bucks with one-ton crew cab diesels and new expensive tools are trying to net $2,000 a day jobbing. The only way is to charge double what a low-overhead shop bills.

I'm amazed at what a sometimes-boss bills, and is gladly paid.

Thanksfor the replies. I love my son in law but he’s a fed & the only tools he’s skilled with are weapons.

While it sounds high, what type of plumbing do the have? If it’s polybutylene it’s not uncommon in my experience for plumbers to charge more.

My sister lives in Fairfax and just had a plumber change the main valve in her house as well as four others. He charged $250 for the main valve and $250 for the remaining four valves. Total $500. She found him on a website called Next door. His name is Roger Rodriguez 571-259-8247.

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Originally posted by MattW:
While it sounds high, what type of plumbing do the have? If it’s polybutylene it’s not uncommon in my experience for plumbers to charge more.

Standard copper piping in a townhouse condo and easy to access location.

Thanks so much, Suppressed. I gave her the info.

Mark Smith at NV Plumbing Solutions has always been straight and fair with me. 703-635-9124. Small business. Great pricing.

She called Wacker. The only thing was the packing nuts needed to be tightened. They felt bad as the minimum to come out was $150 so they checked to see if there was anything else they could do there. When they found nothing they would only take $100.

She’s steamed that the other outfit tried to rip her off saying she needed $456 worth of work but she now has an honest and reliable plumber when anything comes up in the future so thanks to SigForum it was all for the best in the end.

Thanks guys.

Awesome, now I have someone to try, if needed. I need a handyman or landscaper in northern VA, I'm half tempted to check on here too.

Sucks that that company tried to get her to pay for an uneeded repair. What was the company so I know to stay away?

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Awesome, now I have someone to try, if needed. I need a handyman or landscaper in northern VA, I'm half tempted to check on here too.

Sucks that that company tried to get her to pay for an uneeded repair. What was the company so I know to stay away?

I didn’t ask. Apparently it’s a decent size outfit though vs some small operation. If you like I’ll call & ask tomorrow. Too late now due to 6 hour time difference.