Plumbing Quote - Is $8000 A Reasonable Price?

karenestelle on 19/06/2017 - 15:15
Last edited 20/06/2017 - 10:59 by 1 other user

Hi,

Have had some plumbing issues re sewer last weekend and need some repairs. But not knowing anything about plumbing want to know if anyone has had experience with repair to pipes. We are considering a quote for work. In total the quote is $8,000 but the main work being done is as I've copied from the quote below.

This does not involved lifting up any concrete. Common sense tells me it's good to get more quotes but this would mean a lot of money each time to get them to use a camera.

If it's a reasonable price for the job I'll just go with this as it will work out cheaper not paying hundreds extra each time I get another company to quote as they need to use a camera. By having pipe relined it will save digging up concrete which would work out very expensive.

Maybe some plumbers out there can advise me or maybe someone who has experienced similar problems? We are an elderly couple in our 60's and really appreciate for anyone that can help me or give me some advice.

REPLACE 4" INSPECTION SHAFT AND EPOXY RESIN PIPE PATCH 3M c
Dig up and remove defective sewer shaft using excavator.
Install new inspection shaft with provision for reline.
Once line has been water jet blasted clean and free from any grease, carry out a 3m epoxy resin pipe patch of sewer or storm water pipe.
Camera inspect and check.
Backfill excavation and return ground to original state.

Home & Garden

Comments

[Deactivated] on 19/06/2017 - 15:54

+1

I would definitely get other quotes, not only to compare prices but as a second opinion and to check if there is another way to fix it; or maybe some cheaper short term fix. Most plumbers should have cameras so I'm not sure why you would need to pay for a quote. Maybe start by just calling another plumber and talk them through it. Be frank that you just want a second opinion. Find a local guy through gumtree or the local paper, don't go with the named companies they really send plumbers acting more as sales people. One tried to sell me a $1000 toilet replacement when I later found it was just a rubber seal… literally 50c from Bunnings.

I know there are companies that claim to be able to reline pipes remotely - but I'm not a plumber and I'm a bit unclear what the source of your problem is.

It is a tree root? Blocking the both the sewer pipe itself and the inspection pipe?
supnigs super skids on 19/06/2017 - 15:57

+2

get another two opinions. those plumbers are dodgy fellas and sometimes rip you a new one. your problem may be fixed with just snaking or blasting. obviously don't tell the new plumber what the older one said about what is wrong
ohsotight on 19/06/2017 - 16:11

+1

Definitely get a second opinion. Few months ago on my rental I noticed the near the down pipes the areas were flooding. Hence got a mob in to put cameras through the pipes to figure out what was going on. The guy who came out first told me almost all the pipes on the left hand side are blocked.

He also couldn’t manage to lift the main pit to try jet wash it hence his recommendation given it was all blocked was to get the entire storm water system replaced as tree roots will only keep coming up even if he clears. He just couldn’t be bothered doing the job.

Over the weekend I managed to open the pit hence I got another guy from the same company to come out and have a look. Unlike the lazy other sod this guy was a proper professional. He figured out the problem. At some point the kitchen had been renovated and whoever did the job decided to connect the kitchen waste pipe to the storm water! Hence the entire storm water system was blocked!

Anyway it cost me a grand but he managed to clear the entire thing and I managed to save about 5k by not replacing my entire system. So yes get a second opinion and ask for different options if there are any. If its tree roots they should be able to get it out.
luffyex2010 on 19/06/2017 - 16:29

REPLACE 4" INSPECTION SHAFT AND EPOXY RESIN PIPE PATCH 3M

hmmm the $8k sort of gives me the chills how much people are willing to charge for their services.

If everybody has a Porsche cayenne, Audi q7, Maserati, merz amg, bmw x6 in your neigbourhood then I guess its normal….for them to charge so ….

This is a simply search and pop out by a random company with pricing on their webpage

http://pipereliningsydney.net.au/pipe-relining-costs-austral…

I believe the price they are charging is for labour work and not the cost of the material for sure. Its good to get your Chinese friends (if not ask the forum for help as some people may look up and get some contact number for you) to look at their Chinese news paper ads as they are fairly reasonable minus the communication skills sometimes.

The PVC pipes probably cost less than $50 for a few meter, have a look at bunnings leaving the rest for labour work and the special epoxy glue…..that is for sure less than $100 a tin that will last for the next 20 jobs or more.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/search/products?q=pvc%20pipes&re…

Good Luck in looking for the right people with the right price!
Shame on those people who take advantage of elderly folks.
- altomic on 19/06/2017 - 16:54
  
  The PVC pipes probably cost less than $50 for a few meter, have a look at bunnings leaving the rest for labour work and the special epoxy glue…..that is for sure less than $100 a tin that will last for the next 20 jobs or more.
  
  this
- [Deactivated] on 19/06/2017 - 18:35
  
  This is true. Tradies vary rates depending on where you live.
karenestelle on 19/06/2017 - 16:30

He showed me pictures as he took them and described the damage so I was able to see what he was saying was true. The pipes are very damaged due to tree roots. If we don't do something soon it will encroach under the driveway which would be very expensive if we had to pull that up. I have checked online and it seems that most companies charge for them to use the camera to determine the problem. It is usually over $220 each one.
- geek001 on 19/06/2017 - 17:37
  
  My sewerage pipe was blocked last year due to tree roots. My plumber came and unblocked it for me. It wasn't a pleasant job as he got some sewerage on himself. Lol. He told me the same thing, the tree roots have gotten in due to the broken sewerage pipe and is very common due to ground movement. I asked him if the tree roots will grow back, he said yes, it could be a few months or maybe 2 years, depending on the trees.
  
  The tree roots hasn't grown back yet so far, perhaps you may want to start to think about getting rid of the trees around where the sewerage pipe is broken instead if tree roots are a problem. We had to chop down a tree in our backyard as a preventative measure. The tree was about 3 metres tall and its roots were growing towards our house cement slab. Remember to kill the roots after the tree is chopped down too.
karenestelle on 19/06/2017 - 16:35

Sorry I confused you with the amount. It is $6,400 for doing what was described above…other work replacing another broken pipe and clearing drain makes it total $8000.
luffyex2010 on 19/06/2017 - 16:49

The excavation if they use a machine (rent one) is probably the most expensive, the water blast jet and camera …..the plumber are usually equipped with one (through experience by looking at their equipment i can tell they are probably within the 3k mark) plumbers usually claim it cost 20K to purchase them….

Most importantly is the tool, its tip head root cutter….these tools cost a few hundreds for their type of cutter.
https://sydneytools.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=root+cutt…

The water blaster tool, which I have research on with the same psi output with their machine cost like <$1k via sydney tools.
https://sydneytools.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=water+pum…

Drain Camera on Ebay with 20% discount at the moment
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AU-7-LCD-30M-Sewer-Updated-Camera…

However I do not want to own these equipment as they take up too much space.

Well here are some of the cost of a std plumber's tools and its only for your information and not comparison :)

Good Luck!

Sorry I had a similar situation with yours but ended up paying $700 for the work without the change of pipes as I got stingy…..other than that I traded my eel drilling machine for the job which cost more….
TheBilly on 19/06/2017 - 16:59

+2
Get three prices, but make sure the comparison is correct. Some people like to do a one liner on their quotes and when the time comes they say, "Na I didn't allow for this or that and it will be extra". So if you get three prices and 1 is at say $3,000 and 2 are at say $7,000 then ask the $3,000 guy some general questions as though you have no idea about anything and you are genuinely enquiring and curious; because if you ask direct questions like, why are you at $3,000 he will catch on and realise his price is cheap. Don't be ashamed or feel rude questioning them, if you show a sincere interest in how the work will be done, any potential tradesman that is worth dealing with will jump at the opportunity to explain it all.

Just to give you a start.

How do you propose to do this work?

What material will you be using for the pipe?

How do you fill the holes, do you just re-use the existing soil or do you use sand?

Because it is sewer work, do you need to put in any permits to council?

If so, do you include that in your price?

Do you have insurances?

One of my jobs involved a new Bathroom + connection to sewer main (inside boundary) + Kitchen and the plumbers price for all of this was $4,000 excluding the toilet and tap ware which I supplied.

Also another tip, when I have requests for odd jobs come through that I don't necessarily want to use my own contacts on or I'm not sure I'll actually secure the job, I always go to this website called Hipages and have always had good luck with tradesmen from there. The guys that advertise on this site are usually starting up, or they work on turning over jobs quickly. Both of whom like to provide keen/competitive pricing.

One thing to be mindful of is, if the sewer is not directly on your property and falls on the council strips or something, then typically council/sydney water get involved and have particular contractors that they use whom like to charge an arm and a leg for their work, given they are on the authorities panel. If it falls on your block of land, you just use any licenced plumber.
- TheBilly on 19/06/2017 - 17:03
  
  Just read above. I would still get at least 2 prices, as you could potentially save a few thousand dollars. Without knowing exactly the extent of work (lineal meters, ground condition, access) it is hard to say whether they are giving you a good price or not.
  - luffyex2010 on 19/06/2017 - 18:22
    
    Lol OP why not get a quote from Billy :) his pricing and reasoning looks decent.
altomic on 19/06/2017 - 17:01

+2

replace PVC pipe with new pipe. glue it into place. it's not rocket surgery. done.

offer some kid on your street $200 to dig up the soil to expose the pipe. leave the hose on to wet and soften the soil for easier digging.

swap out pipe. replace soil.

$8,000. and they will be finished in half a day.
- John Kimble on 19/06/2017 - 17:13
  
  Would it be wise to contact dial before you dig in case there is something else down there?
  
  https://www.1100.com.au/?device=desktop
  - altomic on 19/06/2017 - 17:21
    
    I'm assuming Kings Park in Sydney. if there are overhead powerlines/ telephone then it would be very unlikely in a residential area (and it's not an old residential area) for there to be underground electrical. as for gas, it would be odd for gas mains to be placed near sewer pipe.
    
    you can tell where the water pipe is by the location of the water meter. it comes straight off the street.
    
    underground utilities are not often placed right next to each other.
    
    you can always do a slow and careful exploratory dig.
    
    but always be careful and check it out first - call dial before you dig - just in case.
    - John Kimble on 19/06/2017 - 17:31
      
      +1
      
      It's free, so might as well!
  - madreece on 21/06/2017 - 09:02
    
    Dial before you dig wont give you the position of pipes inside your property. Only pipes etc that service your property, unless the pipes are in a defined easement.
- geek001 on 19/06/2017 - 17:26
  
  +2
  
  My plumber quoted me around $2k to reline my sewerage pipes, I asked him why so expensive? He showed me the sewerage pipe and it is about 3 metres downwards into the ground. He said he will need to get an excavation guy to come in and do the digging as you are likely to hit rock/gravel/clay deeper into the ground. Not justifying the high cost of OP's plumber, but getting "a kid on your street" to do digging is a rather simplistic view. :)
  - altomic on 19/06/2017 - 18:18
    
    possibly simplistic. as you pointed out - it can depend on your sewer lines and it's depth. at my house the lines are 75cm down, at my parents -50cm. 3 meters is quite extreme.
    - geek001 on 19/06/2017 - 18:32
      
      Yea, my plumber said the location of where the pipe usually breaks is where the house sewerage joins up to the council sewerage, which is somewhere in our backyard near the back fence.
- Peanut money on 19/06/2017 - 19:41
  
  +1
  
  +^
  
  My sewer pipes bloked and broken and was quoted 6.5k
  Bobcats etc etc
  
  I hired myself and dug for 12 hours
  Called another plumber to do the plumbing and new access points
  Materials and labour $300
  - altomic on 19/06/2017 - 20:12
    
    you save $500 an hour.
John Kimble on 19/06/2017 - 17:30

Obviously hard to compare given each situation is different, but our bathtub would take a few minutes to empty at one point. Plumbers came and said it was blocked due to roots, ended up costing $2000 to fix, but was covered by strata insurance though as we live in a unit. At a guess it doesn't sound like it was as much work as yours (e.g. no digging) so I'm sure they marked it up plenty given it was covered by strata insurance…

Here is the quote detail (apologies for poor formatting):

Further to our recent site visit regarding blocked drains in unit xx, xxxxxxx Plumbing is pleased to provide the following quotation for your consideration.

The sewer line that picks up the shower/bath combo underneath the building is suffering from major tree root ingression. The most economical way to resolve the current blockages would be to redirect the bath waste drainage through the wall and reconnect it to the stack on the outside of the wall. The work would include the following:
· Access to unit xx and the sub floor area to complete the work.
· Disconnection of the bath waste drainage and sealing off of the original sewer line.
· Supply and installation of new bath waste drainage connecting to the stack on the outside wall. This will include cutting in of a new junction in the stack.
· Testing of all new work.
· Neat patching of holes with sand and cement.
· Removal and disposal of all associated rubbish.
· Site to be left clean and tidy upon completion of work.

Whilst onsite completing the above mentioned work we recommend that the remainder of the sewer line be hydro pressure jetted from the base of all stacks. Hydro pressure jetting has been included in this quotation.
aussieprepper on 19/06/2017 - 18:23

I am not going to say that the quote is a good or bad price i couldn't gauge that from this thread. The majority of the cost is labor and hiring equipment. Maybe a tradie can chime in here and explain the cost?

Either way they will need to dig more then the 3 meters to patch the pipe maybe 5 meters total? The pipe maybe be berried at about 3 feet so 1 meter that is a fairly big job? Plus the extra digging needed to replace the inspection shaft that will most likely be right next to the house so it will be done by hand.

Maybe you can hire some one separate to do the digging cheaper?

I though the old sewage pipes are clay?
Islund on 19/06/2017 - 18:25

Get a few quotes - if one of the plumbers is called Zak then do not even consider him.

This guy runs ads in all the loa all papers pretending to b ell all, has multiple phone numbers and, multiple cases at the Consumer Tribunal for ripping off people.
karenestelle on 20/06/2017 - 07:48

After reading everyone's advice and thinking long and hard I think getting a second quote is something we need to do. I wonder if anyone has a reliable and honest plumber in the Blacktown. 2148. area they have had experience with that they would recommend? Thanks everyone for your much appreciated advice you have given me.
[Deactivated] on 21/06/2017 - 08:52

I had a similar issue. Got the plumber out, he camera'ed it, then returned later to clean it. Total cost was around $700. He was nice enough to tell me afterwards that if I had a similar problem again (and it is likely I would, to contact Sydney Water as it is their pipe that has the tree roots - not mine. So the short version - ask the plumber where the tree roots are when they camera it!
PlumPro on 21/06/2018 - 09:38

Request a copy of the CCTV footage and drainage plans and send and speak to another plumbing company for a second opinion. With jobs of this nature it's important to compare apples with apples!
bungyfreak on 09/04/2019 - 00:40

I had this similar problem many years ago, I used Maida Pipe Relining Sydney, never had an issue with the drain since.

They list the pricing of their pipe relining costs direct on their website.

Pretty upfront and honest. Not sure if you had already got your problem fixed, but this information might help anyone else should they come across it.
- DarthVader on 30/11/2019 - 00:24
  
  Hi Bungyfreak,
  
  we got blockwd sewer and plumber came out today and only partially unblocked after 2.5 hours.
  
  He was saying that tree roots have grown into sewer pipe and need digging and repalcing pipe.
  
  do you think maida can do without digging?
  
  plumber came out today didnt have camera but he got few roots cut using auger.
  
  how much maida charge you ,if you dont mind telling.
  
  Thanks,

Plumbing Quote - Is $8000 A Reasonable Price?

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