Old joke:

A paralegal complains to one of the law firm partners that the ladies room
has a leak. He calls a plumber and asks for a quote. After being told it
will take about an hour and will cost $350 the lawyer exclaims..... "$350
for an hour work? I'm a lawyer and I only charger $250 per hour" . The
plumber responds.... yes that is about right. I used to be a lawyer and
charged $250 per hour before I became a plumber.



"Brian V" wrote in message
. ..

"jay-n-123" wrote in message
news:eOTNh.2833$yo3.549@trnddc04...
This is a follow up to the recent thread. I live in Northern NJ. So
far, 3 different plumbers I talked to all quoted the same exact price of
$350 to replace existing crank-style washing machine valves with a Watts
single lever valve. Hard to believe this costs so much, since somebody
here said it is only going to take an hour to do and the part only cost
$33 or less and little bit of extra copper piping needed can't cost that
much. I suppose I could get a handyman to do this for a lot less but then
this person wouldn't be a licensed plumber....is it worth trying to save
a couple hundred by not using a licensed plumber?

The way I want it installed (described in next paragraph) doesn't involve
cutting into drywall. Just want to confirm this doesn't go against any
codes:

At some point (who knows when) somebody installed a single-handle watts
valve in my mom's unit. I'm looking to have mine done the same way since
no drywall work is involved. There are two eschuteons (sic?) against the
wall with about 3/4" exposed pipe sticking out. At my Mom's condo, it
looks like they removed the old valves and then added downward elbows and
then two sideward elbows and two small sections of horizontal pipe
leading from the sideward elbows which into the watts valve from the
sides. Only difference in her condo is that the pipes sticking out of
the wall are 5 1/2" inches a part vs. mine being 9", so that would mean
that mine would simply need more horizontal pipe. One of my pipes coming
out of the wall is around an inch higher than the other, but the same was
true for my moms so I guess this isn't going to be problematic.

There is nothing about that is goes against any codes, right?

Thanks,

Jay


Without question they will need to cut in to the drywall. 3/4" comming
out of the wall is no where close to what is needed. They have no way to
solder on the new fittings. They also need to be concerned with the paper
backing on the drywall catching fire when they are soldering. What may
look easy to you "could" be a lot more involved.
350, while it might sound steep is, at least around here (Boston), a
reasonable amount for a licensed plumber onsite. Rates here are 90-125+
per hour. 50$ stock, 2-3hrs onsite, your right there.