Well, you go paint some houses for a living and see what you end up
charging as a working wage...


But according to the post that started all this, the plumber had quoted
his rate per hour, the material cost, and the length of the job, but the
total estimated price for the job was far more than the sum of these,
even allowing for it taking longer than estimated.

When we were living in NY and getting our car fixed and they told us
that the parts would cost $200 and it would take 3 hours labor at
$90/hr., do you think we would have been happy to end up with a bill for
$850?

That's the kind of thing that the OP was complaining about.

Thank you. Finally someone gets it.