Price Shopping for Plumbing? Why It’s a Bad Idea

“So how much is it?”

Anyone selling or buying goods and services is inevitably confronted with this question: What’s the price?

And it’s a reasonable question. You have to know how much something is in order to know if you can buy it.

I get it. Everyone wants a good deal. We want to know we are getting a good value for the dollars we spend. And if you can get it at a lower price, all the better.

However, I must caution, if you’re choosing on price alone— especially when it comes to plumbing and home repairs— it could end up costing you more in the long run.

Motivated by Money Alone

“But he said he replaced all the pipes under the house.”

I can’t tell you how many times we’ve gone out on a job to hear the homeowner paid another company a lot of money to fix something only to find nothing was done. Not to mention the countless stories homeowners share about being ripped off on the neighborhood app, Nextdoor, and the never-ending stories on the nightly news.

This is what happens when a business owner is motivated purely by money, particularly in the underslab plumbing industry where you, the homeowner, can’t check the work.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, before starting In-House Plumbing Company, I worked for other local plumbers who often ripped off their customers. (In fact, it was the impetus for my wife and I starting this company.) And it’s not only me; several of my employees also have similar stories.

Someone who is motivated by money itself has no qualms telling the customer anything they want to hear knowing they have zero plans to do quality— or any— work.

I’ve personally seen plumbers tunnel to where they thought a leak was, find nothing there, “fix” a fake leak in that location, and then find the real leak charging the customer for both. Or others who tunnel to a leak, don’t find it, then leave saying they fixed it knowing there is still a leak somewhere under the house.

So when searching for someone to do these types of repairs, the price alone shouldn’t be your only deciding factor. In fact, if someone has quoted you far below most other companies, that is a red flag.

You might be dealing with someone who has no intention of doing quality— or any— work at all.

Price vs. Cost

Let’s quickly go over the difference between price and cost. The two terms are often used interchangeably but there is a difference.

What you see as the customer is the price. But what you don’t see is the cost. Coming up with a price is more than just taking the price of the materials and the hours worked.

A business has to take into consideration all the costs of running a business.

Here are just some of the costs factored into the end price:

• Equipment
• Licensing fees
• Transportation to and from jobs
• Advertising
• Labor and wages for in-office and support staff as well as on-site team members
• Office space
• Vehicles and maintenance

Not to mention the specialized knowledge and skill needed to work on your underslab plumbing.

Also the state of Texas is the only state in the union that doesn’t require a business to carry workers’ compensation insurance. However, despite there being no requirement to do so, we carry workers’ comp not only to protect our employees and ourselves, but the homeowner as well.

Most homeowners have home insurance which would more than likely cover the cost of a claim if a worker is injured while on your property. But if the claim is more than your policy covers, you are ultimately responsible for it.

This is another cost of doing business that is part of determining the price of our services. It’s important to us to not only protect ourselves but also our workers and you, our customers.

“A” Work For a “C” Price

There’s a reason the dollar store sells everything for a dollar. It’s not the highest quality item on the market. Sure sometimes they get name brand products for one reason or another. In that case yes, you are getting a good deal. But for the most part, you are getting a cheaply made product.

As I stated earlier, if a company quotes you far below other companies in the area, this is a red flag. It’s impossible to do quality work at such low prices, or what we would call an “F” price.

But we also understand home repairs often leave a big dent in a homeowner’s wallet. This is why we promise to do “A” work for a “C” price.

We aren’t the most expensive underslab plumbing company in Dallas but we also aren’t the cheapest.
Because actually helping our customers matters to us, we try to keep our prices achievable for most budgets without sacrificing the quality of work we do.

Integrity & Honesty

After working with dishonest plumbers, it is important to us to serve our customers with integrity and honesty.

Something I tell many of our customers is we run towards the problem, not away from it. A lot of business owners will dodge your calls if you have a complaint or are unhappy with something.

But not us. Here at In-House Plumbing Company, we will do everything we can— within reason— to remedy any issues you have.

We also pride ourselves on being an honest company. For example, if we tell you you have a leak, tunnel to the location and find there is no leak, we do not charge for any unnecessary work done by us.

Honesty and integrity costs money.

Caring Is Important

We care about our customers, we care about our team, and we care about our work. We want to do the right thing for everyone involved— and that costs money.

If you call around, you’ll find we’re often undercut by other contractors. But you’ll also find many of those contractors happen to be ripping people off everyday. I’ve seen it and so have my employees.
When you choose us, you know you are getting the best possible work from a company that cares about what happens to you and your home.

If you have any question or want to talk about a plumbing issue, give us a call at 972-494-1750.