At 3.55 pm this afternoon we found water under the washing machine.
A 2ft piece of 15mm copper had a growing pinhole in it, gushing water.
As I could not get to B&Q quick enough I called the plumber. Agter turning off main stopcock.
He lives 150m away and walked down , Job done in 17 mins total and drank tea I made him whilst working…£85 paid on the spot.
Why do we want to drive a truck, he only does breakdowns locally , works 30-35 hrs a week and earns £50 k. Who is the stupid one, all the local plumbers work for the same sort of money, I think they are clever enough to set a rate and keep to it !
Friend a sparky
And call out after 6 he charged what every he like 
And his mates a plumber and same with him after 8pm emergency call out it’s silly money
When I was a self-employed sparky, I had a callout at about 3am from an old girl in the next village. She could hear a buzzing noise coming from her electrics, and was worried.
I went over, and spent nearly an hour trying to find this noise (I couldn’t hear it), until in the end I turned her supply off and pulled the main fuse / she could still hear it.
I put her mind at rest that it wasn’t electrical, and went home, telling her that I’d give her a call later on to make sure she was ok (she was in her 80s, and had lost her husband a couple of weeks before).
When I phoned her, she was so apologetic - she had discovered that her hearing aid was faulty and was causing the buzzing! What the hell do you do - I should have charged her at least £60 going on normal rates - I couldn’t do it though, and just wrote it off. Maybe that’s why I never made my fortune…
Gary
scaniason:
When I was a self-employed sparky, I had a callout at about 3am from an old girl in the next village. She could hear a buzzing noise coming from her electrics, and was worried.I went over, and spent nearly an hour trying to find this noise (I couldn’t hear it), until in the end I turned her supply off and pulled the main fuse / she could still hear it.
I put her mind at rest that it wasn’t electrical, and went home, telling her that I’d give her a call later on to make sure she was ok (she was in her 80s, and had lost her husband a couple of weeks before).
When I phoned her, she was so apologetic - she had discovered that her hearing aid was faulty and was causing the buzzing! What the hell do you do - I should have charged her at least £60 going on normal rates - I couldn’t do it though, and just wrote it off. Maybe that’s why I never made my fortune…
Gary
I think the boats already sailed on this one.
10 years ago it was well publicised that plumbers were coining it in but in these tough times they are struggling just like the rest of us, no doubt further hindered by those that jumped on the already over loaded bandwagon back in the days of “loads a money”.
A mate of mine is just gathering in quotes for adding central heating to his newly bought house and the quotes are coming in at around the same as I paid 10 years ago for a smaller house. Now it’s no secret that the cost of materials will have risen in those 10 years so the labour rates must have been cut. He has been quoted between £60-80 a day in labour.
Maybe the eastern euros are tearing the arse out of that job as well!.
If we blame them then a least we won’t have to admit that it was our own greed that’s put us where we are today.
Cheers
Neilf
Did my Class 1 a while back and a lad was doing his Class 2 as he wanted to get out of plumbing. Dwindling income apparently.
One of our current Class 1 drivers used to do plumbing (refits).