Plumbing services

Plumbing splits into three buckets that get priced very differently. Repairs are hourly or flat-rate fixes: a leaking supply line, a running toilet, a failed shutoff valve. Replacements are equipment swaps with a known part cost — water heaters, disposals, fixtures. Renovation and infrastructure work — repiping, sewer replacement, moving a drain — is bid as a project, needs a permit in most places, and is where quotes vary the most between contractors.

The hourly rate is the least useful number in a plumbing quote. A plumber at $150 an hour who diagnoses correctly in 30 minutes is cheaper than one at $85 who spends three hours guessing. What matters more is whether the company charges a diagnostic fee, whether that fee is credited toward the repair, and whether the price you're quoted is flat-rate or an open-ended hourly estimate.

Some work legitimately needs a licensed plumber and some does not. Licensing rules are set state by state, and in some states by county or city, so there is no national answer. Before you hire, look up your state's plumbing or contractor licensing board and search the license number the company gives you. A company that won't give you a license number in writing is telling you something.

Get written scope, not just a price. "Replace water heater — $1,800" is not a scope. "Remove and dispose of existing 50-gallon gas unit, install new 50-gallon gas unit, new expansion tank, new flex connectors, new drain pan, permit and inspection included" is. The difference between two quotes is usually hiding in that paragraph.

How to choose

Ask whether the price is flat-rate or hourly

Flat-rate protects you from a slow tech. Hourly protects you from a padded book price. Neither is automatically better — but you should know which one you're agreeing to before work starts.

Ask if the diagnostic fee is credited

Many companies charge a trip or diagnostic fee and apply it to the repair if you proceed. Some don't. It's a fair question and the answer should be immediate.

Verify the license yourself

Don't accept a photo of a card. Search the license number on your state licensing board's public lookup. Confirm the name on the license matches the company on your invoice.

Separate the emergency from the project

If a pipe is leaking now, pay to stop the leak. Do not let a 10pm emergency call turn into a same-night sales conversation about repiping the house. Stabilize, then get three bids in daylight.

Confirm who pulls the permit

For water heaters, repipes, sewer work, and anything that moves a drain line, the contractor should pull the permit in their name. If they ask you to pull it as a homeowner, that shifts liability to you.