change shower faucet and kitchen faucet

[retire-early]

Sounds like you found a decent plumber. Did they replace the kitchen valves?

I decided not to have the kitchen faucet changed even though I had bought a brand new one from Home Depot.

Now if only I can find a decent electrician.
I had one quote $125 house call + $130/hour to change/replace 3 outdoor lights which is $255 for 1 hour of work.

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[retire-early]

I've never done routine replacement of cut offs (if it ain't broke, don't fix it). You can rebuild one in a few minutes by replacing the soft bits. It's possible the seat is pitted, which is part of the valve body, but even that can be ground smooth with the right tool. I'd rather leave the original soldered cut-off valve than cut the copper and put on a compression fitting. And there's only so much length for cutting; you probably can only cut once and you're out of pipe.

I "get it" that the guy bids a job involving turning off the cut-offs, replacing the faucet, turning on the cut-offs, and then there's a dripping cut-off that wasn't priced into the bid. The installer needs to protect themselves from that eventuality, but maybe only repair, rather than swap the cut-offs. But at the hourly rate, the installer will do the fastest thing.

The guy insisted that replacing the shutoff valves was non-negotiable.
He has lots of good reviews on Google, but he seems to do a lot of emergency work so the people will accept whatever he dishes out.

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[EdL3]

A plumber quoted me $750 and that isn't even for parts.

He was telling me I needed new shutoff valves for the kitchen faucet.
This is a 10-year old house with shutoff valves in the line.

I know that the leaky shower faucet may be tricky given that the set screw is stripped or I would change the cartridge myself.

Do I really need to spend $750?

It absolutely is outrageous. Find a plumber that charges by the hour regardless of the work performed. Changing fixtures and shutoff valves should not take more than 2 - 3 hours ~ $300.

 

[easysurfer]

Back in the day, when I was really busy with w*rk and about the only tool I owned was a manual screwdriver and hammer, I called a plumber to replace a leaky kitchen faucet. Price was about $500-600.

Feeling I was a bit of a sucker, said never again. I don't need anything fancy, just functional. So, now when I need a new faucet, I crawl under the cabinet and do the work myself. Needless to say, saves me oodles of cash .

 

[Music Lover]

I've never done routine replacement of cut offs (if it ain't broke, don't fix it). You can rebuild one in a few minutes by replacing the soft bits. It's possible the seat is pitted, which is part of the valve body, but even that can be ground smooth with the right tool. I'd rather leave the original soldered cut-off valve than cut the copper and put on a compression fitting. And there's only so much length for cutting; you probably can only cut once and you're out of pipe.

I "get it" that the guy bids a job involving turning off the cut-offs, replacing the faucet, turning on the cut-offs, and then there's a dripping cut-off that wasn't priced into the bid. The installer needs to protect themselves from that eventuality, but maybe only repair, rather than swap the cut-offs. But at the hourly rate, the installer will do the fastest thing.

A new shut off is so inexpensive that it makes no sense to repair an old one. I just replaced the shut offs at the cabin we just bought...they were old and a couple were dripping so I replaced them all. A 3-pack of Sharkbite shut offs was $12 or so. It took less than an hour to replace all 5.

 

[JP.mpls]

A new shut off is so inexpensive that it makes no sense to repair an old one. I just replaced the shut offs at the cabin we just bought...they were old and a couple were dripping so I replaced them all. A 3-pack of Sharkbite shut offs was $12 or so. It took less than an hour to replace all 5.

I really like the newer 1/4 turn shutoff valves compared to the multi turn versions.
I typically use the compression fit valves, but tried the shark bite version last time. They seem fine.

I don't want to remove any length on the short copper pipe, so I prefer reusing the existing pressure fit sleeve and threaded nut, with a new 1/4 turn valve. Possibly a mistake. I guess they have a tool to remove the old sleeves.

JP