Trust me. This is not a scam tip. But, if you own an older home and have jobs piling up, this story might help you avoid spending more than you need for service. The great garbage disposal caper began on Memorial Day weekend. The first sign of a problem was when instead of merrily grinding away when the switch was flipped, the garbage disposal simply hummed. Not a problem. I’ve freed up a sticky disposal before.
Step 1: Find the allen wrench that came with the garbage disposal. Fortunately, it was right below the sink.
Step 2: Put wrench in bottom of disposal and twist…okay, twist harder…okay, harder.
Step 3: Start shopping for a new disposal because the bearings on the old one froze up. Luckily, I found exactly what I wanted on sale at Lowe’s.
Step 4: Take the easy way out and have Lowe’s do the installation. After all, $99 seems like a really good price.
The garbage disposal you bought won’t fit. You need the same kind you had before. Oh yeah, the cheap one…
Step 5: Wait two days for the installation coordinator to call and tell me we’ve been assigned to an installer. Now, wait two more days for the installer to call to arrange a time to come out. We found a time at the end of the week. We’re close, right? Wrong.
Step 6: Go back to Lowe’s when the installer, who looks like he’s a heavy smoker and acts like he’s 80, shows up and basically says, “The garbage disposal you bought won’t fit. You need the same kind you had before.” Oh, yeah, the cheap one with the one-year warranty and the four-year lifespan. The same kind the home warranty company installed. No thanks. I want something that will last and is quiet. Unfortunately, I can’t make it to the store until Sunday. The installation coordinator is not in until Monday. Wait another day.
Step 7: Get ready to do battle with Lowe’s over a refund on the installation charge. To my surprise, they beat me to the punch and call, telling me they just need an email address to send my refund receipt. (And, yes, since only they could have known all the details—which they provided, not me—I gave them the address.)
Step 8: Call a local plumber with good references on Yelp. Get a price. We’re having a couple of other small jobs done at the same time, so the estimate is more than $500, which includes $175 for the disposal. I’m okay with the price due to the three other “jobs” he’ll be doing. Call and leave a message we want to schedule. Wait for him to call me back. One day. Two.
Step 9: Try a different plumber. This one’s going to charge by the hour: $105 per hour to be exact. Still, doing the math, it looks like the per hour rate might save money. Maybe.
Step 10: Hourly Rate Guy shows up. Does the smaller jobs first. Those take fifteen minutes. Garbage disposal takes about two hours because he has to reroute pipes and much more. The job is a major pain for him, but we’re only out $260 and we’ve gotten everything done for about half the estimate of the first real plumber’s quote.
The main takeaway from this was a surprise to me. I’d normally prefer a price for the full job rather than an hourly rate. However, the price for four jobs included many intangibles. Because I had multiple things for the plumber, it was much cheaper to go the hourly rate. If we’d have had a single task for this guy, the per job price might have been the better deal, but with four jobs, hourly was much less expensive.
As my husband and I’ve learned with any home repair job, no matter how simple, you need to triple the estimated time, double the cost, and hope for the best..
That’s a pretty good rule of thumb, Shirley! I like it. 🙂
Terry, this is why I am glad I rent.
LOL, Vicki — somewhere in the middle of this, that’s what I wished I was doing! 🙂