My phone rings. ‘Hi, it’s your editor here. We need an article in a hurry, it’s a bit of an emergency. Can you do it quickly?’. I reply: ‘Yes, but I’ll have to raise my rate by 500 per cent.’
My career at The Spectator would be pretty short-lived if I tried that on. But it’s exactly what plumbers do – and they get away with it.
A new study from Direct Line Home Insurance has revealed the so-called ‘plumber premium’ if you need a tradesperson to fix a leak in an emergency. While the average increase in a plumber’s hourly rate for this kind of work is an imposing 117 per cent, researchers found examples of 500 per cent rises.
In pounds and pence, that’s an eye-watering amount to plug a leak. One plumber in Caterham has an hourly rate of just £25 plus VAT, but insists on a minimum charge of £150 plus VAT for each job attended, even if it’s just a simple fix taking a couple of minutes. Direct Line also found a trader levying an eye-watering £300 plus VAT an hour to tackle an unstoppable leak.
And that’s just the cost for the labour. Add in parts, materials and travel costs (some plumbers will bill you for their petrol) and you’re looking at a second mortgage just to fix a leaky tap.
I’m not belittling the skill it takes to deal with problem sinks, pipes and cisterns (my brother-in-law is a trained plumber), nor am I making light of the damage that a burst pipe or leaking water tank can do to a house. But come on! These price hikes are daylight robbery.
What does Direct Line think? Morgan Simpson, Direct Line home emergency response manager, says: ‘Escaping water can cause huge damage to a home and neighbouring properties extremely quickly. A burst pipe or leaking water tank can cause thousands of pounds of damage in a short space of time.
‘Escape of water is the highest claimed peril by value that insurers cover, which gives an indication of the extent of damage it can cause. If you don’t have emergency cover with your insurer there is the temptation to call the first plumber you can find, but you may discover even if the hourly rate quoted is low they have an expensive minimum call out rate or emergency call out surcharge.’
I wonder if a plumber’s exorbitant fees for emergency call-outs is linked to the age-old problem of finding a decent tradesman who won’t charge the earth. Despite the plethora of ‘find a tradesman’ websites, word-of-mouth is still relied upon by many people. Think of the number of times you’ve been asked by a friend or neighbour if you know a reliable electrician/plumber/builder.
A few years back I renovated a house. All manner of tradesmen passed through my doors, some good, some bad and some downright terrible. I did my homework and collected a number of quotes before hiring anyone. But it was still a lottery.
It makes sense to check your home insurance policy for things like emergency call-outs; for a relatively small premium it’s easy to obtain cover for the unexpected. And if some savvy insurer devised a policy to protect against dodgy tradespeople, I’d sign up today.
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