On Being Self-Sufficient

Water Pipes, Spigots, and Sill Cocks (oh my)

Spring is just around the corner and I've been patching the pipes on my outdoor spigots for the last couple of years. I've used plumber's putty and this weird plaster wrap stuff, and while it works for about a season, eventually I have to re-do the stop-gap repair. This year, I thought maybe I'd actually get someone in to replace the sill cocks (spigot pipes) once and for all. I recently did a little research and called a couple of plumbers...

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Now, truthfully, this is something I could DIY, but I wasn't really wanting to crawl under my house. As a kid, I would have loved it. As an adult with bad knees, it sounds a lot less fun. But, I tell you what, that's probably what I'm going to end up doing because as much as I don't like it, all of the plumbers I've talked to like it even less & they've figured out that they can charge a premium for it (not that I blame them).

Calling the Plumber

So, yes, I did the adult thing and called a plumber for an estimate. I figured, if the price was right, why not let someone who knew what they were doing do all the creepy crawly work? To be fair, I'd done a little research & knew there would probably be an extra charge for going under the house. I came up with an amount that would be worth paying just so I didn't have to venture into the crawl space. The price may be different for you, but for me it was worth about $500.

Of course, the estimate I got was over twice that. I'm sure when he told me the number I looked like a deer caught in headlights. Frozen. Eyes blinking but not quite registering anything other than the sudden ringing in my ears. They could get it done in about an hour and have me all set up and ready to go today. All for the low, low price of One thousand-Sixty dollars and three cents.

(*blink*blink* wait. what?)

The Estimate

I mean, I totally get that people have to make a living, after all my grandfather was a plumber. I just wasn't prepared for the estimate to be that high. And to their credit, they were very polite about the whole thing, offering me their membership service (@ $15/month)—which, they pointed out, would immediately save me $180 on the above estimate. Of course, if you're doing the math $15/month x 12 months = (you guessed it) $180.

And I still had to pay the $75 fee just for them to come out to give me the estimate. They didn't even really look at the spigots. So, I mean, they got paid just for interacting with me. Not a bad gig.

Pricing it Out

In looking over their estimate, they're basically charging me $282 per sill cock + $71 per fitting, for a total of $353 (+ tax) per spigot. That, of course, includes their hourly fee, which they say they don't charge, but I know that labor is included in that price. In addition to that, there's a $212 fee for crawling under the house and the $75 fee they got paid for just coming out to the house.

If I were to run to the hardware store and get the parts, we'd be looking at a cost of about $35-$50 per spigot.

• anti-syphon / frost proof sill cocks: $25-$40 each 
• Shark fittings: $10 each 

Multiply by 2 spigots and we're looking at a cost of $70-$100 (+ tax).

Using that math, I'm being charged about $900 for labor costs, for what amounts to about an hour's worth of work.

Figuring Out My Limits

Just like all of the rest of the projects around the house, I've been dragging my feet, hoping to find a better solution than me having to get dirty and fix stuff. At $500 that solution would have been to have a plumber come out and take care of it. At $1,000 the solution is me sucking it up and crawling under the house to turn off the water, cut the pipes, remove the old sill cocks and replace them with new ones. Thank god I bought those knee pads when I re-did the shower pan.

And while that may sound hard for anyone who hasn't dealt with waterlines, YouTube comes to the rescue to make it a fairly simple task.

YouTube Resources

Home Repair Tutor: Frost Free Sillcocks—How to Remove the Old Hose Bibb [Video]
Home Repair Tutor: Frost Free Sillcock Installation Tips [Video]

I love the guys who run the Home Repair Tutor website. They have a whole YouTube Channel about plumbing and home repair stuff. Lots of good how-to videos on toilet repair, tiling, electrical outlet installation, etc. I used their tutorials to reseat my toilet and to tile the shower floor.

So, assuming I don't make a total mess of it (and with the help of the Home Repair Tutor, hopefully I won't), by sucking it up and doing it myself I'm saving $900. That's pretty significant.