Caught my plumber installing a $15 valve he marked up to $90

I was working from home in my Phoenix bathroom remodel and saw the receipt for a sharkbite valve on his truck seat that cost $15 at Home Depot. He tried to charge me $90 for it on the invoice, so I called him out right there and he dropped the price to $40 after grumbling for 10 minutes. Anyone else caught contractors padding material costs like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

shane_bell11d ago

My buddy had a guy try to charge him $50 for a box of standard drywall screws that run maybe $8 at the hardware store. He just pointed at the open box in the guy's truck and asked if they were made of gold or something. The guy got real quiet and knocked $30 off the bill.

troychen11d ago

@shane_bell that's the kind of thing that only works if you catch them in the moment... your buddy had brass ones to call him out like that. Drywall screws ain't exactly rare, they're like the hot dogs of hardware supplies. Probably the guy was hoping he wouldn't notice the difference between a full box and a partial one.