working with us · guide · TN LLP #5045
How Our Estimates Work
Why the number you approve is the number you pay.
Short answer
We diagnose before we quote, give you one number, and that number holds once the work starts. The reason we are specific about this is that quotes climbing mid-job is a documented pattern in this market — one competitor review describes a job going from roughly $1,200 to $1,995 after work began.
The complaint that comes up most in local plumbing reviews is not bad work. It is a price that moved. Someone approves a number, the job starts, and the figure at the end is not the figure at the beginning.
Diagnose first, quote second
Most price surprises trace back to quoting before anyone knew what the job actually was. A sewer line quoted blind, a leak quoted before it was located, a water heater quoted without looking at the venting.
So we find the problem first. Camera down the line, locate the leak, test the components — then price the work the house actually needs. That step is why the number holds.
One number, before anything starts
You get a figure to say yes or no to before the first tool comes out, including at nine at night on an emergency call. If you say no, that is a complete answer and nobody is annoyed about it.
On a bigger job — a repipe, a sewer replacement, a long service line — that matters more, not less, which is why we scope those properly rather than starting and discovering.
When something genuinely changes
Occasionally opening something up reveals a condition nobody could have seen: a second failure behind the first, a section of pipe worse than the camera suggested. That is real and it happens in this trade.
When it does, the work stops and we talk to you before anything else is done. What we will not do is keep working and present a larger number at the end. The difference between a revised estimate you agreed to and a bill that grew is consent, and it is the entire point.
What we would do
Ask any plumber whether the quote holds once work begins, and ask what happens if they find something unexpected. The answer to the second question tells you more than the first. Ours: we stop and ask you.
Permits
Some plumbing work requires a permit and an inspection, and some does not. Whether one is required for your job is determined by the Authority Having Jurisdiction — the city or county building and codes office for your address — and it is at their discretion.
Usually requires a permit
- Water heater replacement and tankless conversion
- Whole-house repiping
- Water service line and sewer line replacement
- Gas line installation and repair
- Relocating a fixture to a new position
Usually does not
- Drain cleaning and clearing blockages
- Emergency and repair work
- Like-for-like fixture replacement
- Water heater repair
- Camera inspection and diagnostics
This is general guidance rather than a ruling, and it can differ from one town to the next. The Authority Having Jurisdiction makes the determination. Across the Bradley–McMinn corridor we pull the permit and book the inspection ourselves. Inside Hamilton County and Chattanooga the permit office does not accept an application from our license class, so permit-required jobs there are referred to a licensed partner who does the work and meets the inspector.
Common questions
How Our Estimates Work — questions
Do you charge for the estimate?
What if you find something worse once you start?
Do you quote over the phone?
Is emergency work priced differently?
Are you licensed?
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