Emergency plumbing can be expensive, and can put you into a difficult situation. In today’s economy, everyone is pinching pennies and watching their checkbooks. Nobody loves a last minute emergency, especially when it equals shelling out the big bucks. Calling a plumber at the last minute, at any hour of the day, can be expensive. Some plumbers are available twenty-four hours a day, and for that, their services often come at a premium. It makes sense that your last minute emergency means that a plumber has to be called off of another job, which in turns means your job may cost a bit more to make up for the lost wages from that job, or the discount they may need to give the other customer (whose plumbing situation was not such an emergency).
Even if your plumbing situation is an emergency, you often have enough time to call around to several different plumbers and get quotes for the service. They are, of course, just estimates, but often the prices will differ from one to another. If you can wait, the prices may decrease, and be more negotiable, but at the last minute, you are often at the mercy of the plumber.
The best thing to do is to ask yourself if the situation is really an emergency. If not, you will have more options, and will save money. However, sometimes emergencies happen. If the situation is putting your health or the health of your family at risk, then by all means, schedule the plumber as soon as possible! If the house is flooding, or if you have only one bathroom and it is now inoperable, you definitely have an emergency, and you need a plumber right away.
If it’s the second bathroom, where the bathroom plumbing is the problem, maybe you can put the work off for a while, until a plumber can schedule you and save you money. If the problem is in the kitchen, you may need to decide how important it is to have this situation fixed right away. If it is something that does not keep you from using your kitchen fully, it may not be an emergency. Eating out for a few nights may be worth putting the work off, if it saves you enough money. These questions are definitely important to ask before you open your checkbook!