Why Are Plumbers So Expensive? [You’ll Be Surprised]

It isn’t uncommon to have a bit of sticker shock when you look at just how much a “simple” plumbing job can cost – especially when you are working with top-tier experts in your local area that have sterling silver reputations and great track records. 

In fact, you certainly wouldn’t be the first homeowner or property owner to wonder if your plumber was making more money than your doctor!

plumbers expensive

And while this initial shock can make the minds of homeowners and property owners worry about the plumbing costs for a specific job, a deeper dive into the economics of the world of plumbing can help you better understand why these kinds of jobs appear to be so expensive on the surface.

Experts At Treating Your Home’s Health

Right out of the gate, you need to know that plumbers go through years and years of intensive training for their field. They learn how to effectively treat whatever is damaging your home’s plumbing system.

These experts arrive ready to rock and roll with all the tools and technology they need to quickly diagnose the problem with your plumbing system, one of the most complex systems in your home.

They need to be able to find the issue, fix the issue, and prevent the issue from occurring again in the future all without negatively impacting the rest of your plumbing system along the way.

Those aren’t skills or knowledge that you’re going to be able to develop in a year or two of “winging it”.

On top of that, top-tier plumbers need to be able to quickly diagnose issues with flow and pressure, see “invisible issues” inside of your plumbing system without ripping your walls are part, fix problems with your gas line, with your hot water heater, with your toilet, with your washer or your dishwasher – the list goes on and on. 

There aren’t a lot of experts in the world that have to have such a wide variety of skills and experience to do their job the way that plumbers do. 

Years of Wisdom

As we just highlighted above, your plumber is going to have to diagnose and treat a whole lot of issues in your plumbing system – some that might look completely and totally unrelated to the actual problems you might be thinking of. 

The years and years of on-the-job training and wisdom that these plumbers accumulate is one of their biggest resources, and it’s also part and parcel of why they are considered to be so expensive. Plus, owning a plumbing business isn't always so cheap esepcially with insurances and licenses they need.

Expert plumbers that appear to be able to knock on a pipe and know exactly what’s happening in a plumbing system are only able to do so because they have been on so many jobs, seen so many problems, and solved so many issues in the past. 

These are the experts that are going to be able to get your plumbing system back up and running in a hurry while preventing these issues from happening again in the future. 

A Plumber is One of Your Most Valuable Resources as a Homeowner

At the end of the day, a quality plumber is going to be one of your most valuable resources as a homeowner.

DIY plumbing approaches very rarely work when you don’t have a lot of experience or know-how in this area, and even when they resolve the initial symptoms they can frequently cause even more serious problems later down the line. 


These problems can turn into almost unbelievably expensive emergencies.

Sure, there’s always going to be a little bit of reticence at calling in a professional plumber to knock out a project for you just because you know it’s going to involve a little bit of cash. But in the long term, it’s going to save you a mountain of money, headache, and hassle – and top-tier plumbers are always worth their weight in gold.

About the author 

Ryan Thompson is a residential and commercial plumber from Miami, Florida. He has over 20+ years of plumbing experience. He is also a huge DIY enthusiast who does all types of improvement projects around the house.

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