Paid a plumber $350 to fix a shower valve, wish I'd done it myself first

My 1990s bathroom had a single-handle shower that dripped no matter what. I watched a few videos and felt confident, but got nervous about messing with the copper pipes. Called a local plumber in Dayton, he swapped the cartridge in about 40 minutes and charged $350 including the part. Two weeks later the same drip came back, so I pulled the cartridge myself and found a tiny crack he missed. Replacing it myself cost $28 and took 30 minutes, the difference was just taking the time to inspect the old piece closely. Has anyone else had a pro do a quick fix that didn't stick, then found the real issue was simpler than expected?

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johnson.river1mo ago

Tbh that plumber probably just swapped the part without actually looking at the old one, which is exactly what happened to me with my fridge water line. Paid a guy $200 to fix a leak, it came back a week later, and when I finally checked the fitting myself it was just a worn rubber washer I could have replaced for 50 cents. The pros are great for big jobs, but sometimes they treat small stuff like a quick cash grab instead of actually hunting down the root cause.

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jordan_hill1mo ago

$200 for a washer is basically the going rate for learning that lesson.

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