[Closed] “Complete toilet mechanism change” cost

No not really. Getting stuff fixed is expensive these days.

Is it an old or new mechanism ?

Make / model should help.

The devil is in the details of course. Depends on where you are (e.g. South East v.s. North East) and the nature of the toilet.

I have performed a complete toilet mechanism change in the past with one of these:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/thomas-dudley-ltd-turbo-88-duo-flush-9-siphon-205mm/8461f

which as you see is 20 notes. It involved isolating and draining the cistern, removing same, removing old mechanism, installing new one, replacing cistern, refilling and making sure nothing was leaking. I think I could probably do it in an hour.

If it just the siphon valve these cost about £15.00 for parts. £200 seems a tad expensive.

Flush mechanisms are cheap and easy to replace.  Watch a few you tube videos, take a pic of your current set up and get down to the plumbers merchant for some advice on what to buy.  Depending on your toilet you can get a complete replacement flush mech for £15 to £20.  I have fixed the constantly filling problem by replacing a little rubber diaphragm which cost about £1.50.  I am not a plumber but have done this quite a few times in a couple of different houses.  It really isn't difficult.

You could go diy and replace the flush or fill valve or both if you want and it will be a lot less.
Last time I did this I couldn't find an exact replacement online so went to the local plumbers merchant with just a photo. They sorted me for everything I needed + some tips. Straightforward job after that.

I have fixed the constantly filling problem by replacing a little rubber diaphragm which cost about £1.50.

This, v easy to do and they perish over a few years.

Do it yourself, you could replace the whole toilet, that include's the "complete mechanism" for less than £200!

Get the cistern inners from Screwfix for £15-20  it's a piss easy job!!

Mine was doing that constantly filling thing. I replaced the washer on the valve which was a few quid in a service kit. Easy enough to do without any plumbing knowledge. I also had a problem when a bit of cistern block cleaner got stuck under the seal at the bottom of the cistern which meant it was sort of constantly flushing. Just cleared that out and it was sorted. You may find you don’t actually need a whole new mechanism. Maybe get a 2nd opinion….

I fixed my leaky flush last week.
Cost me £3 for a diaphragm from Ebay.
Took less than five minutes.

Might not even need a new washer - a bit of grit on the washer can stop it sealing.

T'all depends. A separate cistern with 1 metre flush pipe is fairly quick and easy, harder if it's high up. A close-coupled cistern with rusty connecting plate, rusty nuts and a perished rubber doughnut can be a pain and worse if it's concealed behind a panel.
Youtube and some basic tools could save you a small fortune

As above, parts are probably 20 squids.  Getting someone out to change it can easily add 1hr work plus 30 mins travel so 150.  Post a photo of the outside of the toilet and folks here can probably advise a bit better.  The insides are more useful but posting a photo of the outside is a good start

Recently fixed two toilets. One cost £25 for the part. The other was £12.

I replaced the washer on the valve which was a few quid in a service kit.

This isn't the only mode of failure leading to constant filling. I've had snapped plastic parts and badly fitted floats as well.

As above, I fit my own and usually under £30 for new mechanism, £5 when push button fails (again). It's a fairly easy job for a DIYer.

Easy if you can find an isolator on the pipe for your loo. Or turn the water off for the whole house and drain it from a tap.

All trades price according to your vulnerability.... in this case the fact you have asked to have this done indicates your technical vulnerability... therefore they price accordingly.

Not taking the piss as i have a lot of mates in the trades and this has been discussed in a public house.

They must be taking the piss!

A useful list of vulnerable trades jobs

Tap washer
Tap replacement
Planing down a sticky door
Reglaze a single unit
Cctv install
Hanging shelves
New light fittings
Blinds
Curtain rails
Loo internals
Plastering a patch no bigger than a bin lid

I could go on but you get the gist

Yes they are taking the piss, its also called profit.

Even with rusty pan to cistern bolts, it shouldnt take more than a hour.
£125 would be about right I reckon.
I've done loads over the years, it is rarely a pleasant job being on your knees, and putting your hands around someone elses bog.

All trades price according to your vulnerability…. in this case the fact you have asked to have this done indicates your technical vulnerability… therefore they price accordingly.

Not taking the piss as i have a lot of mates in the trades and this has been discussed in a public house.

That is taking the piss and is dishonest.  I don't doubt that a lot of people short of integrity and scruples do that, but there also lots (I know a few) who price based solely on time and materials.  Personally, I  wouldn't want to be mates with someone in the former category as their lack of integrity and honesty probably seeps into all areas of their lives.

£200, robbing barsteward.

I completely changed n old flush system to a xcompletely new system, where you just tough the lever for the flush, rather than yank it, and that was replacing everything inside the cistern. Less than £30.

My filler was knackered.

Fixing required a LOT of swearing, taking the the cistern off (with plenty of rusty bits as mentioned above, a couple of trips to Screwfix due to design of the apertures in the bowl (CC)for different fillers and doughnuts, and absolutely NO space to do it all in and the arse plumber who put it in must have had a right chuckle as they used copper all the way to the filler and no handy flexi pipe to give a bit of slack.

Did I mention the swearing.

So no, £200 might be proportionate.

Thanks, I think the consensus is that it’s too much.
Interesting in the comment about price being based on vulnerability- the toilet is actually at my Dads, who isn’t too well so annoying that this may have been played on.

I think I’ll get another quote.

Cheers
Andy

Do it yourself, you'll feel a good sense of accomplishment and save yourself of a ton of cash.

...or you'll flood the bathroom 😀

I just did mine today, hard water area so washer calcs up. I just soak the mechanism in vinegar overnight and slot back in. Top tip, mark with a felt tip a vertical line so you can match up the mech after. There are little notches which if not aligned the top mech does not sit exactly in place.

Easy when you know how, I d expect to pay 100 quid to a general trades, don't need a plumber.

Its 20-30 quid parts and an hours labour. Even my well paid tradies would be hard pushed to make this over 100notes. Seek another tradesman.

Its only taking the piss if you can do it yourself.

If you can't:-
How much is it going to cost if you don't get it fixed, the toilet overflows and knackers up the bathroom and the ceiling of the room below.

Any decent tradesman these days is going to want to take home a couple of hundred a day. It'll be half a day by the time he's got there, found out what kind of flush mech it is, maybe nipped to a supplier to get parts for your vintage 1901 khazi, got back, done the work, tested it, done the paperwork and got back to base. Call it £100 for him, £20 parts, fuel for the van, shared cost of tools, insurance, PLUS his actual knowhow, etc etc. All + VAT. £200 isn't that far off suddenly.

While he's faffing around doing your "easy" toilet valve, he's not doing the week long full house replumb that could bring him in a few grand. (In my game, freelancers only do "days". If I want them on site for 2hrs it costs me the same as it does for 12hrs, else they might agree to the 2hrs work for me and then have to turn down a more lucrative job elsewhere -or they stitch me up by cancelling at the last minute to take the better paying work. Much easier all round to just buy them for the day)

He's available and he can do it - how much is that worth alone at the moment? Have you actually got another cheaper option?

It might, of course, just be a "**** off, I'm not interested price"...

(the right answer is of course - do it yourself if you don't like the price.)
(and then when you cock it up, how much is it going to cost you on top to get someone to sort it out...?)

Yes they are taking the piss, its also called profit.

So bad when banks and supermarkets do it but fine when tradesman decides to rip someone off?

If it is easy to isolate the cold supply, it's a relatively straightforward fix, unless it's some ancient relic which requires something a bit unusual.

The annoying thing I found was that the newer innards I bought didn't allow much of a flush, water saving and all that.

Easy job. Photos of cistern interior from a couple of angles. Take to screwfix. Buy fill valve with brass connector, buy flush valve that suits you existing flush mechanism.
Buy both sizes of donut, and a close coupled fitting kit.
Prob worth a new 500mm 15mm to 1/2in bsp flexi whilst your in there.
Take sponge and bucket and a couple of adjustable spanners.
Iso valve off. Flush bog twice, lift flush valve to drain, sponge out dregs.
Remove 2 bolts, change internals and refit.
45 mins to an hour.
Go to pub with dad

Do it yourself have a look at the bolts on the coupler if rust spray a rust buster on it 2 days before.

40 qiud in tools and parts and your done.

I agree with @JonEdwards about costing, some of the points apply to bicycle repairs where customers think jobs are so easy to do, can’t do them themselves and then complain about the price. As for the cynical attitudes of your friends @oldmanmtb2 I wouldn’t want them as friends. I use a plumber who is seriously ill with cancer, he’ll come straight from hospital if my 93 year old dad needs him, even when waiting for the taxi to take him to the airport for a holiday once. He never overcharges, and in fact charged Dad less than me for a boiler service recently. “Tradespeople” who prey on vulnerability used to be called cowboys!

All trades price according to your vulnerability…. in this case the fact you have asked to have this done indicates your technical vulnerability… therefore they price accordingly.

Not taking the piss as i have a lot of mates in the trades and this has been discussed in a public house.

This really boils my urine. I accept that trades need to make money and are charging for experience/tools/window-of-oppotunity etc, but some (IMHE) see a cash cow and grab 'cash in hand' as quick as they can.

My mum was very vulnerable and was always worried that trades were ripping her off. She had a trusted plumber, car mechanic, window/gutter cleaner/repairer, electrician and window/door person. All treated her fairly and never ripped her off. Some would visit for 5 minutes on their way home to sort things out for £0.00.

She was happy to pay a fair price and, as I was not able to get round quickly, I often had to accept that I could not do it for a few pence, and let her spend on getting things fixed.

Each one could have doubled the bill and she would have paid, but they didn't. I suggest you get better mates or accept you are **** as well.

Supply and demand has more to do with it than dishonest trades, also **** off pricing is very common.

Trades dont like one day jobs let alone one hour jobs...

Where are you based? If it's local to me and a simple DIY job I'll do it for your Dad. If it's a complete ball ache as in some of the scenarios above I won't be able to do it but at least you'll know.

NB I'm not a plumber, I'm a caretaker for a large and reputable organisation with a number of prestigious sites. I fix toilets all the time, I know what I'm doing and I know my limitations!

Two hundred quid to change a washer? It's supposed to be the toilet's job to take the piss.

What @timba says.

Also if your dad is lucky enough to be in Lochaber (or Livingston, down regularly) I’ll have a look for him foc.

The time a job like this takes depends on what you encounter. I did a toilet which had the same problem when I moved in my house last Summer and never done one before. As everyone has said none of the steps was particularly difficult but it was a 1960s toilet untouched since installed in 1961 in a very hard water area. It had no isolator for water so that was a PIA to drain the tank as the outflow stopcock was stuck fast. The toilet siphon was a classy ceramic job (never seen that before) and the bolts had rotted and it had just fallen off. It was non-standard size to replace and the rubber washer was non-standard as well. The heads of the cistern screws were rotten and I had to cut them off with a Dremel without breaking it as I wanted to keep the funky two-tone toilet. It took a good while to search for the parts, chip 60 years of deposits off, fit a stop cock and then fit and adjust everything. Took a whole day to sort out. Here in London that would be £250-300 just for labour. After the storm Eunice the neighbours organised a roofer to check the flat roofs and they didn’t blink at paying £90 per roof! I passed up that one.

I'm in the minority here - I don't think its a totally ridiculous price:

1. A visit to see what the problem is, diagnose and tell you the cost. Don't forget he has to get there so its not just the time inside the house.
2. A visit to plumbers merchant to pick up the parts
3. A visit to the house, to remove the old part [as others said it can be easy or it can be a PITA, and sometime you discover the part you bought isn't the right one or you break something you didn't expect to replace]
4. Fit the new part, test and make sure there's no leaks etc.
5. Be willing to come back if the householder calls you up and says it leaks/breaks in the next few weeks.
6. Issue an invoice, possibly chase to get it paid (or perhaps pay credit card fees!)
7. Pay the plumbers merchant, and other admin - like your vat return that DIYers don't have to spend time on.

Certainly, it could be done cheaper, perhaps for half the price, but it is irrelevant if it's a £15 part and 1/2 hr to fit if it goes easily but if you are 45 minutes from where the plumber is and the plumbers merchant is and it's a rusty mess - then its a 1/2 day bloody job.

Toilet mechanisms are about £25 or less at B&Q. I've changed two. It's really easy, but you need a bit of common sense and you may need some plumber's putty. Getting the push-rods the right height from the button to the mechanism was a bit fiddly.

Dunno about how plumbers run their businesses but it does sound steep.

Haha thanks - he's based in Lincolnshire, not far from Grantham. I've asked another plumber to come take a look.