Hey guys, my name is Sam and I'm from the Dallas area. I have a house built in 2011, and the handle in the shower recently became very stubborn and hard to turn. I had a plumber come check it out, and I got charged $400 for a cartridge replacement...

Does that sound reasonable to you guys? The part is ~$50, and I know there plumbing repairs can be expensive, but this is a bit steep.. I've seen other posts where the job was done for $250-280. Would it be unreasonable to try and push this down?

Details of the invoice:

Replace Moen Posi Temp Shower Cartridge - $325

Local service fee - $75

I had a leaky Delta faucet in my tub/shower. I knew the cartridge was more than likely bad so I called a plumber who was able to come out the next day. I was at work so my wife let him into the house. I came home to a $285 bill for replacing the cartridge. I called up the plumber and asked what he charged for the cartridge, he said $83 and I asked what his hourly rate was and he said he doesn't charge by the hour and only by the job.

I understand he has to mark up the parts...which it is a $30-$40 part...so he charged me double on the part...which seems high but I am okay with that, he has to make some money for his time of buying the part. But what gets me is that he basically charged be $200 for 10-20 minutes worth of work. My wife said he was at the house less way less than a half hour. I have done the work before myself and know I can do it in 10 minutes. So I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say it is a 30 minute job. That means he made $200 for 30 minutes of work or $400 an hour.

I had figured it would be a $100 an hour roughly plus parts (with some markup) but $400/hr plus a 100% markup on parts seems extreme to me. What do you guys charge for this type of quick work?