Calling a plumber in a freeze emergency: what drives the bill

What drives the price

• Timing: nights, weekends and holidays usually cost more, and the days after a regional freeze are among the busiest of the year.
• Travel: rural addresses far from the shop may carry a trip charge.
• Access: a split pipe in an open crawl space is quicker to fix than one inside a finished wall or ceiling, or under a manufactured home's belly wrap.
• How many breaks: one split spigot is one repair; a crawl space with several splits may mean repiping that section.
• Materials: older galvanized or polybutylene piping may need to be replaced back to a sound connection.
• Permits: a water heater replacement or a larger repipe may need one.

Lower the bill before they arrive

• Shut off the water and drain the lines yourself, so the plumber is repairing, not fighting a leak. Shutoffs.
• Find the break if you can look safely, and clear a path to it.
• If it can wait until morning with the water off and the house heated, ask whether a regular-hours visit costs less.

Ask on the phone

• What is your license number? Then check it on LLR's lookup.
• Is there a trip or after-hours charge, and how is the rest billed?
• When can you be here?
• Will the invoice say what failed and why? Your insurer will want it.

Insurance

Water damage from a sudden freeze burst is usually covered, minus your deductible; the repair to the pipe itself may not be. Keep every invoice. Water damage and insurance.

Watch out for

Anyone who demands full payment in cash up front, will not give a license number, or quotes a price for "the whole house" before looking. The FTC and CFPB both advise getting the price and scope in writing before work starts.