I called Larking plumbing a couple years ago to replace the main water supply valve in front of my house, because the valve was leaking, and  broke while trying to use it. \n   The larkin guy came out real quick, and took apart the valve, removing the gate, and sealing it back up. I asked him why cant he just replace the valve as I asked, and he said he would need to spend a bunch of time digging to expose valve, which would cost me 600 to 800 dollars.\n   So now I had a shut off valve that does not leak, but also does not function. I paid a couple hundred bucks for that. I had to call a second plumber in to hack out the valve and solder a new valve in, for a couple hundred dollars more. \n    I am not sure why these plumbers are such cry babies about removing a little dirt. I dug the dirt out myself, taking a whopping 6 minutes to fully expose the valve, so that the next plumber would not be a crybaby and price gouge me for getting his dainty hands dirty.