Any plumbers on board?

[Scott Tschirhart]

I've usually done a lot of my own work over the years and I have installed water heaters. But now that I live in town, and I am getting older, I was going to hire someone to do it.

I called a plumbing company that I had hired previously on another house and I was happy with their service.

I need a $500 40 gallon water heater installed and the old one toted off. It is electric so I don't see this as being a major project.

The guy looks at my setup, says he needs to bring me an estimate......10 minutes later he comes back in and he is trying to sell me a $59 per month service for the next ten years just in case anything goes wrong......I look down on the sheet and the price for the water heater is $3800+!!!!

Needless to say, I will do it myself for that price.

What should it cost to simply replace a 40 gallon low boy water heater?

[wecsoger]

$59 x 12 x 10 = $7080.

Heckuva sweet deal for someone, but not you.

For that money, he should be willing to put a new one in for free and he'll have a 10 year ride on the subscription.

Mama Bear is thinking about $550 for our last one.

[GunnyMack]

Call some other plumbers! Go to your local hardware store and ask for recommendations.

[4t5]

Parts $750
Labor 4HR at $200.0
Total $1550
If it were me, I consider this a fair price.
Maybe tack on $50 for disposal of old one.
This assumes its not in a crawl space, or up 5 flights of stairs.
I'm not a plumber, but I slept at a holiday inn.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Parts $750
Labor 4HR at $200.0
Total $1550
If it were me, I consider this a fair price.
Maybe tack on $50 for disposal of old one.
This assumes its not in a crawl space, or up 5 flights of stairs.
I'm not a plumber, but I slept at a holiday inn.

I'd pay that in a heartbeat. I found another plumber who could do the job for $2200. BUT he could not get around to it until Monday. My spouse really wants hot water.

So, I bought the water heater, installation kit, and pan for $560 or so and I'll be installing it myself tomorrow. I'll take the money I "saved" and put it towards a revolving pistol.

[rossim92]

how about a heat as it goes water heater. run off of electric or propane. suppose to never run out of hot water.

[JimT]

how about a heat as it goes water heater. run off of electric or propane. suppose to never run out of hot water.

Had one of those installed. Works amazingly well. Need to drain it or have heat to keep it from freezing in the event the power goes out. During the Snowmegeddon that we had here in Texas last winter, we never thought about the on-demand hot water heater in the attic. That is, we did not think about it until water started coming through the kitchen ceiling.

Got the water to it turned off immediately so it wasn't too bad. Had to replace about a 4 foot section of sheetrock and insulation. Turns out the heater used copper tubing everywhere EXCEPT the elbows which were plastic.

My nephew owns a plumbing company and he helped me get a much better heater at his cost ... THANK YOU TOMMY ... and we had it installed and are set for winter.

(My nephew told me that most of the on-demand heaters he installs these days are installed outside the house.)

[horsesoldier03]

I was going to have a gas line added to run a gas stove. I called 2 or 3 plumbers to come do the job. I could not even get someone to come and do the work. After about a month, I went ahead and bought the materials and installed it myself. Made sure I soaped down the joints as well as installed a 1 way valve that detects leaks and will shut off automatically. That has been about 5 years ago and havent had an issue. IMO plumbers are some of the biggest price gougers out there and alot of them just dont want to work unless it is a big job.

[horsesoldier03]

So, I bought the water heater, installation kit, and pan for $560 or so and I'll be installing it myself tomorrow. I'll take the money I "saved" and put it towards a revolving pistol.

I am currently painting the house. I suspect I will save us at least 5-7K doing it myself. I am hoping to convince the wife I deserve the New SA-35 as my reward!

[2ndovc]

The estimating software I use is the same program throughout 85-90% of the insurance industry. Remove and replace a 50 gal, electric tank, haul it away plus overhead and profit is less than $1500. If it were one of my claims I might add another couple of bucks if that was the only thing the plumber was doing on that loss.

I've installed probably a dozen over the years, but I need a helper these days to get them in and out of the house. The heaters themselves have gone up quite a bit over the last few years.
Even knowing dozens of contractors and subs, I still end up doing a lot myself on our rentals. I changed out my first furnace about two years ago. HVAC guy wanted $3500 to replace a small FHA furnace. I found one online with delivery for under $600. Took me a couple of days to do the sheet metal, but I had the unit in place and running in an afternoon. I wouldn't do one with an A/C coil, but it's a tiny house that I let my wife's brother live there and figured he could go a few days without some heat.

jb

[4t5]

Sounds good all the way around.

[Grizz]

have you tried home depot? they offer installation with some things, sometimes included in price. idk if their contractors are any good, but it seems to be worth looking into...

BTW, if you are in my town, I'll do it for free. . .

[Blaine]

Can you get a couple of fellas that hang out in the Back Of Home Depot? Just to move it into place so you can hook it up?
This guy you're talking to is a thief.
Don't get the warranty.

[Scott Tschirhart]

have you tried home depot? they offer installation with some things, sometimes included in price. idk if their contractors are any good, but it seems to be worth looking into...

BTW, if you are in my town, I'll do it for free. . .

I bought the water heater from Home Depot.

Their guy wanted $2200 and couldn’t get to it until Monday.

It will take me a while, but I have a good Dolly and tgg gr e tools. I’ll get it done.

[AJMD429]

IMO plumbers are some of the biggest price gougers out there and alot of them just dont want to work unless it is a big job.

If I could get $200/hour for a house-call I'd do it, but people are usually willing to spend more for a plumber than a physician. Just like the high-deductible patient I had who complained that I charged $250 to take a melanoma off of her - but I remembered during the procedure she was telling me about a pet skunk she had bought and when I asked her "what about the stink factor" she said for $750 you could get a vet to remove the scent glands.

[marlinman93]

No ay a 40 gal. low boy water heater should ever be over $500, and if you do some searching you can find them for even half that price. So even at the high end, with 20% markup it shouldn't be over $600. And labor shouldn't be more than a couple hours, and maybe if he charges to go pick it up, another hour.
So I'd expect the whole thing installed to be under $1000 easily. Sounds like it's time to find another plumbing contractor, or take on the job yourself.

[vancelw]

have you tried home depot? they offer installation with some things, sometimes included in price. idk if their contractors are any good, but it seems to be worth looking into...

BTW, if you are in my town, I'll do it for free. . .

I bought the water heater from Home Depot.

Their guy wanted $2200 and couldn’t get to it until Monday.

It will take me a while, but I have a good Dolly and tgg gr e tools. I’ll get it done.

You have no idea which knothead Home Depot will send to do your installation. Whoever it is, they don't have enough demand for their work to stay busy...that's why they are available through Home Depot.
Everytime I pay someone to do something I regret it and end up having to re-do it. The only thing I paid for without a whole lot of remorse was the new HVAC heat pump I had installed last year. Even then I did some finishing touches myself.

It's probably getting close to time to replace my 2 water heaters. Have only done it once in the 26 years I've been in this house. I have replaced thermostats and heating elements but the tanks might be getting corroded. If I replace them both within a few years they should last the rest of my time here....

I recently replaced two windows in the house. They cost $1500 and Home Depot wanted twice that to install them. I might have paid that if I trusted them. Did it myself for the cost of a few screws, caulk and paint. Used scrap boards I had been hoarding (take that, wifey!) at no extra cost

[2ndovc]

Totally agree with my friend from Texas. One third or more of the claims I write are because of Home Depot, Lowes and Best Buy.
Just last week I wrote estimates for two new hardwood floors that added up to just under $30k! That's just the idiots delivering and installing appliances. Imagine the damage one of them could do with a water heater. Only thing I have those outfits do is carpet in a rental when my regular guy is too busy and they have a free installation going with "X" amount of SF.

jb

[Ysabel Kid]

I'm not a plumber... but God apparently wanted me to pretend to be one all weekend long.

It started last week. A toilet I had to have professionally snaked (I won't do that again; I could have bought a heck of a long snake for what they charged us ) started running. Mrs. YK told me about it and I could hear the water draining when I was in the basement. So I purchased replacement "guts" and installed them Friday night... like I have done a score of times over the last 40 years.

Only it was still running constantly. The flapper that came with the "universal replacement kit" was a 2"; I needed a 3". So Saturday I went back to the hardware store (it's pretty much like I am Norm at Cheers there), and purchased a 3" flapper. Installed it... and it stopped running. Then it started leaking. ARGH!!!

So I took the guts out, replaced them with the original but kept the new flapper and it was leaking and running continuously. Probably pulled the guts out 7 times trying different things. What a PITA. Finally decided to do the redneck fix and installed all the new parts... then used a jar of plumber's putty around anything that could leak.

Thought I had it fixed too... but you can see where this is going. It was leaking again this morning. Just a little drip, but any leak is bad. Fortunately now I figured it out. The supply line was bad. So off to the hardware store yet again, after I visited my Mom this afternoon, for my third trip in as many days (now you see why I'm like Norm?). But, so far so good - that appears to be it.

If it is not, a small explosive charge will be used to remove the offending toilet once and for all.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Scott,
one of the factors around here is everyone is busy. I've been trying to find a stone mason to rock a new pergola since before the ice storm. I've contacted about 10 all said sure be right there. Only two actually came out but I never heard back from them.

[marlinman93]

Scott,
one of the factors around here is everyone is busy. I've been trying to find a stone mason to rock a new pergola since before the ice storm. I've contacted about 10 all said sure be right there. Only two actually came out but I never heard back from them.

That seems to be the case almost everywhere these days!
This summer my son in law wanted to get contractors in to do work on the rental house they own. Needed a couple windows replaced, one new one cut in, water heater relocated, couple new wall heaters, and new carpeting. Almost every contractor he called didn't even show to give him an estimate! And those who did had huge estimates, and couldn't get to it for 6-8 weeks!
I told him I'd go with him and we'd spend a few days getting everything except the carpets done. A 3 hr. drive, so we rented a motel for the weekend. We got it all done with no problem, and he got a carpet company a couple weeks later to do the carpet finally.
I was shocked that contractors would agree to meet to look at the work, and then not even show up!

[Scott Tschirhart]

I hadn’t thought about how the labor shortstop figured into this. I’m always willing to pay a fair price but if was satisfying running that plumber who wanted to charge me $3800 plus the $7000 protection plan out of my house.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

I hadn’t thought about how the labor shortstop figured into this...........................................

That and the housing boom in the Austin area brought on by all those companies relocating here.