I'll admit I did little research on this project. I just auditioned two plumbers because I kind of wanted to see how one of them treated me and if I would use them for a bigger project.
Preparatory Calls: I started with Emerald Plumbing. My neighbors used them on a big project and liked them They quoted $115 for hour one and $42.50 for every hour after that. People told me it was an hour (two max) job, so, I wasn't worried that much about labor costs. Hauling away the old unit was included and they took credit cards (3% fee). I did a simple comparison by calling A Better Plumber and he quoted $275 for the job.
Purchase: I purchased a Rheem forty gallon electric from Home Depot for $358 ($383 with tax). A thirty gallon was $338. Lowe's had Whirlpools for $325 for a forty and $389 for a fifty. However, they were too wide for the space I had (19 versus twenty three inches). *- I have since found out that they could have installed the wider ones. **Emerald said a unit and install (all through them) would be $900+. Not sure if parts were included. The unit fit in my SUV.
Installation: Their office had me schedule a 9am to 5pm window. They called me at ten am (day of) and said they had a tech ready to go asap. A male tech came at around eleven am and we discussed what was going to transpire. He mentioned parts costs of more than I expected and that got my attention. I decided to leave it alone until I saw the actual figures.
So, next we turned off the water on the side of the house and I went inside. He then removed the old unit. Then the first problem reared its head. He called me in and showed me where the unit was dented. It is possible he did it. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and decided that it could go in as it was. *I have since talked with Home Depot and they told me the warranty covered any future problems (we'll see) and offered some remediation for the damage. Nice.
And then there was about an hour of clanging and it was installed. Right an schedule. Possibly a two hour charge. However, he stated that the outside valve where he had turned off the water supply was now broken. There is some kind of spinning seal inside and it had broken. Once again, he could have broken it, but, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. What can you do? It was probably a twenty year old part. So, know he says he has to go get a replacement or he can try and fix it or he can disable the area. Of course I start with the "cheap" alternative of fixing it and it and that wastes a half hour. He agrees to not charge for the time to get the part and I agree to have it done right. He comes back and digs a small hole to get to the pipe and a small hole in my wall to set the new "valve" and caulks the hole and finishes up the install. He turns the water back on and fills and turns on the unit. We wait about a half hour for it to do its business. He writes up the bill. I give him my card info. The time on the job is 3.5 hours. About two extra than expected. But, I have a new water cut off valve.
Payment: This is where I was a little miffed. $160.28 in parts. Probably $100+ of it just for the install. I think they should have addressed this when I asked for a quote. I feel a little better after going to Home Depot today and checking their prices versus retail. They only really hosed me on one or two parts and I may not have an apples to apples comparison for those.
Here we go:
1/2 inch sweat house bib ( I believe this is the valve) - They charged $18.30 and HD had a bunch ranging from $18 for a one inch to $13.53 and $15.14 for 1/2 inch levers like this. A tad more above cost. He said HD didn't have the one he wanted, so, that explains that. The faucet type parts seemed cheaper and was what I had. Not sure why he went with a lever.
2 3/4 inch Pex male - They charged $10.14 and HD had them for $7.84 each. $15.68 for two. Below cost.
2 3/4 inch Pex female - They charged $10.14 and HD had them for $7.84 each. $15.68 for two. Below cost.
9 3/4 90 degrees - They charged $40.77 and HD had them at $7.87 if brass. Mine are copper or brass. If equal then they would be $70.56 for nine. I assume they installed nine. Below cost.
2 3/4 inch Sharkbite couplings - They charged $50.84 and HD had them at $8.56 each. Seems to be a major anomaly here. Something is odd. This seemed to be an exact comparison.
10 feet of Pex pipe - They charged $22.50 and HD had 10 feet of CPVC pipe for $6.81. Possibly another overcharge. Maybe Pex is way more than CPVC. They look the same. No Pex at HD.
1 3/4 inch seat barb. They charge $3.81. I couldn't find anything labeled this and no one was familiar with the designation.
As you can see, the parts prices are nothing to sneeze at as a percent of the install cost. Plus people said they could have used flexible hoses over some of those parts and it would have saved labor and parts costs. However, those hoses aren't cheap either. They run from the mid teens to twenty bucks. I have no idea what liabilities they have operationally.
Summary: I paid $487.78 when I budgeted $190. I didn't expect the large parts charges. I accept that the extra hour was bad luck and the extra half hour was my fault for not biting the bullet immediately. Get a quote for parts! The job was done by four pm (we lost about two hours getting the new part). The technician was polite. He did forget to turn my irrigation water supply back on (I have two street level shut off valves and he didn't know which went to the house so he turned off both) and had to come back the next day. He arrived at three pm for that.
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