Residential water heater needs replaced

[GeauxLSU]

If you want better, mAke sure it's oil-filled. You'll spend 2-3 times as much, probably.

Still cheap. Will do! Stuff like that I like it to last a lifetime and given how little I'd ever use it, presumably it should.

 

[sewerman68]

Yeah, my entire career has been in corporate finance. I understand overhead.
THAT is what a service call charge is for. Charging $450 to install a sub $100 part part that takes literally 5 minutes is not defensible from a COST stand point.
I bought this one 10 days ago at this same store for $62. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Watts-3-...ssure-Reducing-Valve-3-4-LF25AUB-Z3/202922385 I guess they went up $10.

Very few PRVs take 5 minutes to install.

 

[sewerman68]

Please understand: When you call a plumbing company to do ANYTHING, you aren't just paying for the materials and the technician's time. For owners (looking at you, sewerman68 ), a plumbing company is expensive to run, and there are DOZENS of costs that have to be built in to the charges in order to pay even the most basic of overhead. You've got people working in the office, answering the phones. They have to be paid. You've got truck insurance/worker's comp/liability/etc. You've got basics like keeping the lights on. You've got advertising costs. The money to pay for all these things has to come from somewhere, and simply charging for parts a smidge more for the tech's time won't cut it. This is why successful plumbing companies tend to be flat-rate instead of hourly. This way, no matter how long the technician takes to complete the job, at least basic costs have been covered. So when you've got $60 for a PRV (they are more now since the lead-free laws went into effect), plus materials markup, plus fuel to get to your home, plus all the costs mentioned above, it's easy to see how a simple job can end up costing what it does. And even though he doesn't agree with a lot of the things I've said in this thread, sewerman68 can at least attest to these facts. Defensible or not, the costs are just...necessary. I don't disagree that it's expensive, it just is what it is.

This is true, its also why i did away with an office and employees and only use subs now when I do large jobs. I could start a whole thread on the NIGHTMARE of dealing with employees in the plumbing field. I have approx. 30 subs that specialize in various fields of the plumbing industry, most of whom have worked with/for me for 20+ years. I can be as big as I need to be with a couple of texts and not have the overhead of employees.

 

[sewerman68]

Plumbers are a lot like lawyers. Everybody talks bad about them till they REALLY need one.

 

[synspeed]

Very few PRVs take 5 minutes to install.

At least one other person gets that.

 

[GeauxLSU]

Very few PRVs take 5 minutes to install.

This one did. Both times.

 

[sewerman68]

This one did. Both times.

I'm not arguing with you merely making a statement. I can honestly say I have never installed one in 5 minutes.

 

[GeauxLSU]

I'm not arguing with you merely making a statement. I can honestly say I have never installed one in 5 minutes.

I'm sure some are a pain. Both ends were threaded and I replaced with identical valve.

 

[sewerman68]

I don't charge 450$ to install 3/4 PRVs either.

 

[GeauxLSU]

I don't charge 450$ to install 3/4 PRVs either.

I hope not.