Hot water tank disconnect switch

[TexasRedneck]

Originally Posted by DCtoTejas

I'm not paying 2 hours of skilled labor for someone to "source" things that are sold at every Home Depot and that every plumbing shop has on the shelf already, that's ridiculous.

Most of the better shops won't use the retail-grade garbage sold at HD/Lowe's. And who's paying for them to have that part on the shelf, much less ordering the replacement part? Additionally, no matter WHERE it's sourced, it has to be picked up....and delivered to the jobsite. These are the intangible costs that we all must ultimately pay for.

Now...you want a REAL "Pro Tip"? Get friendly with a Property Management Company and find out what trades THEY use. They're not going to have fly-by-night contractors, but they WILL be extremely competitively priced. Get the names of several, then shop THEIR prices. Most of the prices I've seen posted look like they're from the "Big Name" folks - who are generally WAY overpriced. You need to KNOW who you're dealing with - a good independent is usually 30-40% less expensive than the "name" companies, because they're not corporate/franchised. There's several of the oft-discussed "major players" in the trades that tell their techs that if they can't find a minimum of $1k of billable repairs, just leave. IOW, if you hear them advertised on TV/radio regularly, you will NOT get a competitive price.....trust me!

[DCtoTejas]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Our water heater is a 'fat boy' up in the attic. Ain't no way this old many is going to haul the old one down and the new one up. It has been 10-15 years since the last time ours needed replacing and it was ~$1600 back then, iirc.

Oh I hear ya, I was speaking to the typical tract house here that has the heater in the garage. I've done one before myself when I was a younger man, not sure I'd do it again now!

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

Most of the better shops won't use the retail-grade garbage sold at HD/Lowe's. And who's paying for them to have that part on the shelf, much less ordering the replacement part? Additionally, no matter WHERE it's sourced, it has to be picked up....and delivered to the jobsite. These are the intangible costs that we all must ultimately pay for.

Now...you want a REAL "Pro Tip"? Get friendly with a Property Management Company and find out what trades THEY use. They're not going to have fly-by-night contractors, but they WILL be extremely competitively priced. Get the names of several, then shop THEIR prices. Most of the prices I've seen posted look like they're from the "Big Name" folks - who are generally WAY overpriced. You need to KNOW who you're dealing with - a good independent is usually 30-40% less expensive than the "name" companies, because they're not corporate/franchised. There's several of the oft-discussed "major players" in the trades that tell their techs that if they can't find a minimum of $1k of billable repairs, just leave. IOW, if you hear them advertised on TV/radio regularly, you will NOT get a competitive price.....trust me!

That's good advice and things have become especially bad with regards to these major players. The specific example I'm thinking of was a quote I saw for my neighbor and it was literally the same model number heater as sold at retail just marked up 4 or 5 times the cost.

[TexasRedneck]

Originally Posted by DCtoTejas

That's good advice and things have become especially bad with regards to these major players. The specific example I'm thinking of was a quote I saw for my neighbor and it was literally the same model number heater as sold at retail just marked up 4 or 5 times the cost.

It's weird - SOME of the stuff has what APPEARS to be the same model number, but a deeper dive shows there ARE differences (NOT on all of 'em). I do water softeners - had a customer a couple of years ago that bought one "just like I quoted him" for "hundreds less". After connecting it backwards, he had me come in and replumb it, then asked me to set the meter on it since he couldn't figure it out....

NO meter on the thing. Oops..... That's the last time I worked on a system I didn't sell - he tied me up for 3 hours trying to get me to call the company he bought it from to get things "corrected".(and before anyone asks, I won't travel to Austin, lol!!)