New water line quotes seem high

[pasadena_commut]

We have been collecting quotes for replacing our main water line and the two received so far seem pretty high to me. It is about 35 ft. from the meter to the house. The two plumbers who were willing to send us quotes came in at ~3200 and ~3700, with nothing very demanding about the work. Tear out the old, put a valve at each end and a pipe in between, hook it all up to the meter and the old galvanized in the house. With permits. Neither includes any guarantees against extra fees if anything goes wrong hooking it up to the house plumbing.

Are these as high as I think they are?

I live in Arcadia CA which over the last 25 years has gentrified quite a bit. The old small ranch houses are being torn out at a rapid pace and replaced by behemoth McMansions. (This is funded largely by capital flight from China.) We own one of the remaining small (1500 sq ft) houses, and cannot help wondering if the local plumbers might not be applying "Beverly Hills" pricing on the job because they consider it to be a wealthy community.

 

[frodo]

not enough information

how deep are the lines to be installed?
what type of ground?
is it sandy soil or boulders the size of cars?

will a trencher be able to install the work or will it require a backhoe?

what type of pipe?

3k in my opinion is a high price, but i know Commiefornia is boulders and rocks
and a 5' freeze debth. so.......details matter

 

[pasadena_commut]

Existing line is 16" deep at the house. Local code is 12" minimum for metal pipes, 18" for plastic.

The ground is soil with some smallish rocks. There are probably a few big roots in there from a couple of trees which came out around 6 years ago. I have seen pairs of workers dig one of these trenches out in other houses in an afternoon using just shovels. A trencher would work for most of it but there is a gas line in parallel, so one would have to be careful.

One quote was for all copper, the other for copper for the last 10 ft and plastic the rest of the way.

It rarely gets below freezing here (Southern California) and then not for very long. Actual freeze depth is maybe 4" for the longest cold snap in memory. Not sure where the commies are you speak of but 5' freeze depths are not at all common in this state. Maybe above 6000' in the mountains somewhere.

 

[frodo]

I am not in your state.
3K is excessive in my state
Get multiple estimates
you can rent a trencher for $100.00 a day
material would be another $100.00


And do it yourself, save the cash for a trip to Reno