Tankless hot water heater help

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

Labor rates (not necessarily the per hour rate, but per job) in the trades have gone crazy.
I investigated recently, whole house generators. One for my sized home is about 22kW.
Generac brand has perhaps 90% of the market for residential.
Generator and transfer switch prices are approximately $6,000 today RETAIL.
I've been quoted from $11,600 to nearly $16,000 all in. Prices all by licensed contractors, holding both gas, plumbing and electrical.
This is for the identical wiring (from a licensed electrician); running of the gas line (which is absolutely no different than running anything else); and of course the permit fees and inspection fees.
Of course there is the base, mechanically setting the unit, too. Those prices were all in.
Even the $11,600 allows for a lot of labor, about $5,000. The $16,000 price is just over the top...$10K for labor?
Yes of course there's some wiring and gas line too; but not thousands of dollars worth.
No quote surprises me any longer...

 

[CT18]

Back in the late 2000's when I was helping my buddy get his mechanical division running we were around 3500 to 4000 installed. That did not include the gas meter upgrade if required. We were also getting 40 gallon water heaters for 260, so its all in the past. This is part of shutting down a world economy with a pandemic. The supply chain was not being stocked and now demand is way about supply. Back when no one was driving they were practically giving gas away. I remember my friend used his rewards at a station and got it at 52 cent a gallon.

 

[edfiero]

Labor rates (not necessarily the per hour rate, but per job) in the trades have gone crazy.
I investigated recently, whole house generators. One for my sized home is about 22kW.
Generac brand has perhaps 90% of the market for residential.
Generator and transfer switch prices are approximately $6,000 today RETAIL.
I've been quoted from $11,600 to nearly $16,000 all in. Prices all by licensed contractors, holding both gas, plumbing and electrical.
This is for the identical wiring (from a licensed electrician); running of the gas line (which is absolutely no different than running anything else); and of course the permit fees and inspection fees.
Of course there is the base, mechanically setting the unit, too. Those prices were all in.
Even the $11,600 allows for a lot of labor, about $5,000. The $16,000 price is just over the top...$10K for labor?
Yes of course there's some wiring and gas line too; but not thousands of dollars worth.
No quote surprises me any longer...

Totally agree with this. I don't mind paying a guy a fair hourly rate to do a job, but this 'per job' pricing is taking the average Joe homeowner to the cleaners.
Perfect example..... I had some HVAC work done about 2 years ago. Needed to have 2 parts in the furnace replaced. Part 'A', had to be removed to get to Part 'B'. But they charge me as 2 separate jobs. The labor to remove and replace part A was already included in the price for R/R part B. Why should I pay twice just because both parts happened to be bad.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Things are costing more for contractors.

This will be passed along. Expect higher labor rates

 

[SHEPLMBR]

Things are costing more for contractors.

This will be passed along. Expect higher labor rates

Wholesalers as well

 

[arctic bill]

i get $600 for the tank, then 2 1/2 hr for i plumber one helper . it should be easily under $1000.

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

Almost needless to say, the Generac quote for nearly $16K will be tossed out. The one for $11,600 is the one in consideration. It's absolutely dead nuts the same equipment.
One thing may be different however, and that is some contractors will call the gas company out to do gas work, and they will trench 200 feet, 24" deep around a house, under patios, etc. rather than run 50' through a crawl space. Don't know if this is a universal thing but one thing I noticed here in NC is that they seem to look for any excuse to DIG TRENCHES. I don't get it. Pipe pullers, directional boring, going through a crawl space or basement--trenches are generally the most expensive and most difficult things to do but the FIRST thing they do here in NC...

Some of these contractors need to travel to other parts of the country to see that others have good ideas...

 

[GReynolds929]

i get $600 for the tank, then 2 1/2 hr for i plumber one helper . it should be easily under $1000.

You think that’s high, we’re at $2200 and were not the most expensive in the area.