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Approximate Cost

stephen_4
stephen_4 Member Posts: 22
You are a GC and your time is not worth $100 per hour. SOrry to hear

Comments

  • Rich_30
    Rich_30 Member Posts: 2
    Radiant Cost

    Whats the approximate cost per sqft to install a radiant staple up job. No Plates
  • don_156
    don_156 Member Posts: 87
    With

    Plates or no plates?
  • Rich_30
    Rich_30 Member Posts: 2


    No Plates
  • Not nearly enough...

    We typically try and avoid discussing prices in this forum, because it causes ALL kinds of problems for our bretheren. It is impossible to tell if you are a contractor or an end user, and it's irrelevant anyway.

    If you are a contractor, you should ask "How much LABOR (time wise) should it take to do blah blah blah" and the correct answer is, "It depends" :-) How much you charge for your services is up to you, but based on my personal experience, you can't charge enough to make it worth while...

    If you're the end user, the correct answer is "It depends!"

    The more important questions should be "Is staple up appropriate for my application", and the correct answer is, you guessed it, "IT DEPENDS".

    Got any other questions we can answer for you other than price related ones???

    ME
  • John L
    John L Member Posts: 118


    great answer and not because it does not tell you the price but because "it depends" on your particular circumstances.
    Good job as always Mark
  • Weezbo
    Weezbo Member Posts: 6,232
    It would depend on how much material you end up replacing.

    Say you installed it for 92.cents a foot and you used 18000 lineal feet,and after it was all finished it didnt meet the heat loss or didnt keep up with the demand...it might prove to cost signifigantly more than you had thought.

    say it cost 1.71 a foot and you mistakenly ended up with oversized loop lengths and holes burned in it by recessed cans...and had to go back and fix it...

    or say for example you decided none of those guys knows what they are talking about 'I Will use 1" on 2' centers and pump 180 into it'....and for some odd reason it took you 10 times the amount of time to install it and well,honestly You were dissapointed by what it cost You using someone elses numbers...and when the job was finished you rec a phone call saying the house temps were bouncing all over the place....

    it basically costs alot more on a one off sandwich construction than the material suppliers who sell you on the idea are likely to admitt....
  • Local Guy
    Local Guy Member Posts: 4
    Cost of staple up

    I will give the question an answer -

    A lot. Pex is a buck a foot(maybe less but close enough)

    Figure out your square footage

    Add a couple thousand for manifolds / misc hardware

    Controls - who knows, wild card

    Near boiler stuff - in the couple thou

    Labor to install - 80 - 100 bucks an hour to do basic mechanical install. This is where you guys are missing the point.

    This should not be done by experienced skilled trade. This is why dentists have hygenists!

    Stop cleaning teeth and get some grunts to do the grunt work!

    Radiant is expensive. But how much would it cost to build a house if you paid all labor 100.00 an hour!!

    As a GC, I install the tubing , drop leaders to manifild locations, making sure to follow a good design, blanced circuitsif possible)

    Lately I have been using very inexpensive manifolds with o balancing provision - I have taken pains to keep each circuit EXACTLY the same length(+ - 2%) And have had good experiences.

    Personally, I don't like staple up, but it works.
    I also like constant circulation and outdoor reset.



  • Tell me...

    where it is that you build these low cost homes, so I can avoid you/them...

    You have NO idea what my cost of doing business is, and you have NO business quoting prices on an open forum.

    Guess you didn't read my ditty about not quoting prices eh.. Course, you can hide behind you alias email.

    Ain't the internet a wonderful place. You can get "free" advice from a "qualified" expert...

    I caution all readers of this alleged gentelmens post to ignore it. Unless of course you want to hire HIM to do your heatin' system. But he doesn't have the cajones to use a real email address or his real name, so I'm not sure HOW you'll get a hold of him. I know I'd like to get a hold of him by the nape of his neck...

    ME
  • Ted_9
    Ted_9 Member Posts: 1,718


    Who pays their employees $100.00 an hour? I'll got work for them.

    To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"
  • Cosmo_3
    Cosmo_3 Member Posts: 845
    All I know is

    That would by a lot of kokoretsi

    What's up buddy?


    Cosmo Valavanis

    Dependable P.H.C. Inc.
  • S Ebels
    S Ebels Member Posts: 2,322
    Spoken like a true GC

    Doesn't have a clue what he's messin' with, just knows that everyone else on the job should make less so he can make more. Take your delerious drivel somewhere else, please not to Michigan. There are too many people on this site who know their stuff.
  • Rodney Summers
    Rodney Summers Member Posts: 748
    wow!

    80 bucks an hour.

    Isn't that toooooooo much?

    Sorry Local Guy, I couldn't resist. Pricing just isn't discussed here. There are so many variables that wouldn't make it fair to the contractor bidding on it and the customer. Different companies have different overhead, material cost, saleries which too are regional.
  • Ragu
    Ragu Member Posts: 138
    Just caught this post

    This one became a little odd, and it bothers me a wee bit.

    I definitely agree that pricing has no place here; there is absolutely no way to compare one persons cost of doing business with anothers.

    Another thing is that I have never been able to come up with a realistic "across the boards" square foot price for ANYTHING in heating. All systems are different and all houses are different.

    The one that really got me was the insinuation (actually a blatant accusation)that:

    a) We are ripping customers off
    b) Our trade is unskilled

    I just don't feel right about it. Thanks to you guys who said the right stuff.
  • Local Guy
    Local Guy Member Posts: 4
    Actually you got it 180

    I sugest your trade is skilled - and you should find unskilled help(or less-skilled) help to keep costs down.

    I am not suggesting anyone is ripping anyone off - but as labor rates go up(and I pay my non-union plumber who has been with me 8 years) 70.00 an hour) things will change.

    I did not see anyone address anything specific I mentioned. My key points were licensed plumbers should not "waste" their skills and technical know how threading tubing through joists. I could argue whether we need you guys for pex jobs at all, but that will open a whole other can of worms.

    As far as "low quality" we get 150.00 a square foot, and no one is complaining about quality. How many spec houses do you see in your markets with hydo air and floor warming radiant?

    One final point - I would bet that material costs - country wide - vary by less than the difference in sales tax(which is 8 1/2% between states).

    Must have hit a bone to get this much of a viseral reaction.

    Sorry if I offended anyone. And did not know that you wanted to keep pricing off, will abide by that.
  • Local Guy
    Local Guy Member Posts: 4


    I have my laborers do it pal. I don't get my hands dirty anymore. I pay them 13.00 an hour.(Brazilians) And they work much harder than any of you guys getting 70~

    But I am not trying to pick a fight. Just a fact.
  • Gordy
    Gordy Member Posts: 9,546
    Don't Worry

    The Brazillians will wake up sooner or later! Then you can train a fresh crop of immigrants. 13.00 an hour, and no Bennies in Brazil is like 100 bucks an hour here.

    Typical GC mantality screw the guy that REALLY lines your pockets. Think about the business pyramid. Yes you get the job, but with out compitent subs, and workers, you are not SQUAT.

    Thats why you take advantage of people that don't know any better.... yet. That includes the consumer who probably does not realize what a quality radiant system is like.

    I would like to see your call back list, and not just for radiant!!

    Gordy
  • clammy
    clammy Member Posts: 3,103
    GC\"s

    No matter where you go they are all the same just about there pocket and keeping it all there .I do no work for them have had my total fill of there basic operations ,the guy who always gets paided by GC,s is the dry wall guy just like wall paper they hid a multude of sin poor quality and shabby work after that stuff up and spackled every thing looks mint.As our friend say he uses brazilians well i know quite a few and they are all extremmly hard works my hats off to you for finding a cheaper work crew to maximeize your profit just one question what happens when your well planned jobs need service or promblems from poor or over looked installation issues occur?What that's when you call in some one your going to have to pay for there expertise? It's people like you that take the food out of true professinal who are not out to rip any body off just make a living as for your use of probalby non docomeneted aleins well you have to live with your self and i would guess your fat wallet ,By the way what do you say your paying them and what they get is different i know the way GC's make there money ,i personally believe that making your living off the sweat of others compleatly is a greddy and sinful and selfish trait but then again that's most GC,s in a nut shell i also like that i don't get my hands dirty ok i'm done are you now hoping into your hummer .Sorry but his statements just rubbed me completly wrong . Peace and good luck (karma) clammy
    R.A. Calmbacher L.L.C. HVAC
    NJ Master HVAC Lic.
    Mahwah, NJ
    Specializing in steam and hydronic heating
  • Plumdog_2
    Plumdog_2 Member Posts: 873
    That's what I was going to say

    Once I visited a Parade of Homes Show to look at the latest trends and see what's going on in the real world. Naturally, I found my way to the mechanical room of the first house and found it locked. I asked the Realtor (reptilian looking chap) if I could take a peek inside."No way," he says, "its dangerous in there". I told him I was a Plumbing and Heating professional and I really need to see what's going on in there. He finally relented after awhile and went and got the key. I was shocked. The million-dollar plus home had a pathetic, low grade shambles of a heating and AC system. I think probably the entire structure was a glitzy facade hiding inferior substandard building practices. Shame on the Builder. Shame on the Building Department. Buyer beware.
  • Weezbo
    Weezbo Member Posts: 6,232
    i have worked with many people from South America...

    nosotro tengamos mucho travho,temprano en la mannan y mas tardes en la noche:) dimmie uno martillo:) we work with each other and learn to speak each others language as related to work...my Spanish American friends wouldnt like to know what you think of them...Some are industrial engineers,doctors of internal medicine ,accountants... with a natural lent to honest work ...what a sad commentary from a G.C.
  • John Starcher_4
    John Starcher_4 Member Posts: 794
    (reptilian looking chap)

    Bwaaaaaahaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

    Now that's funny - I don't care who you are!!!!!

    I just spent the last 1/2 half hour (there's 30 minutes of my life that I'll never get back!) talking to a realtor about a house she had listed. She's looking for a price to add heating and cooling to a cottage. No where to put equipment, ductwork, or anything. Even a Unico would be a challenge. I won't bore you with the details..... Lord, what a waste of time!!!!!!

    Starch
  • Supply House Rick
    Supply House Rick Member Posts: 1,404
    What you need to do is...

    Hire a freaking Radiant Expert not staple up prices. No two jobs are the same, no two contractors are alike. Sounds like you are checking prices. Start with the best in your area and don't work your way down. The highest bidder and lowest bidder never give you the same job. Is your Doctor the lowest bidder?
    Rick
  • clammy
    clammy Member Posts: 3,103
    13bucks an hour

    13.00 X 2.10 =27.30 reillos a hour that times a 40 hour work week is 1092. times 4 weeks a month is 4368 reilois that my friend is a very large amount for any brazilian being a police officer thats on the force for over 10 years a partrolman makes about 1600 a month so you tell me even though to some of us 13bucks ain't much but compared to what they would make in brazil it's alot of money they work 2 days here for the same pay they would get in 2 weeks toa month wonder why they are extremely hard workers now you got a idea .peace and good luck clammy
    R.A. Calmbacher L.L.C. HVAC
    NJ Master HVAC Lic.
    Mahwah, NJ
    Specializing in steam and hydronic heating
  • Plumdog_2
    Plumdog_2 Member Posts: 873
    my last realtor job

    wanted a bid on plumbing and heating for new offices. Faxed me over a "print" that consisted of a 8x11 piece of paper with a cieling grid layout. When I called to ask about the sewer location and furnace location; she said I was asking too many questions, just forget the whole thing because she already has dozens of bids. Fine. I could hear her tongue flicking against the reciever as she hung up.
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