Need a good laugh?

clammy

talking to a ME who does alot of bid work for the company he works for said they bid a buredus gb for a job and lost no big deal right well promblem is that the other guys installed a steam boiler not knowing that it was a gravity hot water boiler ,no permits no contrract and now no heat pretty funny those low baller yeah getta ever time .I found out i lose one ever other day to 2 pipe cutter replacement guys and i know things in the furture ain't gonna be better just more hack peace and good luck clammy

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

A real gufaw

Bid an emergency boiler change out - a dinosaur beastie that might hit 50% eff - on a good day. Modcon it was to be - a real deal that would save Mr. & Mrs. Homeowner a min of 50% each & every year (my past experience would indicate the actual fuel-usage reduction would be closer to 70%).

Guess what boys & girls - another 'contractor' bid the same model boiler - for $4,000.00 less! Bear in mind, this is a single zone system, so it's just a primary/secondary elementary piping scheme. $4K? No way. Talk about "Walk Away Money"!

But wait, it gets better: 'contractor' #3 arrives and tells the customers the guys promoting modcon boilers are nuts & suggests they install the old 80+ chimney vented model because no maintenance, or annual checks, are needed. Install it & forget it! And, get this, his price is higher than the lo-ball modcon bid.

Maybe I'll go hunting deer instead next year.

Unknown

Generally,

we don`t discuss prices here, but it`s tough to win em all y`know. Especially if your a hydronics "kinda" guy.

Dave

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

Ahhhhhhhhhhh...........

But I did not mention the price - just the difference in price(G). You who do hydronics know full well there is never $4K of excess profit in a single-zone residental job when both contractors are bidding the same model & make. Tain't possible les'n one is willing to work for free & not charge one thin dime for labor - assuming both utilize the same, or even remotely close to the same, mark-up on materials & mine is at industry-accepted norms.

Maybe they're slow? (Mentally!) Our gross profit was a good deal less than that $4K. Their total job price is very close to the material costs (with tax) unless they're cutting out the secondary loop with its circ, but that still leaves them way under bid for labor costs.

Like Dan said - we eat our young. I can do it better faster cheaper. In this case, it's more like a cannibal eating their own young. We've got plenty of work, so God bless the stragglers who consume their own flesh.

Unknown

Well,

I`m sure you`ll figure-it out,,,,,,,,,,,,
Good Luck!

Dave

Unknown

Are you sure,,,

the customer isn't just feeding you bs trying to get you to come down? I've had that happen before. Customer tells me some other will do it for waht amounts to my cost for materials, naturally I walked away. Two years later I find he never did do the job. Went two years with no heat in a supermarket, till the pipes froze and busted. Serves him right. LOL...

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

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Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

We

often see the end results a year or two later and it often costs as much to correct the cheap install (or more) as our original bid. I feel your pain, but feel sorry for the customers who get sucked in by low-ballers & for the installers too who lack the necessary education skill-sets to properly incorporate high-end hydronics as well as shorting themselves (and their employees) out of a good living wage derived from the profits they're not making.

mtfallsmikey

Not surprised

Fought these battles for many years...welcome back my friends to the show that never ends!

ScottMP

Saw a job today

it was a steam replacment. Thye did'nt call us because the yahoo who does thier oil service recommended a friend. I like to see what others work looks like so I went in the basment to see .... an over sized steam boiler with copper risers and a equalizer line installed with a reducing coupling on the horizontal ( oh no, that won,t cause any problems).

Dave's right, I'll be there in two years repiping it.

Scott

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Ted G

Heating

Clammy, this is just crazy.