Replacement Hydronic system, cost of installation

Contractors have many other expenses besides materials and labor; there is considerable overhead in the form of business premises, trucks, tools, stock, insurance, continuing education, undercompensated warranty work, etc. Usually much of the overhead is built into the markup on the wholesale cost of materials.

Just curious about the source of that attachment. Weil Mclain installation.... Those sounds like a bunch of made up numbers. Maybe by some guy with a keyboard. As mentioned above, your best bet is to get a few quotes

@dsc3507 , did you read the post that told you to remove the pricing info?

And that burger still only has about $2 worth of materials on it. what's your point?

Why experts get paid more….

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A good friend shared this story recently; a nice story about effort vs. skill – a good reminder that in many areas of work/life time and outcome aren’t always aligned; especially in the design & technology space…

A giant ship’s engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one ‘professional’ after another but none of them could figure out how to fix the broken engine.

Then they brought in a man who had been fixing ships since he was young.
He carried a large bag of tools with him and when he arrived immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.

Two of the ship’s owners were there watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away and the engine was fixed!!!

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A week later, the owners received an invoice from the old man for $10,000.

What?! the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything..!!!”.

So they wrote to the man; “Please send us an itemised invoice.”

The man sent an invoice that read:

Tapping with a hammer………………….. $2.00

Knowing where to tap…………………….. $9,998.00

Effort is important but experience and knowing where to direct that effort makes all the difference.

I'll take 3 of those $751 units :)

@tonynap , you seem to be unaware of the distinction between a consumer product — which is available almost anywhere in the county and has a definite central supply — and a service. Service and skilled technician costs vary wildly — by at least 5 to 1 — even in short distances, never mind nationwide, and it would be grossly unfair to a tech. in, say New York City or the San Francisco Bay area to have his or her rates compared to the rates in, say. central Iowa. If we published costs on a site like this (and there are a number of similar ones with similar rules) we would always have people in a high cost area complaining that they were being overcharged.

We have, incidentally, a similar problem with energy costs — even those those are publicly available. People don't seem to understand that electricity or fuel may have rather different costs in different areas.

Tony,

Back to your original post, is this a rip off? It really depends. Does it seem high, yep. But is the next guy double? perhaps. I would suggest asking that guy to edit his quote or shop around. When I car shop I HATE that a new truck is close to 100k and another 30k for a work body, but not sure what I can do about it? I need to reliably get to work and carry 4000lbs of tools and materials so I dont have to cost me more time and the customer more money running to the wholesaler.

To be honest most people are allowed to go home after work and shut it off, I get texts and phone calls with problems and issues even on new boilers, and sadly no one pays me for those i dont get labor to go fix a new(ish) boiler. Somewhere in the install I need to cover the Mrs Jones of the world calling at all hours to ask why the baseboard no longer ticks, or why she cant hear the burner like she used to.

Just like the burger if you hate the price go somewhere else or DIY. I have spent some time painting my house cause I hated that quote, but found after many hours, I would rather pay double than to bake in the sun and be sad.

Tom

If the price is too high then hire someone else that will do it cheaper. if nobody will do it cheaper then you know the price is not too high. it's that simple…

Boars Head Naturally Smoked Butcher Craft Extra Thick Cut bacon is 16.49 for 11 slices or 1.49 a slice. I used one and broke it into two pieces.

It's the half-pound of Angus beef that pushes it past the 2 dollar mark not to mention the service costs which vary widely from grill to grill.

That reminds me . . . I should probably bring my own burger to the pedmec BBQ this summer. Not that I'm getting invited.

I hate bacon that is cooked too much. I don't like crispy bacon or crispy wires.

I am involved with rewiring (sort of) an old house. 72 I haven't really worked in a few years but its my nephew (go figure). Been working 6-8 hrs most days and I am hurting. Day off Tuesday and Wednesday TG. Tuesday is asbestos removal and Wednesday I have other things to do.

And unfortunately, the house is 100 years old . I just started and have found some horrifying crispy wires.

More on that later.

But can anyone tell me why I can't post pictures? PDFs I can post but pictures don't work. I am sure some will be interested in what I found.