My water heater decided to go out while I was out of town and wife/kids couldn’t wait until I got back.  I live in a low cost of living city and there are plenty of plumbers to choose from.  The water heater sits in a large dedicated closet in the garage so plenty of room and easy access to drain and remove/install.  50 gallon natural gas, Bradford White.  

Just for curiosity I checked with the local supply house I’ve used before and that many plumbers use in the area and the price for a 50 gallon Bradford white gas water heater was $700 if I was some random person off the street.  Figured with the new expansion tank, water hammer arrestors on both lines, miscellaneous fittings and valves and new flex lines probably sitting at somewhere around mid $800’s+tax.

Started calling around for plumbers recommended by friends and family and the going rate for most of them was $2500-3000.  One guy did message me a quote the next day, too late, that was $2200 but the other five places were all in that $2500-3000 range.  They were a they were a mix of larger, plumbing companies and small independent ones. And all of them were quoting the replacement as a 50 gallon Bradford white basic model.  Even though it couldn’t wait until I got back, it could wait a couple days if needed and I did not tell them I needed it done ASAP or anything when I got the quotes.

Last plumbing company I called said sure, we can send somebody out. He’s just finishing up a job in the area.  They said there would be a flat labor charge for the job and then they would put a 30% markup on the parts.  Just under $1700 all in, they broke the labor out to a flat charge of $550 and parts at $1100ish.  Took one guy 1.5hrs from start to finish.

I wish I could have done it myself but I was completely fine paying the $1700 that I was charged for the job.  Backtracking the costs on parts, looks like for most of these companies would be looking at around $800 their cost for parts.  All the other companies charging $2500 for the same job must be making bank or am I missing something?

yeah, material, labor, taxes, insurance, workman comp, fuel, etc etc, its all off the hook  the prices above 2k are the going rate

We have a pair of Natural Gas water heaters that are 13 years old now. Never had a hint of trouble. I bought two NIB at an auction not long ago for $211 each IIRC. They sit in their cartons with rat killer waiting for when I need them. I'm NOT paying close to $5K to have a pair of water heaters swapped out. We have spare pool pumps, variable speed motors for the AC units and more and more in stock for our place. I see it as a passive investment that , on a percentage basis, is about as good as it gets.  Kind of like that spare serpentine belt for my truck that stays IN the truck.

People are increasingly incapable of repairing things themselves and I’m not sure they even want to learn. People can take advantage of that and charge high rates for home maintenance/repairs. Sheep get sheared. Good for them. Great time for your kids to get into trade work.

I live about an hr from a large lake. Got a few friends who live there. Interestingly about lake life….the people who do home repairs are pretty unreliable. It’s called “lake time” for a reason.

I’ve thought about starting a home handyman/minor repair business at the lake. Guy I know who started a remodel business (did good work and was reliable) within 2 years of starting his business, due to word of mouth only, he ended up 3 years behind. He’d happily come quote your job but he’d tell you, “I can’t schedule you for 3 years”.

Lake people are there for recreation. They will pay through the nose to ensure their recreation time isn’t cut into. People in general can’t repair anything themselves so they will pay what it takes.

Plus the fact that the 1.5 hrs he was at OP's place wasn't the only labor spent on the job. He likely had to drive back to the shop to get the parts, the company has labor in ordering new stock and stocking it, etc.


Right now, with skilled labor in high demand I'm not surprised by any of this.


OP, I had a similar experience pulling a well pump several years ago. I called several companies. Many of them quote a fixed price to pull the pump, troubleshoot, correct, and reset the pump. Even if the pump was good and it was just a bad wire connection, same fee ($2000-3200 IIRC).

The last guy I called said, "How deep is the well?" "200 ft"
"Oh good, I was worried it would be 5 or 600 like they are down south of me. Do you know if it's pvc, poly, or galvanized pipe?"
"No"
"Wellbif it's poly we can probably pull and reset for $500, any parts will be more, and if you're willing to help I can do it on a Saturday when my employee isn't working and I'll knock quite a bit off because I don't have to pay him."

I just found the receipt for that the other day, it cost me $800. The pump was fine (and is still running 6 years later), just had a bad wire. We put all new wire in which was almost $300. And I had a buried well head with a well seal. He offered to extend it up above the ground if I wanted (I did), which was another $150 in supplies. Which means he charged $350 to pull and reset the pump and extend the casing. Plus, while there we sort of hit it off, he educated me a lot about wells, and he knew I was capable of doing that type of work myself now that I had seen it done. He told me to take pics of his custom tools so I could make some and I do it myself if I never have to again. I did, and I have now set my own pump in a 2nd well on the property that was abandoned.

I’m not a plumber but occasionally replace water heaters in the course of my business.  In the last two years the price of water heaters doubled.  I can actually get them cheaper at Home Depot now than at the plumbing supply house for some reason.  By the time you get all the parts needed to put in that 50 gallon water heater it’s knocked the hell out of a thousand.  Paying for the truck, help, tools, time and knowledge will eat up another thousand quickly.

Oh, and you said you needed it done yesterday?  That means rescheduling less priority work and most likely gathering up parts after hours to get it done for you the next morning.  Yeah, that’s getting in to that third thousand.

I used to be able to put in a water heater for cost (old, broke ladies) for $350-$400 just a a few short years ago.  I can’t even buy a water heater for that now.

I was told that they changed the code for water heater installs to the extent that it has really increased the cost to have a water heater installed.

All of this is bunk.  I heard AOC swear that all of this talk about inflation and the high cost of living is just propaganda.

That's pretty rich from someone who went from bartender to multimillionaire aristocracy overnight.

2650 to install a 75 gallon tank, powered vent, and water recirculator.   Price included all labor and removal of the old tank.

I live on a lake. I’ve had a few show up and quoted me based on my view.  They never got a call back.  A friend out here has “sucker” written across his forehead and there must be a contractor underground website that lists the suckers.  He seems to get taken advantage of all the time.  

Just imagine what it would cost you if you actually had a masters plumbing license and liability insurance. (rhetorical) What would you do if work you did flooded a house causing tens of thousands of dollars in damages?
I'm a retired (master) plumber living on a lake. I've kept up my license and insurance and don't mind doing a job here and there but there's so many "handymen" doing work (when they're up to it) it's tough to make even a slim profit. Most of what little I do is for friends, relatives or neighbors. Of course there are some benefits for being "in business".

ETA: OP $1,700 is a pretty fair price for a legit job. If it had to be permitted & inspected, I wouldn't do it for that price.

I agree at all those costs are getting crazy.  Then again for the record, I thought the $1700 price was fair, I’m just comparing it to the people charging $2500-$3000.  Looking at the industry I work in and I’m not quite seeing where all the additional expenses are going to.  

Let’s take out materials at a cost of about $800 contractor pricing with an account at the parts house. Some of the bigger outfits probably have their own stock shipped directly to their office so they probably pay less.  I know this is an accurate price for my job because the guy was at the parts house when I called him and he purchased everything right there, including all the fittings needed and added 30% markup so I can backtrack that down to what his actual cost was.

Let’s look at everything other than labor(insurance, taxes, Workmen’s Comp, vehicle cost, fuel cost, tools/equipment, etc).  I run a oil production operation here in Oklahoma, where we own and maintain/service our own wells.  We have our own rig but sometimes it’s off-line or we get backed up and we have to hire out a rig crew to come pull pumps/tubing for a day maybe 1 to 2 times a year. They come out with a pulling unit that used costs just over six figures that weighs as much as a loaded tractor trailer and burns fuel like a semi truck.  Then there is a three-quarter ton or 1 ton pick up truck following it with the other 1 to 2 crew members along with the tools.  Most of them are not cheap tools and the hydraulic power tongs to do tubing easily cost $10,000 just that one piece of equipment.  The entire time that they’re pulling that well the diesel deck motor is running the drawworks and burning diesel continuously.  I can tell you from experience in the industry that the cost for their vehicle/equipment insurance, Workmen’s Comp and liability insurance is very high because of the high rate of injury and deaths related to these types of operations compared to most industries.  

I’d guess their Workmen’s Comp risk is higher than a plumbing company.  If so, that’s higher Workmen’s Comp insurance for each dollar of salary to employees.  On vehicles/equipment, I’d be willing to bet that that 1 ton pick up truck and the pulling unit rig combined are equal to at least three plumbing vans/trucks when it comes to vehicle cost/maintenance/insurance.  Fuel cost isn’t even close, because not only are both the workover crew vehicles burning much more fuel when traveling, but the pulling unit is burning substantial amount of fuel the entire time it’s working.

Both the plumbers and pulling unit companies have offices/yard where they park their vehicles and equipment.  Both usually have some level of office staff, depending on size, answering the phones and handling bookkeeping/invoices/payroll.

I have to look at the last bill we got when we last needed help but depending on who we hired, we were paying $300ish an hour all inclusive.  And that’s a three man crew.  There’s a small owner/operator company running a smaller single pole rig and a two-man crew that I’m pretty sure run in the mid $200s per hour.  Now these 2 to 3 guys are not getting paid individually like a plumber would but it’s safe to say that cumulatively a three man crew is for sure at least as much, if not more than the labor cost for one plumber on salary.

Going back to the plumbing example of a company charging $2800 for a water heater replacement.  Take out $800 that we know is the material cost for this area for the equipment.  Sure, some of these companies might buy in bulk and stock their own warehouse rather than buying from the parts house but they do that to save time/money versus buying at the parts house and $800 is the parts house cost for my plumber guy to purchase the materials/equipment for this job.  It took one guy 1.5 hours to do the job, but let’s just be generous and say they need to budget 4 hours total, including drive time, for the job.  Even being that generous with the time estimation, that still breaks down to $500/hr of labor, profit, taxes, insurance, Workmen’s Comp., fuel, vehicles, etc on a $2800 quote.

People want hot water. They will pay to get it. If people aren’t paying, then prices will drop. As mentioned, people aren’t able to do the work themselves so they pay.

The lake I’m talking about has lots of people living around it. There is a lot of money. Many people don’t care what the cost is…they just want it done. The issue is, getting people to show up.

Friends of ours had a $100k outdoor kitchen installed. Just getting someone to bid it was a challenge and then getting the contractor to just show up to work was a bigger challenge.

Your friend isn’t being taken advantage of. He can’t do the work so he pays what they charge. If he didn’t like “being taken advantage of” he could just do the work himself. Sounds like your friend is happy with the work being done and the price being charged so everyone wins.

This is why I put my own in last year. Total cost was around $700 and it probably took less than 2 hours.

OP I just replaced mine. Its likely that any decent plumber isnt sourcing at HD or Lowes. While they are the same brands they are NOT the same quality. I purchased mine from a plumbing supply through a family member - their COST on the unit was that of the unit at HD/Lowes so expect the actual heater to be 20-30% more than that alone.


I bought a base level 55gal 5500W unit and I think it was right around 850 cost. Then add time, labor, mark up etc. Yes shits spensive Yo.

Either learn to do it yourself with a friend or neighbor ... or you pay the man ...

I agree on the Home Depot and Lowe’s thing, although none of my figures or story mentioned either of those consumer stores. As stated, my plumber purchased from a contractor supply company that has multiple stores in my region, that supplies Plumbing, HVAC, and electrical contractors.  It is not a consumer store, but they will sell to people off the street.  Probably 98% of the volume is tradesmen and contractors with company accounts.  We actually use that same company for electrical materials we need at my company and have a company account there.  However, when I called to price materials prior to calling any plumbers, I called them pretending I was a guy off the street to see what the street price was compared to the discounted rate we could probably get with our company account.  I specifically called that company because I knew that most small to medium size plumbing companies are purchasing from the same store and it was the best data point to industry pricing on materials.

So when I said the parts cost was $800 that is what my plumber paid(subtracting the 30% markup he told me about from the parts cost on his quote) and he specifically mentioned that store by name, so I know that’s where he got it from.  So it definitely wasn’t a case where I was pricing out a cheaper consumer grade model at Home Depot versus what the plumbers purchase/install.

My wife thinks I can fix anything. When I get into plumbing and make my 3rd trip to the store, “Honey just pay someone next time.”  She watches too many DIY shows and she doesn’t like to spend money. She thinks it can be done between commercials.

PSA to you DIYers on a budget; the only time you need to replace a WH is if the tank is leaking. All the components whether gas or electric can be replaced. Getting all the sediment out can be a PITA, but it can be done.

I disagree.

When dealing with hard water and you are unable to properly flush/drain your WH, the damn thing may be developing a hard sediment bottom.

We had this at our lake place and the solution was a new WH.
- more energy efficient
- easier to clean/drain

If you don't bother to replace the anodes, lifespan of a WH will suck.

We bought 2 extra anodes when we got our new HW around the same time as our dual stage water filter.
Zero regerts.

Not sure about gas, but with electric you can pull the bottom element, tape a piece of 3/4" EMT with a 90 bent in it into the end of your shop vac hose and suck it out. I did that when I moved into my current house, it had never been drained/flushed and the mineral deposits were all the way up to the lower element. I sucked every last bit out with the above setup.

Your method is not wrong, but (at the time) I was dealing with a 20+yr old WH and didn't feel like trying to bring the old dog back to life after looking inside with a scope.

If I have to unhook it and pull it out of a small space, no fucking way ...

Sometimes you learn to just give up and replace something that is on its last legs. (we should do that more often with politicians)

No regerts ... new WH has a nicer drain valve on it and doesn't suffer from inadequate filtering.
Not really interested in waiting for something 20+ years old to fail.

I bought a 4" coupler, screw cap, and threaded fitting today to replace a sewer cleanout I broke with my lawn mower.  Cost me $32.  Add in the cement and primer since I didn't have any on hand, and I'm at $45.  Only got paid $80 to mow the grass.