Nat Gas question on pricing

I had an estimate recently to tap gas meter and run 10' of black iron 1/2" through a block wall into adjacent family room to serve a new 25,000 btu ventfree heater.

$1008 was the estimate. (with permits)

Is this reasonable?

Gone are the days of free estimates.
I didn't want to commit until I got a better idea of cost, so I paid them $49 for the estimate. They said they would take off the price if I use them.

This $1008 sounded a bit high to me.

any opinions from the other pros???

The price seems ok depending on your location but personally I will never pay for a quote. I am also a contractor that would never charge anyone for a quote, it is just part of the job.

OK, I'm not a pro, but need to chime in here. That sounds ludicrious. I'm on Long Island NY, and Craigslist ads show plumbers being offered 30 bucks an hour. For what amounts to 3 hours labor (tops) and 50.00 materials, overhead and profit couldn't be 5x-6x markup.

I was away for a month and couldn't be home to hookup a gas range for our accessory apartment kitchen's new gas stove. A plumber hired by my spouse ran 18' of 3/4" gas black pipe through the utility room and hooked up the stove, Including 2 shutoff valves and the flexible tube to the range for $275.00.

I would shop around more but do not pay for estimates. I've learned from hiring a leader/gutter company, an interior trim carpenter, a tree service company and a roofer that different companies have different business models, one of them is to charge reasonable hourly costs and stay busy, the other is to charge outrageous prices but do fewer jobs. You seem to have stumbled upon the latter. Get more estimates!

tommybitt said:

I had an estimate recently to tap gas meter and run 10' of black iron 1/2" through a block wall into adjacent family room to serve a new 25,000 btu ventfree heater.

$1008 was the estimate. (with permits)

Is this reasonable?

Gone are the days of free estimates.
I didn't want to commit until I got a better idea of cost, so I paid them $49 for the estimate. They said they would take off the price if I use them.

This $1008 sounded a bit high to me.

any opinions from the other pros???

Click to expand...

Thank you DIY.
Sounded high to me.
I will search out smaller outfits for FREE estimates.

As we typically advise on the forum, get three quotes and compare. Do not show the plumbers the other quotes and get a very detailed list of work to be performed. Not the materials, but the actual responsibilities of the contractor as well as your own.
It was very unfair for DIYeverything to make the statement that he did.
Referencing discount plumbers on Craigslist as a fair comparison to what the trades are charging is way off base. There is no way to tell if it's a 3 hour job or a 2 day job, how much inspection fees are, the company's costs if they are insured and licensed. The entire scope of work that is required to get the job done wasn't presented in your post and too many assumptions were made. You may pay less for a job, but could get less in service.
"18' of 3/4" gas black pipe through the utility room and hooked up the stove, Including 2 shutoff valves and the flexible tube to the range for $275.00." sounds like an extremely cheap price and shouldn't be used as a model for what you can expect.
Once you get some quotes and a more descriptive idea of the work that is needed (are they also installing the heater and vent, etc.) stop back in to the forum and we'll be happy to look things over if you're feeling uncomfortable about the situation.

DIYeverything said:

OK, I'm not a pro, but need to chime in here. That sounds ludicrious. I'm on Long Island NY, and Craigslist ads show plumbers being offered 30 bucks an hour. For what amounts to 3 hours labor (tops) and 50.00 materials, overhead and profit couldn't be 5x-6x markup.

Click to expand...

It doesn't matter who, and it doesn't matter where, it is totally impossible for a legitimate plumbing business enterprise to operate at $30 an hour. I have extremely low overhead compared to most businesses, and I was struggling trying to turn a profit at double that.

I was away for a month and couldn't be home to hookup a gas range for our accessory apartment kitchen's new gas stove. A plumber hired by my spouse ran 18' of 3/4" gas black pipe through the utility room and hooked up the stove, Including 2 shutoff valves and the flexible tube to the range for $275.00.

I would shop around more but do not pay for estimates. I've learned from hiring a leader/gutter company, an interior trim carpenter, a tree service company and a roofer that different companies have different business models, one of them is to charge reasonable hourly costs and stay busy, the other is to charge outrageous prices but do fewer jobs. You seem to have stumbled upon the latter. Get more estimates!

Click to expand...

Back when I did advertise on Craigslist, I was getting a lot of people calling wanting either a price sight unseen, or wanting me to come out and give a quote. I burned quite a bit of gas, and lots of my very scarce spare time, talking to them, or going out to give free estimates. Now I do not do phone quotes, and charge $50 to come out and give a hard quote, credited toward the price if you choose to have me do the work. Drain cleaning and the like are strictly time and material.

Caduceus said:

It was very unfair for DIYeverything to make the statement that he did.
Referencing discount plumbers on Craigslist as a fair comparison to what the trades are charging is way off base. There is no way to tell if it's a 3 hour job or a 2 day job, how much inspection fees are, the company's costs if they are insured and licensed. The entire scope of work that is required to get the job done wasn't presented in your post and too many assumptions were made. You may pay less for a job, but could get less in service.
"18' of 3/4" gas black pipe through the utility room and hooked up the stove, Including 2 shutoff valves and the flexible tube to the range for $275.00." sounds like an extremely cheap price and shouldn't be used as a model for what you can expect.
Once you get some quotes and a more descriptive idea of the work that is needed (are they also installing the heater and vent, etc.) stop back in to the forum and we'll be happy to look things over if you're feeling uncomfortable about the situation.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting that the OP could get a price as low as we got. Just to shop around. (And the lowest price might not be the best choice, BTW) This was done by a licensed, legitimate plumbing contractor who works locally and seems to be very busy, as a Saturday afternoon estimate and install was the only thing he had available. He just happens to advertise on Craigslist as well as the web, and I'd guess the yellow pages. To be fair, we already have gas service and no permit was pulled, and there was no inspection.

My point was to get a couple of estimates because I found that contractors prices tend to be all over the map, and particularily the point that there are contractors who price jobs off the wall. A homeowner may not know this without multiple bids.

My 4 quotes for tree removal of 11 mature Oaks were 12,000.00, 9,500.00, 7,000.00 and 4,500.00. These were all licensed contractors and we ended up with the 7,000.00 company as the lowest contractor wouldn't guarantee not to destroy the rest of the property in the process. Now, when people get quotes you can get a better feel for what is and isn't "normal" because most people have no idea what a job should or shouldn't cost without something to go on other than the word of one single bidder.

I also got 4 quotes for masonry work - a 3-story stone fireplace. But it looks like I'm going to have to learn to do my own masonry work.

phishfood said:

It doesn't matter who, and it doesn't matter where, it is totally impossible for a legitimate plumbing business enterprise to operate at $30 an hour.

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I'd agree. The one I got charged about $80.00 an hour. I was trying to point out that if he was paying the mechanic 30, that left him 150.00 for overhead, and profit.

I have extremely low overhead compared to most businesses, and I was struggling trying to turn a profit at double that.

Back when I did advertise on Craigslist, I was getting a lot of people calling wanting either a price sight unseen, or wanting me to come out and give a quote. I burned quite a bit of gas, and lots of my very scarce spare time, talking to them, or going out to give free estimates. Now I do not do phone quotes, and charge $50 to come out and give a hard quote, credited toward the price if you choose to have me do the work. Drain cleaning and the like are strictly time and material.

Click to expand...

DIYeverything said:

To be fair, we already have gas service and no permit was pulled, and there was no inspection.
:

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99% of the time there is any work getting done on your gas lines they want a permit pulled, plumbing you can get away with it sometimes. I have seen too may sloppy installs that leak but the leak is small enough its extremely hard to smell, until you test it.

Me I test all my gas lines at 30psi for 30 minutes(half pound gas) using a large 4" gauge so I know when it had dropped at all.

Back to the original post, 1000$ isn't out of line prices and materials vary, as well as any walls they may need to be opened. If you have any thoughts of selling your house down the road make sure it's a permitted job.

chukar said:

99% of the time there is any work getting done on your gas lines they want a permit pulled, plumbing you can get away with it sometimes. I have seen too may sloppy installs that leak but the leak is small enough its extremely hard to smell, until you test it.

Me I test all my gas lines at 30psi for 30 minutes(half pound gas) using a large 4" gauge so I know when it had dropped at all.

Back to the original post, 1000$ isn't out of line prices and materials vary, as well as any walls they may need to be opened. If you have any thoughts of selling your house down the road make sure it's a permitted job.

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Here, a mercury pressure test is required, but 99% of the time, small one-day or less jobs are done without any permits pulled around these parts for anything including plumbing and gas. I worked years for electrical contractors who never pulled permits for anything other than new additions, and unavoidably obvious major improvements such as upgraded services. Pulling permits requires time, an expeditor on staff for anything bigger than a few man shop, pricing those costs into the quote, and followup inspections, all of which inconvenience the customer and often result in higher taxes due to reassessments.

WOW... A simple electrical regound requires a permit in my area. As a consumer who's not familiar with the scope work being done I would love a permit. I would want that third party and my tax dollars working for me to help ensure the job is done right. I will be the one paying for the permit anyways.

tommybitt said:

I had an estimate recently to tap gas meter and run 10' of black iron 1/2" through a block wall into adjacent family room to serve a new 25,000 btu ventfree heater.

$1008 was the estimate. (with permits)

Is this reasonable?

Gone are the days of free estimates.
I didn't want to commit until I got a better idea of cost, so I paid them $49 for the estimate. They said they would take off the price if I use them.

This $1008 sounded a bit high to me.

any opinions from the other pros???

Click to expand...

Although the unit is vent free and probably equipped with a oxygen depletion sensor it still produces carbon monoxide. I would install a carbon monoxide detector incase the oxygen depletion sensor fails.

IFIXH20 said:

Although the unit is vent free and probably equipped with a oxygen depletion sensor it still produces carbon monoxide. I would install a carbon monoxide detector incase the oxygen depletion sensor fails.

Click to expand...

I agree, those things scare me. On the other hand, I've always wondered why a gas appliance such as a water heater requires a flue, while a gas range, clearly capable of burning a lot more gas, doesn't...

thank you all for your input. Much appreciated.

so far I have acquired 2 estimates. $1008 and $941.
I am awaiting another.
Meantime my father recently spoke to a plumber "friend" of his.
He told my dad that 10' or iron with 2-3 90's and a shutoff valve, through a block wall with no unforeseen problems shouldn't run more than $300-$400.

of course he works alone so his overhead is minimal AND he is licensed and insured.
Obviously I am waiting for him to make it down to my neck of the woods for an estimate.

my instincts were telling me that $1000 was a bit much for 10' of iron.
but I digress.
Thank you again to all those who responded