Against my better judgement I'm going to throw this question out here. I just got an estimate for a combo boiler ( hot water heat and hot water supply) that is blowing my mind. Single family house 3 zones, 50 gallon tank currently. I've been using this company for the better part of 20 years and this is the first time they've given me and estimate I just can't figure out. I called them and they came up with what I consider to be the usual excuses and ones I'm really not used to getting from them, and to top it off they said this was the cheapest option. That's REALLY hard to believe. So here goes. The estimate is for $12,536.13.
$6678.94 material Costs
$5389 in labor
$468.19 taxes
I was expecting a low end bid of $5k if they just replaced the boiler, and a high end bid if they included a storage tank for hot water supply of $7k. Interestingly enough I looked up the nation average and it is from $5k to $8k. Again I was really shocked at $12.5k. So in the internet world we live in I stated googling:
These are the material items they listed on the bid (of course they didn't include pricing and they should be getting better than retail pricing that I'm listing here)
Navien NCB240 Boiler combo - 2449 + 130 shipping - $2579
Honeywell Zone valves 3/4 - 65 x 3 zones F/S(free shipping) - $195
Taco Circulation pump - $98 F/S - 98
Spirovent 3/4 - $83 F/S - $83
That's $2955 in materials deliver to my door. Lets say another $1k in pipe/fittings and other that's $4k in materials. The Navien website actually lists that this boiler combo is the easiest on the market to install and will save on labor cost so I'm just going to say labor the same as materials +$4k for a grand total of $8k installed. This my feeling what the "high" end estimate should be. I also looked up other boilers I've seen used in the past and can safely say that I could get JUST a boiler down to $1.8k and let's say the rest of the materials remain the same so materials $3.2k so a low end of $6.2k installed.
Again this is the first time I've felt this company has really been off base and I'm shocked they think this is the best and only option. So HERE'S the $4k question what could I possibly be missing that makes up a 4k difference between their estimate and my numbers? I'm already in the market for another bid but I've trusted this company and been happy with them for so long I hate to shop around and start over a relationship with new company. So I'm hoping somebody out there who's in know has some advice or can follow up on what I'm missing.
Luckily the old one is currently working right now, but I know it leaks a tiny bit. It's been in there for 40 years so I'm planning for the inevitable. Since it can wait I'm hoping I can do the demo myself after winter and just "shark bite" cap off the boiler lines and maybe even sweat in a few valves myself that need replacing. This should save me a bit and I can take the old cast iron boiler and some copper to the dump and get a little cash for that. Which should also ,over all , save some labor costs, but I think that's about all the cost savings I could do myself.
$6678.94 material Costs
$5389 in labor
$468.19 taxes
I was expecting a low end bid of $5k if they just replaced the boiler, and a high end bid if they included a storage tank for hot water supply of $7k. Interestingly enough I looked up the nation average and it is from $5k to $8k. Again I was really shocked at $12.5k. So in the internet world we live in I stated googling:
These are the material items they listed on the bid (of course they didn't include pricing and they should be getting better than retail pricing that I'm listing here)
Navien NCB240 Boiler combo - 2449 + 130 shipping - $2579
Honeywell Zone valves 3/4 - 65 x 3 zones F/S(free shipping) - $195
Taco Circulation pump - $98 F/S - 98
Spirovent 3/4 - $83 F/S - $83
That's $2955 in materials deliver to my door. Lets say another $1k in pipe/fittings and other that's $4k in materials. The Navien website actually lists that this boiler combo is the easiest on the market to install and will save on labor cost so I'm just going to say labor the same as materials +$4k for a grand total of $8k installed. This my feeling what the "high" end estimate should be. I also looked up other boilers I've seen used in the past and can safely say that I could get JUST a boiler down to $1.8k and let's say the rest of the materials remain the same so materials $3.2k so a low end of $6.2k installed.
Again this is the first time I've felt this company has really been off base and I'm shocked they think this is the best and only option. So HERE'S the $4k question what could I possibly be missing that makes up a 4k difference between their estimate and my numbers? I'm already in the market for another bid but I've trusted this company and been happy with them for so long I hate to shop around and start over a relationship with new company. So I'm hoping somebody out there who's in know has some advice or can follow up on what I'm missing.
Luckily the old one is currently working right now, but I know it leaks a tiny bit. It's been in there for 40 years so I'm planning for the inevitable. Since it can wait I'm hoping I can do the demo myself after winter and just "shark bite" cap off the boiler lines and maybe even sweat in a few valves myself that need replacing. This should save me a bit and I can take the old cast iron boiler and some copper to the dump and get a little cash for that. Which should also ,over all , save some labor costs, but I think that's about all the cost savings I could do myself.
