I bought a Culligan HF-360 whole house filter and a Watts hot water
recirculating pump and tried to get quotes from local plumbers in
Manassas, VA using ServiceMagic. I received experessions of interest
from 3 firms but I was surprised to learn that none of them are
familiar with these devices. One quoted $157 per hour and estimated 4
to 5 hours. The other said its $450 firm.

Since the only work involved is cutting existing copper pipe, slipping
a threaded adapter, and soldering it before screwing the devices in
between, I find $500 to be quite steep. Does anyone have any idea what
a reasonable price for this project should be and what kind of
professional should I hire? As I said, local plumbers seem to be
ignorant about what I'm talking about. Can anyone recommend a handyman
around here, or should I look for a soldering/welding expert instead
of a regular plumber?

Thanks for any feedback.

Fil

On Jun 8, 9:40*am, Filibogado wrote:
I bought a Culligan HF-360 whole house filter and a Watts hot water
recirculating pump and tried to get quotes from local plumbers in
Manassas, VA using ServiceMagic. I received experessions of interest
from 3 firms but I was surprised to learn that none of them are
familiar with these devices. One quoted $157 per hour and estimated 4
to 5 hours. The other said its $450 firm.

Since the only work involved is cutting existing copper pipe, slipping
a threaded adapter, and soldering it before screwing the devices in
between, I find $500 to be quite steep. Does anyone have any idea what
a reasonable price for this project should be and what kind of
professional should I hire? As I said, local plumbers seem to be
ignorant about what I'm talking about. Can anyone recommend a handyman
around here, or should I look for a soldering/welding expert instead
of a regular plumber?

Thanks for any feedback.

Fil

Part of the profit that many contractors make is on a markup of the
materials. This is in addition to the labor. They also are more
comfortable installing products from a manufacturer that they have
dealt with previously. They know that if there is a problem down the
road your reaction will tend towards holding them responsible. No
matter where the fault actually lies. Plus there is aso some
reservation about the suitability of whatever you bought for the
specific purpose. And what they may or may not need in addition to
get it installed.

If you are going to buy the materials you are better off doing the
labor yourself. Otherwise you might as well let the contractor
suggest material choices and pick from those. The contractor is going
to get the moeny either way since when you buy the materials they are
probaby just going to charge more for the labor. And you avoid the
issues surround whose fault it is if there is a problem.

You probably can still find someone but it will be a bit harder and
probably not the bigger contractors. Try craig's list and look for
handymen..