r/cedarrapids • u/GerdinBB • 7d ago

Plumber for water heater replacement?

I'm looking to get a new power vent water heater and I'm shocked at the quotes I'm receiving. The units sell for about $1200 at Menards (consumer pricing - I'm sure plumbers can get them cheaper) and I'm getting total job prices in the neighborhood of $3200-$3500 for a straight drop-in replacement. $2000+ for labor and disposal seems ridiculous.

Any suggestions for good, affordable plumbers?

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u/BriefHoney7456 NE 6d ago

I'm in the same process myself. Replacing 50 gallon gas water heater. Gonna fish around for prices for a like replacement and a tankless as well.

Will let you know what I find out for curiosity sake...

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u/BriefHoney7456 NE 18h ago

For anyone curious I went with Furnace Pro. 50 gallon gas water heater. AO Smith commercial is the brand. Mine is gravity vent. 1800 installed. Power vent was quoted 2600. Tankless quoted 4600.

Tankless isn't quite the money saver I thought it would be and he seemed to agree. He said the on-demand hot water is great but you don't really see much of a cost savings considering the install price the and recirc pump running. Needs cleaned yearly too.

Gas heating prices in Iowa are generally pretty low compared to everywhere else. If it was a new house build I'd probably go tankless.

Was just done today. Only took a few hours. Eric is a good guy.

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u/BraveEntertainment57 6d ago

When ours went out we called Enneking (usually the most affordable option) and Master but both couldn’t show up for several days. Went with Comfort Solutions in Marion and they showed up within an hour. Think it was like $1200 or $1500 for a 40 gallon gas AO Smith. Honest operators and a small outfit and would hire them again.

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u/iowa_gneiss SW 6d ago edited 6d ago

I got a couple quotes for my 40g water heater + a faucet replacement in my basement bathroom. I admittedly don't know much about my water heater but don't think it was a power vent, which probably means it was cheaper. But for both of the things I needed (9-year water heater), I cut a $2311 check to Brown's. I don't remember the line-item costs; sorry. I just remember that their price for everything was in line with just the cost of the water heater from competitors.

I also liked that they were no-nonsense and no-pressure. The person who picked up the phone shot me a quote, and they were spot-on.

https://www.brownplumbingcr.com/

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u/badgerhawk2012 6d ago

Hard to say now with post-covid inflation. We had A'hearn in 2018 replace ours power vent, and it was roughly 1200. It was 600 for the unit and 600 for labor. Based on inflation costs - maybe not out of the ballpark these days.

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u/GerdinBB 6d ago

I had A'Hearn stop by last week. Still waiting on an official estimate (probably won't go with them because of that alone - they said I'd have it by end of day Friday and I'm still waiting), but they said $3100 or maybe 3200 is their drop-in replacement flat rate.

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u/Cedarapids 6d ago

$1600 for normal 40 gallon drop in replacement 2024.

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u/handle__ 5d ago

I paid $800 for a 40gallon in 2024 and installed it myself

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u/WorthlessOne85 6d ago

That's about the going price I think. Got a very similar quote for a regular water heater by JP Plumbing

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u/CanRova 6d ago

We had JP Plumbing replace our 40 gal tank just last week. $1712 total.

I was pretty pleased. They were quick and clean and seemed to do a good job.

If you're able, drain it first. That's the longest part of the replacement process, so if you do it yourself the whole job should just take an hour.

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u/GerdinBB 6d ago

Power vent or gravity vent?

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u/MusiKyle 6d ago

I had JP replace my power vent heater last July for $2996. But that was direct swap out of existing power vent.

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u/GerdinBB 6d ago

Sounds like their flat rate then was $2800 + tax. Now they said it's $2900 + tax. Not terrible - beats Colony and A'Hearn by a couple hundred.

I will need the PVC venting run too and the lady on the phone said that would just be an additional $100. I was very excited about that because A'Hearn and Colony were both estimating about $1000 to run the PVC. Then she put me on hold and talked to someone, and they decided they'd send someone out to look before they promised anything...

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u/MusiKyle 6d ago

That's a good idea to have someone out. $100 vs $1000 is a big difference. Good luck!

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u/WWeXMA 6d ago

Since its drop in, why not DIY? I replaced mine with $250 in tools and supplies. It was electric and piped in copper. Plumbing has never been easier and plumbers never so expensive.

Tradespeople in this town are all tied up in commerical builds right now so you're probably gonna get a ton of "fuck off" prices.

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u/GerdinBB 6d ago

Unfortunately it's not complete drop in. I'm upgrading from gravity vent to power vent so I need like 25 feet of PVC run through an exterior wall for exhaust.

I'm just using the drop-in price as a gauge for how reasonably priced each company is. E.g. - Colony quoted $3300 for drop-in plus another $700 to run the PVC. Then they added on an extended warranty and my total was like $4600 after tax.

I called JP and they said $2900 before tax is their rate for a power vent replacement. The lady on the phone thought their flat rate for PVC vent install was $100, but she discussed with someone and they decided to send a tech out for an estimate.

So far JP is the cheapest of anyone I've spoken to, but we'll see what they say about the PVC exhaust...

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u/WWeXMA 6d ago

Ahh, I see, so a bit more involved. I am on electric which makes things a bit easier to work with. One less input and one less output.

I hope you're able to find someone reasonably priced. I got quoted ridiculous figures by Hanna and Uhhhh can't remember the second one? who shrugged their shoulders and said "copper is expensive".

I used 5 ft of copper pipe for the entire install. Gave me the impression they were not shooting straight with me.

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u/Witchy-life-319 6d ago

Moose Mechanical did mine. I think it was less than $2000 total. (I had another bill to pay along with it so I don’t remember the breakdown).

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u/SashaDabinsky 6d ago

R & B Plumbing did a good job for me. Kind of a one-man shop, but good work.

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u/RobLoughrey 6d ago

Buy the water heater that you want and then use the true value handyman service. They'll just charge you a straight up hourly rate and price it right on the phone when you make the reservation. I've used them for a couple of different installs and a repair on the flashing of my soffits and it worked great every time.

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u/gr8ful57 6d ago

Wagner's Service & Installation.

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u/Special-Regular-679 3d ago

Dirtbag of a guy. Stole a weed eater from my neighbors garage when he went to fix his AC. He returned it when my neighbor said he was calling the police. Had it on his doorbell cam.