I’ve been getting a lot of plumbing bids over the past two months, and have a pretty good idea of what I should be expecting to pay for the plumbing work (about 50% more than what we were paying for new construction plumbing in Atlanta!). Ultimately, I decided to go with a larger company — Charles A. Klein & Sons — that does a lot of new construction plumbing, both because I believe they’ll be more efficient than some of the smaller guys and because they had one of the most competitive prices.
Originally, I was going to let the guys who are doing the new water meter work do the installation of the main water and sewer lines, but this plumbing company’s prices for the work was pretty much equivalent, so I’m going to let Charles A. Klein do that work as well. The headaches in this business tend to come from difficulties in coordinating sub-contractor schedules and tasks, so using the same contractor for as many components as possible reduces overhead and increases efficiency.
Here’s how the numbers break down for our plumbing work:
- Water/Sewer Line Installation: $2,250
- Rough Plumbing:
- Permits: $750
- Ground Work: $2,000
- Rough-In: $7,250
- Finish Plumbing: $2,300
That doesn’t include the finish materials (tubs, shower base, sinks, faucets, toilets, etc). I’m creating a $4500 allowance for those materials on top of the labor bid, bringing the total estimated plumbing bid to:
TOTAL BID: $19,050
Hopefully the plumbing permit will be issued in the next week or so, since we’re going to need some ground work done next week. The foundation company will be pouring the concrete for the areaway (the exterior walk-down to the basement), and we will need a drain run from the bottom of the areaway to the sump pump. The drain will need to run underground below the basement slab.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
that’s a big plumbing bill. yikes!
are you getting a sewer check valve installed? if i were building a house,i’d get one. or two!! it looks something like this – http://cdn.balkanplumbing.com/wp-content/uploads/inside-a-sewer-check-valve.jpg
George,
Actually, that’s a tremendously reasonable plumbing bid for all ground work, rough and finish plumbing (plus $4500 for finishes). This isn’t too much more than we pay in Georgia, and that’s about the least expensive place in the country for skilled labor.