New House PVC Plumbing

Hi,

I am rebuilding my house. I have a plumber that quoted me 11,000.00 for labor and materials (no fixtures or finish stuff), for 2 bathrooms and a kitchen. The size of the house will be around 3000 square feet. This quote seemed high to me, because the bathrooms and kitchen are located pretty close together. With basically 1 or 2 "homeruns" to the basement.

I am trying to calculate cost of install, materials, markup, etc. Can you help me break the 11,000.00 quote into an itemized list?

Thanks,
Aubrey

I think you should ask HIM for a breakdown b4 speculating whether he's hi or lo.

In NJ, I got estimates for a single basement bathroom rough in for $6000-7000. That included shower, toilet, and sink rough in and a sewage ejector pit. It included all drain piping, the pump, and venting. It also included all the concrete trenching work.

Where are you located????

to me , Living in the mid-west that seems
pretty high for just a rough for a basic house......

I have heard that around Washington DC they are really
pillageing and plundering,,, It is an almost 100% UNION town

I even had a customer here in town willing to fly me out to
do a bath renovatoin for him...In DC. on a condo

It all depends on where you are in the USA....

here a typicle ranch home with 2 1/2 baths
Pex pipe and all fixtures included would run you
between 6 and 8k

was anything planned to be rough plumbed in the
basement on his bid?????

I honestly have no idea of what plumbing work goes for but the "average" home in my area is about $500,000. At 20% that would mean the plumbing & heating was about a hundred grand. Seems a bit high to me.

Since I live in the same city as Terry I would like to hear what he has to say about that percentage figure.

Plumbing bids...

Aubreyff said:

I am trying to calculate cost of install, materials, markup, etc. Can you help me break the 11,000.00 quote into an itemized list?

Thanks,
Aubrey

Click to expand...

As a homeowner I would get 2 more bids if I were you.To be fair to all the plumbers make sure they are bidding the exact same way.(same design,same fixtures,etc...)all licensed,insured...Contractors don't mind giving you a price if they feel there is a chance to get the job(I know I don't!)That way you will know how accurate the price is.One more thing...make sure whoever you get has expertise with plumbing remodeling projects.I have used plumbers in the past who were great on new construction,but had difficulty doing remodeling projects... (usually bid too low,lost money due to job taking longer than they thought)

You should live in western Pennsylvania, we get less than half that from what info you gave. Maybe I should move. We use the same material and the 2006 Residential Code. If they would give us a license in Pennsylvania then we could extort our customers too. It is not really extortion, they just make a good living and we don't. We have to compete with anyone that wants to call themself a contractor.

mark

I haven't been doing new construction plumbing for a while now.
However, I recently talked to a few that I worked with in the past, and I'm hearing $15,000 to $17,000 for a three bath home with fixtures and trim.
I don't know where that is for just the rough.
No plumber will give an itemized part list for rough-in. That would just be a huge waste of time. We can install, faster than we can make up lists.
Plumbers love to install, we hate paper work.
If we loved paper work, we wouldn't even be plumbing.

The difference between two and three bath homes, is three plumbing fixtures. Shower, Lav, Toilet.
Both two and three bath homes have 2 hosebibs, a kitchen sink, dishwasher, ice maker, washer, water heater, water service.

The average price for a home in Seattle is $500,000

If the plumbing is for a retrofit, or remodel, then it will be higher.
The old plumbing needs to be removed, the wood studs are hard and dry, with embedded nails in them. There is less access most of the time, and more fire danger while working.

Somerville Ma.

I'm currently doing a renovation in Somerville Ma., it's the city right next to Cambridge....right up the street from Haaaaavad!
The plumbing calls for a 1/2 bath on the 1st floor, kitchen sink, disposer, dishwasher and icemaker. full bath on the 2nd, and washer/dryer, future rough for a master bath on the 3rd. I'm getting $12,000 which includes the pvc, shower valve, pex and fittings. They're supplying the fixtures. This particular house ( 1 1/2 bath, 9 rm., 4 bedroom, 1 garage, small yard) which is up the street from Tufts University sold for $850,000. The renovation is about $150,000. I grew up in Dorchester which is a very poor section of Boston, $15,000 would buy you a house in 1977 that was nicer then this, I'm just mystified what people will pay for a house that needs work....totally beside myself. But what happens is that each house that sells for this kind of money in the neighborhood drives up the others regardless of their real worth. Again totally mystified.
Anyways I think your plumber is right on with his price.

canton said:

I'm currently doing a renovation in Somerville Ma., it's the city right next to Cambridge....right up the street from Haaaaavad!
The plumbing calls for a 1/2 bath on the 1st floor, kitchen sink, disposer, dishwasher and icemaker. full bath on the 2nd, and washer/dryer, future rough for a master bath on the 3rd. I'm getting $12,000 which includes the pvc, shower valve, pex and fittings. They're supplying the fixtures. This particular house ( 1 1/2 bath, 9 rm., 4 bedroom, 1 garage, small yard) which is up the street from Tufts University sold for $850,000. The renovation is about $150,000. I grew up in Dorchester which is a very poor section of Boston, $15,000 would buy you a house in 1977 that was nicer then this, I'm just mystified what people will pay for a house that needs work....totally beside myself. But what happens is that each house that sells for this kind of money in the neighborhood drives up the others regardless of their real worth. Again totally mystified.
Anyways I think your plumber is right on with his price.

Click to expand...

Hey DOT GUY!
Ole southie boy here!
Amazing how Southie has changed...it's fer rich people now, not like 20-30 years ago....Dot's still Dot though.
I do alotta work In Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington, Lexington etc.
Somerville is just getting nicer and nicer, smart move.

GrumpyPlumber said:

Also, if I recall, the average homes plumbing/heating comes to approximately 20% of it's overall value.
Feel free, anyone, to jump in and correct that.

Click to expand...

I was prolly a bit off, but that was heating too...a boiler is beaucoup bucks...as is the baseboard heat.

plumbing remodel...

Terry said:

If the plumbing is for a retrofit, or remodel, then it will be higher.
The old plumbing needs to be removed, the wood studs are hard and dry, with embedded nails in them. There is less access most of the time, and more fire danger while working.

Click to expand...

My perspective comes from being the G.C. who oversees the other trades...
Terry stated it correctly. The price will be higher for a remodel.That holds true for almost all the trades and this is exactly why some get in trouble on a project.There experience may be mostly new work and they bid accordingly.
Your plumber might be putting in a buffer to cover the unexpected.
I stand by my earlier post remarks...
You didn't mention if you have tackled a big remodel before.They are very stressful on you and your family especially if you will be staying in the house while the work is being done.
Just some friendly advice from an old time remodeling contractor...
The more organized you are the better your project will go.Try to pick out all the products,fixtures,cabinets ahead of time.Make decisions with the family and make sure you and your significant other are in agreement before the project starts.Effectively communicate with the trades on your project.Realize
there will be unexpected problems and possible delays beyond your control.
And probably the most important...try to keep your sense of humor!
Good luck and happy remodeling!!

tire kickers

Why does that estimate seem high to you? Is it because you have experience in these matters, or you just don't like that number?

You can go to home depot and get a price for 10 feet of type M copper, in 1/2 and 3/4 sizes, and a probably a roll of 1" for the service. Then figure out what you think is a reasonable take home wage for an experienced, licensed plumber. MULTIPLY that by about 4, because he pays his own 15% social security, unemployment, retirement, medical, state license fees, hundreds a year for code book updates, liability insurance, cost of keeping the truck on the road, etc etc.

I can't give a detailed rundown on your house. But my point is you could get to eleven grand before the point on the pencil got dull!

I am not trying to criticize you personally, because you are new to the house=building experience, and you ask a legitimate question. I am pointing out that all of us as consumers of "walmart goods" meaning consumer products made in china, that we are lulled in to forgetting what the price of living and working in the US really is.

I pay through the nose to have a shop that I trust do all the work on my cars and truck. The boss and ALL of his mechanics are ASE certtified, have lots of manufacturer specialty training, and when they work on my vehicles, it gets done right, no guesswork, etc. And I am happy to pay a very healthy price for that, because I know it is done, and done right. SO, my advice is to find a plumbing contractor that has the type of reputation I have been describing, and trust him to do the job right at a fair price, which will not be cheap.

As with any job this size, multiple bids are advised, because different contractors will approach it differently, and you might find one that doesn't really want your job right now, but will give you a high bid in case you dont shop around, he will find a way to fit you in.

Terry, son in law and daughter have a plumb heating Buss. in Duvall

They just found out competition is charging $1500 per fixture[not including fixture purchase] for new work. What's your take on that?

Aubreyff said:

Hi,

I am rebuilding my house. I have a plumber that quoted me 11,000.00 for labor and materials (no fixtures or finish stuff), for 2 bathrooms and a kitchen. The size of the house will be around 3000 square feet. This quote seemed high to me, because the bathrooms and kitchen are located pretty close together. With basically 1 or 2 "homeruns" to the basement.

I am trying to calculate cost of install, materials, markup, etc. Can you help me break the 11,000.00 quote into an itemized list?

Thanks,
Aubrey

Click to expand...

I don't think that this price would be that high for my area (Chicago). My plumbing quotes for a 2.5 Bath addition were coming around $30K from 3 different plumbers.

What exactly is 'rebuilding'? Is the plumber having to deal with remodel type conditions?

Steve

I would say this is a good price in the Springfield Ma. area or much higher. I tend to let my Master do the big quotes and I add a few extra bucks to it, because he has been out of the field for sometime and is not doing the work. He really needs to hit the supply houses to see what other Co's. are doing so we can keep up.
I don't do and have never done New Homes. I love the repairs don't like to stay in one place very long.

Shop around more if you think they are to high and you will see how the prices are. Oh and never take the lowest bid you end up with big problems and then need to call some one for a repair and that will be big $$$