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Plumbing Budget - Replacing Galvanized Pipe

wanj
10 years ago

Hi everyone,
Bought this house in California and found the galvanized pipes needs to be replaced. Crawl space inspection found two leaks and few other leaks are developing.

So far we have done some work with a plumbing friend about costing and have had some quotes from contractors.

The house is a two stories 2000sf traditional home with two full bath upstairs and one half bath down stairs. Fortunately, three bathrooms share a common plumbing wall and all other pipes are accessible from the crawl space. We are planning to replace the entire galvanized water system from the water meter.

Here is the information and the quotes.

Material cost for IN-Wall plubming

3/4" type M 160 ft for about $300
1/2" type M 60 ft for about $70
flex 3/4" type L (water main) 60 ft for about $240
fittings, flux, solder, propane etc $300+-
Angle stops etc $100

Total material cost $900~1000

The Master bathroom will be demolished to gain access to the plumbing closet upstairs. There are 4 pieces of 4'x8' dry walls will be removed from the demolished bathrooms, including the linoleum floor, shower, toilet and vanity, other than that some part of the drywalls in the half bath and under the kitchen sink will be removed as well.

Estimate labor which is around 200 hours, that should include, dig out the water main and replace it with type L, replace all the pipes inside, rebuild the demolished bathroom with tile on the floor and choice of shower, vanity and all the other fixtures. All dry walls will be patched or re-installed, taped, mudded, textured, primed and painted.

To save labor, we are not going to remove the old pipes in places that require more demolition than necessary, we are going to run the new pipe along the old or take a different route to get there.

Out of the wall material cost is NOT included because price could vary widely depends on the fixtures.

There are two quotes:

Quote 1 $4500 includes LABOR and IN Wall material, but NOT include the rebuild of the bathroom or patching the holes. In other words, just the plumbing rough-ins. Contractor responsible to hauling away and disposition of demolition debris.

Quote 2 $5000 Labor ONLY, but include the rebuilding the bathroom and patching holes as described in the 200 hours above. owner pays debris dumping fee, contractor responsible hauling. Bathroom fixtures are NOT included but installation labor will be included.

To me, two quotes are identical cost. What do you think?
Any experiences of using PEX? Would that save overall money or just a wash?

Comments (5)

  • GreenDesigns
    10 years ago

    With those lowball quotes, I doubt you're dealing with an actual fully licensed and insured plumber. I'd expect your job to cost 2x that amount from someone real. Doing repair work like that is harder than doing a new construction rough in, but it's all the same work and more.

    And why would you want a plumber doing drywall? If you're asking for that in your quotes, you certainly aren't dealing with a professional plumber!

    Find some real plumbers instead of hacks. It's worth the cost difference. Especially if one of these hacks floods your house and doesn't have the insurance to cover it.

  • jackfre
    10 years ago

    I am in N CA too, and remodeling my home. I am a licensed plumber in CA but haven't worked in the trade for over 30 yrs. My galvanized pipe is probably 80 yrs old and being totally replaced. Your decision should be predicated, at least partially, by a water test first. My water is a ph of 6.1 which is to acidic for copper. I am going to neutralize the water so I can install my tankless water heater. I've done the whole system in PEX. I am a copper guy by training and inclination, but prefer the pex for my home. I used the Uponor pex and bought the Milwaukee expander tool ($400) to do the job. This was my first pex job and I now have to go to LA to re-pipe my daughters place;)

    I, too, have a miserable crawl space (16-24"). I'm 64 and don't crawl around very easily these days, but I did it. I was able to really save time on the crawl space work with the pex. Personally, I would only use Type L. M meets the code, but L is heavier, more expensive and better. I think the pex is the way to go.

  • justalurker
    10 years ago

    Not a plumber but it seems that every decade or so there's a new greater and better synthetic that comes along that is the way to go and then 10 or 15 years down the road there are a flurry of lawsuits cause the greatest thing since sliced bread... ain't.

    Curiously... copper is still out there in the ground and walls doing what it is supposed to do. No special tools required and any competent plumber and even homeowners (with practice) can make repairs. Copper costs more, but if you're old enough to remember the old Fram commercials... "you can pay me now or you can pay me later" and that still holds true.

    Jackfre made a great point and one that is often overlooked... get a comprehensive water test from a certified lab so you can identify any conditions in the water that need to be treated and then have the treatment done.

  • wanj
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Jackfre

    Can pex be used from the meter to the main shut off?

  • jackfre
    10 years ago

    Ya know, I honestly don't know. I ran my supply in PVC from the well to the house main shut-off. It was all underground. If yours is exposed, I'd use a metal leg there, but it depends upon lay-out. Pex is not UV friendly.

    The comment about copper being king is correct. I would always prefer to run copper, but again, with my water, if the treatment is not done properly the acidic water isn't going to treat the copper very well.