I needed to hook up a hot-tub heater which required cutting two PVC pipes going to an old boiler and re-routing them to the input and outputs of the new heater. Relatively simple job that I figured a plumber could bang out in a few minutes...definitely less than an hour. I figured an hour of labor and some parts would end up costing me around $100.00 and I'm no ace in the handyman department. I'd rather have a pro do it right if it isn't going to be too expensive.
I called in the morning and they sent a guy out for the quote within a few hours. I was very impressed with that. The plumber looked at the heater I bought and essentially told me there's no way it was going to work...admitted the job was pretty easy...then without any measurements...truly an "eyeball" said it would be $500.00 to do the work. I questioned how it could be $500 and he said "that's what it will cost". He wrote down the estimate of "$500-$600" and left. I went to Home Depot and bought $80.00 worth of flexible hose and pvc connections and did it myself. Including two trips to Home Depot (to return some unnecessary items) the entire job took me 1.5 hours. Mad props to Alfonso in the plumbing department at Home Depot on Alpine...he was a real pro. The heater, which he claimed would never work (despite it being from Raypak - a manufacturer of pool and spa heaters), kicked on and despite the specs saying it would take 24 hours to get to temperature, only took about 5 hours. I was very turned off by the "eyeball" approach....and if it took me only an hour and half, it would have taken him 20 minutes. The quote was offensive and a result I've seen a number of times when contractors pull up to our pretty nice property...they think because it is nice that we will pay anything. The real lesson is I was also going to ask him to quote a major drainage job on the west side of my house which is causing some significant water in my basement. His/their loss.