# Home Depot installer



## rickmccarthy (Jul 20, 2009)

My wife works at a Drs office and the other day A guy came in from Home Depot and during small talk it came up that he needed a plumber to do installs and that I was one. Needless to say I was less then thrilled that she gave my number to him but she was thinking it would be a way to get some work without advertising I cant blame her Anyway when he called to tell me about it and how to apply and go through all their background checks he told me that HD charge 189 to install a water heater and I would contract with them for less then that to pick up deliver drain down cut out install and dump old heater it is also in the contract that I would supply the first x amount of pipe and new valves if nec I couldnt believe it!!!! 189 does that number work for anyone even without advertising it wasnt even close and I am a one man show I cant believe that they find actual licensed plumbers that carry ins that reduce themselves to work for these prices besides the fact that HD completely desimates the market I cannot even come close to competeing with that Sorry so long and all the rambling just baffled completely baffled


----------



## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

rickmccarthy said:


> My wife works at a Drs office and the other day A guy came in from Home Depot and during small talk it came up that he needed a plumber to do installs and that I was one. Needless to say I was less then thrilled that she gave my number to him but she was thinking it would be a way to get some work without advertising I cant blame her Anyway when he called to tell me about it and how to apply and go through all their background checks he told me that HD charge 189 to install a water heater and I would contract with them for less then that to pick up deliver drain down cut out install and dump old heater it is also in the contract that I would supply the first x amount of pipe and new valves if nec I couldnt believe it!!!! 189 does that number work for anyone even without advertising it wasnt even close and I am a one man show I cant believe that they find actual licensed plumbers that carry ins that reduce themselves to work for these prices besides the fact that HD completely desimates the market I cannot even come close to competeing with that Sorry so long and all the rambling just baffled completely baffled


 
Not worth it for me and I live in a
rural area. Another $60 plus parts, mark up on w/h. around here...And that is COD price. If you need food on the table would be the only way!


----------



## Plumbdog (Jan 27, 2009)

slickrick said:


> Not worth it for me and I live in a
> rural area. Another $60 plus parts, mark up on w/h. around here...And that is COD price. If you need food on the table would be the only way!




I'm not that :no:hungry, yet.


----------



## Herk (Jun 12, 2008)

I'm losing money on every job I do, but that's OK - I'll make it up in volume.


----------



## pauliplumber (Feb 9, 2009)

$189 ?? :blink: I'm baffled too. Doesn't seem possible.


----------



## coolwater (Oct 17, 2009)

yessir $189 here in Ga too.. they have succeeded in "wal-marting the trades" they tell you that you make incentives by "bringing it up to code" which in theory is cool.. 

im puttin a hit out on Homer D. Poe


----------



## user2090 (Sep 26, 2009)

Don't forget, every home you go into is a potential new client. How much does it cost to gain a new customer with advertising? I have heard it ranges between $330 to $1200. The depot is still ripping off plumbers though.:no:


----------



## dapperdan (Dec 25, 2008)

That's sick. But if your slow and looking for extra money and access to customers. Just depends on your situation


----------



## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

Sounds like a wonderful opportunity 

Oh and let me guess, should somthing go wrong it will be you who assumes all the liability at that fantastic pay rate.



rickmccarthy said:


> My wife works at a Drs office and the other day A guy came in from Home Depot and during small talk it came up that he needed a plumber to do installs and that I was one. Needless to say I was less then thrilled that she gave my number to him but she was thinking it would be a way to get some work without advertising I cant blame her Anyway when he called to tell me about it and how to apply and go through all their background checks he told me that HD charge 189 to install a water heater and I would contract with them for less then that to pick up deliver drain down cut out install and dump old heater it is also in the contract that I would supply the first x amount of pipe and new valves if nec I couldnt believe it!!!! 189 does that number work for anyone even without advertising it wasnt even close and I am a one man show I cant believe that they find actual licensed plumbers that carry ins that reduce themselves to work for these prices besides the fact that HD completely desimates the market I cannot even come close to competeing with that Sorry so long and all the rambling just baffled completely baffled


----------



## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

Except that's not what really happens. Here's how it really goes down: You walk in and find an utter catastrophe that is going to need all kinds of repairs/upgrades just to be up to code. You give HO the price and they flip out because homer told them it was only going to be 189. they call homie and tell them they want a refund and you now get to cart that heater back to the store all while not being paid.



coolwater said:


> yessir $189 here in Ga too.. they have succeeded in "wal-marting the trades" they tell you that you make incentives by "bringing it up to code" which in theory is cool..
> 
> im puttin a hit out on Homer D. Poe


----------



## Plasticman (Oct 14, 2008)

And does depot take out the permit, no, or course not. You are doing the install so you are liable.
I could name names of companies here in Tallahassee that I see parked in front of depot or slowes picking up water heaters or dishwashers. 
I may be slow but I will NEVER EVER get THAT desperate!


----------



## Turd Burglar (Sep 26, 2009)

If I ever put on the orange smock and start working for these slavewages, someone please KILL ME!


----------



## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

My next water heater will be a rheem marathon lifetime tank warranty.


----------



## Turd Burglar (Sep 26, 2009)

TheMaster said:


> My next water heater will be a rheem marathon lifetime tank warranty.


Excellent choice imo! I will likely do the same.


----------



## GREENPLUM (Jul 27, 2008)

let me guess ( i might be wrong) i bet the "lifetime" warranty goes like this, after the first WH goes bad they give you a second then the warranty is over?

FYI the gas company is givin major rebates if you get one of these Plastic water heaters


----------



## Turd Burglar (Sep 26, 2009)

GREENPLUM said:


> let me guess ( i might be wrong) i bet the "lifetime" warranty goes like this, after the first WH goes bad they give you a second then the warranty is over?


No the tank is entirely plastic. It will outlive me.:yes:


----------



## GREENPLUM (Jul 27, 2008)

i think water heaters were about the only thing they had not made out of plastic till recently, whats next plastic pipe wrenches, channel locks


----------



## Plasticman (Oct 14, 2008)

plasticman, plasticman, plasticman. zip lock bags, dvd's, your computer keys, your computer mouse, your computer, your tv, vcr, radio, microwave, truck dash, truck door parts, your tupperware, your fridge parts, dishwasher parts, electrical boxes, wal-mart bags, all the way down to your false teeth. Plastic. Takes 100 years or more for some types to deterioriate. Goog thing it's not glass, it never does. Plastic is gonna be here for a while. Remember when the old plumbers cussed dwv when all they used was cast iron? yea. We gotta re-think things


----------



## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

Install a heat pump or low temp solar system with it and I'de say you've got a winner.



TheMaster said:


> My next water heater will be a rheem marathon lifetime tank warranty.


----------



## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

The only thing about those heaters is you have to make sure you don't get anything hotter than 140 or the tank is done.


----------



## bartnc37 (Feb 24, 2009)

prices must be way down in your neck of the woods. here i s WI they're charging $250 for a basic W.C. install, thats just replace the wax, supply, and bolts, anything above that is extra.


----------



## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

bartnc37 said:


> prices must be way down in your neck of the woods. here i s WI they're charging $250 for a basic W.C. install, thats just replace the wax, supply, and bolts, anything above that is extra.


If your quoting my post, prices are relivant to cost of living..


----------



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*Home Depot, Lowes..... they all stink*

Back in 2001, I did do some work for Lowes for a short 4 months... fixture installs only..

its a total joke, you go pick up the parts and you can get stuck at the store for an hour, they dont even know what they are looking for.......

you go out to the home and the people have LIED to lowes about the install....

the toilet is literally sunk into the floor:laughing::laughing:
and they look at you like you are expected to fix it too....


or the salesman has sold the people an expenvice faucet that wont work
on their pedistle sink, and they took the day off for you to install it..
and everyone is pissed off at you for not getting into a mess..

the manager of the store actually went out to the home to see for 
himself why a 500 dollar faucet would not go on an old antique crane pedistle 
lavatory... he would not take my word for it....

they absolutely hate to lose any big sale, ...





also something I noticed about the class of poeple, they get a chance to boss the plumber around becasue they are a sub of lowes..
had a guy that was drunk and bossey once,
that was fun....

I eventually told them to stick it all ,,,,.


----------



## Phat Cat (Apr 1, 2009)

No way could we do it for $189.00. That is below our cost.

And whoever quoted the average price to gain a customer - I believe you are way off.


----------



## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

I charge more than that to do a full rebuild on a toilet. Or a pipe repair.


----------



## Rebel Plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

Sheesh! I guess they are paying you just a little more than they pay their usually useless in-store employees. After your overhead, you might be looking at minimum wage plumbing...

-Rebel


----------



## rickmccarthy (Jul 20, 2009)

Just for the record no way in hell did I even consider it what's nuts is the amount of hoops they want you to jump through to make sure you are a licensed and insured proffessional and then contract you for less then 189 for a WH out of their freakin minds


----------



## M5Plumb (Oct 2, 2008)

Very similar to the AHS scenario, they figure that with the rates they are doing, it is getting you free advertising and an opportunity in the door of an AHS customer.



dapperdan said:


> That's sick. But if your slow and looking for extra money and access to customers. Just depends on your situation


----------



## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

I don't want new customers, it's taken me a while to train the existing ones. I usually deal with the GC's. The restaurant managers, department heads, plant personnel, etc. are just obstacles to me, I let them talk and then usually ignore them or baby them, depends.


----------



## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

If the dumb PLUMBERS would stop working for Lowes and Home depot THEY might get the job anyway. If people call Home depot and Lowes and they dont have any PLUMBERS then the customer has to call sombody...that sombody might be you if you are not working for the bigbox stores on the cheap. Oh by the way...a water heater installed by home depot or lowes costs more than 189 here...its about 220 for basic install.....very few installs are basic. Thats their catch. Also they run financing specials. That last one is a killer and why they do alot of business.


----------



## Phat Cat (Apr 1, 2009)

TheMaster said:


> If the dumb PLUMBERS would stop working for Lowes and Home depot THEY might get the job anyway. If people call Home depot and Lowes and they dont have any PLUMBERS then the customer has to call sombody...that sombody might be you if you are not working for the bigbox stores on the cheap. Oh by the way...a water heater installed by home depot or lowes costs more than 189 here...its about 220 for basic install.....very few installs are basic. Thats their catch. Also they run financing specials. That last one is a killer and why they do alot of business.


The truth is, there will always be someone who will work for cheaper.


----------



## PLUMB TIME (Feb 2, 2009)

A few years ago we were contacted by Expo to do installs of faucets. Ifigured I'd listen to what they had to say.
I had to pick up faucet at Expo and then do the install, within a 25 mile radius. Well 25 miles in Chicago area can take two hours sometimes.one way.
Needless to say I couldn't do it for $125.00.
Maybe thats why they don't exist anymore.:no:


----------



## Pipedoc (Jun 14, 2009)

TheMaster said:


> If the dumb PLUMBERS would stop working for Lowes and Home depot THEY might get the job anyway. If people call Home depot and Lowes and they dont have any PLUMBERS then the customer has to call sombody...that sombody might be you if you are not working for the bigbox stores on the cheap........


Hey, good post TM. It's nice to know we agree 100% on something. :thumbsup:


----------



## hulihan (Aug 11, 2009)

The real bummer is, everyone and the illegals are all at HD, and there contractors are as shady as it comes  but the average homeowner could care less about what we have in our heads, it is all about $, cheapest gets job, we buy tape, rorson paper, masks, some tools etc from HD, nothing plumbing except, weird fitting for my bait tank and stuff like that, when in the store, 99% are Latinos, and there is usually 100plus waiting in the parking lot, praying for work, it is sad, funny and just wrong, every HD store here in So Cal is the same, if we go to their countrys, we would be kicked out , something is wrong here, and it will never change, so somehow, we have to find a way to get in on it, and I refuse to lower my standards, we do do alot of redueing when they get caught !


----------



## Optimus Primer (May 20, 2009)

As far as I know you must be a licensed and insured plumbing contractor to be a home depot installer. They just dont higher a mexican or the guy holding a sign at the intersection looking for work. Home depot subs it out. And permits are pulled. That's how it is here in Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Pasco counties. I'm sure every where else too if you actually look into it. When Home depot closed down their call center in Tampa, Delta Plumbing which is a nationwide company does most of their installs now because they took over the call center.


----------



## Bayside500 (May 16, 2009)

i'm pretty sure you have to have a criminal background check to be a Home depot installer.


----------



## Turd Burglar (Sep 26, 2009)

Bayside500 said:


> i'm pretty sure you have to have a criminal background to be a Home depot installer.


*edited for humor*

:laughing:


----------



## express (Nov 22, 2008)

that bayside chick keeps winking at me


----------



## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

express said:


> that bayside chick keeps winking at me


What if it's a..... Guy.... Im' just sayin'™


----------



## Turd Burglar (Sep 26, 2009)

Enough with all the "i'm just sayin" already!
You sound like a ******* retard moron talking like that. I'm jus sayin.


----------



## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

[quote=Turd Burglar;7440


----------



## pauliplumber (Feb 9, 2009)

Turd Burglar said:


> Enough with all the "i'm just sayin" already!
> You sound like a ******* retard moron talking like that. I'm jus sayin.


 Take your meds today?


----------



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*you should at least speak english*









*







Hot Water Heater Woes*

*Posted Wed December 10, 2003, by Karen C. written to Home Depot, Inc.*

Write a Letter to this Company | Rate this Company​ 

I would like to bring to your attention a problem I had with the experience at Home Depot, Inc., and I hope someone can do something about it. The stores I'm referring to is located at West Cobb and Kennesaw. This incident has left me extremely angry.

I went to Home Depot to have a hot water heater installed into my home. Normally, I really like Home Depot. After price comparisons, I found that they were a little cheaper than Lowe's on the installation and heater price. I wanted to go with a big store, such as Home Depot, because I thought they would pride themselves on customer service. *However, the company that they hire out to do their installing jobs, apparently does not. My Home Depot store has Delta Industries (I believe that's the name) contracted to install their hot water heaters. I was furious to find that the installer knew very little english (it was very hard communicating with him) and that he was not able to do the job. He, after failing to explain this in english that we could understand, had to call someone on his cell phone to do the explaining for him. He was not comfortable doing the job because he thought he might damage the copper gas line in the process. I have been told that that is a job that a certified plumber knows how to do and ought to be doing in the first place. Apparently, Home Depot does not have certified plumbers contracted to do work such as this.* I naturally assumed I could trust a name like Home Depot to be on top of things. My complaint is this, if your contracted people can't do the job that they are supposed to be able to do, why do I have to pay the $70 travel fee? I think that is a little steep only to have a guy come out and say he can't do the job. It's funny, after I told my father my story, he told me that he had the same exact situation with his Home Depot and a hot water heater. After calling a certified plumber he found out of the phonebook, the installation was completed without any problems. Plus, he got an even better price! This weekend, I suspect the same will be true for me.

As a result of this incident I will do everything I can to avoid Home Depot, Inc. in the future, and I don't think I can recommend your store to people I know.

Here's what I'd like to see happen: I think Home Depot needs to look at the companies that they have contracted to do their installation work. What is the background check you do? Do you even see if they are a competent business? I will never again have anything installed though your business again. The West Cobb store employees were very friendly and apologetic, but could do nothing for me.

I hope you are willing to address my concerns. I look forward to receiving a response within 10 business days.


----------



## gusty60 (Oct 21, 2008)

express said:


> that bayside chick keeps winking at me


 I guess you stared long enough too.:laughing:


----------



## Optimus Primer (May 20, 2009)

gusty60 said:


> I guess you stared long enough too.:laughing:


Dont get your hopes up people, bayside500 is no female.


----------



## Nevada Plumber (Jan 3, 2009)

Master Mark said:


> It's funny, after I told my father my story, he told me that he had the same exact situation with his Home Depot and a hot water heater. After calling a certified plumber he found out of the phonebook, the installation was completed without any problems. *Plus, he got an even better price! This weekend, I suspect the same will be true for me.*


This is the part of the story that bothers me the most. There was some plumber that thought they could make money by being cheaper then Home Depot. Who wants to bet that plumber is long out of business now? Also, this person thinks it will be cheaper on a weekend to have a water heater put in? It's crazy.


----------



## Turd Burglar (Sep 26, 2009)

slickrick said:


> You got a problem? Do you feel like you have a right to insult someone?
> The use of the word "Retard" is highly offensive to those of us that are "Mentally Challenged" .. I"m just sayin'™


Ok, I will accept your mental handicap then. Sorry for my belligerent post. I haven't slept well in a week, been working around the clock like a nutjob. I'm just sayin.:laughing:


----------



## gusty60 (Oct 21, 2008)

house plumber said:


> Dont get your hopes up people, bayside500 is no female.


 He looks like a girl.:laughing:


----------



## nhmaster3015 (Aug 5, 2008)

You can do it, we supply the vasalene :thumbsup:

908


----------



## plumbwright (Oct 26, 2009)

I got called out to a job where a HD installer had removed the tank but then left and said he couldnt finish because the bvent was too long and he needed to find a shorter tank.:laughing:


----------



## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

Home Depot Plumbing Installations are the worst.

(this message is brought to you by RSP, puh lease, Google, and other spiders of the web, do yo freakin job!!!!!!!)


----------



## longplumb (Nov 15, 2009)

Did this in my area for 2 months and then told Home D to stick it up there [email protected]@. They also paid us the $189. Used that money up just waiting at the store to get the heater. Not worth the trouble.


----------



## TheSkinnyGuy (Sep 15, 2009)

but if I read this then THEIR price is 189, and you would be contracting TO THEM for LESS.


----------



## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

H.D charges 239 for a basic water heater install here. If they can find a fool to do it for that and the H.D still make a profit and the plumber can make a profit then fine by me. Its a matter of time before one of those two parties will get tired of it.......239 isn't worth it to me and I'm not splitting it with anyone.
Hell for 239 i might call them when mine leaks.


----------

