Cold showers, broken promises and bad marketing

A few months I realized our hot water heater was 25 years old.

Mr. Proactive thought it would be a good idea to replace it before disaster struck.

I called a few local plumbers to get an estimate.

The first plumber surveyed the situation and gave me a quote of $5000.

Stunned, I told him I’d get back to him.

Plumber #2 gives me a quote for $6000.

This is not going well.

The hot water heater is around $600, so they’re charging me $5400 for an hour or two of their time?

I need to raise my rates.

A lot.

Since we have solar, I thought it would be a good time to switch to an electric model.

I called my friend Steve, a retired electrician, who’s been my go-to guy for years, to install a 220v line.

He charges me $40 an hour, which is a fraction of what other electricians charge.

For months, we couldn’t sync up for a variety of reasons.

Last week, I noticed our hot water heater was starting to leak.

Am I going to have to pay the piper and get ripped off?

Steve was finally available, so he came over on Monday.

The hot water heater is about 20 feet from the electrical panel, so it’s a pretty easy job.