Simple mathematics.

Do it yourself, I did my princess insert for under 3k, that was 5 years ago so price today would be a bit higher. Its not worth getting all worked up over.

Yeah, that's what I say relax....... You even said your chimney was easy to get to........

Write off the $108 estimate cost and do it yourself. This isn't real hard, though it will take you longer than experienced crew.

I was thinking that $600 was way too much, plus I would have to wait almost a month, so I did it myself with a help of my friends. The hardest part was bringing the stove to a living room. I have a raised ranch so we had to bring it upstairs. Four of us, my insert is roughly 500 lbs.

Joful said:

A few here may remember the $10k estimate I received for a liner install 16 months ago...

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WOW.....I could build you a new chimney for that.

"Tree Fiddy"

On my particular insert, me and my buddy took off the door and all 4 fire bricks out and brought it in the house, the hardest part was getting the liner down the chimney, but really, we had the fire going in under 3 hours even with a quick trip to Home Depot.......

Niko said:

Your telling me 500 dollars is not good money for 2 guys and 5 hrs work? folk man 50 bucks a hr per person is great money.

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Around here it's 400 per man per day for painters, plasterers, anyone without major equipment. It's 500 per man per day for excavators, septic, anyone with equipment. So, you're not far off in thinking 50/hr per man.

smokedragon said:

WOW.....I could build you a new chimney for that.

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Not a chimney like this. All stone, 96" x 60" footprint up to 36-foot height, then tapering in to 24" x 40" footprint, then brick another 14 feet up from there. Total height = 50 feet. Santa could crawl down thru it without dieting.

Joful said:

Around here it's 400 per man per day for painters, plasterers, anyone without major equipment. It's 500 per man per day for excavators, septic, anyone with equipment. So, you're not far off in thinking 50/hr per man.


Not a chimney like this. All stone, 96" x 60" footprint up to 36-foot height, then tapering in to 24" x 40" footprint, then brick another 14 feet up from there. Total height = 50 feet. Santa could crawl down thru it without dieting.

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$75/hr for any trade around here. An excavator is $135/hr. 10 wheel dump truck is $75/ hr.

I need to move lol

ANdrew

That price seems a little high, but not that far out of line. I think the biggest mistake their making is listing the price for "installation labor", because you're paying for a lot more than just the physical labor while they're at your place doing the install. You're also paying for delivery, permits, inspection, etc. All of those things also cost time and money. I think people tend to forget that businesses are not charity. They have to cover all their expenses and still make a decent profit at the end of the day.

It's not uncommon for car dealerships to charge $100/hour for labor. So, 2 guys at $100/hour for 6 hours would be $1200.

As others have said, if you think the price is too much, you can do it yourself or get another estimate.

What I do think is BS is the fact that they charged you for an estimate/proposal. The place we got our stove from didn't charge us for that.

Joful said:

Not a chimney like this. All stone, 96" x 60" footprint up to 36-foot height, then tapering in to 24" x 40" footprint, then brick another 14 feet up from there. Total height = 50 feet. Santa could crawl down thru it without dieting.

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I didn't say a chimney like that.......I said I could build you a chimney for that

I would have told them to pound sand when I found out it cost $108 for a proposal.

Swedishchef said:

$75/hr for any trade around here. An excavator is $135/hr. 10 wheel dump truck is $75/ hr.

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That would be tough to swallow, but maybe average salaries are higher where you live. I can't see paying the painter or the guy who repairs my septic system more a well-paid college graduate. I get mulch delivered for $60 per load, and that's way more than an hour's work, plus mileage!

Okay... maybe the septic guy has some leverage...

The Quebec construction industry is insane. We have a regulating body (CCQ http://www.ccq.org/Accueil.aspx?sc_lang=en&profil=GrandPublic) that ensures that everyone who works on construction sites is fully certified. Out of the $75/hr they get about $15/hr (they have inspectors, etc). All provinces in Canada decided to have building inspectors except Quebec. Quebec decided to make sure everyone is certified working on sites, therefore, there shouldn't be any building code issues (pffft). And then every single construction industry employee is unionized. They get 4 weeks of paid vacation a year, etc. Here is the largest union http://ftq.qc.ca/. Out of $75/hr they get about another $10-$20. A top carpenter earns about $30/hr. PLUS their 4 weeks of paid vacation (last 2 weeks in July for ALL construction plus 2 weeks at CHristmas).

And the regulating body ensures that NOBODY works on a site that is not certified (you're not allowed to bring in 3 buddies to help put up a garage, etc).

Wow... I would like to say that sounds insane, but it's surely the direction we're headed, as well. Just give us a few more years.

Niko said:

Really 500 is not good? Man im def in the wrong business. I dont want to hear the bullshit about a truck and insurance bullshit. Thats the cost of having a business. It seems they wanna pay off their truck and insurance in one job. I guess chimney companies would rather have one job a week at a rip off price rather then 5 jobs week at a affordable price. More jobs=more exposure=more business.

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I know I can do a better job than any one I pay to do anything, at 1/4 the price.. Rarely do I pay to have anything done I can do. I'm sure you can do this yourself for substantially less than there 5K quote. It's a 5K job to them and you had them break done the quote, i'm sure they would rather not do this. That's the issue, the only place to make the numbers add up was the labor. But.... in there defense it's is a business, with all the overhead. Like it or not it gets factored into the quote, fairly or not. So If you need to have this done by others, you need them to compete. When there busy the numbers go up. Maybe getting a summer time quote. Some of the guys here in the business may be able to comment on what time of the year to get the best price

I am having a Lafayette FP10 fireplace & new venting installed in a week or two (dependent on parts). The installers (2) will be removing a contractor grade zero-clearance FP along with 25' of 8" air insulated pipe. Also they will be removing another parallel 30' of 8" vent and replacing it with 4" pellet pipe (upstairs Great Room fireplace & basement pellet stove). They will also be adding a new sheet metal crown & caps. Labor is $685.00. I will be removing & adding the existing surround.