Those who install stoves or who had them installed

[SmokingAndPoking]

Taking on a couple side projects and I never know what to charge people for my work.

What is the going rate for relining a 20 foot chimney with stainless steel chimney liner?

What is the going rate for going to a house to assess how to install a pellet stove and estimate the cost?

What is the going rate for installing a pellet stove through the wall with 5-6 feet of vertical outdoor pipe?


Thanks for the help.

 

[brianbeech]

Taking on a couple side projects and I never know what to charge people for my work.

What is the going rate for relining a 20 foot chimney with stainless steel chimney liner?

What is the going rate for going to a house to assess how to install a pellet stove and estimate the cost?

What is the going rate for installing a pellet stove through the wall with 5-6 feet of vertical outdoor pipe?


Thanks for the help.

I'm having my stove installed today (or tomorrow). Busting into brick chimney, and putting a flue tile in, getting 6' of single wall stove pipe and hooking up the stove - $250.

Estimate for work was free.

 

[Fsappo]

Taking on a couple side projects and I never know what to charge people for my work.

What is the going rate for relining a 20 foot chimney with stainless steel chimney liner?

What is the going rate for going to a house to assess how to install a pellet stove and estimate the cost?

What is the going rate for installing a pellet stove through the wall with 5-6 feet of vertical outdoor pipe?


Thanks for the help.

I'm having my stove installed today (or tomorrow). Busting into brick chimney, and putting a flue tile in, getting 6' of single wall stove pipe and hooking up the stove - $250.

Estimate for work was free.

Holy crap thats cheap. You must be in China?

We charge $600 labor for a one story liner
$700 for a two story liner
$500 bucks to bring a pellet stove, set it, vent it, give instruction on how to use and maintain it and fire it until the convection fan kicks on.
$0 for estimates if the customer is buying a product from us.

 

[brianbeech]

Holy crap thats cheap. You must be in China?

We charge $600 labor for a one story liner
$700 for a two story liner
$500 bucks to bring a pellet stove, set it, vent it, give instruction on how to use and maintain it and fire it until the convection fan kicks on.
$0 for estimates if the customer is buying a product from us.

No liner - using existing 8X8 ceramic flue in center of house.

They are charging me $125 to put in the flue tile and another $125 for 6' of pipe and setting the stove and making the connection. I already have the stove in my basement and am not buying anything from them (other than the stove pipe).

Finally I get a deal?!!? NO WAY!

 

[RNLA]

My local shop charges more than $500.00 to do the simplest install. If it gets trickier it goes up rapidly. I have done 4 installs on my own, one of those was a two story insert with liner, I have to give credit to the guys who do it full time. By the way if your just getting in to this work make sure you are fully insured. You may cover your self now so you do not get sewed later...

 

[Fsappo]

Holy crap thats cheap. You must be in China?

We charge $600 labor for a one story liner
$700 for a two story liner
$500 bucks to bring a pellet stove, set it, vent it, give instruction on how to use and maintain it and fire it until the convection fan kicks on.
$0 for estimates if the customer is buying a product from us.

No liner - using existing 8X8 ceramic flue in center of house.

They are charging me $125 to put in the flue tile and another $125 for 6' of pipe and setting the stove and making the connection. I already have the stove in my basement and am not buying anything from them (other than the stove pipe).

Finally I get a deal?!!? NO WAY!

We'd be looking at $500 labor cost or so for something like that. I figure two guys, 4 hours round trip. We do use NFI certified techs, we're fully insured and we pay our installers very nicely and need to make enough money to be worth processing the paperwork.

If these guys do a safe and proper job for $250, you did get a hell of a deal

 

[begreen]

Don't be afraid to charge a reasonable price for a job well done. I would estimate at whatever your going rate is plus the time it will actually take to do the estimate, get the materials, install, cleanup, travel and taxes. Or take the time it will take to install and double it. For example, if it takes 5hrs to install the liner or put in a pellet stove and your rate is $50/hr, charge $500. You'll do a good job and need to cover your costs, liabilities and insurance in addition to earning enough to make it worthwhile.

 

[Fsappo]

I agree BG. I need to maintain margins to stay in business, but at the same time I don't want to encourage folks to do a job on their own and not be safe. I offer a followup service for self installers. $65 and our guy will do a full inspect on a job if the customer purchased the product from us.

 

[begreen]

That's a nice service Franks. When I worked as an electrician I did a followup call to be sure all was working well. In some case it brought repeat business.

 

[Fsappo]

Thats kinda how I look at it. If your customers love you (99% maybe do) any excuse to stop in and say hello is a good opportunity for a new sale.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

I agree BG. I need to maintain margins to stay in business, but at the same time I don't want to encourage folks to do a job on their own and not be safe. I offer a followup service for self installers. $65 and our guy will do a full inspect on a job if the customer purchased the product from us.

we do the same thing:
the contractor puts in the unit, we charge a min svc fee to do the initial fire-up, make adjustments, and inspect their install

 

[OrpingtonManor]

Here in overpriced California....

When I put in my pellet stove back in '05, the local stove shop charged me $1000 to put in a flex flue liner, and take out the smoke shelf bricks and the rear firebricks before installing the stove. They didn't even do the job to code, nor pull a permit . I had to have them remove the stove so I could fix the code violations (which they wouldn't do, only got an offer to refund my money and take back the stove). Woodstoves are not a big industry here, and they were the only game in town. (I was trying to buy locally, thinking it would be better for any warranty and maintenance work.)

I'm about to install the chimney pipe and hearth for my little Morso. And, as you might have guessed, I never even considered calling them. I'm doing it myself. I felt overcharged, and felt like they knew nothing about codes and safety, or just didn't care. They lost a customer, and made me believe that I could do it myself much more safely and cheaply.