earthquake straps, (needed to install some wood foundation to strap tank to) drainage Pan.. then a “required” expansion tank + install, recycle of old tank , replacement of water lines to/from tank as not per code etc.

did we get ripped off? from what I’m reading this is rather typical the 3rd party contractor Home depot quoted a base install (including tank)of $850

Both you and Doug have missed the point. You’re focusing on the contractor and his fee. Let me be clear – I have no problem with a contractor getting paid for a trip out to a house, even if he can’t do any work. For the record, I did hire a contractor to handle the installation, and his work was worth every penny that I paid him.

My problem is with Home Depot and their lack of disclosure. As I wrote above, their fee for functioning as middleman has a compulsory charge of $70 beyond what they quote. That’s deceptive. Also, at no point did they disclose that if an item is unable to be installed, they will charge the customer a mandatory delivery fee. Again, I have no problem with the fee itself, I just want to know about it beforehand! These things don’t take long to disclose, and could easily have been something for me to read and initial in the paperwork when buying the installation. It wasn’t, and that’s the real problem.

To use your own analogy, what if you got a quote for some dental work, had the work done, and then the dentist charged you a mandatory extra $70 fee for no extra work done? It’s deceptive, and it’s a breach of trust. Had the dentist explained a legitimate purpose for the fee beforehand, that would have been a different story.

Re-read my original post. Again, the existence of the trip fee is not the problem. Home Depot’s deceptiveness is.

If you don’t like the codes then call your town hall and tell them to stop implementing state codes and tell them to stop requiring contractors to adhere to them or get fined, then maybe you will see a drop in price.

I hope you’re joking about that. I think the state codes do far more good than harm, and I sleep better at night knowing my residence has safety codes. Without state codes, there would be far too many lazy contractors taking dangerous shortcuts that could put people’s lives in danger.

Why don’t you tell your dentist after he is done fixing your teeth that you are not paying? Or better yet next time you go to resturant tell the waiter your not paying for the ridiculously priced or coke or there 20% tip?

Running a construction business is so expensive people have no idea. Just driving over to someone’s house is our time, the cost of gas, the cost of insurance, the cost of our expertise, the cost of license fess, continuing education fees, and advertising, and also last but not least this is how we put food on the table and pay our bills!!!

When you go to work do you tell your employer don’t pay me for this or that? Or do you just expect to get paid for your 40hrs? Well why don’t contractors deserve the same thing? Its really disrespectful if you ask me and I frankly am tired of the abuse and attitude that customers have toward contractors, its skill and a one that takes years of putting up with people’s with bad attitudes, you try this job for a while and see how long you put up with being jerked around by customers and see how much you charge.

One thing customers can’t seem to get is that its YOUR HOUSE, its not our property we are not going to pay to improve your property and why should we? Are we going to benefit from improvements to your home? When you go to sell your house are you going to call the contractor that worked on it and give him a percentage If you don’t like the codes then call your town hall and tell them to stop implementing state codes and tell them to stop requiring contractors to adhere to them or get fined, then maybe you will see a drop in price.

I find your statement rather funny as the plumber I would have to change your statement to read “Your current method of springing unusual and difficult istallation conditions at the last minute without compensation is not acceptable”