Plumber replaced the wrong water heater?

Question

I had a 3rd floor tenant of mine call in about his hot water not working. This is what happened. (names changed).

Day 1:
- Plumber sent out Frank, who arrived onsite and met the tenant.
- The tenant showed Frank where the hot water heater was downstairs in the basement, which Frank saw to be leaking. This water heater was labeled "3rd
floor"
- Frank replaced this water heater and left.
- This turned out later to have been the water heater for the 2nd floor - the WRONG one.

Day 2:
- Tenant realizes that he still doesn't have hot water, and calls up angry.
- Plumber is called back to the building.
- This time Steve (boss man) goes out himself.
- The new water heater is electric, so Steve starts by checking the breakers which are fine.
- He then checks the water heater itself, and finds it to be hot and working fine.
- Steve starts to realize at this point that the wrong water heater was replaced on day 1.
- Steve goes up to the apartment and leaves the hot water running in the kitchen so that he can trace it down, but does not further explore the apartment due to a pit bull (I though we don't allow those!)
- Steve goes back down to the basement and hears the water running in an old, leaking, rusty, can't-believe-it's-working water heater off to the side. This water heater was labeled "2nd floor"
- Steve asks Frank to come back later to replace the old water heater now known to be for the 3rd floor.
- Frank comes back later and replaces the correct water heater.
- Since Steve knew that other 3rd floor apartments have the water heater in the unit, he asks Frank to investigate this while he's there.
- Frank looks around and confirms that there is no water heater inside 3rd floor unit, then leaves.

I guess I'm just going to have to suck it up and pay for both water heaters. I initially wanted to blame the plumber, but after hearing from him that the tenant showed him the wrong one, which was also mislabeled, I don't see how I can. I could try to blame the tenant, but I can't charge him for it the extra one - it's 1.5 months rent ($650)

Thoughts?

Account Closed · Answer

I manage repairs for a property compound here in So Cal and just replaced a water heater.  $425 for the heater and over $200 for install.  They are my regular plumbing team for this property (10 years+), but get paid their top dollar hourly rate because they always come asap and repair asap.

If the OP's property is in San Jose, $650 sounds about right.  Not a deal, but not necessarily gouging either.

Michael D.  Never put a tenant in charge of repairs  But, if you had met the plumber at the property, would it have turned out the same?  Would you have known that the leaky mislabeled water heater was the wrong one to replace?

Dave M. · Answer

BINGO - never put a tenant in charge of repairs!

J Scott · Answer

Both the tenant and the plumber made a mistake, but it was neither of their faults.  Next time, don't leave it up to the tenant to have to deal with contractors -- that's your job (or your PM's job).

Steve Babiak · Answer

As K. Marie Poe pointed out, you probably would have pointed to the one that was labeled 3rd floor, and said fix that one.  And it sounds like that one needed to go anyway, since you say it was leaking; leaking water heaters are a flood waiting to happen.  Then you say in your last post that the two units were different - one being electric, so does that mean the other was gas?  If it's a gas hot water heater, and it's not leaking, and the pilot doesn't light - the fix is usually a $10 thermocouple replacement (that is the cost of the part, of course, labor extra).

Expansion tanks are a good thing to have on all hot water heaters IMO.

And as Ryan M. points out, having the water heaters (and all other utility interfaces for that matter) correctly labeled would help.  Since you know this was an issue, you should insist that these get labeled correctly NOW, rather than going through this again many years from now.  This is really only an issue in MFH - in a single, only one set of utilities usually.

Ryan M. · Answer

Meet contractors on-site point to the one that needs replacement or do it yourself. Labeling them correctly may be a option to?

Michael D. · Answer

Lots of good advice from everybody - thanks!

As far as putting tenants in charge of repairs, this 9-unit property is managed by a large PM and a considerable flight from where I live. Nobody really "put him in charge" per se, but the PM didn't go out in person either. I don't know if it would have turned out differently if the PM or I was there personally. I come from an operations background, so I tend to be excruciatingly careful about what goes where. Unplug the wrong cable and millions can't get to their web page...

I guess I'm going to chalk this one up to lessons learned and pay up.

It also sounds like the $650 water heater is at worst a little on the high side, so I won't worry about that too much. In fact the first (wrong) one was only $625, I guess since it was electric.

Oh well, thanks as always everyone!

J Scott · Answer

I rehab lots of houses, and I still don't expect my plumber to give me his wholesale pricing.  In fact, I'll generally buy the materials myself.  A typical 50 gallon water heater will be around $350-400, and an expansion tank will be another $40.

Labor and additional materials will generally run $100-125 for installation.

Overall, I'll pay about $500 for replacement of a H2O heater...while $650 is a bit on the high side, it's not unreasonable for a retail plumber.

Though as Mark said, YMMV...

Mark H. · Answer

I only take care of a few houses, but I expect a better deal than retail from the guys I work with.  I'm not paying $200 an hour for labor unless you're a doctor, attorney or at least wearing heels.  But, ymmv...

Jon Holdman · Answer

The plumber's charging not only for the water heater but also for the installation.  $650 doesn't seem unreasonable.  If Michael when to a supply house and was able to buy at wholesale (I've never managed to pull this off) and installed it himself (I have done this, not a difficult job), then maybe he gets the job done for $200.  When you have a plumber do it, you're going to pay retail for the heater (or more) and you're going to pay for labor.

I'd agree with the others, though.  In addition to the non-working one, a leaking one was replaced.  That beats the heck out of a call from the tenant saying there's water on the floor!

Mark H. · Answer

Frank is buying his water heaters wrong (or nailing you on the price), but a leaking water heater is a dead water heater - id be glad it's gone.

Fwiw, a 50-gallon electric heater (ao smith or bradford white) costs ~$200 -ish at the supply house in Phoenix, so he's charging you retail.

Plumber replaced the wrong water heater?

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