Water heater croaked on Sunday and I panicked for a bit

Had my 15 year old water heater finally give up the ghost this past weekend. Was in the middle of laundry and suddenly lukewarm water then nothing. Called around to three plumbers in Albuquerque and got quotes from 1800 to 2600 just for a basic 40 gallon install. Ended up going with a guy who charged 1500 cash and did the job in about 4 hours. Has anyone else dealt with emergency appliance replacements here and found a reliable plumber they'd recommend?

2 comments

2 Comments

lisa9761mo ago

The 2600 quote from one of those Albuquerque plumbers made me reconsider my whole "go with the big company" mindset. I used to think paying more meant better work, but my neighbor had a similar emergency last year and paid 1800 for the same thing I got for 1500 cash. The smaller guy I found was licensed and did a clean job with a Rheem tank. I'd check Nextdoor for the local handyman types who do this work on the side, that's how I found mine.

johnthompson1mo ago

Wait, @lisa976 you got a Rheem tank installed for only $1500 cash? That's crazy low, my neighbor paid $2800 for basically the same setup through a big franchise place. I don't even want to think about how much they ripped her off.