Gutting a business for pipes...how much to charge?

Bert:

It's getting a bit OT but lead in the drinking water isn't the issue you're making it out to be. I've got 30 years in the trades. Five years spent training under a Master plumber/oil burner tech. Two years spent in the plumbing/heating trade. Another two years spent working independently as a level 2, licensed,municipal water supply operator.

First off: We switched over to lead free solder back in the 80's. There's no lead in the alloy.

Secondly: Public water supplies are constantly tested for the presence of copper & lead in the drinking water. It's an important issue. What we do is adjust the chemistry of the water at the pumping station so that it's not reactive. It's fine as long as the PH of the water falls within a certain range. It won't react with the lead or copper even if it is present.



A bit more on topic: Beware the owner that is acting as his/her own contractor. Putting it bluntly .... you've got an idiot running the job. There's a certain order of operations that you have to follow on order for the job to run smoothly. There are also a lot of safety hazards that you run into along the way. Their inexperience will make the work much more difficult. It can even get you or some of the other people working there hurt.

I usually work straight time & material on the owner/contractor jobs because there's no way of predicting what kind of mess they will get you into. They may demand that the work be done in a way that doubles the amount of labor involved. It's a hassle, but at least you're getting paid for your time. If they make poor decisions it's coming out of their pocket and not yours.