Re yesterday’s House of the Exploding Boiler, someone has sent in the story of the recent replacement of their electric hot water tank, which was also leaking rust, being a vertical unit installed horizontally. Apparently they submitted a quote for €380 inc IVA from a local electrician to the estate agent who acts on behalf of the owner, and were mildly surprised when the agent said she’d found someone with a cheaper fixed price. This comedy of errors followed:
| item | # plumbers | # hours | plumber-hours |
| boss comes to inspect old fitting | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| two poppy-lovers (appearances!) bring new boiler for fitting, only to discover that it doesn’t fit in cabinet | 2 | 0.5 | 1 |
| return and fit smaller boiler | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| return to turn back on cold water supply to the boiler | 2 | 0.5 | 1 |
| total hours | 6.5 |
My friend asks, none of this seemed to alarm them or their boss, so at 6.5 * €40 = €260 with the boiler on top how on earth do they quote cheaper than €380 and survive?
If their quote was < €380, then I guess they belong to Spain’s not actually so terribly unemployed and received €40pp cash in hand. Another not incompatible possibility is that the quote may have been substantially more than €380, but that unlike the decent local electrician these guys observe normal industry practice and pay kickbacks to estate administrators, and the hell with the owner.
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The “return and fit smaller boiler” scheme, aka “forgot a tool” or “forgot a cable/tube/screw”, is widespread and usually costs you 1-2 more man-hours. The “apprentice earns the same” trick costs you another 1 or 2 man-hours. Your victims were within the commonly accepted average of “getting fucked a bit but not too much, so we can do it to you again another time”; which I think has neared perfection so much that it could be regarded as a form of art.
I do well reckon that both the scheme and the trick are international. Got to celebrate that, too.
I think installations are always fixed price, so the plumbers were screwing themselves or possibly their boss.
On a brighter note, Mohergas installed a new gas boiler for me yesterday in Barcelona for about 400€ less than the nearest competing quote and the whole process was absolutely flawless, although I believe the plumbers did pop back after I’d left to pick up something they may or may not have forgotten from the rather attractive girls in residence.
Fixed price at your end of the world? You’re smarter than me.