How long should it take employees to install tankless

chonkie said:

Hehe, my sleep pattern has been jacked up ever since hunting season. Either that or it's just me getting old. I'll get home and "accidentally" pass out at like 8 or 9 and then wake up around 3 or 4 with everything on, dog needing to go to the bathroom. It's a good thing Married with Children is on tv this early, cause nothing else is.

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There's been days I get home just in time to tuck my kid into bed, eat some leftovers, start watching a show with Mrs. OpenSights, next thing I know I'm waking up at 3-4am freezing cold in my recliner. I think she does it on purpose. She says I snore... but I tell you what, if she goes to sleep first it's like trying to fall asleep watching ax men with the volume cranked up! We should have a stock pile of wood to last ten years from her sawing wood!

As far as tankless, honestly I repaid some and only installed one. They aren't very popular around here, at least in my experience. But if a rough is bad, finish can take ten times longer than it should just to have a good end product. This I've learned big time lately after coming in for a finish where someone else did the rough.... $4k above original bid.

I figure I'll chip in.

I'm a super senior 4th year and have installed 6 tankless units and repaired countless. (I'm service side so it's a rare deal to get put on a new install) I'm fully certified in install and repair on Rinnai and know the insides and out. Even with this it takes me on average 5 - 6 hours to install one with no circ to correct standards by myself. Now this is collecting material too, but I don't think it's too much more time because even if given all the material, more then likely he'll still need to pick up something. If you haven't done one yourself I seriously doubt you have all the materials needed in your material list. Hell, I do material lists all the time and slap myself in the face when something doesn't work the way I had planned and I'm rolling back to the supply house for the second time. Not saying I'm the best plumber by any means, but I do hold my own fairly well and tankless just takes time.

I will add even with a new construction and doing it solo, a tank takes at least 3 hours to install if also running a vent, doing a drain pan, and an expansion tank.

It takes my leadman (30 years exp) 4-6 hours to install one if he has to run the inlet/exhaust vent out in pvc, that is with the flashings ran on topout phase, with pipe usually stubbing out. Then it takes him another hour to figure out how to set up the recirc system on the display pad. I personally think that he camps on them to avoid having to do anything else. I would think 3-4 hours max if the topout crew didn't do terrible work, and that is with clean/professional work. In an 8 hour day if all that you can accomplish is a tankless water heater, and set 3 stools (not including caulking them) then I think that its time that you retire. Just sayn....

P.S - It is also important to note that each phase has to be a professional job, or the next phase is going to suck. If I worked @ a company that did terrible work then I would probably last 2-3 days tops...