How many of you provide this service, through a plumber and what do you charge. Including re-winterizing.
I have a licensed plumber who will do it for me but he is not sure what to charge. for discussion purposes lets say it’s a 2000 square foot home with 2 baths.
I don’t do it; seen too many nightmarish things happen once water is reintroduced to homes that have been vacant or winterized. Numerous leaks in supply and DWV lines (dried seals, gaskets that shrink once dry then come apart when wet again). What I have found over the years is often when a house is vacated if there were plumbing issues, these do not get fixed as the simplest and cheapest method is to say it has been winterized when all that has been done is the water turned off by the Water company, meter is closed and locked, tagged or banded with warnings NOT to use any of the appliances, plumbing and electrical. Basically, the home is NOT ready for inspection. Some agents get their panties in a wad if you won’t turn on the water, throw circuit breakers but if and when something goes awry they will immediately throw YOU under the bus. Get the home ready for inspection, all utilities ON and we will come back. If the buyer insists on doing it that day w/o utilities I defer any responsibility for things not working later (if I can’t inspect it I sure as heck am not going to pay for any faults) and I do a visual inspection only and make certain they know that and it is in the report multiple times (at every fixture and noted in the foot notes of my summary. I recently did a home that had been “winterized” which consisted of turning off all the water and filling all the traps with automobile windshield washer liquid (non biodegradable type).
Thanks Doug,
But I was looking for someone who does this not all the reasons why you shouldn’t.
I have a licensed plumber who is going to work directly for my client, I am out of the loop completely. My client doesn’t know anyone in the area and the bank says if you want it inspected you de-winterize it and re-winterize it after the inspection in case the deal falls through.
Since this is an $800.00 inspection for me and I have the licensed plumber who will do everything I thought I would help my client. I see no liability concerns for me.
Now for those who do this, is $200.00 about right??
“Never mind”
Rose Ann Rosanadana
in my area winterization runs $200-$300. De-wint run about $150-$250. In winter don’t forget that once de-wint it must be re-wint after the inspection. Usually both done for $50 less because they are already there.
I used to do them but quit becuase of liability. But that wasn’t your question, so I wanted to answer the question.
Thanks Greg, I appreciate your reply.
I thought I was in the ballpark and my plumber is doing it for $200.