← Boiler replacement bid calculator
Owners call with a crate in the driveway: “I already bought the boiler at Ferguson. Can you just hang it for $4,500?” That sounds like free margin because the plant invoice left the bid. It did not leave the trip, the near-boiler piping, the hang hours, or the chance that the crate is a steam boiler on a hydronic house.
Open the free boiler replacement bid calculatorA tech-supplied 80 MBH gas like-for-like still carries the boiler invoice. An owner-supplied unit that actually matches zeros that line and keeps the same hang hours. On a typical two-zone gas hot-water house — $48 wage, 32% burden, 15% overhead, 20% target margin, ten miles — the tech-supplied bid is about $6,741 (walk-away $5,393). Zeroing a $2,400 plant plus the fuel add-on drops it to about $2,428 (walk-away $1,943). Taking the Facebook hang-only number while you still buy the boiler loses about $893. The same $4,500 covers the set if their unit actually matches.
| You supply | They supply, it matches | They supply, wrong unit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plant invoice in the bid | Yes | No | No |
| Hang hours | Same | Same | Same, plus a callback |
| Bid on the sample rates | $6,741 | $2,428 | $3,277 |
| At $4,500 hang-only | Loses $893 | Covers the set | Covers, after a second trip |
Supply-house shelves and online crates default to whatever was on sale. Plenty of houses are steam, sealed-combustion, or a different MBH. Setting the wrong plant means adapters, a dry-fit, or a drive back to exchange it. Price that callback on the same plant before you agree. The calculator adds a starting second trip, extra near-boiler hours, and an adapter kit on top of the rates you already typed. On the sample house that puts about $849 back on the owner-supplied bid.
Open the boiler replacement bid calculator, enter the plant you are standing in, and put their hang-only number in “price you’re considering.” The who-supplies table scores that number against you-supply, owner-supplies-it-matches, and owner-supplies-wrong-unit. Nothing is uploaded.
This is the same arithmetic as how much to charge to replace a boiler. It is not a heat-loss calculation, a fuel-gas code determination, a chimney design, or a reason to refuse a customer — it is the walk-away number on each supply path. A furnace is forced air. A water heater is a tank. This prices a hydronic or steam plant.
Only after you price the hang without the plant invoice. Setting their crate is still a trip, near-boiler piping, and crew hours. A $4,500 hang-only special often sits under the walk-away on a tech-supplied job even when the same number covers the hang if their unit actually matches.
It can, if the unit matches. Zeroing a $2,400 gas like-for-like invoice drops the bid, but loaded labor, travel, zones, and overhead stay. On a typical 80 MBH two-zone gas hot-water house the tech-supplied walk-away is still above $4,500. The owner-supplied walk-away sits under that number when the crate is the right system and size.
That is a second dispatch plus adapters or an exchange. A steam crate on a hydronic house, an atmospheric on a sealed-combustion vent, or the wrong MBH is not a free hang. Price that callback on the same plant before you agree to set whatever they rolled into the driveway.