The number a homeowner wants is a published “$1,495 well-pump special,” or a price they saw for a pump swap on a coupon site. That number is not a takeoff. A 60-foot 1/2 HP submersible with a pitless that comes apart is not the same job as a 280-foot 1.5 HP pull with a seized adapter, a stuck pump, 300 feet of well cable, a new tank, and a constant-pressure drive. The trip is the same. The hours are not.
Open the free bid calculatorWater-heater calculators price a vent, a gas upsize, and an attic. Septic-pumping calculators price a tank lid, a hose, and extra gallons. Hydro-jet calculators price a drain line and a toilet pull. Electrical-panel calculators price a feeder and a utility. A well-pump job is a well: the pump, the depth past the included footage, how the pitless comes apart, and the tank that keeps the well from short-cycling. Quoting all of that from a published special is how the first seized adapter eats the field margin.
Each extra foot past the included run is time that never appears on the coupon. A seized pitless is billed as its own hours and an adapter. A stuck pump, extra well cable, a new tank, and a constant-pressure drive are adders that get forgotten on a brochure special. On the sample rates a 280-foot 1.5 HP pull with a seized pitless, a stuck pump, 300 feet of cable, a new tank, and a VFD prices about $5,915 ($21 per foot of well depth, 13.5 crew-hours). The same shop’s 60-foot 1/2 HP pump-only swap prices about $1,176 ($20 per foot, 3.8 hours, walk-away $765). Matching the brochure job’s $1,495 special on the deep seized well is how that job becomes a loss — the walk-away on the deep job is already $3,845.
A 40-foot jet pump with a new tank and no pitless is not the 60-foot submersible special minus 100%. On the sample rates that jet job prices about $1,585 ($40 per foot, 3.8 crew-hours) — similar hours to the brochure submersible, not because the jet is slower but because the tank does not live in a published pump-only special. A 120-foot 3/4 HP submersible with a new tank and a good pitless prices about $2,110 (5.2 hours). Treating either as a blended add-on is how the special that looked fine turns into a loss after the first seized adapter.
A $42/h tech loaded at 32% payroll burden is $55.44. Margin is a share of the price you send, not a markup on cost. The walk-away price is total cost — below that the job makes nothing before you take a dollar home. Replace every rate with your invoices before you send either number.
This is not a well-drilling specification, a water-quality report, a building-code determination, a permit, an engineering stamp, or a recommended market price. It is arithmetic on the numbers you type. Well depth, horsepower, tank size, pitless condition, and whether a constant-pressure drive is required are yours to confirm.
Charge from the trip, the pull (submersible versus jet), extra drop-pipe footage past the included run, horsepower, pitless condition, stuck-pump pull, extra well cable, a new pressure tank, loaded labor, overhead, and a margin that is a share of price. A default 60-foot 1/2 HP submersible swap that keeps the tank, at the sample rates in this calculator, prices around $1,176 — about $20 per foot of well depth.
Homeowners count the trip. Extra footage, a seized pitless, a stuck pump, extra cable, a new tank, and a constant-pressure drive do not scale with that number. Matching a cheaper special written for a 60-foot 1/2 HP swap is how a 280-foot seized-pitless job becomes a half-day loss.
A pump-and-tank job is not a pump-only special. On the sample rates a 120-foot 3/4 HP submersible with a new tank and a good pitless prices around $2,110 ($18 per foot, 5.2 crew-hours), while a 60-foot 1/2 HP pump-only special prices around $1,176 ($20 per foot, 3.8 hours).