Received a quote for a whole house RO water system plus the necessary pre and post filtration equipment.

I went through and priced everything except the manual/installation fee, and everything seems to be marked up 25-50%.

How likely do you think vendor will be to negotiation?

All subcontractors mark up material. 25-50% seems a little steep in my opinion, but I wouldn't come in guns blazing trying to negotiate the mark-up down based on googling. Either you want the subcontractor to do the work for the price he quoted or you don't. Simple as that IMO.

Shallowminded14 said:

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All subcontractors mark up material. 25-50% seems a little steep in my opinion, but I wouldn't come in guns blazing trying to negotiate the mark-up down based on googling. Either you want the subcontractor to do the work for the price he quoted or you don't. Simple as that IMO.

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Understood. An example would be the primary piece of equipment was quoted at $7000. The manufacture of that exact piece of equipment quoted me $3995 to order and deliver.

I would ask him if he is okay with you purchasing the equipment directly. I would expect to hear something along the lines of him not warrantying the equipment if you choose to buy it yourself.

As a general contractor I have a hard time when people question mark-ups on equipment/material. There are costs to go pick the stuff up, freight, warranty among others that are blended into that mark-up.

That said, I agree that 3K mark up on a 4K piece of equipment is egregious.

I recently ordered a high volume (4000 GPD) RO system from US Water Systems. They were about 1/2 the price of a local (Austin area) company and were much more thorough in water testing (well water). I don't have the system yet, so can't say if I'm satisfied, but so far they've been good to deal with.

They have a water sample kit that they charge $100 for. They mail you a bottle with instructions and include return postage. Once they have your water sample, they will reach out and talk about your volume needs and put together a proposal. If you order from them, you get a $100 credit for the water sample/testing. I shopped the equipment they quoted me, and couldn't find it any cheaper.

They're not local to Texas, so they're not going to be much help on service, but I think I'm handy enough to order and swap parts.

I looked at their system as a comp, and agree they seem solid. Considering as a fall back.

That is one thing about the 2 vendors I contacted in our area was that neither actually tested our water.

I get that if you've installed 5-20 systems in the same neighborhood on the same water provider you likely know exactly what you are dealing with without testing, but it would have made me feel better about situation considering the size of the investment.

Shallowminded14 said:

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I would ask him if he is okay with you purchasing the equipment directly. I would expect to hear something along the lines of him not warrantying the equipment if you choose to buy it yourself.

As a general contractor I have a hard time when people question mark-ups on equipment/material. There are costs to go pick the stuff up, freight, warranty among others that are blended into that mark-up.

That said, I agree that 3K mark up on a 4K piece of equipment is egregious.

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too many places mark up parts/equipment to cover labor costs

don't mark up the equipment that much. It's lazy. figure out your actual labor and overhead costs and charge appropriately.

ex: my builder quoted me labor for all of my fixture installs. he told me "you buy the fixtures, we will install them. That way you get exactly what you want and there are no surprises."

A 500 light fixture, generally speaking, does not cost any more in labor to hang than a 150 fixture.

What is the benefit of whole home RO vs other filtration/softening methods for non-drinking water? Seems like a very high up-front and operating cost.

Live in an area with lots of sodium in water.

Only real way to remove sodium (salt) in an efficient manner is RO.