I bought a hot water heater from Home Depot and Fast Water Heater was the contract installer. Starting in 2003 water heaters needs to be fastened to the wall in case of an earthquake. I had already paid $55 for the earthquake fastening kit. Upon arrival I was told that special concrete bolts would be needed to secure the strap to the basement concrete wall. The price was $19 per bolt for a total of $76. I found this pricing extremely unreasonable. The installers admitted that the bolts could be purchased at the store for $5 a box. They also wanted to charge extra to replace the existing galvanized overflow pipe with a PVC one. While galvanized piping is outdated, it works just fine for overpressure relief. I felt that the whole transaction was full of overpriced or unnecessary add-ons.
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