Brewing Plumbing Quote

[FoxNHareBC]

Got a quote from a plumber that is roughing in all of our waste/water/gas lines in our brewpub and had him give me a quote on the following scope of work:

We hereby propose to furnish material and perform the labor necessary to install supplied brewing equipment.

This proposal includes the Installation of all steam system components, piping, condensate return piping, steam

traps, solenoid valves, system controller, insulation, and wrapping, all chiller system components including all piping,

insulation, wrapping, hanging materials, balancing valves, propylene glycol mixture, and system setup and check. All

air compressor system piping and components excluding compressor are also included in this proposal price.

The system is a pre-plumbed (just a header and return necessary) 7 BBL Steam System. We have four 7 BBL Conicals and two 7 BBL Brites as well as the plate chiller that need glycol connections. This also includes steam connections to a separate large Hot Liquor Tank that is being added to the existing two-vessel system and a two-head keg washer/filler.

His total price for this scope of work is $15,830. Half upfront, half after.

I should note that I had a previous quote from another plumber months ago that told me a round number of $27,000 before I had my brewhouse pre-plumbed by the manufacturer.

I guess my question is whether or not this an outrageous quote.

All advice welcome.

[BrewerJake]

Got a quote from a plumber that is roughing in all of our waste/water/gas lines in our brewpub and had him give me a quote on the following scope of work:

We hereby propose to furnish material and perform the labor necessary to install supplied brewing equipment.

This proposal includes the Installation of all steam system components, piping, condensate return piping, steam

traps, solenoid valves, system controller, insulation, and wrapping, all chiller system components including all piping,

insulation, wrapping, hanging materials, balancing valves, propylene glycol mixture, and system setup and check. All

air compressor system piping and components excluding compressor are also included in this proposal price.

The system is a pre-plumbed (just a header and return necessary) 7 BBL Steam System. We have four 7 BBL Conicals and two 7 BBL Brites as well as the plate chiller that need glycol connections. This also includes steam connections to a separate large Hot Liquor Tank that is being added to the existing two-vessel system and a two-head keg washer/filler.

His total price for this scope of work is $15,830. Half upfront, half after.

I should note that I had a previous quote from another plumber months ago that told me a round number of $27,000 before I had my brewhouse pre-plumbed by the manufacturer.

I guess my question is whether or not this an outrageous quote.

All advice welcome.

Seems like an amazing deal to me. Our steam line installation was $22,000 and they didn't even insulate it. Total we paid them about three times what your quote was and we did the glycol, air, and co2 ourselves.

I think they either don't understand the scope of the work, a lot of your piping is already in place, or plumbing is much much cheaper where you live than here.

[FoxNHareBC]

Seems like an amazing deal to me. Our steam line installation was $22,000 and they didn't even insulate it. Total we paid them about three times what your quote was and we did the glycol, air, and co2 ourselves.

I think they either don't understand the scope of the work, a lot of your piping is already in place, or plumbing is much much cheaper where you live than here.

Thank you very much for the response.

I seemed wary of the price as well, but he has done quite a bit of homework on all our schematics and manuals and is an extremely competent plumber as far as I have seen.

He also told me that our project would be a really great thing to have in his portfolio and thus he is willing to work with us on labor costs.

I would appreciate advice from anyone else who might have had a contractor do something similar for them? Is that common?

[jimvgjr]

I'd suggest contacting Mark at MSP Refrigeration and requesting a bid. He knows breweries, has installed more than 100 of our chiller systems over the years.

Mark Pallito
MSP Industrial Refrigeration
973 393 7933
MSPAL1@att.net

Hope this helps and good luck getting your brewery up and operating.

Best Regards,

Jim

Jim VanderGiessen
Pro Chiller Systems
jimvgjr@prorefrigeration.com