Kevin C was the service technician - very professional, courteous and cleaned-up after him. He did a neat job. My only complain is that I wanted the top of the stand (made of plywood) where the old water heater sat removed because of water damage, instead the new piece of wood was put on top of the old rotting plywood. When I next checked his progress, the water heater was already set upon it - too late to correct. The chance of changing it will be after the service life of the new heater. His reasoning was, "it will provide support". My suggestion is: to let the customer inspect first before setting-up the new appliance.
As to the cost - I was not prepared to pay 3.4x the price of the water heater, delivered, brought to current specs and installed. We have a truck to pick-up the appliance from Home Depot but was discouraged for two reasons: that I will only save $25 and that I will not be able to avail of the 10% discount on the water heater.
more