Why the plumber is the second most expensive person on your renovation.
Not because of their hourly rate. Because of what happens to your schedule when they can't make it on inspection day.
The plumber's hourly rate isn't what makes them expensive. On a typical South Florida kitchen remodel, plumbing labor is 6–9% of the total budget — a rounding error compared to cabinetry, finish carpentry, or the countertop stone.
What makes the plumber expensive is what happens when they can't make it on the day the inspector arrives.
The compounding cost of a "waiting on the sub" day
Here's the anatomy of a stalled kitchen. Rough-in inspection is scheduled for Wednesday. The plumber's crew is on a bigger job in Coral Springs; they promise Thursday morning. Thursday morning becomes Thursday afternoon. Inspector shows up, plumber isn't done, inspector fails the visit. Next available inspection slot is Monday.
You've just lost five days. And it wasn't five days of plumbing labor — it was five days of everything downstream. Cabinet installer was scheduled for Monday to start once rough was signed off. Cabinets are now pushed to the following Monday. Countertop templating was scheduled the Wednesday after cabinets. Templating pushes. Fabrication pushes. The stone slab that was going to install by month-end now installs the middle of the following month.
A single day of plumbing coordination failure just cost you two weeks of project timeline. Which cost you two weeks of change-order risk (the longer a project sits open, the more likely something else changes). Which cost you two weeks of "when is my kitchen going to be back?" phone calls.
Why the plumber's schedule is almost always the constraint
Licensed South Florida plumbers are chronically overbooked. Two reasons:
- Every construction project needs one. There isn't a renovation, addition, or new build that doesn't require plumbing work.
- Emergencies preempt scheduled work. A commercial building with a broken main will always jump ahead of your kitchen rough. That's not the plumber being unfair — it's triage.
When your GC subcontracts plumbing, your project sits in the plumber's queue behind every emergency and every larger job. Your GC has no operational control over when the plumber shows up; the best they can do is call and chase.
What changes when the GC holds the plumbing license
Dellamano Construction Inc. holds FL Plumbing #CFC1434398 in-house. Aldo Dellamano is the licensed qualifier. That means when we're running your kitchen job, the plumber isn't "the sub we're waiting on" — the plumber is on our crew, on our calendar, priced into our fixed bid.
The Wednesday rough-in inspection doesn't slip because the plumber can't make it. The plumber can make it because we scheduled him for that day and we scheduled everyone else's work backward from that inspection date. Same for the electrical inspection under FL EC #13015530, the mechanical inspection under FL CMC #1251666, and the roof-tie-in inspection under FL CCC #1335157.
The trades that stall renovations aren't stalling because they're inept — they're stalling because they don't work for your GC. When they do, the schedule holds.
The invisible line item on every renovation invoice
Most South Florida homeowners never see a "coordination cost" line on their contractor's invoice. It doesn't exist as a line item. But it exists as project overrun, as change-order dollars added at the end, as the six weeks of extension between "should be done" and "actually done."
The way to make that cost visible is to compare two identical projects — same square footage, same scope — where one contractor subcontracts plumbing and one contractor holds the license. The subcontracted job runs 3–5 weeks longer on average. That's the coordination cost. It's just paid in time instead of dollars.
Fixed-bid contracts with an in-house plumbing license close that gap. That's the actual product Dellamano sells.
Aldo Dellamano is the owner of Dellamano Construction Inc. and personally holds all five Florida state contractor licenses — General, Roofing, Mechanical, Plumbing, and Electrical. If you have a kitchen, bath, addition, or custom build on the calendar, reach out or call (561) 654-7243.
Other essays from the site.
The five Florida contractor licenses that actually matter for your renovation.
How to read a Florida DBPR license number, and how to spot a contractor who's renting somebody else's.
Fixed-bid vs. cost-plus: which contract structure actually protects you?
The contract you sign shapes every conversation you'll have for the next four months. Here's what to look for.
Talk to Aldo about your project.
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