Why are Water Softeners so Expensive?

            With the price of things today,  this is a very good question. One must think about all the dynamics that goes into owning a business. We will discuss the overhead it takes to run a water softener business, market share, what the market will bear, and the price the dealer gets them for. These are things that any business owner must consider before starting their business. Knowing these things of many will help the business owner in deciding whether or not they should really open a new business.

            Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a 10 percent share in that market. This part involves the competition; how do they sell their product, how much do they sell it for and how many water softeners are sold.  The answers to these questions will have another determining factor as to whether or not the business owner will open their business, and how much should they charge for the product.

            Whatever the Market will bear; If you took Economics throughout your educational years, you learned that the selling price of goods and services are determined by “what the market will bear.” Consumers and the market decide what a product is worth and will give so much money, but no more for that product. In other words; charge the customer as much as they are willing to pay. In some places like Florida, water softeners ranged around 6-8 hundred dollars. Whereas, in Texas they can go from $800.00 dollars to over $7,000.00 and the people are willing to pay these amounts because of the destructive results one gets from hard water.

             Overhead is one of the greatest things to consider when you want to open a water softener business. There are things to consider like; what kind of vehicle will be used, the gas, insurance and maintenance. Other things like tools, supplies, training and licensing are among others that will cost money upfront. One of the next and bigger things to think about is the profit margin. If I buy a water softener for X amount of dollars and sell it for Y amount of dollars and after subtracting parts of the overhead, what will my profit margin be? After finding the profit margin, the business owner must decide if they can live off that income. As can be seen, there are a lot of moving parts to consider when it comes to having a water softener business. The aforementioned examples are reasons why water softeners are expensive.

            Dealer Pricing; dealers get their equipment for far less than what they sell it for, the profit margins start at about 300% markup. How to calculate markup  Now that appears to be an awful lot of money coming in; however, one must consider that most water softener companies don't sell a water softener everyday. If they did, the prices would be much lower because they could sell more for less. It is almost impossible to beat water softener prices on Amazon unless the business buys in bulk and or does a lot of business with the wholesaler. This gives them an advantage by having buying power.

Click this link to see a review of water softeners; https://youtu.be/QBn3Y2ykhHM

 

Fleck 5800 Review

Fleck 5800 Review

As time progresses the water softener industry is always trying to make a better water softener and invent ways to better transform water full of constituents to clean healthy water that is tasty and not full of contaminants that make water unpalatable and not suitable for drinking.  Through the years I have seen many variations of water softeners both new and old and have found that they for the most part all work the same.  However, some companies keep trying to make a water southerner with more features than what is really necessary though it may be helpful for the maintenance tech but not necessarily for the consumer which is why I'm here to help support and give objective opinion not only in blogging but in my youtube videos-low cost water softeners.  There you can find helpful videos for the consumer that answer most questions and if not then you can ask the questions you need answered and I will get back with you.

The Next Generation Water Softener 

Over time Fleck has made some very good water softeners and the ones they have made are still on the market and functioning still today.  I suppose that every now and then a company may hire a young vivacious individual who is wanting to show what they know and try to make what is already great even better.  Now Fleck has to very popular valves, the 5600 and the 2510 for the consumer.  These are my most favorite valves when it comes to longevity and durable.  The only thing that needs replacing after many years is the piston seals and spacers.  Aside from those particular parts there is absolutely nothing else that really needs to be changed to include the motor.  On occasion one may have to replace the motor but more often than not it is the piston seals and spacers that need replaced. Around 2010 Fleck came out with the 5700 series valve which was seemingly built to be the competitor with the Clack valve.  It wasn't very long after its arrival that it soon left.  From my understanding there were too many flaws and it didn't live up to its name which I find interesting because I know these engineers spend a lot of time trying to perfect these valves and I would have thought that it would have made a big hit but it soon fizzled out and then Fleck came up with its next big idea.

Flecks Next Big Idea

Fleck has now recently come out with the 5800 valve in which I from a technicians point of view is a superb model.  It has many functions that a technician needs sometimes in order to troubleshoot the water softener when other valves won't allow you to do so and when that occurs you must rely on total experience in order to troubleshoot the valve and fix the problem.  From a DIY point of view it has way to many moving parts and is too difficult to work on for your average person in my opinion and that is why I always stick with the Fleck 5600 for the DIY type of person.  Below you can watch the video on the Fleck 5800 and decide for yourself, I hope it makes the cut for the sake of Pentair and their Fleck products.