Print this and use it on every quote you get, including ours. The answers separate a fair quote from a bad one faster than any review can.
Most water treatment buying advice tells you to read reviews. Reviews tell you whether people liked the technician. They do not tell you whether you overpaid, or whether the system does what you were told it would.
These twelve questions do. Ask every company the same ones, including us. Where our own answer is relevant, it is here in plain sight.
Before anyone visits
1. What is my hardness, and where did that number come from?
Any company should be able to tell you what your water district publishes before they set foot in your house. The right answer names the utility and the report.
Watch for confident numbers with no source. Front Range filtration sites publish Denver hardness figures that contradict each other, and Denver Water itself publishes no number at all, only a classification of “soft to moderately hard.” If someone quotes you a precise Denver figure, ask where it came from.
Our answer: we look up your district’s published figure first, then measure at your tap by titration. Hardness by city, with every utility’s own source.
2. Will you put the quote in writing, itemised?
Not “what’s the total” — will they break it into equipment, labour, permit and anything ongoing, on paper, before you decide?
An itemised quote is hard to move around later. A single number is easy to move around, which is exactly why some companies only ever give you one.
Our answer: itemised in writing, and it includes the licensed plumber install and both tests. We quote after we have measured, because your hardness and flow rate decide the size.
3. What happens if the test shows I don’t need anything?
Listen carefully to this answer. It is the fastest way to find out whether you are talking to a water company or a sales operation.
Our answer: we tell you, and you keep the report. We do not sell softeners on Boulder, Longmont or Fort Collins city water, because those cities publish soft water. Longmont’s own report says a water softener is not recommended there.
About the test
4. What instruments do you use?
Good answers name them: a titration kit or digital titrator for hardness, a DPD photometer for total chlorine, a calibrated meter for TDS, and a certified laboratory for anything health-related.
Be wary of a demonstration rather than a measurement. Precipitation demos, soap-shaking comparisons and color-change drops are theatre, not data. In June 2025 Colorado Springs Utilities publicly warned residents that “Annual Water Test Notice” mailers were “likely a deceptive tactic by companies trying to sell expensive, unnecessary water filtration systems.”
5. Will I get the readings in writing, with the date and method?
If the numbers are real, writing them down costs nothing.
6. What goes to a certified lab, and what is measured at my tap?
Hardness, chlorine and TDS can be measured properly at your kitchen sink. Lead, PFAS, bacteria, nitrate, arsenic and uranium cannot. Those need a certified lab and correct sampling technique, and the report should come back in the lab’s name.
About the system
7. Show me the sizing arithmetic.
Grains of hardness removed per day equals people, times gallons per person per day, times hardness in grains per gallon. That number, against the system’s rated capacity and its service flow rate, decides the size.
A company sizing properly can show this in thirty seconds. A company selling tiers will change the subject.
8. Is the equipment serviceable by anyone, or only by you?
Ask whether the control valve, resin and seals are standard open-platform parts, or proprietary to that dealer. This is not an abstract question. It decides what happens in year eight when you need a rebuild kit and the dealer has changed hands.
Our answer: open-platform metered valves. Any competent plumber can source parts and service them.
9. What is the order of installation, and why?
On city water with both hardness and a chlorine taste, the correct order is sediment, then catalytic carbon, then softener, then RO at the kitchen. Carbon goes before the softener because chloramine shortens resin life.
On a well, UV goes last, because ultraviolet needs clear water to work. Anyone who puts UV first is giving you a system that fails quietly. See the full chain.
10. What does it cost to run?
Salt for a softener. Cartridges and a membrane for RO. Media replacement for carbon, eventually. Ask for the cartridge part numbers and prices before you buy — a cheap system with expensive proprietary cartridges is not a cheap system.
About the promise
11. What exactly is guaranteed: the equipment, or the result?
This is the question almost nobody asks, and it is the most important one on the page.
Most guarantees in this industry are equipment warranties. They promise the tank will not fail for X years. That is worth having, and it is not the same as promising your water will change.
A performance guarantee names a number your water has to hit, measured the same way before and after. Ask which one you are being offered, and ask for it in writing.
Our answer: both numbers go in writing before we install.
| System | The number we have to hit |
|---|---|
| Water softener | Hardness under 1 grain per gallon at a softened cold tap |
| Whole-home carbon | Total chlorine under 0.1 ppm at the kitchen tap and a shower |
| Reverse osmosis | 85% or more TDS reduction versus your tap |
| Well water | Targets set by your certified lab result |
Miss it and you get your money back.
12. Who actually does the install, and are they licensed?
Ask whether the installer is an employee, a subcontractor, or the salesperson. Ask whether a permit is required in your city and who pulls it.
One thing worth knowing about “free”
A free in-home water test is a sales appointment. That is not a scandal; it is the industry’s standard way of getting in the door, and plenty of good companies do it.
But it shapes the incentive. If the visit is free, the visit has to be paid for by what you buy, which is why so many of them end with a presentation. We charge for certified lab work and credit it toward an install, so the test has a job of its own: to find out whether you need anything at all.
Sources
- Colorado Springs Utilities warning on 'Annual Water Test Notice' mailers, June 2025 (news coverage) — utility quoted describing the mailers as a deceptive tactic by filtration sellers
- City of Longmont drinking water report — 'Longmont's water is soft… A water softener is not recommended.'
- Denver Water: water hardness — classification only; no numeric hardness published
- Hardness and disinfectant by Front Range city — each figure quoted from the utility that publishes it
Common questions
What is a fair price for a water softener in Denver?
Installed softener prices in this market generally run from about $2,000 for a properly sized metered system up to several times that for premium and packaged systems. The number matters less than what it includes: equipment, the plumber, the permit if one is needed, and whether any measured result is promised. Ask every company to break the quote into those four parts.
Should I get more than one quote?
Yes, and ask all of them the same twelve questions. The differences show up in the answers, not the brochures. If one company will not put a number or a price in writing, that is your answer.
Is a free in-home water test worth taking?
It can be useful, but understand what it is. A free test is a sales appointment, and the person running it is usually paid on what you buy. Ask what instruments they use, ask for the readings in writing, and ask what happens if the test shows nothing needs fixing.
How do I know a company sized the system correctly?
Ask them to show the arithmetic: your hardness in grains per gallon, times household size and water use, equals grains removed per day, against the system's rated capacity and service flow rate. If they cannot show it, they are picking from a price tier rather than sizing for your house.