It was a small company with 4 employees. 1 hour service is not something he advertises as he typically has more business than he can handle. Also it’s hard to find 1 hour service here in NM, believe me!
We gave each of the employees what we could afford at the time, a generous gift card to a newly opened, locally owned/operated, high end brew house that we’d overheard them saying they wanted to try. They said everyone that went had great things to say, but it was higher priced than what they wanted to pay. They were thrilled when they saw what we gave them.
For the hot water heater replacement we gave the owner of the business (he’s the one that did the work) a gift card for a night flight zipline trip in a part of CO that he & his wife visit often. They enjoy doing that type of thing and he was excited.
I’m even more curious, a water heater install in NM isn’t very much, how much of your own money did you spend on his tip (not it’s retail value), and why tip the owner of a plumbing company?
I’m also curious what the total water heater replacement cost is for your area.