What would you charge?

[77401]

To change out an indoor 100 amp main breaker panel.
Existing panel is 100 amp Zinsco, properly grounded. Bus bar is burned & ruined.
Existing circuits are:
two 40 amp 2 pole
two 30 amp 2 ploe
eight 20 amp single pole
five 15amp single pole
Just a simple panel change out requested by the buyer of a SF residence.
I'm going with a GE panel from HDepot

[celtic]

Recessed or surface mounted?

[77401]

Recessed or surface mounted?
unfinished garage. either will work but I'm with a recessed.

[celtic]

Recessed is more...$1000 - $1200, depending on repair detail.
Surface is less...$600 - $800

[satcom]

Celtic,

Panel only here means. upgrade the grounding, once we pull the meter, ground rods, bond water heater, and water meter $900, or more if ground rods are a hard drive, or we have to trench them, plus permit fee, time is money.

[hardworkingstiff]

Recessed is more...$1000 - $1200, depending on repair detail.
Surface is less...$600 - $800

It's an unfinished garage, what makes the recessed so much more?

[77401]

Unfinished down here does means no sheetrock, just 2x4 studs.
But the existing panel is installed between the studs.
How can I down size a picture to under 39kb to post?
Ground rod was installed last week & thats when I found the burned buss while changing out a 70amp breaker on #8 wire feeding A/C condensor.

[celtic]

Unfinished garage to me means, sheetrocked and taped - gotta maintain that fireproofing rating - no paint.
If it's between exposed studs - that might as well be surface mounted (for this thread).

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[77401]

IU only had to resize this 20 times,,,,
lets see what it looks like

[celtic]

IU only had to resize this 20 times,,,,
lets see what it looks like

You could also just use a free image hosting site like imageshack or snapfish :)

[Minuteman]

If the service is okay and does not need upgrade. I price it at $900 plus permit.

[celtic]

Guess I have to raise my prices...

[77401]

FWIW
I did do the job today @ $1000 no permit.
Materials close to $150 2 hours on the job.

Now who is going to bad mouth being in tight with the realtors?

[Minuteman]

Good job 77, sounds like I left money on the table.

[S_E_DInc.]

FWIW
I did do the job today @ $1000 no permit.
Materials close to $150 2 hours on the job.

Now who is going to bad mouth being in tight with the realtors?

Nice job @$425hr :D I would have got them for $1300


@celtic if you need to raise your prices in NJ then i'd hate to see your labor rate. Im in NJ and the company im at is at $87hr and people pay it without blinking.

[Riograndeelectric]

wow .that is a great rate. I wish I could charge that hear in Denver. I am lucky if I get $55.00 per hour.

it is a very tight market here. the price you charged is about average hear in Denver.

I did a outdoor 30 circuit panel replacement last week. service was ok just replaced an FPE panel for $900.00 new rod and water pipe ground it took me 8 hour inlcuding travel. materials were $60.00 for the permit. $200.00 materials,had to splice all branch circuits due to new arrangement of bus & neutral bar in addtion had to trace out circuits to mark panel as this was not done on 30 year old panel

to much competion in denver along with the guys that like to do work for just wages so it is hard to compete when all customers want is low ball price.

[77401]

wow .that is a great rate. I wish I could charge that hear in Denver. I am lucky if I get $55.00 per hour.

it is a very tight market here. the price you charged is about average hear in Denver.

I did a outdoor 30 circuit panel replacement last week. service was ok just replaced an FPE panel for $900.00 new rod and water pipe ground it took me 8 hour inlcuding travel. materials were $60.00 for the permit. $200.00 materials,had to splice all branch circuits due to new arrangement of bus & neutral bar in addtion had to trace out circuits to mark panel as this was not done on 30 year old panel

to much competion in denver along with the guys that like to do work for just wages so it is hard to compete when all customers want is low ball price.
I so much don't want to hear this!
I want to sell out & relocate to Boulder but the last time I was there I was amazed at how low some of the quotes I was getting.
Y'all have so much green space I guess travel time does get to ya.
BTW I can label a breaker panel in 4 minutes. No one has ever verified its correct!

[celtic]

@celtic if you need to raise your prices in NJ then i'd hate to see your labor rate. Im in NJ and the company im at is at $87hr and people pay it without blinking.
I'm @ $75/man hour.

EDIT:
What MY rate is really has no bearing on what YOUR rate is.
I may have lower overhead than you, a more efficient set-up, closer/long term customer base, etc.

[Minuteman]

I'm @ $75/man hour.

EDIT:
What MY rate is really has no bearing on what YOUR rate is.
I may have lower overhead than you, a more efficient set-up, closer/long term customer base, etc.

Do you charge $37.50 if you work an apprentice?

[77401]

What MY rate is really has no bearing on what YOUR rate is.
I may have lower overhead than you, a more efficient set-up, closer/long term customer base, etc.

Not really true. My overhead & efficiency has nothing to do with what I charge, only with what I can keep.
What I charge has to do with my area & what the other low life EC's are getting. Its all about staying competitive. I wish I could get my competition to raise their rates so I can.

I cannot hire an office staff of 10, put my Porsche on as a company car, & let my company pay for my winter home in Park City. and then pass that cost on to my customers & stay in business.
Instead what I have to do is bust my rear, by working late, & on saturdays, and stay out of the strip clubs in order to pay for my toys.

[celtic]

Do you charge $37.50 if you work an apprentice?

I don't have an "apprentice rate"...everyone is billed out as a journeyman.



What I charge has to do with my area & what the other low life EC's are getting. Its all about staying competitive. I wish I could get my competition to raise their rates so I can.

Why do you have to compete with the bottom feeders?
Raise your rates and let THEM follow YOU.

[satcom]

apprentice is billed out as a journeyman, when you add the cost of trainning, and the burden charges, how can you charge less?

The lowballers are not competition, you can't stay competive with low pricing, and run a business, that provides you, with a decent salary, and benifits, every business has pay outs, the money you pay to continue operations, they are fixed expenses, add them to your salary, which should be better then an electrican hourly rate, and then add a good profit, this is what should determine your price, not what the others charge, you say you can't, have you tried?

[tufts46argled]

Just going to say we get $70.00 an hour on most work, but on speciality lighting we get $100.00. Being in Jackson, Ms. we're outside of the hurricane work.

[Riograndeelectric]

you can stay in business and make a profit even with low wages. all you have to do is man the job up with lots of Apprentices and have 1 lead guy/foreman. that is what is going on in denver. no one pays attetion to Jman/Apprentice ratio here and some companies are using ilegal imigrants and paying cheap wages.
you would be surprised at what you saw if you walked on to a commercial job.

I know of some companies that are having 4th year cubs running work and doing TI by them selfs.
in the last couple of Months 3 companies have shut down and gone Bankrupt.

Denver is Home of Lowball cheap ass poor quality jobs.
all the GC cares about is getting the cheapest bid so they can line ther pockets with more money

[wmeek]

I was wandering what the average rate for Service Work in the Houston area is(Hourly and any minium time)

[Mr. Timothy Curtis]

I would charge 1500$ :smile: its fair to you and to the homeowner. Also will you provide a guarantee this is also worth the money. 1500$ plus a limited 5 year warranty. But thats just me talking