Apartment Service Change

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noeernlat

Member
Location
Washington State
I was asked to bid a service change out in some apartments. There is (1) 600 Amp service to (8) meters, (1) 400Amp service to (11) meters, and (1) more 400A service to (10) Meters. How would you guys recommend charging for the labor part of this?
 
S

satcom

Senior Member
noeernlat said:
I was asked to bid a service change out in some apartments. There is (1) 600 Amp service to (8) meters, (1) 400Amp service to (11) meters, and (1) more 400A service to (10) Meters. How would you guys recommend charging for the labor part of this?
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What do you mean the labor part of it, are you day labor help, or an electrical contractor?
 
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220/221

Senior Member
Location
AZ
How would you guys recommend charging for the labor part of this?
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Is this a trick question?

I would calculate how long it would take and multiply it by my hourly rate.

If you are asking how long it would take, 1) there is not enough information posted and 2) I don't even like to do my own quotes ;)
 
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noeernlat

Member
Location
Washington State
220/221 said:
Is this a trick question?

I would calculate how long it would take and multiply it by my hourly rate.

If you are asking how long it would take, 1) there is not enough information posted and 2) I don't even like to do my own quotes ;)
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I estimated it @ 45 hours and came up with 2340.68. I apologize I think what I should be asking is what is a reasonable profit to add to the total before tax of $24k??
 
S

satcom

Senior Member
noeernlat said:
I estimated it @ 45 hours and came up with 2340.68. I apologize I think what I should be asking is what is a reasonable profit to add to the total before tax of $24k??
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So you would be charging $49 labor, what are your charging for your overhead and operating expenses and then you can add some profit to that,
 
J

John120/240

Senior Member
Location
Olathe, Kansas
Mulitply your material cost by your markup factor (1.5) or whatever you deem

rerasonable, plus your hourly rate, plus overhead: insurance, permits, workers

comp, tools, etc, etc. Add profit to the mix. PIA factor. ADD it all up & charge

what you need to stay in business. $49 per hour sounds low.
 
2

220/221

Senior Member
Location
AZ
noeernlat said:
That's included in the 24k. I just want to make a fair profit. I don't want to short change myself.
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In MY opinion, you may be short on hours and way low on $ per hour.

If it's underground fed and using existing feeders to the units, your 45 hours may be enough but the value of work like this should be far more than 50 bucks an hour.

I'm getting at least $1K labor on a simple 200A resi change out.

And......, 24K is 24,000. THAT would be good money ;)
 
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noeernlat

Member
Location
Washington State
220/221 said:
In MY opinion, you may be short on hours and way low on $ per hour.

If it's underground fed and using existing feeders to the units, your 45 hours may be enough but the value of work like this should be far more than 50 bucks an hour.

I'm getting at least $1K labor on a simple 200A resi change out.

And......, 24K is 24,000. THAT would be good money ;)
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It is underground and I will be using existing feeders. The 50/hr includes hourly rate and burden for a journeyman and apprentice and like you mentioned the value for this work is high, I just need a recommendation on profit % to add to the 24k break even price.
 
GUNNING

GUNNING

Senior Member
Location
Gainesville, Florida
I think what is being said is your numbers are low.
I agree.
18% interest on $24k a month is $360.
You are charging less to install then what your credit card company is going to charge you in a year on your parts. If they feel that risk is worth 4320 in a year, why don't you?
You should be making minimum profit of 4300 just to break even. If you want to be out of business in a year that is. You have overhead which is code for mark up your invoice to cover your overhead and profit margin. Call it an administration fee or licensing fee or supervision fee or ....
 
renosteinke

renosteinke

Senior Member
Location
NE Arkansas
Time for a reality check ...

Sure, times are tough .... Reno has lost several of its' largest, well-established, best EC's in the past few years. There's no reason to slit your own throat. Better to sit idle that to dig yourself into a hole. Let some other sucker subsidize the CUSStomer.

Folks have got to realize that there's no free ride, that things cost what they cost. Until that happens, let them stew in their own juices.

So what's one to do? Find another way to make money. Withold your services - until you can make money providing them. When things turn around - and they will- remember who took advantage of these times and tried to 'squeeze.' Then return the favor. Better yet, reserve your services for those who remained reasonable thought it all.
 
I

ike5547

Senior Member
Location
Chico, CA
Occupation
Electrician
noeernlat said:
I estimated it @ 45 hours and came up with 2340.68. I apologize I think what I should be asking is what is a reasonable profit to add to the total before tax of $24k??
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A 29 meter service upgrade in 45 man hours? Good luck with that. I couldn't do it that quickly.
 
P

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
noeernlat said:
I was asked to bid a service change out in some apartments. There is (1) 600 Amp service to (8) meters, (1) 400Amp service to (11) meters, and (1) more 400A service to (10) Meters. How would you guys recommend charging for the labor part of this?
Click to expand...

My suggestion is to figure out what it will actually cost you to do the work and add some profit to it to make it worthwhile to actually do the work.

No doubt others will tell you to charge more no matter what you come up with, and that it is better to do no work than to work cheap. IMO unless you have a large savings account you are willing to use up waiting for things to turn around, working cheap is probably something most ECs are going to have to do just to survive until things turn around.

I do not see things getting better real soon in a lot of markets. A fair number of large contractors of all flavors everywhere have gone belly up leaving a lot of unemployed guys looking to scrounge up whatever work they can find. Until those guys give up and find employment elsewhere, or the economy picks up enough to absorb them, there will be a LOT of competition in all the contracting fields.

I did see an article in the paper the other day indicating that in a neighboring county all the spec built industrial property has been used up. But money to build on spec is all but non-existent so the contractors that can put up a building very fast are the ones in demand. Plenty of old properties available but very little interest from potential users.

I was talking to a PM with a large contractor a few months ago. He told me they are operating on a profit margin of less then 90 cents an hour for labor. He claimed some are operating with 30 cent an hour profit margins.
 
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George Stolz

George Stolz

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
Occupation
Service Manager
Okay, but what is the third guy doing? :)

I would bid two guys, and plan on having the second guy doing something close by that day, just in case I needed him. :cool:
 
S

Strife

Senior Member
45 hrs is not even CLOSE, if i read you right.
Just look at the terminations, you're looking at 20? 3/0+? and 100 some #1? Just the terminations will take you over a day. And no matter how hopefull you are, those conduits will NEVER line up from the old service to the new service. The new meters/discos/breakers are bigger. Lotsa pipe to cut.

noeernlat said:
I estimated it @ 45 hours and came up with 2340.68. I apologize I think what I should be asking is what is a reasonable profit to add to the total before tax of $24k??
Click to expand...
 
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