"what if I supply the material"

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electricalperson

Senior Member
Location
massachusetts
480sparky said:
Mine either. Maybe we should petition HD to shut down all their stores. :wink:
i wouldnt want a customer buying supplies for a job i do for them at lowes or home depot anyway. they sell some pretty weird named meter sockets for example i never even heard of it before.

a few weeks ago when college started for the kids around here i was at lowes and seen a group of college kids buying a QO 100 amp panel, circuit breakers and 10/3 romex. i was a little worried they are getting in over there head but what can i do its there right to burn the house down if they want to save a couple hundred bucks :)
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
electricalperson said:
i wouldnt want a customer buying supplies for a job i do for them at lowes or home depot anyway. they sell some pretty weird named meter sockets for example i never even heard of it before.
I've never seen a meter-base of any kind at a box store. You can buy them at suppliers, but the POCO here supplies them at no charge, even mult-meter assemblies.

Because of that, I have never used meter/main or meter/panel combo units, unless you count the meter stacks we've put in a couple of commercial buildings.

a few weeks ago when college started for the kids around here i was at lowes and seen a group of college kids buying a QO 100 amp panel, circuit breakers and 10/3 romex. i was a little worried they are getting in over there head but what can i do its there right to burn the house down if they want to save a couple hundred bucks :)
I have a theory, but I won't mention it here.
 

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
LarryFine said:
I've never seen a meter-base of any kind at a box store. You can buy them at suppliers, but the POCO here supplies them at no charge, even mult-meter assemblies.

You need to look harder. :)

All the Lowes and HD's around here carry meter sockets...and they even carry the ones approved by the local utilities...imagine that. And a quick check online of HD's contractor website reveals they carry metering products in other parts of the country as well.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
I can't imagine they waste shelf space trying to sell meters in an area that the local power company gives them away. :smile:
 

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
iwire said:
I can't imagine they waste shelf space trying to sell meters in an area that the local power company gives them away. :smile:

Good point. To my knowledge in New England the only Poco that provides the meter socket is Public Service of New Hampshire.
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
iwire said:
I can't imagine they waste shelf space trying to sell meters in an area that the local power company gives them away. :smile:

But they do, many times it's cheaper to buy a meter socket than make the drive to pick one up from the utilities. Then there is the week end and after hours jobs.

100 amp meter socket is only 25-$30 dollars so no reason to waste much time for a free one. 200 amp isn't much more. Trying to get a POCO provided meter socket can cost an extra hour plus gas.
 

SEO

Senior Member
Location
Michigan
Had an interesting thing happen when a customer supplied their own material. They were a new electrical supply house opening in town (won't mention names because they are national).They were moving into a vacant warehouse and we were installing lighting and wiring offices. I would tell them what material they needed and it would be delivered from one of their other branches. Everything was going fine until one day we needed some unistrut and they were unable to get it in time to keep the job on time. We ended up getting it from a competitor across town. It would have been fun marking up material to a supply house. I thought about it but didn't and sold it at cost. I was more than compensated for by not marking it up. I used them a supply house and my prices and delivery were always great. And the fun we had rubbing them about not being able to supply material for their own warehouse.:smile:
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
growler said:
But they do, many times it's cheaper to buy a meter socket than make the drive to pick one up from the utilities. Then there is the week end and after hours jobs.

100 amp meter socket is only 25-$30 dollars so no reason to waste much time for a free one. 200 amp isn't much more. Trying to get a POCO provided meter socket can cost an extra hour plus gas.
Who would drive there and only pick up one? I always have at least one extra of each a 100a and a 200a base on hand.

Besides, there is a POCO warehouse within about 10 minutes of my home-office. It's just another big-box store to me. :smile:
 

tonyou812

Senior Member
Location
North New Jersey
Ive had customers tell me the same thing, and my reply is simple and to the point." Mark ups are just part of doing buisness." Markups pay for other things. Like having the guys (Or if its just you) organize the shop, put things away, and in some cases pick up material, tool depreciation. To me when someone tells me that they want to purchase the material thats like saying im going to a restaurant but im bringing my own food there so I can pay less. unless you really need the work I wouldnt bother or you could give him a really long list like panel, meter pan, 1 1/2 " hex heads, blue anchors, shots for hilti, charges for hilti, 3/4 " washers, crimps, rubber tape etc etc, get the point. Make sure you dont use one thing off your truck. Give him a list that will make his head spin. And make sure you make him get the Good tape too. Oh yea and include a price for the use of your tools, markups help pay for depreciation of tools. But personally I would look him in the eye and tell him thats not how I do buisness and thank you for your time.
 

steelersman

Senior Member
Location
Lake Ridge, VA
peter d said:
You need to look harder. :)

All the Lowes and HD's around here carry meter sockets...and they even carry the ones approved by the local utilities...imagine that. And a quick check online of HD's contractor website reveals they carry metering products in other parts of the country as well.
I bought one from either HD or Lowe's. I forget which it was, but it wasn't the same kind that the POCO had. It was a Square D and all I can remember is that it really sucked. It was not as easy and nice as the POCO's. I learned my lesson to never buy one again.
 

jrannis

Senior Member
220/221 said:
Actually...yes....kind of. The chiller system was used on high end custom houses back in the 50',60's. There are none in operation but many times the AC guys will use the existin 3 ph circuit to power a new unit.

It is not uncommon here in AZ in the older neighborhoods (50's, early 60's)

I am guessing that the only AC available back then was designed for commercial use. They would run a delta 3 phase to the house and use the high leg for the AC only.

As the houses age and upgrade the AC's, the 3 phase becomes obsolete and we ALWAYS recommend losing it in favor of a new 1 phase service.

Some customers believe it's a more efficient system and refuse to change. It adds about 2K to the job so that usually convinces them.

Wow, I try to save the 3 phase and have it in a seperate "equipment" panel
 

steelersman

Senior Member
Location
Lake Ridge, VA
c2500 said:
Lowes had the 12 pack of Halo 6" cans a while back on clearance for $25 a box....I bought every box they had! Thank goodness Ihave acess to free warehouse storage :grin:

c2500
I've never seen a box of 6" cans or any size cans for that matter that come in 12 packs. Are you sure about this? This seems very untrue to me. :)
 
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