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John120/240

Senior Member
Location
Olathe, Kansas
EXPERIENCE

Build some assembly s on paper for each item in the home. For can lights: standard can & trim, wire, lamp, average length of wire run for one light, how many can I install in a hour. Figure what it cost to wire these can lights.
Repeat for receptacles, switches, GFCI, home runs, AFCI, smokes etc, etc
 

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
We always used a per opening price. That included most of what John said, then of course extra for can lights and trims, etc. But for switches and receptacles that included finish. Two gang box of course being two openings, etc.
 
We always used a per opening price. That included most of what John said, then of course extra for can lights and trims, etc. But for switches and receptacles that included finish. Two gang box of course being two openings, etc.

I also use this method, and am pretty happy with it. Simple and quick way to pump out accurate estimates.
 
We always used a per opening price. That included most of what John said, then of course extra for can lights and trims, etc. But for switches and receptacles that included finish. Two gang box of course being two openings, etc.
Anybody care to share opening prices? I hear guys talk about a $25 per opening price but I can't make any money at that price
 

GoldDigger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
Anybody care to share opening prices? I hear guys talk about a $25 per opening price but I can't make any money at that price
If the guys that you hear talking about $25 are local, then I would say that they have optimized their crew and equipment for churning out new construction and it would not be a good idea for you to try to compete with them for that line of work.
And it is not likely that they are making up for it with change orders either.
 
Anybody care to share opening prices? I hear guys talk about a $25 per opening price but I can't make any money at that price

That's going to depend heavily on your market/region. Like someone else said, that's probably a very streamlined application (track homes) to be able to turn a buck off of those rates.

Figure out what your time is worth, and use that to determine how much you want to charge. You're selling your life an hour at a time (or opening at a time, such as it is). I wouldn't joke about doing work for $25 per opening. That's ridiculously low.
 

ceb58

Senior Member
Location
Raeford, NC
Ready for the ridicule. I do mine by the Sq. Ft. for code minimum. But it is based on history of cost and productivity. The service and add-ons are done as a per item unit.
 

arits74

Senior Member
Location
dixie arkansas
Occupation
working owner electrician
i do mine by the square foot for code minimum also.larger custom homes are more than your average spec home.can lights,larger services,dimmers,under cabinet lighting are all extras.
 

James L

Senior Member
Location
Kansas Cty, Mo, USA
Occupation
Electrician
A per opening price is subjective, because it probably won't tell the whole story.

I've seen guys charge a higher opening price, but everything counts as one opening, even the panel, even the meter can. So maybe they have a $85.00 opening price, which would seem high for a plug. But they're doing the service for $170.00. They're wiring an electric furnace as one opening, range, etc. This might work well with larger homes that have tons of plugs and switches

Or a guy might charge $30.00 per opening, plus $120.00 for each 15 & 20 amp circuit, plus $800.00 for a panel, plus $500.00 for the meter can, plus other items which aren't openings (240v circuits, etc, installing appliances, etc). This might work well for small, all-electric homes.

I guess it could also depend on the potential for changes. In the first scenario of $85.00 per opening, extras are going to pay a lot better than the $30.00 plus plus scenario.

I have a sort of blended approach, with opening tiers. Not every kind of opening counts the same. Basically, I count by $20.00 units. Receptacle is 2 units, 20 amp circuit is 5 units, 240v dryer is 8 units. I also have multipliers for ceiling height and length of the house. It can seem complicated this way, but my pricing seems to best reflect what I actually pay for materials and the time I spend
 
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