90 degree wiring upgrade

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MrMilbank

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Changed a fixture requiring 90 degree wiring supplied with fried 60 degree wiring (used 100W bulbs when fixture rates max at 60W) to a fixture requiring 90 degree wiring fed with 90 degree wiring. I have my actuals on time and bid price from the past years for this type of job. What is your bid?

Here are Photos from this job:
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How long did it take start to finish about 2 man hours? That's what I would bid. Nice job, except you're missing a ground screw in the pancake box. :rolleyes:
 
1.25-4 hours = an average of 2 hours 45 minutes @ $89hr plus the tax and materials.
extra for fabrications made to attic floor or ceiling with no attic access
$250-$375
that one was 2.5hrs from parking the truck to switching on the light. and came to $265
easy to remove box, ceiling joist right above box, attic floor open, but through a doggy sized door in a crawlspace across attic.
 
Hehe, my boss might have charged about $150 total, which is why we're almost out of business...

I'm going to ask everybody for opinions on that ground screw while we're at it - The new 14-2 is tied in to an old romex w/out ground. What is your common practice for using ground screws in this situation? If you do use one in the pancake, another electrician may assume it's grounded when in fact it's not. If you cut the ground wire off (I've done that when replacing two wire to a T-slot receptacle so that no one installs a three-prong outlet without rewiring) then if the light does get rewired and your splice is pretty far away, the next guy will have to rewire it anyway instead of just splicing into your wire. Secondly, using a ground screw in the attic could confuse someone as to which is the feed (assuming the wire runs off to who knows where) and they could try tapping into that line, hooking up a ground and carrying the problem further.

In my humble opinion, it's safer to cut the ground wire back so you don't mislead anyone into thinking they've got a ground when they don't. Your opinion?
 
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In this case the old wire was BX. If it were romex without a ground I would have ran a new circuit stating the obvious reason why. Eliminating a ground to prevent a problem is actually adding to a violation with your name on it last. Possibly the other reason business is going bad.
 
the same house had a portion of the attic covered in 3/4" solid board. and the wiring was cooked all the way through the joist to the next open bay. thanks to my wonder bar and a claw hammer i was able to yank the whole 4'10' section up. flush mounted my j-box and fabricated a hole in the wood with my drill and kliens because i left the f*#$ing recip at home. that was one of those 4 hr deals i broke a good sweat over.
 
MrMilbank said:
1.25-4 hours = an average of 2 hours 45 minutes @ $89hr plus the tax and materials.
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1.5 hrs, $200 + mats, no tax.

extra for fabrications made to attic floor or ceiling with no attic access . . .
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Absolutely!

that one was 2.5hrs from parking the truck to switching on the light. . .
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Seems a little slow to me, but it's always easy to say that. :smile:

easy to remove box, ceiling joist right above box, attic floor open, . . .
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My estimate presumed those conditions.
 
so, where does the equiment grounding conductor originate?
does it really matter if the bare copper wire is bonded to either box when supplied from a 2 wire circuit?

that WAS a two wire cable was it not?
 
izak said:
so, where does the equiment grounding conductor originate?
does it really matter if the bare copper wire is bonded to either box when supplied from a 2 wire circuit?

that WAS a two wire cable was it not?
Click to expand...

It was BX, so the sheath is acting as the ground.
 
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