SAW CUT/ CHOPPING...

[Alwayslearningelec]

How do you figure your labor to saw cut and chop out concrete for conduits...per ft or sq ft..... if it is say 18" wide and 50' long. this would be for 1" EMT..thanks

One of my cost books show it by SQ FT at an average of .55 depending on thichness....

 

[satcom]

How do you figure your labor to saw cut and chop out concrete for conduits...per ft or sq ft..... if it is say 18" wide and 50' long. this would be for 1" EMT..thanks

One of my cost books show it by SQ FT at an average of .55 depending on thichness....

We don't figure our labor for concrete work we get a quote from our sub. over time we learned, trying to cross trades to save only ended up costing more.

 

[Strathead]

We don't figure our labor for concrete work we get a quote from our sub. over time we learned, trying to cross trades to save only ended up costing more.

Yep, that's how I figure it. With a phone call! Or I just throw too much money at it.

 

[cdslotz]

Yep. Get a concrete cutting/coring sub. Most of them have a price sheet they will give you with per/ft pricing, coring prices based on diam/depth, X-raying, minimum setup costs.
On concrete cutting/chopping/removal like you're doing, always excluded concrete replacement.

A lot of jobs have a lot of sawcutting required for plumbing, walls, etc. Those jobs the GC will probably hire a sub for every trade. You just have to let him know the footages for electrical. And again, make sure you exclude just to be covered.

 

[Alwayslearningelec]

Yep. Get a concrete cutting/coring sub. Most of them have a price sheet they will give you with per/ft pricing, coring prices based on diam/depth, X-raying, minimum setup costs.
On concrete cutting/chopping/removal like you're doing, always excluded concrete replacement.

A lot of jobs have a lot of sawcutting required for plumbing, walls, etc. Those jobs the GC will probably hire a sub for every trade. You just have to let him know the footages for electrical. And again, make sure you exclude just to be covered.

An you think hiring a sub to do coring and chopping is less expensive than have the electrician do it? Maybe the saw cutting and chopping but I believe cores for electrical are always done by the electrician. I would imagine that it would be hard to coordinate coring with the sub as it might happen a few times a week etc. if you have a big job. Thanks.

 

[Strathead]

An you think hiring a sub to do coring and chopping is less expensive than have the electrician do it? Maybe the saw cutting and chopping but I believe cores for electrical are always done by the electrician. I would imagine that it would be hard to coordinate coring with the sub as it might happen a few times a week etc. if you have a big job. Thanks.

You didn't ask that question. You ask about the estimate, not the execution. As an estimator, I hope they find a way to beat my estimate. And cores are not always done by the electrician, I have hired a coring company countless times to do coring. In CA union country, the company we used had to have a Union electrician do the cores for electrical, and a union plumber do the cores for the plumbing, so I imagine I wasn't the only electrician to call for coring. Coring shouldn't happen as often as you imply.


Anyway, I use the price from the demo company for the saw cutting. For coring, it depends. I may get a price, I may wing it. As I have said before, it is an estimate! If you can't schedule all your coring at the same time on a job, when you have weeks to plan, how do you expect to accurately count the exact number of cores to estimate when you only have three days to bid the plan?

 

[cdslotz]

cores for electrical are always done by the electrician.

Not for me.
What if you had an office refit on the 23rd floor of a high rise, and it required 50 4" cores for electrical?
The building management requires all to be X-rayed because of post tension. The coring requires water so special equipment is required. The cores and the water are going to drop to the floor below, which is another tenant. Someone has to catch that stuff. Oh, and it has to be done over the weekend or at night.

You gonna do that? Are you going to take the liability to do that?

 

[kwired]

Don't forget if you cut out a section of floor, wall, or whatever it likely needs filled back in too.

 

[infinity]

An you think hiring a sub to do coring and chopping is less expensive than have the electrician do it? Maybe the saw cutting and chopping but I believe cores for electrical are always done by the electrician. I would imagine that it would be hard to coordinate coring with the sub as it might happen a few times a week etc. if you have a big job. Thanks.

In some places core drilling is a jurisdictional part of the electrician's work. With the proper tools and skill an electrician can core drill just as fast as the sub contractor and as you said he's already there so he can core drill when needed.

 

[kwired]

In some places core drilling is a jurisdictional part of the electrician's work. With the proper tools and skill an electrician can core drill just as fast as the sub contractor and as you said he's already there so he can core drill when needed.

So you saying if the hole is going to have electrical in it, the person making the hole has to be a licensed electrician? What if there just happens to be a hole that works out for the electrician, he has to make his own hole because whoever made the original hole wasn't licensed:?

Excavating and directional boring are common things that are done by another party that may not have electrical license either, I don't see this as being much different.

 

[stevenje]

We don't figure our labor for concrete work we get a quote from our sub. over time we learned, trying to cross trades to save only ended up costing more.

Agreed. "Do what you do best and sub the rest."

 

[infinity]

So you saying if the hole is going to have electrical in it, the person making the hole has to be a licensed electrician? What if there just happens to be a hole that works out for the electrician, he has to make his own hole because whoever made the original hole wasn't licensed:?

Excavating and directional boring are common things that are done by another party that may not have electrical license either, I don't see this as being much different.

What I meant has nothing to do with licensing it has to do with work jurisdiction. In some places core drilling is the electricians work so the guys on the job do it.

 

[cdslotz]

What I meant has nothing to do with licensing it has to do with work jurisdiction. In some places core drilling is the electricians work so the guys on the job do it.

If it's for electrical, yes, it's my responsibility by contract. I have never been on a job that mandates union for certain tasks. This is a right to work state (thank goodness). If someone has a beef that I'm not using union coring subs, they can pound sand. I can hire who I want under my contract.
I can use my own forces, sub it out (preferred), or the GC might have a sub for all of the coring/cutting on the entire job (super preferred)

 

[kwired]

I think I see what you mean.

I don't even think much about union things cause there just isn't any around here.

 

[bill@enleyelectric.com]

We do almost all of our work in Hi rise bldgs mostly tenant fitouts. I used to sub out the coring but bought my own Hilti coring unit with the bits we most often use ( almost always for poke thrus under conference room tables or system furniture feeds). The decision to do the cores ourselves was more logistical than financial. I found that to have a coring sub meant that I still needed to have myself or a guy on site (always after hours and I dont like to pay my guys OT to assist/baby sit) to provide access to the bldg/suite (not only in our work area but the occupied space below). With our own drill, we can schedule the work freely as our schedule permits (sunday mornings, wednesday evenings.....).

 

[iwire]

An you think hiring a sub to do coring and chopping is less expensive than have the electrician do it? Maybe the saw cutting and chopping but I believe cores for electrical are always done by the electrician. I would imagine that it would be hard to coordinate coring with the sub as it might happen a few times a week etc. if you have a big job. Thanks.

And you think paying electricians wages for basically laborious work makes sense?


We own some core drilling equipment and sometimes we will do it ourselves but much more of the time we sub it out and we never do saw cutting.

 

[JJWalecka]

Iwire
"And you think paying electricians wages for basically
laborious work makes sense?"

Good point

 

[kwired]

Iwire
"And you think paying electricians wages for basically
laborious work makes sense?"

Good point

Yet the more expensive the coring machine is, the less likely they will give it to an apprentice and tell him to have at it, same with other higher priced equipment, even though the task it is used for is not really a task that requires special training or experience.

Sometimes selecting the right spot to drill or cut is the most critical part of the job:happyyes:

 

[iwire]

Yet the more expensive the coring machine is, the less likely they will give it to an apprentice and tell him to have at it, same with other higher priced equipment, even though the task it is used for is not really a task that requires special training or experience.

Sometimes selecting the right spot to drill or cut is the most critical part of the job:happyyes:

I have no idea the point you are trying to make is.

We tell our subcontractor where to drill or cut, if there is a question of items in the way we have them X-ray first.


I was running a job where I needed 10 or 12 six inch holes through a foundation, I had one of our apprentices use our machine to do it. Bad choice on my part, should have subbed it out. It tied up our guy a couple of days and cost us a couple of core bits. It old have been more efficient to sub it out.