Are people doing service upgrades this cheap?

[hydeisland]

Yesterday I went out and looked at a job for a tire kicker to do a service upgrade. 100amp up to a 200 amp, lateral service. I quote the guy $1850, today he emails me back telling me he got over the phone quotes for $800-$1500 and asked if I can be "competitive". Is this guy messing with me or are people really doing service upgrades for only cost of material? I wanted to tell him where he can stick his over the phone quotes but I politely told him my prices are non-negotiable as I have already given him the best price I could. Not surprising this guy found me on craigslist.

 

[infinity]

Still getting $2000-$2500 around here.

 

[kwired]

Yesterday I went out and looked at a job for a tire kicker to do a service upgrade. 100amp up to a 200 amp, lateral service. I quote the guy $1850, today he emails me back telling me he got over the phone quotes for $800-$1500 and asked if I can be "competitive". Is this guy messing with me or are people really doing service upgrades for only cost of material? I wanted to tell him where he can stick his over the phone quotes but I politely told him my prices are non-negotiable as I have already given him the best price I could. Not surprising this guy found me on craigslist.

Are you installing the lateral also? If so tell them to hire the other guys. Not working at all is more profit than doing it at that price. You can have $800 easily just in the lateral itself, depending on how long it may be, and what you need to go through or around.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Yesterday I went out and looked at a job for a tire kicker to do a service upgrade. 100amp up to a 200 amp, lateral service. I quote the guy $1850, today he emails me back telling me he got over the phone quotes for $800-$1500 and asked if I can be "competitive". Is this guy messing with me or are people really doing service upgrades for only cost of material? I wanted to tell him where he can stick his over the phone quotes but I politely told him my prices are non-negotiable as I have already given him the best price I could. Not surprising this guy found me on craigslist.

$2,500 here.

 

[templdl]

This is why it is the responsibly of the contractor to support the market values in your area. If one contractor starts lowering prices gradually others will follow and everybody looses. You really have to consider the consequences when reducing prices.
There are some contractors out there that don't understand how they can all but destroy a market by cutting/buying jobs.

 

[Ponchik]

Yesterday I went out and looked at a job for a tire kicker to do a service upgrade. 100amp up to a 200 amp, lateral service. I quote the guy $1850, today he emails me back telling me he got over the phone quotes for $800-$1500 and asked if I can be "competitive". Is this guy messing with me or are people really doing service upgrades for only cost of material? I wanted to tell him where he can stick his over the phone quotes but I politely told him my prices are non-negotiable as I have already given him the best price I could. Not surprising this guy found me on craigslist.

Depending on the situation but 99% of the time I can't even compete with $1850 let alone $1500.

Thats why I don't advertise on craigslist.


Southern California is pretty bad. A friend of a relative had his house's plumbing done for $350 Yes $350. The plumber charged him about $100 a day. The customer bought the material. I still can't believe this. $350 for a complete repipe. what an idiot. :rant::rant:

 

[Hv&Lv]

Yesterday I went out and looked at a job for a tire kicker to do a service upgrade. 100amp up to a 200 amp, lateral service. I quote the guy $1850, today he emails me back telling me he got over the phone quotes for $800-$1500 and asked if I can be "competitive". Is this guy messing with me or are people really doing service upgrades for only cost of material? I wanted to tell him where he can stick his over the phone quotes but I politely told him my prices are non-negotiable as I have already given him the best price I could. Not surprising this guy found me on craigslist.

Who in their right mind would quote a service upgrade over the phone?
He is trying to beat you down, plain and simple.
$800 for a service upgrade? No license, insurance, inspections, or guarantees of any kind with that price. It has to be a friend of a friend...

 

[Hv&Lv]

This is why it is the responsibly of the contractor to support the market values in your area. If one contractor starts lowering prices gradually others will follow and everybody looses. You really have to consider the consequences when reducing prices.
There are some contractors out there that don't understand how they can all but destroy a market by cutting/buying jobs.

As one man with a steady job in another part of the field, I could do the jobs cheaper than the electricians I know around town, but I won't for the reason you stated. I don't depend on service changes for a living like some of my friends do...

 

[Fulthrotl]

Thats why I don't advertise on craigslist.

Southern California is pretty bad. A friend of a relative had his house's plumbing done for $350 Yes $350. The plumber charged him about $100 a day. The customer bought the material. I still can't believe this. $350 for a complete repipe. what an idiot. :rant::rant:

craigslist is a wonderful sales aid for me.

when i give someone a price, and there is sticker shock, i cheerfully
suggest they look on craigslist, that i can guarantee there is someone
there that will do it cheaper than i will.

some are even licensed, speak the customers language, and everything.
i'll even pull out the ipad and help them look, recommend one that looks good.

why? i don't care anymore. quotes are like this.... some will, some won't, so what?
right now, i'm staying pretty busy, and the phone keeps ringing.

for a lot of folks right now, it's not about "damaging the market".
it's about making rent on the first of the month. desperate people will
do whatever they can to survive.

 

[GerryB]

A few years ago I did a 200 amp service for $1500. While talking to the HO he said he had a guy who advertised for $999.00. I said what happened. The $999 guy had everything extra. The permit wasn't included, and for $999 you got 10 feet straight up and 6 circuits. Even the grounding was some kind of extra. My minimum today is $1800.

 

[hydeisland]

This is why it is the responsibly of the contractor to support the market values in your area. If one contractor starts lowering prices gradually others will follow and everybody looses. You really have to consider the consequences when reducing prices.
There are some contractors out there that don't understand how they can all but destroy a market by cutting/buying jobs.

I was thinking the same and becoming furious but then I started to realize that these supposed contractors are just running themselves in the ground. If I follow their prices I will follow them to the ground. If I don't get a job so be it. Let them make no money busting their tales, I d rather make no money and go golfing.

 

[kwired]

Desperation is somewhat understandable reason to see some do work for so little, you can only do that for so long before you either get caught without proper licensing, get stuck in a liability issue, have a warranty issue, become too busy because your price is low and have more work you can handle. If you want to make a decent living and not work at all hours of the day you can't operate that way. A one man shop can easily make more profit at a lower cost to the customer - he has less overhead, he also has more potential to losing some jobs over a larger shop because he doesn't have the necessary resources to handle the job. Once you find a few 'regular' customers that have frequent work you have it made to a certain extent. They don't want the cheapest guy, they want a reliable guy that gives them what they need when they need it.

 

[renosteinke]

Responsibility to support market prices? That sure sounds like 'collusion' or 'price fixing' to me.

Let me make a suggestion ... in the spirit of friendly co-operation, why don't you link to a catalog of all your prices, so we can all see what the 'correct' prices are?

As for pricing a 'service change:' Just what is a 'service change?' Even in these forums are folks who refer to them as 'panel swaps,' and do little more. Even customers are confused, as the box stores sell 'complete kits' that contain only the panel and a handful of breakers. If the customer is confuced, maybe your quote wasn't specific enough.

Mike Holmes, of "Holmes on Homes" fame, has put out his book. Designed to help the consumer find a good contractor, in "Make it Right" he expands on his views. Some of them focus on what the bid should contain.

It is his opinion that the bid should be extremely detailed, explaining exactly what you will do and exactly what materials you will use. Then, of course, there's a complete price.

For a service change, I suspect that his bid would detail getting the permit, installing a ground rod, running the GEC, installing the panel, replacing the mast and service wires, patching the roof, disposing of the trash, and being there for the inspection. This is far different from the usual "Service change $1200" bid many offer.

Without that detail, how can the customer do anything but compare on price alone?

 

[jxofaltrds]

Depending on the situation but 99% of the time I can't even compete with $1850 let alone $1500.

Thats why I don't advertise on craigslist.


Southern California is pretty bad. A friend of a relative had his house's plumbing done for $350 Yes $350. The plumber charged him about $100 a day. The customer bought the material. I still can't believe this. $350 for a complete repipe. what an idiot. :rant::rant:

I'll have to look for that I'll wire any home for $99.00 picture. Anyone else have it?

 

[kwired]

Responsibility to support market prices? That sure sounds like 'collusion' or 'price fixing' to me.

Let me make a suggestion ... in the spirit of friendly co-operation, why don't you link to a catalog of all your prices, so we can all see what the 'correct' prices are?

As for pricing a 'service change:' Just what is a 'service change?' Even in these forums are folks who refer to them as 'panel swaps,' and do little more. Even customers are confused, as the box stores sell 'complete kits' that contain only the panel and a handful of breakers. If the customer is confuced, maybe your quote wasn't specific enough.

Mike Holmes, of "Holmes on Homes" fame, has put out his book. Designed to help the consumer find a good contractor, in "Make it Right" he expands on his views. Some of them focus on what the bid should contain.

It is his opinion that the bid should be extremely detailed, explaining exactly what you will do and exactly what materials you will use. Then, of course, there's a complete price.

For a service change, I suspect that his bid would detail getting the permit, installing a ground rod, running the GEC, installing the panel, replacing the mast and service wires, patching the roof, disposing of the trash, and being there for the inspection. This is far different from the usual "Service change $1200" bid many offer.

Without that detail, how can the customer do anything but compare on price alone?

I like that, and if you give the customer all the details, they may just think about it and ask the other low ballers just what is all included, what kind of warranty, and liability they may have and other things, once they realize the differences they may go with your proposal, the ones that don't care about anything but price - you may be better off not working for them anyway.

 

[cowboyjwc]

I charge $10,000 for a service change. I don't do a lot of service changes, but then again I don't have to.

 

[templdl]

I like that, and if you give the customer all the details, they may just think about it and ask the other low ballers just what is all included, what kind of warranty, and liability they may have and other things, once they realize the differences they may go with your proposal, the ones that don't care about anything but price - you may be better off not working for them anyway.

In an ideal world that may work but customers often times are fickle and you go away wondering what did you do wrong with your proposal and presentation. Often times you don't get thst second opportunity when a customer discover that they had made the wrong choice.

 

[GerryB]

I charge $10,000 for a service change. I don't do a lot of service changes, but then again I don't have to.

Want to sub those out for $5000.00?

 

[Fulthrotl]

Want to sub those out for $5000.00?

i'll underbid you at $4,288 and i'll bring donuts.



i'm in california. we don't have standards here.

 

[kwired]

In an ideal world that may work but customers often times are fickle and you go away wondering what did you do wrong with your proposal and presentation. Often times you don't get thst second opportunity when a customer discover that they had made the wrong choice.

I have no problem letting most of the bargain hunters go, the ones I have worked for in past I generally wished that someone else had gotten the job. If all that matters is price I am not the right person to do the job, we will not agree on much, and it is better for both of us if I don't do the job.