Receptacle and lighting switch estimation in the residential area

[jaehlee99]

Can someone help me out, please?

I am quite new electrical estimation area. Would you someone advise me how to estimate the cost including receptacle and cables in the drawing ?

A friend of mine suggested me to assign 20 feet cable between every outlet, I have no idea how come this number comes out.

In case of lighting switch, assign 16 feet between every lighting switch.

I greatly appreciate any info you can advise..

James

 

[xformer]

Can someone help me out, please?

I am quite new electrical estimation area. Would you someone advise me how to estimate the cost including receptacle and cables in the drawing ?

A friend of mine suggested me to assign 20 feet cable between every outlet, I have no idea how come this number comes out.

In case of lighting switch, assign 16 feet between every lighting switch.

I greatly appreciate any info you can advise..

James

Does the light switch control the receptacle or a luminaire?

 

[jaehlee99]

The light switch is for luminaries, and receptacle is another issue.

My questions are two. One is the luminaries cable and the other is receptacle.

Many thanks

 

[kwired]

Well there are formulas and such for estimating such things, but for simpler jobs (which most dwellings are simpler jobs) one could at very least build a list of materials expected to be needed and price them out and throw in how much labor you expect to need to get it done. Maybe throw in some extra costs for "just in case" in areas you are not quite sure about, but well designed plans should not have much of this.

If you have no experience installing such things you will have a hard time either way, JMO. If you have experience installing it you know what is needed to do the job.

 

[kwired]

large custom home may use different numbers then smaller "tract house". Repetition of tasks if doing tract homes will generally result in less labor compared to the custom home done only one time, as you know what you did on previous homes and layout and installation will go faster then it did on the first one, may increase efficiency on second or third homes but will generally level out at some point.

 

[jaylectricity]

Definitely a big gap between minimum code and custom work but I generally use my hourly rate and multiply it by the number of outlets. That typically covers cost of materials. Then I add another hour to accomodate getting the circuit into the panel.

It's tough when you first start estimating because you don't want to price yourself out of the job, but you want to get paid properly.

If you can afford to not do the work, definitely price a little high. If that goes well, you're lucky and you'll enjoy success.

If you bid low, make positively sure you'll at least be covering the materials, your overhead, etc. Don't forget that your overhead isn't just your truck payments and advertising. The cost of your license, any schooling you need to keep it up, your insurance, etc.

Good luck out there!

 

[jaylectricity]

large custom home may use different numbers then smaller "tract house". Repetition of tasks if doing tract homes will generally result in less labor compared to the custom home done only one time, as you know what you did on previous homes and layout and installation will go faster then it did on the first one, may increase efficiency on second or third homes but will generally level out at some point.

Oh yeah, there's also a big difference between arriving at the job, unloading tools and material for a couple of hours of work as opposed to needing a few days where you leave the tools and materials there.

One of my weaknesses is that I'll work a couple short days instead of one long one. I may not get a lot of work done before lunch, just setting things up, marking studs, etc. Once I get going, though, I really start whizzing through the work. You might even lose money if you don't charge enough for that time you're extra-productive.