Re: 100 AMP SERVICES
Originally posted by jwelectric:
To install something that cost one dollar more with out the permission of the homeowner is nothing more than stealing.
Holy cow. How would you do so without 'permission'? If you agreed to install a 100 service, and instead installed a 200 and billed for the difference, hoping no one would notice, then I reckon that guy would get what he's got coming.
To use the ever famous statement that 200 amp is better, it gives space to expand, you can add something later, ect? is nothing more than cheating someone that has put their trust in you.
I recommend anyone with a desire to read check out the book
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. It's an interesting read and I am going to borrow from something I've learned from this book, here.
What we have in this predicament is what economists call an "information assymetry". We have specialized knowledge that the customer does not have, so at the beginning of a conversation the EC has the customer at a disadvantage, right off the bat.
Mike asserts that to try to persuade a customer to go beyond code minimums is an abuse of that assymetry of information that we enjoy.
I am an electrician not a fortune teller. I install according to the calculated load instead of predicting what the home owner might do 10 years down the road.
But working in this profession for any length of time, you become more knowledgeable in the ways of the world. You meet an 80 year old widow, you know she's not going to expand her home. The next owner's might, but she surely won't.
You meet a young successful couple where the wife is pregnant, the man speaks wistfully of finishing the basement and perhaps building a large outbuilding later to house his 4 ATV's, bass boat, and woodworking hobby, it's reasonable to assume that these people's needs are going to change.
Is it unscrupulous to suggest that "Although a 200 amp service costs $400 more than a 100 amp service, I believe that with the improvements that you seem open to performing and with your growing family, you will probably appreciate the added space and ampacity in years to come."
I think it's unscrupulous to simply perform a calculation according to the minimum standards set forth by the NEC. How much use will they get out of their 100 amp service down the road? How long did their 60 amp service last? 50 years? Will 100 be enough for 50 years? In many cases yes.
We see enough houses, we can venture some pretty educated guesses as to the future in regards to an electrical system.
Try this one on: I would be more likely to upsell a rich person than a poor one. Is it because I'm a callous carpetbagger who preys on people who have "too much money" or "they won't miss it"?
Or is it because on average wealthy people tend to have more resources to make changes and upgrade their homes?
