200a service upgrade

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Nickbruce128

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Doylestown pa United States
I am a commercial electrician for 15 years now so don’t do too much residential work but am upgrading a 100a service to a 200a service for a friend and he wants me to give him a ballpark price. My question is do you guys have 200a upgrade standard pricing being that the arc fault reqs now raise the price of individual breakers. Friendship pricing aside I would like to come up with a standard pricing for jobs like this. Thanks
 
I'm pretty sure that guys that do services alot have a set price to go off of if someone asks them how much they charge for a service. I have standard prices for a lot of things on the commercial side so there is such a thing as a standard.
 
That's more like the answer i was hoping to get. Something helpful. I Assume its the AHJ's call on wether or not he wants arc faults installed or is it common practice to not have to install them on a panel/service upgrade.
 
Nickbruce128 said:
That's more like the answer i was hoping to get. Something helpful. I Assume its the AHJ's call on wether or not he wants arc faults installed or is it common practice to not have to install them on a panel/service upgrade.
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Depends on which NEC version applies, 2014 says you don't need to add AFCI's if you haven't extended any of the circuits that otherwise require AFCI by more then six feet. See exception following 210.12(B).
 
Nickbruce128 said:
I'm pretty sure that guys that do services alot have a set price to go off of if someone asks them how much they charge for a service. I have standard prices for a lot of things on the commercial side so there is such a thing as a standard.
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My point is there is no real standard price for all areas.

Infinity, who lives in New Jersey, has high labor costs, taxes, and what not. His price may reflect that. 2500.00 to 3000.00

A rural area with a low COL may be 1200.00 to 1800.00.

Say each makes a profit of 750.00.

Each price is only valid for its given area.
 
It does really depend on the AHJ. Where I am in Florida they don't require you to install arc faults when you do a panel change out/upgrade, especially since many older homes can't support an arc fault breaker the way they are wired. Around here the price to upgrade a service to 200 is around $1800 give or take but the particulars of the job can make a huge difference.
 
Nickbruce128 said:
I am a commercial electrician for 15 years now so don’t do too much residential work but am upgrading a 100a service to a 200a service for a friend and he wants me to give him a ballpark price. My question is do you guys have 200a upgrade standard pricing being that the arc fault reqs now raise the price of individual breakers. Friendship pricing aside I would like to come up with a standard pricing for jobs like this. Thanks
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I don't give a price on jobs like this without looking them over first.

I saw a service change out that was billed at over $11K last year. 200 AMP service where the panel needed to be moved from a pantry ( no working clearance) to the garage. Extending the circuits did call for arc fault breakers (about 30 of them) and I have no idea how much troubleshooting it took to get the circuits to hold.
 
Welcome.

Nickbruce128 said:
That's more like the answer i was hoping to get. Something helpful. I Assume its the AHJ's call on wether or not he wants arc faults installed or is it common practice to not have to install them on a panel/service upgrade.
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More like it is up to the code your state adopts. PA and VA are a bit behind on code cycle adoptions; VA is on the 2012 IRC still, and last I checked PA was on the 2008 NEC. That matters for AFCI breakers really.

A standard price in this area for a 100A to 200A panel change and service upgrade, assuming neither have to be moved and no troubleshooting work for tripping AFCI/GFCI breakers would be ~$2,000-$2,500. That's also no drywall repair. Prices could be as low as $1,200 or $4,000+.
 
standard pricing

standard pricing

the thing with standard pricing is it doesn't take into account the the talents and capabilities of the individual doing the work. a total hack can charge the standard price and the consumer has no idea what quality of work he will receive. all the trades follow this practice to the detriment of the finished product. why not bid according to your skill level, cost of materials and time involved?
a lawyer or dentist charges the prevailing rate for a procedure and the consumer bears the brunt of the hacks doing the work. i don't try to underbid another electrician and will walk away if the client suggests i do so. i have a general idea what the job will cost me in time and materials and bid accordingly. if we all use a standard price schedule what does the client use to decide who gets the work, our sparkling personality?
 
jerryalan said:
the thing with standard pricing is it doesn't take into account the the talents and capabilities of the individual doing the work. a total hack can charge the standard price and the consumer has no idea what quality of work he will receive. all the trades follow this practice to the detriment of the finished product. why not bid according to your skill level, cost of materials and time involved?
a lawyer or dentist charges the prevailing rate for a procedure and the consumer bears the brunt of the hacks doing the work. i don't try to underbid another electrician and will walk away if the client suggests i do so. i have a general idea what the job will cost me in time and materials and bid accordingly. if we all use a standard price schedule what does the client use to decide who gets the work, our sparkling personality?
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whoever will do the work the soonest? Even if that means schedule three contractors for same day and whoever shows up first gets the job.
 
jerryalan said:
the thing with standard pricing is it doesn't take into account the the talents and capabilities of the individual doing the work. a total hack can charge the standard price and the consumer has no idea what quality of work he will receive. all the trades follow this practice to the detriment of the finished product. why not bid according to your skill level, cost of materials and time involved?
a lawyer or dentist charges the prevailing rate for a procedure and the consumer bears the brunt of the hacks doing the work. i don't try to underbid another electrician and will walk away if the client suggests i do so. i have a general idea what the job will cost me in time and materials and bid accordingly. if we all use a standard price schedule what does the client use to decide who gets the work, our sparkling personality?
Click to expand...

I think you are getting upset about something that doesn't exist and probably never will. There is no standard pricing. There is only the range of prices being charged in an area. That being said, if you have a good reputation (either through reviews and word-of-mouth or slick advertising), you can charge more and people will pay it. (Not everyone will pay more, but your call volume will be higher so you stay busy with high priced jobs.) Mr Sparky franchisees are the most expensive residential electricians I've ever seen yet they sell jobs everyday.

Joe Blow, who is just starting out, couldn't charge half as much even though he is a fantastic electrician. (If he wants to stay busy enough to eat.) On the other hand, a total hack can get lucky and sell a job at a premium price if he bids high and the two other electricians who bid, bid higher.
 
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