Anyone have a rule of thumb - avg. receptacles per sq foot - residential?

[MarkyMarkNC]

This is not for an actual estimate, but for a presentation I am doing regarding tamper resistant receptacles. I'm trying to come up with some sort of rough average cost on an assortment of square foot houses for this presentation.

I.E.

1200-1800sq ft house X.XX dollars extra
1800-2500sq ft house X.XX dollars extra
2500-3500sq ft house X.XX dollars extra

If anyone knows of a rule of thumb they can roughly go by, or knows of a free, easy to use, online electrical residential estimating program I could plug a few sized houses into fairly quickly, I would be most grateful.

 

[480sparky]

You're trying to estimate the increased cost of installing TRs instead of the plain-jane receps?

I've heard figures of $600-1000 per dwelling.

 

[cowboyjwc]

The problem is sq footage doesn't really equate into wall space.

As for cost of TR's I've seen as little as $50 to $100.

 

[r_merc]

Stop

Stop

Stop doing Square Foot Pricing and then you would be able to tell them exactely what the 2008 code is doing to them. Don't forget as of Jan 1,2009 AFCI Breakers in NC are required on all the circuits specified. Not to mention the other little goodies in there.

Rick

 

[Jljohnson]

Average 2000' home with approx 75 recepts would cost around $250.00 to $300.00 additional

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Average 2000' home with approx 75 recepts would cost around $250.00 to $300.00 additional

How do you figure that. TR recep. cost about $1.05 here. It would only cost about $75 for the recep. Add the GFCI etc and you may be looking at $125-$150.

 

[ceb58]

The last home I did was around 4800sqft I think it was around 95 recpt. Hard to come in with a correct number because of wall layout. Dont forget about tr gfci's. My cost between reg. and tr is about $3.00ea. So you could say $5.00 per more. That would be around $20.00 per tr gfci.

 

[CopperTone]

you have to do a take off of how many receptacles are in the house.

For your presentation it would be much easier to compare the cost of a regular receptacle to a TR receptacle and cost of a TR GFCI receptacle to a regular GFCI receptacle.

Add in cost of AFCI combo breakers as well. Compare cost of regular breakers to an AFCI combo breaker.

that would give you a real number to tell people.

SQ FT pricing doesn't exist in electrical except for tract houses - and at that you arrive at your sq ft price by doing a take off and adding up all your numbers and then dividing by the sq footage of the house. Sq ft pricing is a GC made up thing. It cannot transfer to another house except for tract houses because all houses have different things in them.

 

[sparkchaser1961]

you have to do a take off of how many receptacles are in the house.
For your presentation it would be much easier to compare the cost of a regular receptacle to a TR receptacle and cost of a TR GFCI receptacle and a regular GFCI receptacle.

You've got the best idea. Boy what a difference when you figure a 300 home development, though.

 

[rlane00]

TR with Backstab?

TR with Backstab?

When I did a similar analysis I also factored in a little extra labor per receptacle since I don't believe they make a TR that has back-stab capability. My method was:

(Price for TR - Price for regular) x (my usual markup) + (increased labor time x labor rate) = Price increase per receptacle.

I did a similar analysis (without the extra labor) for the GFCIs, WR, CAFI and a few other state-specific code changes (energy code requirements for higher rate fans with timer switches, and CFLs). I then estimated the number of receptacles, fans, timers, etc. for various square footages (all tract houses) and created a table indicating the total cost increase for each SF range.

 

[quogueelectric]

So what was the end result?? Or are you keeping this a secret??

 

[electricmanscott]

When I did a similar analysis I also factored in a little extra labor per receptacle since I don't believe they make a TR that has back-stab capability. .

Sure they do

This must be the analysis the wacky builders groups are using to cry about increased costs brought on by TR receptacles. There is NO addtional labor required for a TR receptacle.

 

[MarkyMarkNC]

I appreciate all the feedback guys.

I think I have the information I need now, but for the curious, here's a little more info on what exactly my situation is.

Here in NC, they adopted the provision for tamper resistant receptacles on June 1st. A builder I am friends with started on a tract home subdivision last year, and had the first several dozen homes wired with regular resi receptacles. All the homes permitted after June 1st were wired tamper proof.

Some of the people who bought the original houses are upset that they paid more for their houses a year ago, than the prices the brand new houses are being marketed at, and are threatening to sue the builder. One of their points they have hit upon, is that the new, cheaper houses actually have additional benefits, such as - you guessed it - tamper resistant receptacles.

If this sounds totally ridiculous to you, keep in mind that this is in the Cary - Morrisville area of NC. Home of world renowned uber nazi HOA's.

The builder believes he can come to somewhat of an agreement with several of the ringleaders of the upset homeowners, if he goes in and retrofits the original homes with among other things, tamper resistant receptacles.

To further confuse matters, the EC who wired these houses is currently suing the GC. So he came to me looking for just a budget number to figure out if it was worth it for him to settle with the homeowners - not a firm price.

These are all tract houses ranging in size from 1400 to 2800 sq ft., so the receptacles are to code minimum.

 

[electricmanscott]

What a bunch of weenies.

 

[ohm]

The WP receptacles must not only be GFCI but weather resistant as well (WR). If they want more than the required two remember they cost $16 each.

The intersystem ground is another $20.

The AFCI's are another $35.

Lets just have all this happen in the 08 Code, since the economy can handle it.