strippers&dykes
Member
- Location
- Mes,AZ
Is $3.05 a square foot to rough and trim a 2200 sqft house, too much or not enough? I'm in the Phoenix,AZ area. Any input would be appreciated.
bidding a house by square foot
- Thread starter strippers&dykes
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Around here, not enough to even get out of bed.
- Location
- Massachusetts
$6,800 to wire a 2200 sq ft home sounds like charity work.
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
Depends on how many walls are on the inside.
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
For me it would be closer to $10,000 or 12,000. It depends if you included lights etc. I am doing a 2,200 sq. ft home now and I supplied the cans and bath fans and I believe my contract was $14,000.
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
How the heck someone bids electrical by the sq ft is beyond me. Concrete, sheetrock, yup. A home?
stevenje
Senior Member
- Location
- Yachats Oregon
I agree. To many open ended questions. Gas or all electric? Big price difference. One kitchen light or many recessed cans and under cabinet lighting units? The list goes on and on.
It is like telling a GC that you want windows in your new house. Without knowing how many, what size, what style, what finish and their location he sure isn't going to give you a price for the windows based on the square footage of the home.
Cavie
Senior Member
- Location
- SW Florida
I never understood Sq Ft pricing unless it is a down and dirty to the minimum NEC nec track house under 1500 sq ft. If you do it on anything else you must be on some ego trip of somekind.
CopperTone
Senior Member
- Location
- MetroWest, MA
Please stop with the Square Foot Pricing questions for electrical. We all know you can't answer the question up front. You must add up all that is in the house - arrive at your number and then divide by the sq ft of the house.
Sq ft pricing may work on sheetrock and plastering - but not electrical or plumbing.
GC's use sq ft pricing as estimates - but that is also based on historical data. That number changes as materials wanted in the house change - marble cost more than ceramic tile. cherry cabinets cost more than oak, granite countertops cost more than laminate countertops, 14 ft ceilings cost more than 8ft ceilings.
GC's that ask for a sq ft price for electrical either build the same house over and over again - or don't know what they are talking about. Plus - copper prices have gone crazy the past 5 years - other material is much more expensive these days too -
Would these two houses cost the same to wire?
2200 sq ft house - code minimum with all gas appliances - 2 bathrooms, overhead service
or
2200 sq ft with 30 -5" recessed lights, dimmers everywhere, decora devices, underground service, 2 car garage, hot tub, jacuzzi tubs, 4 bathrooms, all electric appliances, under cabinet lights, central air conditioning, cable and data in every room, speaker systems, underground pool, etc, etc ,etc
DO you get the point?
Sq ft pricing may work on sheetrock and plastering - but not electrical or plumbing.
GC's use sq ft pricing as estimates - but that is also based on historical data. That number changes as materials wanted in the house change - marble cost more than ceramic tile. cherry cabinets cost more than oak, granite countertops cost more than laminate countertops, 14 ft ceilings cost more than 8ft ceilings.
GC's that ask for a sq ft price for electrical either build the same house over and over again - or don't know what they are talking about. Plus - copper prices have gone crazy the past 5 years - other material is much more expensive these days too -
Would these two houses cost the same to wire?
2200 sq ft house - code minimum with all gas appliances - 2 bathrooms, overhead service
or
2200 sq ft with 30 -5" recessed lights, dimmers everywhere, decora devices, underground service, 2 car garage, hot tub, jacuzzi tubs, 4 bathrooms, all electric appliances, under cabinet lights, central air conditioning, cable and data in every room, speaker systems, underground pool, etc, etc ,etc
DO you get the point?
ceb58
Senior Member
- Location
- Raeford, NC
I agree and disagree with your statement. I price them by the Sq ft BUT there are a lot of variables. In the OP's question yes I would do one for $3.05 Sq ft to code min. Here is where the BUT comes in using historical data I have. It would not include the price of the service. Set price for overhead or under ground. Set price for cans,ceiling fans, bath fans,cabinet lighting and all other extras. The Sq ft pricing, if you have kept data to look back on, will give you a quick reference for an estimate.
But just to throw out a number of $3.05 Sq ft with out looking at every thing involved would be financial suicide.
my crystal ball tells me your 2200 sq ft house contains the following:
200 amp urd service
sc 110 gas heat
40 amp AC w/ disc
gas cooking outlet
hood wire
sc micro
dw/disp
7 bbu smokes/cmd
sc washer
110 dryer outlet
chime
sc 110 HWH
3 bath fans
gfi and arc fault protection per code
28 light JB's
36 switches
61 outlets
permits by others
inspections
hang owners fixtures
if you can get it, you will do just fine in the greater phoenix area @ $3.05 per square foot.... someday i will be as lucky...
If they are cookie cutter houses and are wired to the minimum NEC you could make a buck.BTW, what are you figuring your hourly labor rate at? Are you puttiing any mark up on material? If your answer is anything less that $50/hr labor and no to the mark up you will find out a few houses into it that you are really not making any profit. Don't let anyone tell you that volume makes up for low cost, the reality to that is you go broke faster.JMO.
I used to frequent a burger joint that had a sign that said "We lose a little on each sale but make up for it in volume". I would get a chuckle every time I ate there until they went broke.
tryinghard
Senior Member
- Location
- California
That's where I'm at
I guess if all the same a rhythm could reveal I think this is more for tracking then bidding, I've have many 2000 sq fters cost more than larger homes - it depends on what's in em that drive the costs. We don?t supply footage but we do supply electrical circuitry, price per outlet and controls are more accurate then footage but real-estate doesn't know what to do with this unit of measure. I think the footage method was born out of the track home industry but there are probably many general contractors using footage pricing and if so good for them electrical contractors shouldn?t - but methods do reveal over time. That's where I'm at
I would love to comment on it but I need to go out and pick up a square foot of breakers and few square feet of panels along with about 500 square foot of 12-2
tryinghard
Senior Member
- Location
- California
Ha - let us know how your costs come out
It was.
It was born when every home had a CMU basement, linoleum kitchen floor, Formica countertop, Kraft-Maid cabinets, hardboard siding, plywood soffits, 2x4 exterior walls, 15-year asphalt shingles, shag carpet and chrome 2-handle faucets. Two floor plans were used, alternated going down the street, flipping the plans every other build.
And they were called tract homes. I call 'em Cookie-Cutters.
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