bidding residential

[ptonsparky]

I'll suggest giving them $500, then go fishing or maybe take a nap. That would save me a lot of money.

Spec homes for me were 1200-1600 sq ft back when electrons were new and I managed to make a living doing them. Your starter home has a lot more ways to lose money than mine ever did.

 

[peter d]

If "electricistas" are involved, his price might be spot on.

 

[mannyb]

If you can get $26,950.00 with (1) Electrician and (2) helpers, that is the max that this job would go for. This is residential not commercial. Also, you have central air why do you need (7) fans in the house?
If you need the breakdown, let me know. Thanks, Lenny Smith

im not sure what break down means but if your talking something like a take off list then yes please share until we develop our own spread sheet I can use any help we can get. so yes please share any help

 

[mannyb]

That is in the ballpark of the price I did a similar sized home for about 10 years ago. That one had a lot of the things mentioned by JFletcher, laundry on both floors, multiple baths, heated tile floors in baths, (tile guy did install the heating unit itself though), electric heating system(s), an 800 foot run to the gate - with electric gate operator and some additional lighting and outlets at the gate...

That house was supplied by it's own transformer with CT metering within the padmount - we ran 4 sets of 4/0 aluminum to 4 200 amp main panels. That was less expensive then going with a single 600 amp main and then feeding same four panels from it though. Electric heat was what pushed it to the need for 600 amps. OP says 2 tankless - those add kVA pretty fast and he probably needs 400 amps of service because of those before even considering much else of what may be there. He probably has anywhere between 20 and 40 kVA of load just in water heating.

i suspect the service to be 320a from previous conversation with builder. whats an ideal set up 320 meter loop. Basically what would be a typical meter loop and service configuration. the panel show to be both in garage side by side. Could i install a 320a nain breaker feed thru panel and feed sub panel beside it?

 

[JFletcher]

If you can get $26,950.00 with (1) Electrician and (2) helpers, that is the max that this job would go for. This is residential not commercial. Also, you have central air why do you need (7) fans in the house?
If you need the breakdown, let me know. Thanks, Lenny Smith

Porches, screened in or not, decks, patios. Some people who spent 800k+ on a house get real tight with utilities too. they'll also drop 5 digits on a rare Italian tigerstripe marble countertop before spending an extra penny insulating.

Back to the OP, I hope you have tools for the v/d/v, or know a person who specializes in the LV side (audio/visual, and alarms) of doing homes. Do you have the ladders to do all the cans and what not in high ceilings? I ask because they are kind of pricey. Are you doing the trenching?

If you win this bid, its better to spend more time on rough-in making sure everything is there and correct rather than putting out self-caused fires (fixing mistakes/omissions) on trim out. I mentioned the adjustable boxes before because the wall detail isnt going to be 1/2" drywall throughout; wainscoating, double baseboards, and built-in bookcases are something your avg home doesnt have, and moving/finding boxes that are set in/covered up/trimmed by wood is a huge pita (if you dont have a Fein tool, plan on buying one). Ditto tile on kitchen backsplashes.

Holiday lighting, they'll probably run thru bedrooms and garage windows, so an(-other) AFCI/GFCI breaker is needed. Those sill-lites are pricey ($18 ea on a good day). You need a better/more detailed list of what the builder wants to give an estimate that wont sink you.

I'd get a complete list, price out the materials, figure out labor, price out w/e tools you may need to buy to do the job, figure out profit you want, and submit the bid. If this is for a customer where there may be lots of change orders, make sure your contract covers them, and make sure the language is advantageous to you.

 

[readydave8]

basically would you run living, dinning,and hall off same circuit?

On a house like this I would want to know something about the lights, sometimes see chandeliers with over 1000 w even in simpler houses

 

[cdslotz]

Well...now you have two bids $26K apart....now what are you gonna do?

 

[brantmacga]

bidding residential

you nailed it with your guess, we are doing everything you mentioned. basically complete home automation and security. Sounds like about same job other than generator.

If you're doing full automation also, you need a lot of details on that. If you don't have any drawings and specs, I suggest you offer to do this for them and charge for the time. I do very little residential, but I've done some custom homes recently. Just finished one that had automation; 2200 sq ft heated, 4000 sq ft under roof and the bill came up to $80k. Base electrical was $25k, the v/d/v, alarm, and control systems added another $55k. When doing lighting automation you may as well figure $150-$200 per device, plus the cost of the actual control unit.

Currently in the middle of a 6500 sq ft home with no control systems, basic spec grade devices, and my price is $50k. LV contractor is doing alarm and multi-room audio and that will add another $15k or so.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fulthrotl]

Welcome to the forum.

$26,950 here would be a steal. You move here and I'll sub that work to you and make a killing. As Cletis stated we would be closer to $40,000-$50,000.

The problem is that each area has different rates so depending where you live things may cost quite a bit more

yeah. not quotable, as we don't know where the job is located.

it all depends on knowing your marketplace. i've got a friend who does
high end doors, millwork and such, in newport beach and the gold coast.
he's been at it for 35 years, and he's good. people wait for him...

so, it' a rich and famous customer list, etc. he can charge pretty much
what he wants. but his builds are in the 200 door range, for a single property.
he cuts his own veneers, and bookends grain. there aren't that many folks who
do that level of work, in a timely manner.

then there are the rest of us. the last time i quoted a custom house down
in huntington harbor, i took off the material, and i have a very good wholesale
house, and the winning bid was less than my cost of material, without markup.

how do they do that? damned if i know. i do know that without a clear scope
of work, i'm not a sparky, i'm a design consultant, working for free.

that's why i quit bidding work on the gold coast. there is never a scope of work,
everything changes six times, and they never want to pay for your time.

 

[kwired]

yeah. not quotable, as we don't know where the job is located.

it all depends on knowing your marketplace. i've got a friend who does
high end doors, millwork and such, in newport beach and the gold coast.
he's been at it for 35 years, and he's good. people wait for him...

so, it' a rich and famous customer list, etc. he can charge pretty much
what he wants. but his builds are in the 200 door range, for a single property.
he cuts his own veneers, and bookends grain. there aren't that many folks who
do that level of work, in a timely manner.

then there are the rest of us. the last time i quoted a custom house down
in huntington harbor, i took off the material, and i have a very good wholesale
house, and the winning bid was less than my cost of material, without markup.

how do they do that? damned if i know. i do know that without a clear scope
of work, i'm not a sparky, i'm a design consultant, working for free.

that's why i quit bidding work on the gold coast. there is never a scope of work,
everything changes six times, and they never want to pay for your time.

I'd guess they either went broke, found a way to even the score with add-on's, or maybe never even finished the project before getting fired from the job, or simply disappearing.


Never a scope of work doesn't help. I get that a lot, and have to include in my "estimates" statements that tell them them it is only an estimate based on the best of my ability at determining what is desired, and usually a description of what I intend to install. There are still many jobs lost to someone that didn't include everything I did - then they make up for it with add-on's. Then afterward the customer complains how much they went over what they planned to spend on electrical - and sometimes all I can say is I gave you a lower estimate then what you ended up paying and included everything you ended up with:roll:

 

[JFletcher]

yeah. not quotable, as we don't know where the job is located.

it all depends on knowing your marketplace. i've got a friend who does
high end doors, millwork and such, in newport beach and the gold coast.
he's been at it for 35 years, and he's good. people wait for him...

so, it' a rich and famous customer list, etc. he can charge pretty much
what he wants. but his builds are in the 200 door range, for a single property.
he cuts his own veneers, and bookends grain. there aren't that many folks who
do that level of work, in a timely manner.

then there are the rest of us. the last time i quoted a custom house down
in huntington harbor, i took off the material, and i have a very good wholesale
house, and the winning bid was less than my cost of material, without markup.

how do they do that? damned if i know. i do know that without a clear scope
of work, i'm not a sparky, i'm a design consultant, working for free.

that's why i quit bidding work on the gold coast. there is never a scope of work,
everything changes six times, and they never want to pay for your time.

Yep, that's why change orders are to be paid 100% up front before any materials are ordered or work will begin. I started doing this after a motel owner we were wiring the v/d/v for refused to pay for any of the numerous changes and additions to the plans. If you're not local to the job, make sure per diem, lodging, extra trips charges, etc are included. The things are too much to absorb a loss on yet frequently not expensive enough to spend time pursuing.

We lost a fair amount of v/d/v bids to the job's EC; at the time, the economy was tanking, and some companies were taking jobs in the red on smaller projects just to keep the manpower and skill around for the larger, more lucrative ones. Some, the profit on the electrical side was high enough to practically give away the v/d/v. Some were simply underbid*, and others were using incredibly cheap materials, no frills at all; some hotel bids we lost to for the v/d/v were just the hardware, no software, no PBX or its programming. We couldnt deliver a turnkey system for a barebones, backbone only wiring system.

*We inherited some of these jobs where the LV crew bailed mid project or earlier. The majority of the time, the other guy's lowball work was so bad fixing it involved a pair of Kleins and numerous trashbags.