HFC MC Cable

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Riograndeelectric

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Lakewood Colorado
I have a servcie call to install 2 oultetls in a doctors office.
the office for which these outlets are to beinstalled were prviouslly used as exam rooms but know are used as an office.

2 questions.

1. I was quoted 198.00 for a roll of 12-2 hFC mC cabel is why is this cbale so high priced. I know about the redunted Ground thing .

2. since this is now an office and not an exam room do you think I could get by in using regular mc cable.

I can only charge for the amount of Material used which would be about 30 feet and then I would be stuck with a partial roll of cable.
I do not do that much work for this Doctors office . it might be several months before I need the HFC Cable agin.

thoughts?
 
I figure my cost is roughly a dollar a foot, so your price seems correct. If it is for an office it would not require a redundunt ground, only rooms that contain patients would need it. That's my opinion.
 
Riograndeelectric said:
// since this is now an office and not an exam room do you think I could get by in using regular mc cable.
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Probably. What's that room called on the prints, if any? Lacking official prints, it's just an office. Use regular MC if you want to.
 
Riograndeelectric said:
this is an existing Doctors office and adding 2 outlets. in what used to be an exam room but is now an office.
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That's really border-line, in my opinion. When that place was constructed, the approved prints more than likely called that room an exam room. They're using it for a lesser use, which is fine. The fact remains that this room is still approved for the greater use. For that reason, I think I'd wire it with HCFC. That's just me talking, though. Don't suppose your supply house will sell you a cut piece?
 
If I bid a job and I don't have any partial rolls of wire in stock to use on a small project, I include the cost of whole roll of wire whether I need 10ft or 245ft.
I agree with Marc use the HCFC cable. If this room was ever converted back to an exam room it wouldn't be code compliant.
 
Marc you are right . the original prints listed the room as an exam room . while this is know being used as an office I think you are right that it could be retruned to use as an exam room.

does any one know why HFC Cabel is so expensive as compared to regular MC.
 
Riograndeelectric said:
does any one know why HFC Cabel is so expensive as compared to regular MC.
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Simple laws of supply and demand:

240px-Supply-and-demand.svg.png


Your cable falls closer to where "D1" is written on the graph.
 
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charge them for the full roll, but they own it and you wont charge them for the cable on future work until the roll is used up.
 
wireguru said:
charge them for the full roll, but they own it and you wont charge them for the cable on future work until the roll is used up.
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I suppose that's one route. I'd rather charge for the "job", include the price of the whole roll in the cost, and keep the roll myself.

EDIT:

I thought I should qualify my comments above a bit.

When doing service work, such as adding a couple receptacles, it is important to complete the job with as little fanfare as possible. This is especially important on commercial work and work for the high-end client. The less you have to discuss anything with them the better. The goal is to have them point and grunt "me want one here", and you just make that happen quickly and efficiently. If you can do your work without interrupting anyone, being in anyone's way, having to ask where something like the panelbox is at, that is the best case scenario. If you feel some overwhelming need to explain why you are using special cable and why the customer has to buy the whole roll, they're going to think you're some sort of weird-o. They hired you do put a couple receptacles in, so make it happen and write up the bill. The less discussion and fanfare, the better. Do it, and disappear. They hired you because they believe you're going to do it to code, so resist the urge to explain codes and installation methods to a customer who probably doesn't care about any of that. They just want a couple extra receptacles. The ideal commercial service electrician would be a mute invisible man. The one possible exception would be on commercial work where your contact person is the building engineer or maintenance department chief. Those people enjoy discussion on possible alternatives sometimes. It is important, however, to gauge whether you were called in just so they don't have to "think" about the particular electrical project. Sometimes electrical subs are called by building engineers because they have enough on their plate already.
 
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good point Marc. It had slipped my mind that these types of clients just want their 'outlet right there' and dont really care to know anything beyond "ok your outlet's in"
 
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