Originally posted by jeff43222:
Why are all those people getting hack service upgrades?
I didn't ask, I can only speculate but my hypothesis usually end up pretty close to the mark...
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Moderator's Note: Edited to remove comments that strongly favored one side of matter of union versus non-union. We're not going to have that discussion on this Forum.}
Now for the latest "story." I just completed the installation of a swimming pool and outdoor spa I need a service upgrade... badly. I'm thinking a 200a meter main and an outdoor sub with a 150a to re-feed my existing house panel and it's sub (load isn't all that but I have lots of dedicated circuits) and a 60a to feed the pool panel.
The 1" PVC from the Spa/Pool panel to the meter area is already in and pulled (and "temped") and ready to land.
I want this service underground. I no longer use Verizon landlines I'm totally on the cable company's coax which provides my broadband and Vonage telephone service. My service POE is directly in line with the pole that feeds my home, and on my side of the street.
It is not worth it to me to do this myself. I've completed enough "projects" these past 2 years and don't want to get involved in another major undertaking after building an outdoor kitchen, a 45' x 32 oval deck surrounding the pool, a hot tub deck, a Tikki bar, I'm shot.
I called a local EC to take this matter off my hands a "just do it." I'd call a union shop but none of them will do a residential job, they're not equipped for it, and neither am I since I'm work-based in Manhattan where nothing of a residential nature is even used, (save NM for temp lighting.)
IF I dig the trench, I was quoted 3400.00. 2 men for one day. Permits and inspection. (I already have the #6 at the meter location from the water meter)
With the trench dug, this is just a run of the mill service upgrade, even though I'm going from overhead to underground. But that's not how things are done here on Long Island. The price you're quoted has no bearing on materials, labor or a set markup or a set profit margian. It's always based on what neighborhood you live in and what you're driving and how much the estimator thinks you'd be willing to pay.
I got estimates for tree work. I got quotes for the same trees, same work, same parameters, ranging from the guy in the HumVee who quoted 3200.00, a suit-and-tie estimator for a well-known tree service in a BMW for 2800.00, to the self-employed independant contractor with the old pickup and needed-paint-badly chipper who got the job for 850 for him and his partner.
So, to make this long story even longer... the reason so many people get hacks to work for them is because there's only 2 choices... pay through the nose because every legitimate business owner (and the illegitimate ones) think they're entitled to live like royalty while paying their employees starvation wages... or go with the side work guys or smaller upstarts.
BTW the only really "hack" part of these upgrades is the lack of the final proper termination to the utility's triplex. I would even prefer a burndy split-bolt connection with a little de-ox and a tight wad of friction tape, over those spliceless self-piercing bolt-on connector blocks.
[ September 09, 2005, 03:49 PM: Message edited by: charlie b ]
