Price per Outlet in EMT

[Sparky555]

I don't price per outlet, but I just worked out the numbers on a recent addition that was about 50 wall & ceiling outlets. It's all EMT, 12ga stranded, circuits included. It worked out around $300/outlet (including minimal demo & a few fished switch legs). I needed to work this out because I was thinking they work out to $150/outlet. Are there any contractors pricing EMT/outlet (wood frame)?

Dave

 

[Brian J.]

I don't give a per outlet price unless they want to know a unit cost for adding or deleting. But I came up with about $187 per outlet (no demo) using diecast setscrew fittings. With the recent spikes in steel and copper, unit pricing these day's can be awefully risky. You might have been able to do $150 per outlet a year ago and probably still could, but you are cutting into your margins, and if they are anything like mine, there is not much to cut into. Dave, can I ask you how you got to the $300 per outlet price. Just interested.

 

[Sparky555]

I don't give a per outlet price unless they want to know a unit cost for adding or deleting. But I came up with about $187 per outlet (no demo) using diecast setscrew fittings. With the recent spikes in steel and copper, unit pricing these day's can be awefully risky. You might have been able to do $150 per outlet a year ago and probably still could, but you are cutting into your margins, and if they are anything like mine, there is not much to cut into. Dave, can I ask you how you got to the $300 per outlet price. Just interested.

I divided the completed contract price by the number of outlets.

Dave

 

[480sparky]

I divided the completed contract price by the number of outlets.

Dave

That's assuming your only costs are material and labor. That's a poor way to figure a job. You also need to consider your overhead, which will not change much if you add or delete one opening.

 

[Sparky555]

That's assuming your only costs are material and labor. That's a poor way to figure a job. You also need to consider your overhead, which will not change much if you add or delete one opening.

My OH is covered in the contract, therefore covered in the per opening price.

Dave

 

[480sparky]

My OH is covered in the contract, therefore covered in the per opening price.

Dave

So if your contract states 20 openings for $1500, will you come to my job and install one opening for $75?

 

[emahler]

So if your contract states 20 openings for $1500, will you come to my job and install one opening for $75?

you are misunderstanding his question....

 

[480sparky]

you are misunderstanding his question....

He says he has 50 openings. $150 per is what the division works out to. So he bid the job for $7500. But $150/opening isn't how to bid the job. Youll lose money pricing a single-opening job at $150 per. It costs the same in gas to drive to the job to install 50 openings as it does 1, so the price per goes down the more you have to put in..... cheaper by the dozen. If he can make money at 150/per for 50, would 100 cost $15,000?

 

[emahler]

no...he did his take offs and came up with $7500 for 50 openings ( based on his materia, labor, oh & profit....as a sanity check he divided $7500 by 50...

 

[active1]

$45-$55 in Chicagoland. Using 12's and comercial would be on the higher side. Small jobs with only a few openings I get $75 and maybe a service call charge. I know $45 wont win you much for new construction right now unless it's a custom job. I would bet there are places doing pipe for $35-40 here.

 

[Sparky555]

My OP was a little fuzzy. I got $300/outlet in the paid contract. A large CO saved me because the original bid $150/outlet plus homeruns & extra for 4-way switching & a 240V cct. If I was more detailed in my breakdown I'd count the fished switch legs and 240V cct higher & end up around $275/general purpose outlet & SP switches (including homeruns & breakers).

Active1 gave me the answer I was looking for, unbelievable as it is. A GC friend in Chicago area in 1985 was paying $35/outlet in NM, although I think he said he only counted a switched ceiling light as one outlet(switch & light).

That's why I don't work new construction for GCs.

Dave

 

[s.sparkomatic.r09]

The main part of all my work is 40~45 an opening EMT wood stud. It works well if you have a crew and really knock it out. Its more a speed thing.

 

[active1]

Just a few years ago other EC were still getting $35-40 an opening in pipe.
It's sad when some places the ropers are getting more than the pipers.

The lower prices here are IMO because:
1. A large influx of undocumnted workers
2. No standard or statewide testing or experiance requirements for JW. Only city/village testing. Pass in 1 place and your good for the state.
3. Easy to start a EC business. Don't even need to have an electrical license holder.
4. Too many new EC start-ups. They think they will get rich but don't know how to price or run a business.
5. Unemploied workers are taking small residential projects.
6. Volume of work is down.

 

[petersonra]

Just a few years ago other EC were still getting $35-40 an opening in pipe.
It's sad when some places the ropers are getting more than the pipers.

The lower prices here are IMO because:
1. A large influx of undocumnted workers
2. No standard or statewide testing or experiance requirements for JW. Only city/village testing. Pass in 1 place and your good for the state.
3. Easy to start a EC business. Don't even need to have an electrical license holder.
4. Too many new EC start-ups. They think they will get rich but don't know how to price or run a business.
5. Unemploied workers are taking small residential projects.
6. Volume of work is down.

thats just the normal ups and downs of the construction business. If you are trapped in it, you have to learn to live with the fluctuations.

A friend of mine installs flooring, mostly in new residential construction. He was working 6 days a week, 10-12 hours a day, until a month or so ago. Now he is lucky if he works 20 hours a week.

 

[peter d]

Just a few years ago other EC were still getting $35-40 an opening in pipe.

$35-$40 for a receptacle box opening using EMT????? Why even bother getting out of bed? I would sooner work at McDonalds then install electrical work for that price as an EC.

 

[mdshunk]

$35-$40 for a receptacle box opening using EMT????? Why even bother getting out of bed? I would sooner work at McDonalds then install electrical work for that price as an EC.

I don't really know anyone doing romex that cheap per hole. I'm sure there are some, I just don't know them.

 

[peter d]

I don't really know anyone doing romex that cheap per hole. I'm sure there are some, I just don't know them.

I don't either.

I was really taken aback to hear they pipe houses in Chicaogland for that kind of money.

 

[tmbrk]

It depends where you work. I hear in the city proper it is more like 95-105 per. I think Active1 is refering to the areas outside of the city and suburbs. Remember, Illinois does not regulate at the state level. At the county level I know that Kane and McHenry don't require licensed electricians in unincorporated county areas. They also allow NM. I know builders that do their own electrical work there. Unlicensed sidejobbers run rampant in these areas. When you are working in a municipality and must be licensed and registered you can charge more. I would bid out at 65-75 per single duplex receptacle or s.p. switch. I would go up from there. (ie. GFCI, recessed cans, 220v, etc...) but new residential is not for me. Why waste my time when service work pays alot more?

Edit to add: Since the housing bubble has burst, maybe that's what guys are charging now? The prices I showed may not be applicable anymore.

 

[tmbrk]

And I have to add that if you are used to installing EMT it goes fast. I just completed a rewire in McHenry in NM. I am not used to working with it and what an eye opener. It is a whole new world unto itself. The EGC adds time to land in the box. Lots of home runs where in pipe you can pull mwbc to a j-box. So EMT might seem like alot more to you because you might not normally install it.

 

[Sparky555]

The main part of all my work is 40~45 an opening EMT wood stud. It works well if you have a crew and really knock it out. Its more a speed thing.

I know a union carpenter who says the EC has 2 days to rough the house. It sounds like a speed thing.

Dave