Price Per Rec. for change out?

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guitarchris

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Central North Carolina
I had a customer ask for my rate per device for receptacle and switch change out. Do any of you guys offer it like that? I end up just telling her that it would be time, materials & profit on materials. We did the job and I guess could figure out about what it averaged out to per device if I took the time to.
 
guitarchris said:
I had a customer ask for my rate per device for receptacle and switch change out. Do any of you guys offer it like that? I end up just telling her that it would be time, materials & profit on materials. We did the job and I guess could figure out about what it averaged out to per device if I took the time to.
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Whole house I would say 20-25 per Gfci 30-35 per all tr higher number.
 
if they were old backstabbed neutrals, that would increase the time on the job by double, so it seems hard to throw out figures like that.
 
you never know what you are going to find when pulling devices out in peoples houses. aluminum, zip cord, coax, twisted wires with tape on them, wires in romex cut so short you can barely splice a pigtail on them, etc

if you give a per device price, you need to have a rider they sign noting there could be additional work needed once a device is removed.
 
Whole house? Standard receps/switches, 15 ea, unoccupied/no furniture.

If it's occupied I'd have to take a look. Heavy pieces can take 1/2 hour to unload and move. Legs can break off tables and things can get damaged even if you are careful.
 
220/221 said:
Whole house? Standard receps/switches, 15 ea, unoccupied/no furniture.

If it's occupied I'd have to take a look. Heavy pieces can take 1/2 hour to unload and move. Legs can break off tables and things can get damaged even if you are careful.
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good point. Then there are the people with the broken plasma tv they got off craigslist for $50 that insist it worked before you moved it / worked on the outlets / looked at it / walked in the door......and demand it be replaced.
 
wireguru said:
you never know what you are going to find when pulling devices out in peoples houses. aluminum, zip cord, coax, twisted wires with tape on them, wires in romex cut so short you can barely splice a pigtail on them, etc

if you give a per device price, you need to have a rider they sign noting there could be additional work needed once a device is removed.
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very true. and just when I think that I've seen all the crazy stuff a home owner or handy man can do...boom they surprise me with the most off the wall, unsafe pile of you know what.
 
Rewire said:
What you want is Flat Rate Pricing. The concept behind flat rate is you take an average cost per outlet from difficult to easy.
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not quite...flat rate can have 3 different prices (easy, med, difficult) or it can have 1 price that is an average. It can have add on prices for replacing broken boxes, repairing grounds, etc...

the only thing every flat rate system has in common is that it's not T&M...it's a fixed price for a fixed service...the price and service can vary.
 
"We did the job and I guess could figure out about what it averaged out to per device if I took the time to. "


well why dont you do that, and get back to use

I am with the $15 to $20 crowd

I would have given un up front price


lets see how you would have came out - run the math
 
Another problem is grounding. If there's no ground present, you either have to install an ungrounded recep or GFI it somehow.

I've seen this happen all too often..... all grounded receps but not a ground to be found. You start to change them out, and the price just went up.

Price it as a worse-case scenario. No sense loosing your shirt over it. If it ends up being a cake-walk, drop your price and they'll be ecstatic.
 
When you replace them do you install them ground up or ground down?

Kidding, kidding!

If someone calls on the phone and asks I respond with something to the effect of "We start at $15 per location. Depending on what we find in terms of grounding, potential unsafe wiring methods or particularly large pieces of furniture in the way the price can go up from there."

If they are interested from that point we can negotiate what upcharges there would be for various issues. If there is some serious issue than we stop work until a price/ agreement can be worked out.

I figure about 6 an hour in a good environment. About $12 in material leaving $78/hr. Maybe not retire early money but not awful.
 
I agree with wireguru ! You just can't price things that you can't see? If you want to gamble--go to the race track--at least you can sit down while you gamble. What ends up happening is the home owner probably is getting a price from a handyman too--and he doesn't know, nor care, what problems he can run into. Just consider the cost of finding three or four 6/32 screws frozen and you break them off when removing??? Explain this to the customer and the fact that you are there to do the job "THE RIGHT WAY" not the fastest way !!
 
I go onto those jobs looking to make some money. The customer gets exactly what they wanted, which is new devices and plates, usually decora white for this type of job. Just about every single time there are a few hang ups not for every outlet, but some just like Charlie pointed out. Or the box is too small for all the wires in there, or something. So I flat rate the whole thing at level difficult and if they get price shock, well thats the rate folks take it or leave it. My price is usually about 60% of brand new house wiring outlet per. Upsize boxes are on my dime but- I make it plain in my contract proposal that if I have to run any new cable its more. If there is no ground wire present and its not full size- more. Aluminum?- more. Existing hack add ons - more. Not uncommon to remove a plate and find some zip cord double lugged onto the terminal screws running off in the wall someplace- Fixing that = more. I say at least very minimum is 55 or 60 bucks an oultet. Think Like MR. Electric and Thrive.
 
macmikeman said:
I go onto those jobs looking to make some money. The customer gets exactly what they wanted, which is new devices and plates, usually decora white for this type of job. Just about every single time there are a few hang ups not for every outlet, but some just like Charlie pointed out. Or the box is too small for all the wires in there, or something. So I flat rate the whole thing at level difficult and if they get price shock, well thats the rate folks take it or leave it. My price is usually about 60% of brand new house wiring outlet per. Upsize boxes are on my dime but- I make it plain in my contract proposal that if I have to run any new cable its more. If there is no ground wire present and its not full size- more. Aluminum?- more. Existing hack add ons - more. Not uncommon to remove a plate and find some zip cord double lugged onto the terminal screws running off in the wall someplace- Fixing that = more. I say at least very minimum is 55 or 60 bucks an oultet. Think Like MR. Electric and Thrive.
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Good post!
 
wireguru said:
good point. Then there are the people with the broken plasma tv they got off craigslist for $50 that insist it worked before you moved it / worked on the outlets / looked at it / walked in the door......and demand it be replaced.
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Another good point. I havent had this problem before with a customer saying this item was working before I got there but I guess its a matter of time before it happens. Would it be a good idea to check out the entire house before you start . I have not done this in general but it may be prudent will this upset the customer for the extra time billed for something that is working properly or are you protecting yourself from a customer looking for a freebee.
 
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