romex pullers

[growler]

Well, I'm pretty sure I can wire a house for $30,000 a so there is money to be made.

I can wire a house for $10,000 and make money if it's the right house ( small track ). I can wire a house for $50,000 and lose money if it's the wrong house ( large custom ).


The real factor here is time, if the original poster can finish the job in the time that he has calculated then he will do OK. If this job takes an extended peroid of time then he will lose.

He does have the advantage of having worked with the builder before.
I have worked with some of the local builders and know they can be slow as Christmas on jobs like this. This would factor into the price.

If I find a builder that can knock one of these big houses out quickly then the price would go down.

I don't know of any homes of this size ( 7600 sq ft ) that are being built in any of the cheaper sub-divisions, they are normally 3000 sq ft or less. Normally a 7600 sq ft home is built in a high priced area and will sell for a million plus, in this area. For some reason poor people don't tend to build big houses.

 

[fisherelectric]

Mark said: "It's sort of pointless. I am 100% certain that the same house in your market costs half as much to wire in my market."

What do you think the causes the disparity? Why would it "cost" twice as much to wire this house up there than down here (or vice versa)? I noticed all the New Jersey, RI, NY, Conn. guys were saying 80k to 100k for this house. I can't imagine material costs are that much different and time is time...we all seem to be charging about the same hourly rates on T&M jobs. Codes are basically the same(except maybe if your from Chicago where you"ve got to run conduit in houses). The housing market is crazy here...this house was built in an old
('40s) neighborhood where the builder paid ~600K for a tear down and built this house which he'll probably sell for 1.5m or more (if he can in this market)and yet there's so much competition for work here that the price for wiring this house really doesn't have that much relation to the cost of the house. The cost of the house is related to the cost of the lot...the cost of wiring the house is related to the size of the house (and what's in the house)...not the cost of the house.

 

[fisherelectric]

Growler said: "The real factor here is time, if the original poster can finish the job in the time that he has calculated then he will do OK. If this job takes an extended peroid of time then he will lose."

This is right on the money. The key is to make it clear that you won't even start the house until it's totally ready and cleaned up so you can get in and out. With custom houses where they are making it up as they go it's a whole different ball game....I quit doing them because of the time involved...like Emahler was talking about 2 years. In those cases it has to be all about change orders and keeping track of everything you touch or you will lose your shirt.

 

[Curtis4President]

My company is in the Seattle area and aroud here it is as cut throat as can be. I would say 21,964 roughed in to CODE only. Trim at T&M, 55per hr Jman, 35 per hr APP. Plus 30 % on material cost.
If they want more, I let them know with a written estimate. We charge per item after Code. IE: Cans, ded ckts, chand boxes, everthing.

I just won a home on the island 4200 SQFT, Cans , xtra outlets, smart LV wiring, Stair lights , alot of stuff other than code required.

Rough in bid: 34,978

As always the point is to put food on the table, Agree???:grin: :grin:

 

[electricmanscott]

The cost of the house is related to the cost of the lot...the cost of wiring the house is related to the size of the house (and what's in the house)...not the cost of the house.

You could not be more wrong. Wll maybe you could but either way you are incorrect. Think cost of living....

 

[fisherelectric]

Point well taken, but I do try to reflect the cost of living in figuring
my hourly rates when I bid these houses and how much time will be involved. This is why Rewire said this same house in Missouri would go for 20 to
25K....different cost of living. I think around here the cost of housing has gone up so fast that the trades haven't kept up. Maybe this house should have gone for $45K...but somebody would still bid it under $30K because they would still make money. I pay my 2 electricians $30 per hour and both have to live over an hour away to afford to live. Most of the skilled tradesmen around here live 1 to 2 hours away. POCO engineer told me they're going all over the country offering $5000.00 signing bonuses to linemen and still can't get any because none of them can afford to live in this area on their pay.

Thanks to everybody for input.