jaylectricity
Senior Member
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Occupation
- licensed journeyman electrician
I know I write a lot but I read a lot of threads where the OP flys through his story asking for advice where everybody has to ask questions to figure everything out. Please bear with me.
The ringing of the phone woke me up this morning at about 9am. It was the first time I slept that much all week. It was a lady who had been referred by one of my original customers (MOC) from when I first got my license. MOC has always gotten pretty good prices from me.
This lady had just purchased the house next door to MOC and last night most of the power in her house went out. She specifically used the words, "I know it's Saturday but I was hoping you could come over..." As she described it, "everything is out except for a light in the kitchen, the fridge and the front porch light." Right away I knew that she was probably missing a phase.
She was off to Boston but she said that she left the house unlocked. I went over and opened the panel and tested the legs on the main. They were both hot, but the busbar was only hot on one phase. The breaker was installed on the busbar the same way any two-pole breaker would be and it was obviously damaged by heat and corrosion near the busbar. Oddly enough the more physically damaged pole was working but the other was not.
I just so happened to have a fairly new 100 amp breaker for that panel complete with screw and washer to lock it in that I had robbed from a demolition over the winter. So I went outside and pulled the meter off so I could replace the main breaker. I called the supply house to find out the price on a similar breaker of $35. Everything was all set, probably took me less than an hour for everything involved.
The way I see it I charged $50 to open the panel, $100 to pull the meter, $60 for the breaker and $40 to actually pull the breaker off, turn 2 screws two different times. I called the lady but before we got to the money part of the conversation she asked what to do to prevent it from happening again. I told her that the previous owner was probably giving the breaker a workout and she may want to upgrade her service. She said she planned on remodeling the kitchen (It was a big size kitchen) and putting an addition plus other remodeling. She also mentioned that she had been speaking to contractors who all agreed she needed to upgrade her service.
After I told her how much to write the check for she just repeated in a seemingly calm tone, "Two hundred and fifty dollars? OK." and we said goodbye and hung up.
I won't lose sleep over charging $250 to get out of bed on a Saturday on short notice and restore power to her house, but do you suppose she'll consider me for that other work she wants to do? I wondered if her contractors would probably have their own electricians anyway.
Any thoughts on the price, and what you might believe this customer is thinking about would be appreciated. Thank you.
The ringing of the phone woke me up this morning at about 9am. It was the first time I slept that much all week. It was a lady who had been referred by one of my original customers (MOC) from when I first got my license. MOC has always gotten pretty good prices from me.
This lady had just purchased the house next door to MOC and last night most of the power in her house went out. She specifically used the words, "I know it's Saturday but I was hoping you could come over..." As she described it, "everything is out except for a light in the kitchen, the fridge and the front porch light." Right away I knew that she was probably missing a phase.
She was off to Boston but she said that she left the house unlocked. I went over and opened the panel and tested the legs on the main. They were both hot, but the busbar was only hot on one phase. The breaker was installed on the busbar the same way any two-pole breaker would be and it was obviously damaged by heat and corrosion near the busbar. Oddly enough the more physically damaged pole was working but the other was not.
I just so happened to have a fairly new 100 amp breaker for that panel complete with screw and washer to lock it in that I had robbed from a demolition over the winter. So I went outside and pulled the meter off so I could replace the main breaker. I called the supply house to find out the price on a similar breaker of $35. Everything was all set, probably took me less than an hour for everything involved.
The way I see it I charged $50 to open the panel, $100 to pull the meter, $60 for the breaker and $40 to actually pull the breaker off, turn 2 screws two different times. I called the lady but before we got to the money part of the conversation she asked what to do to prevent it from happening again. I told her that the previous owner was probably giving the breaker a workout and she may want to upgrade her service. She said she planned on remodeling the kitchen (It was a big size kitchen) and putting an addition plus other remodeling. She also mentioned that she had been speaking to contractors who all agreed she needed to upgrade her service.
After I told her how much to write the check for she just repeated in a seemingly calm tone, "Two hundred and fifty dollars? OK." and we said goodbye and hung up.
I won't lose sleep over charging $250 to get out of bed on a Saturday on short notice and restore power to her house, but do you suppose she'll consider me for that other work she wants to do? I wondered if her contractors would probably have their own electricians anyway.
Any thoughts on the price, and what you might believe this customer is thinking about would be appreciated. Thank you.
