During a doctor visit, the MD asked how much a second service would cost, as he was planning on changing part of his house to a rental unit. I told him what I thought it might cost, but suggested he contact an EC for a real estimate. What I told him is that he will want all of this to be legal, not only will it protect him, but the utility will want all of the work inspected before they connect to the service. The price range I told him he might expect was 2500-5000, depending on the conditions of the work. He then asked why it should be so expensive. I tried to explain to him the associated costs, but I don't think he accepted this. I have read similar posts to this, and have seen this reaction before from other people when I have quoted work. Potential customers need to understand that they are paying for work to be installed so that it will not fail over its lifetime, and licensed and insured EC's are the best way to do this, and gave him the numbers of several that I have worked with in the past, and that they can walk him through the process. I thengave him a scenario of what might happen if he hired a group of "we can do it all" day laborers to do this. He can make all of this happen by guiding the work himself, but if it fails inspection, costs start adding up. If the inspector misses something, and problem developes down the road, the lawyers will be involved, then he will see the real cost of getting it done cheaply. Just thought I would sare this with the forum.
