ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area QO 200A Replacement Lugs?

I can't beleive there are so many threads on this subject. Walk away... don't spend one second longer thinking about this situation.
Time is money and you are not making any, spending so much time on this. Know when to say no... Know when to walk...

We are in this business to make a profit!!!
Be honest, but don't be stupid....

I said it. Time is worth money! How much would a new loadcenter cost? He already said that it is going to cost him about $60 to make this panel work. If he has to run around buying parts he is loosing time that could be spent making money. I don't know what the rates are in his area but around me you can charge between $75 - $100/hr so it does not take long to make up the cost for a relative inexpensive item. If this was my project I would just buy a new panel and make up the cost somewhere else.

I am in business to make money. If I do jobs that cost me money what is the point. I think eating the cost on anything (except your own mistakes) and thinking you will makeit up later is generally bad policy. If I am spending time seacrching for an item for a customer it is on their bill. I don't understand how this will cost him money either way. It may cost the client more in the end to make this panel work. I would let them know this and let them decide if they would like a new panel at THEIR cost.

If this is a neighbor, family member, or friend disregard everything I just said. I know how that goes!

Well, it's the uncle of the possible future appretice I may hire...

It'll be the second "paying" job I ever did in my hometown... (The first one was the service in the "Mission Impossible" thread)...

But, I also think you are right, I've wasted so much time on it just pondering what I should do, that it's made it not worth it at all...

Actually, I have worked putting in a new sub panel and disconnect after a lightning storm a few years ago at my step-dad's dairy. I charged them $12 per hour because it was an insurance job (rather than free)... He'll never hire me again because I'm too expensive and too hung up on code. My own family...

It's a tough area...

Electricmanscott - If there is a problem with the panel or any other item before a price is give then by all means the owner should be charged what ever it takes. I was just assuming that he had given someone a fixed price to do a job and told them he could reuse the panel but didn't realize that the lugs were bad (his own mistake). I think we have all had fixed bid projects with material or labor cost overruns. I agree with your statement that making up for the cost somewhere else is not a good business practice but sometimes its the only way to make up the loss on something the owner should have paid for in the first place. I have been asked many times to reuse electrical equipment to save money but I always tell the customer I will figure on using all new but if I can make reasonable use of items I will credit them the cost on the final bill.

Curt

admirable perserverance Virgil

I forgot to mention:

This job is straight-up T&M, not even an estimate...Not even a "shoot from the hip" "ballpark" figure verbally!... I think that is a first for me...

Oddly enough, he was willing to pay $75 more for PVC and RHW-2 as opposed to SEU for the more robust installation...

I think I can talk him into a new panel, especially after I tell him that the PVC route is roughly the same cost as the SEU route.

Interestingly, this service is going into an old school building that will be converted into a dwelling. <paul harvey>And now for the rest of the story...</paul harvey> The bank building in the Mission Impossible thread, and this old school building, along with many other houses and buildings in the old town of Williamsburg, West Virginia, were hoarded by an old lady who let them rot until the day she died. Then, just recently, they've been auctioned and everyone's trying to salvage what they can. The owner paid less than $5000 for the property with the old school and was immediately offered $8000 for the wormy chestnut that it is made out of.

He won't sell it. He's restoring it. I like that.

[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 09-29-2002).]