Just curious to know what some of you estimate for hours. Run a 60 amp 4 wire feeder with pvc (70 ft) hand dug,main panel in basement, install normal receptacles, lights, and wire up a furnace. 60 amp sub-panel with grounding electrode. Nothing out of the norm, just ball park to check to see if I'm too low.

It would all be pretty straight forward except the hand digging. I'd call a trencher for 70'. Do your best to break it down into smaller tasks. Add up the tasks at your normal rate with materials. Add profit and you'll be fine.

Dave

I agree with Tiger- The labor spent digging 70' to the proper depth would be more then enough to pay for trencher. A trencher will give you a better job also - when all is back filled just a 4" wide path to seed!

Ken

Why make a project out of it, 6" deep RMC less digging.

with the cost of rmc right now i'd go with the pvc

We save money using RMC even at the increased cost , the labor is the real cost,
30% cheaper job using RMC.

LK, trenching or hand-digging?

A friend of mine said he'll bring his small back hoe and trench the 70' for $100, cheaper than a rental and no trailer or delivery charges. I thought about rmc but this particular job just seems easier to run pvc right out of service panel through basement and out with an LB, plastic is just so darn easy to work with and cheap, 1" is .32 cents per foot. One question I have though is concerning the friend with the back-hoe, if he isn't insured I think myself or the homeowner might be taking on undue liability, what are some thoughts on this? Do you guys ever get help from buddies, etc and consider the liability involved.

Backhoe ? in someones yard ? think about this tire tracks in the yard, minimum of a 12" wide trench. torn up sod , a whole lot of hand raking doing back fill and filling in the tire tracks. I think a backhoe to be extreme in this case. I would have added the cost of rental of trencher into the job. whats a trencher cost to rent? how much more then $100.
Take no offense these are just my thoughts based on alot of commercial trench work.

My rental last month of a trencher was $145/day. They set the cut for 6". If it had been flat a 65' run would have taken 30 minutes.

(The area tilted, and had obstructions, so it took a little longer to rassle with the machine).

Don't forget to call JULIE
(or whatever you underground utility locatins service is called near you)



[This message has been edited by DougW (edited 06-03-2005).]

Yeah, you make a good point about the tire tracks and extra work involved, I will go with the trencher for a bit more for a cleaner job.

For the residential trench we usually hand dig the 6" trench. over the years we found there were more costs involved with the trencher, machine problems, roots, buried bricks, clay, sprinkler pipes, cable lines, and setting up, so for 6" trench hand dig just goes fine, and we get a line mark for every dig, if we can't dig it our hands we have it line marked, the cable company has runs as little as 4" and another great find is gas lines going to pool heaters and back yard grills, the fine here in Jersey is steep, and many EC's still have accidents even with the line mark.
Oh ya, famous last words, it's the backyard, and i looked and there is nothing there, just dig the thing, get it done.

[This message has been edited by LK (edited 06-04-2005).]

I have two things to focus on: the trench, and the garage itself.

Know your local conditions; out here trenchers are not usually effective, due to the large amount of rock. So I use a backhoe or excavator. Our local codes also really like the trench to be 2 ft deep, even for pipe. Finally, our soil is quite corrosive, so oversized PVC is the way we go, sith sched 80 for the parts coming out of the ground.

I said "oversize" conduit because I've seen too many garages, especially detached ones, become either "mother-in-law" apartments, or workshops. The larger pipe lets you pull larger wires later.
In a line manner, work is cheap while the walls are open, and even though the code may not require it, I'd try to place receptacles where the fridge, workbench, air compressor, and table saw are likely to go. You might even go so far as to pipe to a large pull box on the far wall.