I am interested to know what some of you guys who do a lot of residential spend in approximate time per opening for rough-in and trim-out (Romex). We are a small shop and we do everything from small residential to 1600 amp three phase services. We usually get the commercial and small industrial jobs done within budgeted time but we seem to be way slow on residential NM jobs. What are we doing wrong? (FYI my guys are good workers who don't waste time or take too many breaks, etc. so that is not the problem.) We get the residential services (200AMP underground) done in 10 to 12 man-hours and I think that is ok but the rest of the jobs are averageing over 80 min per opening (rough and trim together). Any ideas or comments? Bob

The 80 minutes sounds about right, or a little low for a standard construction home, every structure will have different conditions to consider, that is why we don't use a per opening price, we found the best way to estimate a custom home job, was to do takeoffs from the plan and use our actuals for pricing, then use a square ft. price to check against our price, this allows us to bring the job in with a profit.

Job conditions can, either speed a job up, or slow a job down, things like type of framing used, heigth of ceilings, how many holes required, will other trades be on site at rough in, is there a rough plan, or is it plan as you go, will there be any changes on site, due to other trades, using your planned space?

One thing that will really slow me down is clutter all over the floors. Some jobs have more lumber strewn about than they used to erect the walls. I have to keep unsnagging my romex from under trash. So how is the jobsite conditions? Are you trying to get pipe benders to pull romex? Is it cold outside? There are a million things that could be wrong. What you ought to do is hire my expertise and fly me out to your state, (of course I require the fancy hotels, and unlimited expense account). I can take a look at your sluggards and tell you what they are doing wrong, and get them whipped into shape in no time. But it will cost you......

The National Construction Estimator says 80 man hours to wire an average 1600 SF house. I do not think that includes cable TV and phone/computer wiring which I figure adds about 10 more hours to the job. But all the electricians I talk to say they can wire a tract house much faster than that.

I agree “[t]here are a million things….” that can impact the cost of wiring a house. For example, recessed cans add costs since they take longer to install than the “ average opening” One major one you might consider is the configuration of the crew. In the state I work in, you are allowed 2 apprentice type helpers per journey level wireman. If it is a tract house that the journey level guy has wired before, and if he is any good, he can really cut your costs with two helpers. PS I would come out and help if you put me up in a 3 star hotel and provide a generous expense account.