I got a call last night from a homeowner who needed a service upgrade. He had a fried leg in the meter socket and the power company gave him 48 hours to get the upgrade done.

I went out this morning and found out the homeowner just bought the place and it's under warranty. I would need to call the bank to get the price authorized.

It's an overhead service & would need to be upgraded to meet the current standards of the power company and current codes.

That means a 2in. Rigid Steel conduit mast that penetrates the roof, ground ran to within 5ft. of main water line, ground rod & main breaker needs to be outside. Neutrals & grounds are currently bonded in the interior panel which is an old federal pacific panel. This would all have to be corrected and new SER cable ran to the panel about 20ft. The meter will have to be relocated from it's current position about 5ft. away. The old service will need to be removed.

I priced this at $2,500 and planned on replacing the federal pacific panel. I called the bank and gave them my price. He said the electrician they normally use could not do the job until tuesday so that's why they called me. He said my price was way too high and that their electrician was going to do this job for $900.

I explained he must not be planning on doing anything on the inside of the home and that he must be planning on just installing the meter main on the outside. I explained that if he doesn't make changes on the inside as well, the installation will not meet code.

I can't imagine even doing just the meter main on the outside for $900. He's still has to run a ground to the water line thats about 75ft. away & drive at least one ground rod & the only place to drive one without drilling a hole through the conctrete driveway is about 20ft. away.

He has to coordinate with the power company and the city inspector. Here the power company has to cut the power and the inspector has to call it in to have it hooked back up. He will need to go to the city offices and pull the permit.

I told the homeowner I wished him luck because for $900 I can imagine what kind of job he'll get. I'm sure they'll install the minimum 100amp service. I always upgrade to a larger service & put in a larger than necessary panel so they'll have plenty of capacity to add central air, a hot tub, etc.

I've gone out to many peoples homes that want a hot tub installed or something else and when I tell them the panel is full or the service is too small they often say; I just had this all replaced not too long ago.

$900 for a service upgrade?
I'd like to see someone justify that.

I'm going to have to go visit this installation to see what kind of fool would do this and what a $900 installation looks like.

I thought my price was low.


[This message has been edited by A-Line (edited 11-17-2006).]

[This message has been edited by A-Line (edited 11-17-2006).]