A lot comes down to the cost of labor vs the cost of wire and how fast you want to go.
I do notice less wire in the dumpsters these days. I used to "dive" for wire and came home with a bunch everytime I went looking. It always amazed me what I came up with.
One day I came up with about 400 feet of "flooded" phone cable that looked like it came off a broken spool. I admit it was a pain untangling and rolling that rat's nest but it really only took about an hour. That was pretty pricy stuff the last time I bought some, now I have a lifetime supply.
Same withalarm cable, CAT 5 and RG-6 quad shield.
I don't know how many pieces of Romex I have picked up that were 15 or 20' long but I will look through the pile before I cut a piece from a new roll. I try to roll them so one wrap is 3' to make them easier to sort through.
The FPL contractor is always throwing 20-30' pieces of 4/0 al triplex away. They seem to guess wrong a lot on the service laterals. I can't find a good use for it either.
