I started out in the trade working for a company that wired over half of the houses built in a city of 50,000. The key was standardization and buying material in mass quantities. Rarely went to the supply house. Everything you needed to rough and trim was in the shop. Load the truck and go. Every house was wired with the same standard.
I wired a 6,500 s.f. ranch style home a couple of years ago. We did everything; 400A service with subpanels, lighting control, home automation, structured wiring, audio, networking, home theater. Bid the job directly to the homeowner. He said my electrical bid was 30 percent higher than the other bidder. I told him to hire the other guy. He said he wanted me to do the whole job. I told him my bid was final. We did the whole job. The house next door was even bigger than this one and had a 200A 40 circuit service, no subpanels, wires doubled up on breakers, and was wired by the low bidder on my project. Some people have a hard time understanding the cost of quality work.
