ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Business Related Discussion Labor hours for residential garage

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.