I just got my first call for a house to wire. It's a remodel with bare
studs and ceiling, just like a new home. I dont really know how to
price it. The house is 1648 sq ft. It needs a new service too (200 amp). The we aggreed on 3500, but above and beyond that it includes 6 phone outlets, 3 recessed cans, 6 dimmers ( 3 that are 3 ways), and 2
outside lights. I think it will take a day to rough and a day to trim. I starting to think twice about this price. I was hoping to get some feedback on this.

Sid in Atlanta, Georgia

Hi Sid.

I'm about 100 mi. north of you.

Maybe Electric Eagle can give you an idea about that price. He's in the Atlanta area.

That would be a little low up here,but then again I couldn't rough it in a day,nor trim it and build the service in a day.

Russell

3500 Is that american dollars?
That is way way way too low. Also you are way off on the time you will need for the work.
I'm at $6500.00 just quickly adding in my head.

[This message has been edited by Electricmanscott (edited 01-18-2005).]

Hello Sid,
I'm in Alpharetta. We would be probably $6000 - $7000 or more for that house. We also probably would not get the job, but we would lose money at your price. Are you supply materials? How many people do you have helping you? If you're doing the work yourself and don't have any overhead, you won't lose money, but you'll barely make wages. Also keep in mind that old wood is very hard to drill.

My input may be skewed a little because I haven't seen the house and we mainly work on heavily wired custom jobs. If this is minimaly wired, you may be OK. Email me if you like, I'll be glad to give you any help I can. Also, if you want some sub work, I could talk to you about that too.

I remeber my first house. It was sort of intimidating. I have always itemized each of the outlets (that's lights too) and I apply a standard cost to them. If they're atypical they get special consideration. Subtract the standard stuff from the job and what's left you can break down into hours and materials.

There's no mention of the kitchen. There's a lot of cost in there.

I agree you're to low.

Whats the average hourly rate out there?

How big is your crew?

I assume you're in a pipe-free area (unlike Chicago, conduit capitol of the free world )

How'd you arrive at your number?

Sid that does seem low. I do basements that cost almost that much just south of you. Like was asked, how many people do you have to rough this thing in a day?

there's 2 of us.

sid, here in Pa, I use $4.25 sq/ft as a start.
That's for the basics. No High hats, no dimmers, nothing special. That includes the service, switches and receps and light boxes in all rooms. From there I go up.

telephone= 55 each
cable= 55 each
High hats= 75 each, standard 6" white
and so on and so on....

The extras is where you make your most money.

good luck......

(one more thing, customer will supply all fixtures)

[This message has been edited by Dnkldorf (edited 01-19-2005).]

Be careful with customer provided fixtures. They love the home depot specials. You might be building that junky fixture for half an hour before you discover it's really really hard to get installed.

I like to do T & M for customer provided.

Sid, good luck!!! I'm at the point where I'm waiting to trim a house just as you mentioned. The studs are really hard to drill and to nail boxes to. Another thing to keep in mind is if anything is going to be relocated such as the A/C, water heaters,kitchen items, additional rooms etc.

DKLDRF wher @ in PA?

denny, just south of Quakertown.




[This message has been edited by Dnkldorf (edited 01-19-2005).]

Unless you are Superman and your buddy is Spiderman you will not do the job in 4 man-days(32 hours). National construction estimator says 80 hours journeyman labor to wire a typical 1600 sq.ft. house. Old wood has nails hidden in it and will split when you nail it. My guess is 100 hours, rough and finish. At $50 per hour, that is $5000. Keep track of your hours and tell us when you are done. I like to have owner furnish and pay for all fixtures separately and I do not go to the job finish until they have all fixtures and can lite trims, etc. on site.

Don't let them scare you. Even if you don't make a lot of money at it, at least learn from it. As you're working, make detailed notes of the time you're spending. That way you'll know your time on the next bid. Break it down into as many pieces as you can.

Keep track of all your materials including drill bits, which the guys think you'll be burning through. When it's all done, add it up & see how you did. Some jobs work out better than others, but almost all of them beat sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.

Do your best work regardless of the profit outlook & you'll be asked to bid on another one. Your ace-in-the-hole is a change order.

If they ask you to change anything be prepared to say "That's an upgrade from the plan, I'll work it up for you for a Change Order", or something to that effect. Forget about what seems fair, this is your only chance to make up for under-bidding.

Dave

I am not trying to scare you...just be realistic. Even at your price you can make over $30 per hour... and learn a lot ...that is the key ingredient as mentioned above. Go for it.

I would bid it at $5 per sq ft. This includes the service but no recesed lights. It does include basic telephone and cable TV. 1 each per bedroom and 1 each in living rm as well as 1 each in kitchen.
I also would not tell the customer that you bid by the sq ft. This way if they add something you can just give them a cost for every item.