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We recently had two electricians come give us estimates to add outlets and some new light fixtures. Both electricians were highly recommended by friends and both said that they would only do the work on an hourly basis. Both said that the work would probably only take a day. One asked $75/hour and the other asked $65/hour.
No mention was made about the cost of materials, which my husband and I thought were fairly small because we were needed the outlets and wire. We even bought the face plates ourselves.
The work actually took almost two full days which was fine and we did not quibble with the gross underestimate of time. We were expecting a bill for around $1000-$1200. We just received a bill for $2400. The bill does not itemize materials.
Can anyone help me understand how the electrical materials are more than the cost of the labor?
We got:
-8 regular, inside outlets
-3 outside outlets
-4 boxes for one new light and three smoke detectors. (we bought and installed the light and smoke detectors)
-enough wiring for all that in a 1400 sq ft, 2 story and a basement house.
I don't have a problem (in this instance) iwith the per hourly basis. It is an old house, so who knew what would turn up? My husband was in the house and helping the entire time, so we know how much work was done.
My question is: does anyone know how the materials could be so expensive?
What does one do when given a bill that seems so out of line with what was discussed?
We recently had two electricians come give us estimates to add outlets and some new light fixtures. Both electricians were highly recommended by friends and both said that they would only do the work on an hourly basis. Both said that the work would probably only take a day. One asked $75/hour and the other asked $65/hour.
No mention was made about the cost of materials, which my husband and I thought were fairly small because we were needed the outlets and wire. We even bought the face plates ourselves.
The work actually took almost two full days which was fine and we did not quibble with the gross underestimate of time. We were expecting a bill for around $1000-$1200. We just received a bill for $2400. The bill does not itemize materials.
Can anyone help me understand how the electrical materials are more than the cost of the labor?
We got:
-8 regular, inside outlets
-3 outside outlets
-4 boxes for one new light and three smoke detectors. (we bought and installed the light and smoke detectors)
-enough wiring for all that in a 1400 sq ft, 2 story and a basement house.
Thank you for helping.
It does sound a bit high, but there are a lot of variables. If it took twice as long as both of the Electricians who came out to look at the job thought it would, the guy you hired probably ran into some problem areas and had to go different routes for some of the runs he had to make. I once had to run 80' of wire to go from a switch to overhead light (on the surface it looked like it should take about 15-20 feet of wire TOPS) in an 12X12 room in an old house.
At $65 an hour 2 full days (16 hours) would be $1040. At $75 it would be $1200. If the Electrician supplied ANY materials at all it would have been over your expectations. Wire isn't cheap right now a 250' roll of 14/2 is between $45-50; 12/2 is $65-75; 14/3 (for the smoke detectors if they are connected to each other) is $70-75. If everything is close and there is no problems or oddball runs needed you could easily run through a couple rolls of whatever size he had to use. It also depends on what type and where the outlets are located. Are they Arc-fault, or GFCI's (the outside ones have to be GFCI protected). None of these are $1 each Home Depot items. They are $12-40+ each depending on what type you wanted and needed. If he ran them to new breakers that is another $5-25 each depending on type and size.
Lots of missing details that should have been discussed: Permit? Inspection? Existing space for new circuits on the main panel? Way to legally create new branches w/o illegally "burying a junction"? Type of required wiring / conduit? Access from above / below? Clearance along outside? Need for weather proof outdoor NEMA box?
Personally I do not think that you are being grossly overcharged for the total job. While it could certainly have been done far more cheaply in some areas the fact is that in my metro areas there are relatively few "electrical supply houses" and most electricians do not like to go to places like the big orange box and put all the supplies on their own credit cards so they pass along the higher costs of running 60 days net pricing onto to their clients.
It was only one electrician on the job, so 16 hours at $65/hour or $1040.
My husband was present the entire time and there were no weird problems that needed to be overcome with biblical amounts of materials.
I am probably overlooking the cost of small items like the cost of the connectors, but for the outlets, boxes, and wires, the total would seem to be about $250.
Is a 560% markup on materials customary for electricians?
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