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We're building a new house and just got a shock from our electrician. We were presented with a bill for things we added during construction that is almost double the original contract. Our original electrical plan was not skimpy, so we're astounded and distressed that the charges could amount to so much. We'd really appreciate it if an electrician would give us some prices for the bigger ticket but common items that we added, such as wiring for a dishwasher or an a/c system. Please send me a PM and I'll forward the list.
I'm not an electrician, but have been doing an extensive remodel(basically rebuilding) a house. I'm a bit surprised at what you mentioned in your post. If you're building a house, I'd assume you had a general contractor. if that is the case, it sounds like they should be dealing somewhat with this. I can see you getting involved with extras, but not with the main electrical bid.
maybe I'm beating around the bush here, but basically if you're building a house, what you mentioned as "extras" should be in the intial bid. it really shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that you had central AC or a dishwasher and that the wiring for those should be done. Either they were left out of the origional bid intentionally or unintentionally.
normal "extras" are adding high hat lights, sconces, extra outlets and fans. these can come out to be a lot depending on if you went crazy adding a bunch of these items. However, the basic wiring of rooms, appliances and ACs I'd be surprised to see as change orders.
did the electrician just do these things? did they say "hey you have central air here, do you want me to wire it? it will be X?"
I don't have estimates for you since 90% of the wiring I did myself as the homeowner. The other 10% is done by an electrician.
We're building a new house and just got a shock from our electrician. We were presented with a bill for things we added during construction that is almost double the original contract. Our original electrical plan was not skimpy, so we're astounded and distressed that the charges could amount to so much. We'd really appreciate it if an electrician would give us some prices for the bigger ticket but common items that we added, such as wiring for a dishwasher or an a/c system. Please send me a PM and I'll forward the list.
Thanks much.
I just finished building a new house and know exactly what you're going through. Upcharges and work order changes can be a very rude awakening. That said, everything, and I mean everything that is being done at your new home is negotiable and you should not accept whatever initial price is on the first bill the electrician gives you, or any sub for that matter. By the way, why is the electrician giving you the bill and not billling through the GC? I'm not an electrician but if it's a new house, then it should not be that expensive to add wiring for a d/w. Wiring for a central AC unit is definitely more complicated and could be a little expensive, but if it's a new house, then your electrical work was substantial and if the house was literally wired from scratch when there were no walls, you're probably getting worked over a little, unless they needed to significantly change how much electrical capacity goes through your house.
Unfortunately, in order to win your construction bid, your GC probably gave you a bare-bones price and was expecting you to add things to recoup some of his margin. Any GC who tells you they don't count on upcharges to do that is flat out lying to your face.
The good thing is that your GC mainly works on referrals and probably wants to keep you happy so that he can use you as a reference, but you should have been given a price for the additional work BEFORE it was done. At the very least, you should have been told approximately what the extra work would cost so you could decide if it was worth it.
You might do better if you get a non union electrician,as long as he is licensed by the town and gives you an Underwriter Certificate upon completion there is no need to over pay for union wages.JMHO
Thank you all for your advice and support. We plan on negotiating and are trying to gather information on reasonable charges to help and could still use input from an electrician.
We do have a GC, but he's rarely at the house. We've had to do the supervising and it's been more than a full time job that's required us to learn far more about building than we ever wanted. It is a totally new construction so access was easy.
We added some things during construction, such as radiant heat, an additional a/c and heating zone. Also the kitchen portion of the original proposal was short on standard items like a dishwasher, microwave and range hood! The electrician was remiss in never giving us change orders and we were negligent in not asking.
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