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I hired an electrician via recommend from someone who has used him and that person has done quite a bit of work for us. I tried getting more bids but no call backs or responses and wanted the work done, so I figured Id go with the craftsman recommended guy. I know its a crapshoot and I usually get multiple bids. Just had plumbing work done by another and first bid was 13k without any new stuff, next bid was $6200. The work was completed and I feel ok becasue the scale of the work was pretty large and took a few days.
Im just feeling really stupid right now. I did get an estimate and online stuff looked middle of the road but< i will tell you about it and lets see from some of the electricians if I got the shaft perhaps.
About 10 hours total, I paid for the permits. 50a circuit to jbox other side of house about 30ft. My box is 200a service and newer but its a big house with lots of stuff in it so it has a bar between a bunch of breakers. Also we just bought the house.
That was $750, i know wires not cheap and I expected an outlet as it was for a car charger. After researching/learning. I decided to maybe use it for a hot tub later.
We moved w/d out f the basement to the first floor "mudroom" so another 30a new from the box, 40 ft. Also a dedicated 20a for washer, same distance. All of this is easily accessible btw in an 8ft basement out to a clean crawlspace to the mudroom. The dedicated 20a was $420 ad dryer was $540. so those two side by side were $960.
Next was grounding a bunch of outlets in a room $370. It ended up being one outlet at the beginning and an easy new romex to that outlet, accessable too. Essentially maybe 2 hours, 1 piece of yellow romex.
Another was a gfci on the front porch for power tools/whatever else. No outdoor plugs in front and extension cords out the window suck.
The last thing was an undersink dedicated for instahot and disposal. I guess i expected flushmount but it was conduit and metal box. Not a big deal, just swapping sinks maybe and cleaner. Maybe that was too much to expect and thats fine.
Ok so w permit it was almost $3200. I did get the estimate but assumed some sort of padding but not $200/hr.
I think what chapped my ass was I cleaned the ceiling out in the basement, being anal and trying to be cool and he didnt clean **** up. A little broom but the ceiling is saw dust from drilling holes and the floors are terrible and even some debris wire pieces, etc. laying on the ground.
I know I agreed to this but I really figured more than 10 hours. I dont drink or anything but still dont wake up early. i work from home so work alot and whenever so getting up for 9am appt I dont like but I feel like I need to be accommodating. I think I was friendly, I know you dont get up their ass but I did have to ask some q's due to how vague the work estimate was.
Maybe its not as bad as I think but adding up retail costs which his were probably cheaper, it feels like he could have included permit cost or at least cleaned up or even accept cc. I didnt say anything because I couldnt really quantify. I just wanted it done.
If a job is overestimated by a trade pro and is much easier. Whats do you do? Do you split the difference? Take it and think "yeah , I made so much on that fool". I know there are shisters and I screwed up by needing it done quick. The plumbing was twice as much but really happy with that job. I guess im fine with the work but zero communication. Maybe im just sad because I just spent 10k after buying a house and I feel like hanging myself occasionally with the whole last few months. I wont but serious **** feelings that go with long move/business being down due to move. A lot of stress is all.
So, anyone chime in on whether I got the shaft? Did I do fine? If you did that in 10 hours, would you have done anything different. Ive paid craftsmen before and respect those that can do more than I. I like building and whatenot but no time or experience in some cases.
I must add one thing in his favor kinda. He was waiting for inspector so pulled a few obsolete items off basement ceiling, fan can, switch. One more ungrounded plug that was 6ft away and accessable.
Maybe IM being a baby but this one doesnt sit well but its too late and I guess there is nothing to do but more scrutiny and dont trust others becasue someone else uses them.
You paid 3k for ALL of that? I just paid $2,400 for just the first thing on your list (to include permits/ inspections).
You were paying him for a scope of work; he gave you a price and you agreed to it. Done.
You can't retroactively equate this to an hourly rate. That's not your agreement. Appears this guy is good at what he does and gets it done quickly. He should not be penalized for this.
I already said I agreed to the price but still dont feel good about paying any electrician $200/hr no matter how good. I wasnt being rude and took responsibility for the whole thing. The materials werent $1000 so it was more than 200/hr.
Not cleaning up after yourself is not cool. I just had a plumber here who trashed the place drilling through the wall and ripping out pipes days prior. He left it clean. Ive paid a lot of tradesman and pros over the years for various stuff and cant think of another time when I felt like this. Ive done stuff open ended as well. So the only thing you can say is hes smart and i'm not. I didnt think he should have given the money back and I paid right away but in my area I think I paid too much.
I should have assumed I will im sure have much more scrutiny going forward.
Did I mention the mess? In the living part of the house and who cares about the basement but youre being paid too much to not use a shopvac after drilling through floor joists. Mine was even sitting there plugged in. Nothing like paying someone $200+ and hour, then cleaning up after them. You should have to ask pros to do that.
I do really understand not charging too little so youre not screwed. Im a business owner myself but, I will perhaps stick to hourly rate in the future.
Im guessing 2 of you are tradesmen by the amount of posts you have. 14 and 8k. Perhaps not but the only people i see on boards in my interest areas with that many are the pros.
The other question was, if you pulled in more than $200/hr do you just think your way worth it and thats that or do you shave a little slice off the bill? You budgeted 15 hours and got it done in 10, is that just your skill or the fact that the home owner took a lot of time to clear the paths and clean up for you may have something to do with it.
<div>Hell, <br></div><div><br></div><div>I thought I was on a tradesman/home forum. Just looked at some of the stuff on city data and didnt realize I was on a forum about anything and everything. I guess I will post elsewhere as the responses may be peoplewho have not much knowledge of the jobs or trades. <br></div>
<div>Hell, <br></div><div><br></div><div>I thought I was on a tradesman/home forum. Just looked at some of the stuff on city data and didnt realize I was on a forum about anything and everything. I guess I will post elsewhere as the responses may be peoplewho have not much knowledge of the jobs or trades. <br></div>
Even for a HCL area - seems excessive to me.
Sorry, that the electrician played on your desire to have the improvements done and nobody else was interested. Here, nobody calls you back for a simple repair- they only come if you can spend thousands on a project. Some simple electrical work could be learned by the homeowners or find a handyman.
Like they say you can have it done good, fast and cheap, but not 3 at the same time.
I think you need to stop dwelling on this: learn a lesson and move on. Otherwise, in addition to money you lose your health. You can’t get some of your money back, but start telling about your experience to whoever listens...
Meantime, enjoy your improvements and feel lucky that you were able to afford this projects.
<div>Agreed. I can actually do quite a lot myself and do but I also run a busy business so not much in the way of time. <br></div><div><br></div><div>Heres what makes it better. I took my outlet tester to the outlets I paid $360 to troubleshoot and ground. One he said was dead is actually ungrounded on the bottom and my glow pen shows life in the top but doesnt register on the outlet checker. Another outlet in that circuit is still ungrounded. So a few fixed, a few not and one told it was dead. I double checked befroe pulling the outlet and covering with a blank. <br></div><div><br></div><div>I called him to come straighten that out. Its one circuit that was all ungrounded and now its half ungrounded but told it was resolved and certainly was prorated for parts not grounded. I guess I will give him **** about the mess too. <br></div><div><br></div><div>My wife is like "were we supposed to feed him or something too". <br></div><div><br></div><div>So he made $200+ an hour, didnt fix all that was listed and didnt clean up. Are electricians supposed to get paid for trying? <br></div><div><br></div><div>My health is good but selling 2 places, buying one, moving big inventory business and home into one big one maybe gives people the impression that we have more money than we do as its a big nice house old house but, its in a crap school district and houses a business that would cost 3k+ month to lease elsewhere. I wondered if people were going to be weird becasue we have a nice house as weve just traded up a few times and are still scrubbs. That may give people the excuse to stick it to them. <br></div><div><br></div><div>Still the faults mine for doing too much. I really couldnt put learn proper electrical on there atm but I will be a ****head in the future. Well see if he calls me back. if I dont hear back maybe I'll put a stop on the check. I'll still pay but I want the work done satisfactorily. <br></div><div><br></div><div>BTW, I belong to a few other forums and all of the ones sponsored by companies have trolls that quickly answer anything and everything. they have thousands of posts and if you look at their history , they look like they answer 10 times a day for 10 years. Is that a thing here or is this just a cool place to hang out and there are people who answer everything for rep points? Im seriously curious. <br></div>
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