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Where in the heck do you live? I am in Sevierville, TN, licensed, 10 yr experience and a union member, meaning I was trained through a 5-yr apprenticeship program. I do side work while laid off between jobs and if I try to charge over $30/hr people get huffy and tell me they will call someone else. Maybe if I had a fancier truck I could charge that much? That, and I am a lady which presents it's own challenges (I've had people here tell me if they knew that they wouldn't have called me) so it can be diffocult sometimes to keep a smile on my face. $90 an hour would certainly make me smile.
I use to get the "can I talk to your husband" thing too!!!! Now the contractors and most people want "girl power" wells. Hang in there!!!!
Thanks for your thoughts. With everyone's thoughts put together, I feel better about the amount of money I paid.
Thanks, everyone. I can relax a little better now.
Yeah, but I think $90/hr. was too much. The time was right, remodels are unpredictable. Wire is expensive (copper), don't know how much he used. I think the material costs were probably fair. Dimmers can cost too, but 90 bucks? I'll say this, yes I don't know about comps. in your area, but if he was a one man show? I say you got taken on labor costs, not padded hours, but per hour change. I think 8 hrs is spot on for what he did. I'm in CA, labor is high here. But if a guy, even a contractor, was a one man show and told me 90/hr. I'd say, "take a hike, what do you think you are a plummber?"
I've been quoted $95 per hour for electrical work in South Carolina.
A crew? I mean does this guy have employees?. One guy, one truck, his tools, contractor or not, hell no $90-$120/hr. I say no more than 60/hr for a one man show.
A crew? I mean does this guy have employees?. One guy, one truck, his tools, contractor or not, hell no $90-$120/hr. I say no more than 60/hr for a one man show.
Yeah, but I think $90/hr. was too much. The time was right, remodels are unpredictable. Wire is expensive (copper), don't know how much he used. I think the material costs were probably fair. Dimmers can cost too, but 90 bucks? I'll say this, yes I don't know about comps. in your area, but if he was a one man show? I say you got taken on labor costs, not padded hours, but per hour change. I think 8 hrs is spot on for what he did. I'm in CA, labor is high here. But if a guy, even a contractor, was a one man show and told me 90/hr. I'd say, "take a hike, what do you think you are a plummber?"
I think it was an electrician and helper... Regardless, I think it was fair, especially if he did a nice clean job and the owner was satisfied.
People who think $90 an hour is too high for electrical work have no idea about overhead or how to run a business. Ever had your car fixed? Had your lawn mower repaired? Your appliances repaired? Plumbing? A/C or heater fixed? What price do you actually think is priced into the repair? I understand different parts of the country are different but come on.
I have hired this electrician before and liked his work. So I just hired him again to install three 6 inch canned lighting, three 4 inch canned lighting, an exhaust fan (exhaust pipe was already there), and switch out lighting over my desk area in the kitchen. He also switched out a light fixture on the exterior wall of my garage. He charged me $90.00 an hour plus materials.
Bill came to $1,000!
Does this sound reasonable for the work performed? Any electricians out there that can tell me if I was taken for a ride this time around?
I had a lot of work done, for about half that, but that was just because I knew a electrician. The price sounds about right, that doesn't make it reasonable, that's just what people are charging these days. A lot of that stuff is kind of easy though with a little bit of reading up, even the can lights aren't rocket science if you have power already. Different story if you have to run power.
I have hired this electrician before and liked his work. So I just hired him again to install three 6 inch canned lighting, three 4 inch canned lighting, an exhaust fan (exhaust pipe was already there), and switch out lighting over my desk area in the kitchen. He also switched out a light fixture on the exterior wall of my garage. He charged me $90.00 an hour plus materials.
Bill came to $1,000!
Does this sound reasonable for the work performed? Any electricians out there that can tell me if I was taken for a ride this time around?
I'm in a similar predicament. I recently had an electrician give me an estimate for putting in six 6 inch canned lighting and he was charging$65 per light which came out to $400 labor not including materials.
I don't know if I will use him though because if he puts holes in my drywall, he claimed that he won't paint over it and it's my responsibility to paint over the drywall. And I heard he can be sloppy when it comes to marks on the ceiling and making sure the holes are properly sized.
If this person provides quality work and is efficient ( does the job in a day) that extra peace of mind would be worth it to me. I once hired a handyman to put in 12 ceiling lights and 3 fans. He was cheap ($600) but he took 5 days at 10 hours each day to finish the job. He was clearly confused about the wiring so I don't want to go back to him.
Recessed lighting is surprisingly expensive; around $80 per can in NEW construction. You can add at least 50% for retrofit work bringing the cost to $120 * 6 cans = $720 bucks for the 6 canned lights alone. Sure, they only cost about $15/can but they are either despised by electricians, or a ton of work to put in. The fact that there is usually 3x the amount of cans vs. a typical light fixture and that the bulbs are expensive doesn't make them the cheapest way to obtain illumination, but they sure do look great!
The person who complained about the electrician not painting the drywall is humerous, after all, he's an electrician, not a painter. If you want to pay $100/hr to have an electrician do what you can do for 1/10th the cost then go for it but you have to put this requirement into the contract BEFORE the work is started. To expect this to be added now as a freebie is a bit much. BTW, he also won't typically install a duct for an exhaust fan so having a duct available or not would not impact the electrical bid.
Where I live, this type of work is required by law to be done by a licensed electrician OR the homeowner (himself, not with a buddy who once added a breaker to his service panel) along with the appropriate permits, of course. Using a 'handyman' or Jose from the corner where all the 'independent contractoristas' congregate is really not the way you should go.
Last edited by Tyman; 02-26-2010 at 09:08 AM..
Reason: Had to add some comments
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