The houses I've worked on, we usually mount the disconnect box so that
the wire goes into the house by way of a hole in the back of the
disconnect. We then use a grey "whip" from the disconnect to the unit.

In any case, the wire that is exposed to sunlight should be grey.
Which is UV resistant. Might only have to replace the wire from the
disconnect to the unit, if the wire which is indoors is OK. Who said
you had to replace all 30 feet of wire?

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"ET1742" wrote in message
. ..
I am trying to get an idea of what is a "normal" hourly rate for an
electrician. My reason for asking is that I would like to find an
electrician that I can use who would bill me "time and materials" --
that
is, "X" amount per hour plus the cost of materials. That way, when I
have
electrical work that needs to be done, I can skip all of the back and
forth
let-me-give-you-an-estimate for each and every job. I can have the
company
send someone out and know they can just do the work and bill me by the
hour
plus materials.

For example, if an electrical contracting company said our charge is
$120
for the first hour, then $80 for each hour after that, plus the cost
of
materials, I would be fine with that.

Today, I needed a simple job done -- replace a 30-foot length of 220V
10/3
wire that runs from the main panel box to the cut-off box outside for
the AC
condenser unit. It is all easily accessible in a high ceiling
basement and
the line needs to go through a plain cinder block wall. The line
needs to
be replaced because the outside insulation on the portion that is on
the
outside of the house is coming off almost completely leaving the black
and
white insulated wires exposed to the elements. I thought the person
coming
out would just do the work and bill me for his time and materials.
Instead,
he insisted on preparing a whole work order which I agreed to, and
then he
will come back tomorrow and do the work. The cost is $395 based on
two
hours of work at $175/hour (his time estimate), plus materials.

I agreed to have it done simply because I need it done, and because it
is
for a house I own that others live in so I want it done by a licensed
electrician rather than do it myself.

But that started me wondering -- if I have a lot of other electrical
work
that I want done (which I do) in two other houses that I own, do I
want to
be paying $175 and hour for an electrician? I don't know what the
company
is paying it's worker, but I'm guessing less than $50 per hour. Throw
another $25 per hour on for benefits, down time, or whatever and that
still
leaves the company making $100 an hour to cover it's overhead,
insurance,
etc.

I am definitely not cheap, so it's not about me wanting to nickel and
dime
anyone. But isn't $175 an hour for an electrician over the top?

I live in New Jersey.