"Chris Lewis" wrote in message
...
According to Eigenvector :

That's the problem, all I've been hearing all day is "Sorry we don't give
estimates over the phone. click" Hmm.

Well, I wouldn't expect them to either. If you got that $2500 over
the phone, that's the electrician covering his ass for the "jackpot!"
he's half-expecting. They can't tell what needs to be done over
the phone, nor can we over the Internet. Eg: does the service
entrance have to be redone, how much does he have to do to provide
a code-approved mounting, etc.

Get them out to give you an estimate.

_If_ the existing installation is good enough that the job is
nothing more than a basic panel swap, $2500 (not including
panel/breakers) is _way_ too high.

But, if there's no ground, he's probably going to have to install
a proper grounding electrode system, redo the service entrance,
likely do some carpentry to make an acceptable mounting
arrangement, and do some timeconsuming and awkward things to
re-establish the circuits. $2500 may be reasonable for that.

My SIL's new (old ;-) house needed: the service entrance and
cable replaced, a disconnect and splitter box removed, main
shifted to what had been a subpanel, the panel moved a few
inches out from the wall, a length of conduit secured to the
wall properly, and a couple of outlets got their hot-neutral
reversed (they were wired backwards). Took two guys two days. I
believe it was around $2000 (the previous owner paid for it).

She had them back for another job (about a day and a half)
while we were visiting. These guys were good, no wasted time,
_excellent_ workmanship, and they didn't do things that didn't
need to be done.

I'm pretty good with electrical work. But, I'd hire these guys
in a flash.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

Thank you that puts the costs into perspective and makes it seem more
reasonable.

I've seen the $2500 dollar guys work, at my office, their work is within
reason (I had to escort them in sensitive areas) and I know a few of them
that work for this outfit (although not well enough to hit up for side
work). I think I'll give them a call on Monday and set something up - the
independents who wouldn't even give me their hourly rates will just have to
miss out.