MRS. CLEAN wrote:
farseer wrote:
Can someone assist with helping figure out if i am being charged a fair
price

I live in a very old home and am in the process of modernizing it. I
already had some major electrical work done. The old electrical panel
box was in the basement. We kept that there and installed a new box on
the 1s floor. This controls the first and second floor. The old
panel box controls the basement and some outlets on the outside of the
house. The house also has the gas and electric meters in the basement.
i'd like to do the following:

-I'd like to replace the old panel box with a modern one in the
basement. The old panel box uses those old screw in fuses. There are
also al ot of old wires running to that box that we don't think is
being used. some are not even connected. In fact, it seems like the
electrician that installed 1st floor box also ran some wires to this
one, some of which was not connected
-I'd like to also move the utilities meters to the outside of the home.

I live in Yonkers (Westchester), New York. Can anyone give me an
idea what a job like this would cost me? One electrician that comes
highly recommended stated that this type of work would run me around
$3k, but is willing to do it for me for $2100. He says it is a full
day job.

thanks much

Buy your own parts and materials, then pay the guy hourly.

Know the job, or you'll really pay.

A full day at $70 per hour is $560 labor. Parts? get them yourself or
you're getting screwed without being kissed.


That simply isn't true. I buy the parts for my customers and I get a
much better price on them then they could get. Since I'm in the
electrical business rather then the tax collecting business I don't mark
them up because I'd have to get a resale tax number and collect sales
tax. If your electrician tries to charge you a higher price then you
could buy the same materials retail then call her/him on it. If he/she
is willing to go through the resale process to stay square with the
state then they are as entitled as any other merchant to a mark up to
cover the cost of acquisition. Some cover those cost by marking the
materials up and some by charging for the hours spent on acquisition.
Either way that time must be paid for. This business is competitive
enough that anybody trying to gouge on materials is shooting themselves
in the foot.

I tell anybody that insist on buying the parts for their work that if
they make a mistake they must eat the lost time. I get two hours,
Monday through Friday during the day, every time I set the emergency
brake on the van in front of your house. If you want to take a chance
on eating two hours of paid time then that's fine with me. Thing is you
get a better price and I have to eat the mistakes I make when I buy the
parts. On a small job you might come out ahead by a few dollars. But
on anything larger you will do better having me buy the materials for
you. Another point is that when customers insist on buying bargain
basement parts I will not warranty that work.
--
Tom Horne

"This alternating current stuff is just a fad. It is much too dangerous
for general use." Thomas Alva Edison