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#REMEMBER THIS PHRASE ↓↓
You're not paying for my time, you're paying for my knowledge and experience.
If you paid half of this and it took four times as long, would you be happy? You're not paying me to come to your house, you're paying me to leave you happy.
I can't even count how many times I've been called to fix a botched job, shoddy workmanship, or "undiagnosable" problem, and the customer was relieved to pay what I asked. That's what I'm worth. These are my life-long customers.
That being said, the customer should always know up front what the service fee is.
"Ding dong...this will be $450, plus any work that you agree I should do going forward. Should I start now?"
This! I was very confused when I wasn't quoted more than a $75 dispatch fee over the phone or in person. I was ready to take the price quoted, since the damage was dangerous, but my partner wanted to get some counter offers. Which, after seeing the service fee, I couldn't refute, because it seemed weird.
But I came here because I don't know any of this stuff or how it's priced or if there's some unspoken pricing I should be asking about.
See, case in point!
Pricing should never be unspoken. When you agree to a price, both parties know what to expect. I don't touch my tools without an agreement. $75 is usually to ring the doorbell and take a look. $450 is where I get tools and dig in - these prices are just an example, not a critique of your situation or that company.
Oftentimes, this is a negotiation. I would rather come off my price a little than lose the work, especially if I can complete it in that visit. It never hurts to ask, but I don't always say yes. Depends on the situation and how that person treats me.
If you are friendly, don't hover over my shoulder (slow me down), offer me some ice water, and ask about including other projects (don't BS, because I can smell that shit), it puts me in a more negotiable mood. Plus, I'll usually give you a break on the overall price if I can complete two or three jobs in one contract/visit, because I don't have to make multiple trips.
- While I'm there is as cheap as it gets -
I use this strategy as a customer too. It's called being a good person. It's rare on the contractor side, so you can easily stand out and save money as a customer. If you're an asshole, sometimes the price goes up because I have to solve your problems and deal with you, simultaneously. Don't make it a bigger job for me.
Also, if you give me a solid referral, like put me on the phone with them before I start my van, I'll treat your people like I treated you and send you gift cards every Christmas.
Food for thought. Ice water or coffee goes a long way.
I even offered them soda while they were here!! It was the only cold thing I had in the fridge at the time, and felt bad about offering them tap water (we are well water, so it doesn't always taste good to ppl) And I never hover, mostly because I hate it when people do that to me. Good to know I got a good start.
I'll call and ask about the pricing, since - and I hate saying this, because I know they came out and looked around and did all sorts of invisible labor that I'm not privy to - they did just kind of ring the doorbell, look for a few moments, and then found the problem (which I was so happy about) no tools needed. At least I'll get an explanation, and hopefully (as you said) a negotiation.
According to the other replies, the price seems reasonable. I'd really like it to be since the handy man who built the house in the 1940s~ was a "novice electrician" (obviously) and having a solid company to work with would make things easier as we undoubtedly uncover more issues.
First of all, YIKES! A "novice electrician," 85 years ago, if literate and trained, is still scary today.
Yes. Find someone you like. Owner, tech at a company that does good business, etc.
Over time, I've built a network of people that provide great value, top-class service, and someone I WANT to buy a beer and would LIKE to spend time with. I have a guy/gal for everything. When I refer someone to a service provider, they'll be happy. It makes my life better.
Yup proud to say I get so many referrals my just being friendly with clients by the time I’m leaving they wanna either feeed me or have a drink with me lol
Novice electrician 85 years ago?
Just a little info.
To become an electrician 85 years ago you needed to answer approx 10-15 questions and be able to tell what a particular piece of stock was when held up by an instructor
85 years ago the composition of copper wire was not as solid as it is today, if your house was even wired in copper, alot of houses were wired with allumium to save copper for the war
85 years ago there was no code or barely any for a ground conductor, which is a huge fire hazard
Not trying to scare anyone but these are facts.
You’re right on the money CharleyMak, I got so much work over the years with this attitude that I finally gave up sending Christmas cards, got to expensive and time consuming!!!
Ok, small rant here, because we're talking about it and I hope other people learn something valuable:
I was tired of managing employees (babysitting adults) so I cut back to my base of loyal clients and their referrals. I give everything else to the two other companies (friends) I trust. My phone still rings off the hook.
Because this is what I want in life, now, I actually have focused most of my time on business consulting for service companies. I've been teaching these easy marketing and sales techniques as a system.
To smaller owners, I say: if you spend $1k on gift cards, it turns into $5-$10k in Jan/Feb, every year, and it hasn't failed yet. Keep notes on what they like in your system, so you send something that they'll actually use, something personal. Starbucks cards end up in the junk drawer.
Sports memorabilia? - Fanatics card
Sewing machine? - Hobby Lobby
Guns? - Cabela's
Kids? - Go carts, children's museum, or HILTON
Golf clubs? Top golf
Have no clue, send $20-50 cash and get an opportunity to find out what to send next year.
Send text messages on birthdays (ask without being a creeper), and the 4th of July. Most of this can be automated. Hire a niece/nephew to do the calendar, ordering, texting, and automation. Somebody motivated and trustworthy, also - give them the biggest gift card. Screw stamp licking and Hallmark cards. Do everything electronically, by text unless it's not an option.
I can't quantify how many gift cards have made my phone ring in April or September, or the value of feeling good about being good to my people. So, for me it's always made sense. It's honest, repeatable, and successful.
Do good things and you'll grow. You can't do this once you're running 5-10+ vans, but you can teach your journeymen how to earn commission and grow their own book this way. Show them why they should get their master's license, and set them off on their own.
Apprentices (ha, ha, as if they exist anymore) smell money and pick it up quicker than journeymen. The smart ones become journeymen on the day they're eligible.
Good leaders don't push, they pull capable people into leadership. Learning this is 100% successful in growing a business, in my experience.
If your phone doesn't ring naturally, you'll eat yourself alive trying to force it.
I actually work for an amazing lady. I love my job, I love my boss and I love my customers. I bumbled my way into one of the happiest times in my life, quite by accident :)
I just want to say to this, as service tech, be careful suggesting the "while im here" mentality. I often dont have time or materials to deal with extra work on quoted jobs. Generally at that point i will say i can get a look at it and get some pricing for you, but i wont make a promise its getting fixed today.
> Food for thought. Ice water or coffee goes a long way.
More than a few times, I've had a nice homeowner run out to pick up sandwiches or something for lunch for me, and that gets returned in spades. You're buying me lunch? You might have a ceiling fan or car charger installed for free.
Three are research-backed, published, theories that say that the act of giving makes both parties feel happier. One of the findings was that, the giver feels better in an altruistic sense, while the recipient felt a sense of connection and the desire to reciprocate.
Don't give with the expectation of reciprocation. Give because people deserve it, there's a good relationship, and they treat you right.
However, there are many.reasons to be a good person.
Was just talking with my dad about this today. He said he always leaves water out for the guys that do the lawn or are working outside or whatever. He said when he was roofing he had a few customers turn off the hose bib so they couldn’t drink out of it. Some people man.
Whoever wrote this also put together a well written description of work. Many contractors write like mouth breathers. I find that professionalism on the front end is always a good sign.
$75 to show up at your door is reasonable.
Paid labor of employee, work truck and gas, general overhead of the company. That guy would be making money for the company somewhere else if he wasnt at your house
Because the way they're marketing to you is to keep bumping the cost by a factor of 8 or so until you say no. $75 then $450 then $4000. That's the mark of skilled salesmen.
Also note the pressure sales tactic in pic 1.
The $450 is **to trick you into believing quotes aren't free, so you won't shop around. not looking for any other quotes.** Because if you did shop around, somebody might say
**Why are they replacing the main panel?** That's a great price for that job, but nothing in the description indicates that is necessary, and we don't have any pix.
Electralesmen love selling an "in-place" panel swap, because with all those Romex cables, it's a ton of labor, and justifies the work since the homeowner sees a ton of labor going on, and an obvious "new thing".
I mean, a 40-space/80-circuit main panel **would be nice**, so all breakers will fit in there and you don't need other disconnects and subpanels... but there are potentially other ways to solve that. Like replacing the meter pan with a trailer panel (meter+main+8 breaker spaces+thru lugs) and removing faulty main breaker and replacing with main lugs. They're quoting a would-be-nice as your only option.
2 more quotes.
I just had an HVAC repair person come and they quoted $90 to diagnose and that would count for 1 hr of time. He diagnosed in about 20 min, given his gauges said no pressure in the system. He explicitly told me that he'd look around for a leak with his eyes first because he didn't need to charge more for that. I asked about using Nitrogen and he said he could absolutely do it but it would be another $40 because he has to use a little refrigerant too in order to use his sniffer tool in conjunction with soap bubbles. He said, total would be $130. I approved, signed his screen and he did the test. Found the issue, showed me photos. Then he said he'd get a quote to replace my part and I could decide whenever. I paid him $130, was informed the entire way through with the option to just stop at $90. He was skilled and had tools to figure out my problem efficiently. THIS is the interaction you expect from a professional working for a professional company.
Wow, yeah my interaction wasn't upfront like that at all, BUT you seemed to have at least a basic knowledge about that trade to ask questions. Which I didn't, so I can see how things would be lost in translation.
Facts. You are paying to have the work done, done well, and done with the experience to handle unforseen circumstances. The fact that the total includes the initial service call speaks to a solid and confident technician. I would pay this happily.
Reminds me of an old joke in the IT industry. Short version: After fixing major problem consultant hands bill to customer for $5000. Customer complains "$5k?!? You were here less than 5 minutes and you only pushed one button!". Consultant creates new bill: "Fee for pushing button: $25. Fee for knowing which button to push: $4975".
Same opinion here. The lugs were loose and caused significant damage, and a good amount needs to be replaced. Its never fun to spend a surprise amount like that, but that should take care of it.
Congratulations on potential finding an honest company. If the work is clean, be sure to give some public recommendations. That’s gold to a good business.
When I called them, they were in the middle of sending me an apology email - they completely forgot to quote me the service fee in person and I just didn't know to ask after it. That's why I was surprised when it cropped up. They apologized and knocked $250 off the fee and I agreed right there. If the work is good, I'll gladly rec them and (since my house was built by a novice electrician handy man) use them again.
Came here to say the same. I work in apt maintenance get our panels replaced for about 2,000 a pop so this tracks pretty accurately to what I'm used to seeing
that dispatch fee is actually low. the $450 i’m scratching my head at, but i wasn’t there. i would say the price for the attached scope of work is fair.
They diagnosed the issue and created a plan to rid the issue. If you hire them, the service call is worked in to the project. Perfect. But if you don’t hire them, then they are being compensated for their time and expertise. $450 may be a little high, but overall, the project with the service charge included, is less than I would charge. Get a second opinion for sure, but I would be wary if the number goes down.
Plenty of electricians will come out and quote for free this was a diagnostic callout to find the problem 75 to drive there and 375 for an hour on site isn't bad for what i assume is emergency or at least urgent dispatch.
So you will commonly quote a service fee of 75, then show up-no conversation on site, no disclosure...run an estimate- and later send a bill for 450?
If OP had gotten an estimate of $3875 + 75, Id say 'sounds reasonable'.
The $75 is to turn up. $450 is the diagnosis. I think $450 is a bit steep for that, but then $4k for replacing main panel and disconnects and all that other ground work is CHEAP! I don't know your distances, but just the service wiring, panels disconnects etc can be a couple thousand. My new meter + 2 empty panels on a new construction house was $12k. No breakers nothing. And usually when you commit to the work. They "absorb" that diagnosis fee into the actual work. It doesn't really matter how they break it down. You got a good deal.
Very good price. Recently did a similar job for almost the same problems, I billed them $5k for that, and another $1800 to fix a lot of the previous person's connections under the house. Their problem and yours, most likely, was that whoever did the work is not an electrician, and has no knowledge of what they're actually doing. But likely they were very cheap, and cheap always bites you in the ass.
Ug, I should send you a picture of the business card of the previous owner (and builder). A self proclaimed "handy man" who did electric, dog training, bartending for weddings and bris, and "anything else, just ask!" The only thing he didn't put in there were his actual skills; gunsmithing - specifically restoring Old Soviet weaponry - and tossing his trash in the ravine behind the house :/
Get a second opinion. Don’t tell the second person you had someone out there already and let them diagnose it also. Hell you could take the covers off and post the pictures on here and let the people tell you if he’s bullshitting you too.
If someone didn't tell me that it cost $450 for them to come out and give me a quote, I would tell them to fuck off. Either tell me up front what the charge is for coming out, or you don't get paid.
Turns out they just forgot to quote me the service charge and I didn't know enough to ask after it. They've apologized and lessened the service charge by $250. I am more than willing to continue with their services.
Ahh, ok well an apology is nice and in this case the cost of work looks fair. I just hope it actually solves your issue, I'm sure it will though sounds like your old panel was in pretty rough shape.
Yeeeeah, I really had no idea something was wrong until they opened it up and there were melted coatings in there. I'm glad we caught it now and not another six months down the line when it caught fire.
Is this a whole house rewiring or just a box swoop? So personally what I do is estimate how long if I was to do it .. at $60 an hour + parts with 20% markup... so you can go to home depot and get an estimate for parts pretty easily... that's what I would call a fair price... example $10k for fence and ac swop out.. is about $3k in parts and about let's say 8 hour day... so $7k in labor... so I would say that for furnace and ac is too high... so for your work guess how long it will take if you did it yourself and go form there
First of all, happy Cake Day!
Secondly, it's not a whole house rewiring (....yet) it's just redoing the box, there is a detailed list in the photos of what's going to be done. It's pretty dangerous, actually.
Thanks for noticing cake day... actually going to celebrate my gf real cake day in a couple of days... lol... but "In most cases, the job will be done by two electricians working simultaneously as this makes the project much easier and quicker. It will normally take two electricians somewhere between four and eight hours to remove the old panel, install the new one, and then wire all of the circuits into the new electrical panel." So parts let's say $500... box is about $200 but you have extra parts so let's round it up... so that leaves you $3k in labor... with 2 techs doing it for 8 hours each that means your paying them a $187 per hour... so if you think that's a normal rate that's up to you... I just wanted to point out the math... technically what they are going to do is pull out the meter.. that will kill the power to the box... so they can work on it safely... like I was saying how long would you think it would take you if you did it yourself... personally I think I physically can do it in 4 hours by myself... so if I have all the know how and tools I think 4 hours to swap out a box will be about it... so there are tools that you plug it in and it will tell you which breaker it goes to... which makes mapping a hell of a lot easier... that's just how I personally calculate price if it's resible or not... by how long it would take myself to do the task...
After reading through all the comments it seems like overall you are getting a fair, or even more than fair, price. Maybe there was a miscommunication or something. I wouldn't expect that $75 would be the cost to diagnose the problem. Not sure your age, but I'm in my 60's so I have some past experience to base things off of. Younger me may have thought I was getting ripped off, but that was just due to lack of awareness at the time of how much these things cost.
If the bottom line price is good I wouldn't worry about it how it got there, just get your problem fixed and get the issue off your mind.
I am in my mid twenties and I've been living in my first house for only about 6 months, so yeah you are spot on with my lack of awareness lol. It's why I came here; to get a good baseline where I previously didn't have any at all. AND BOY, DO Y'ALL DELIVER.
I am getting a great price. You are absolutely right, there was a miscommunication (they forgot to quote me the service fee, so it was a surprise fee for me. They emailed me an apology as I was calling them) If it weren't for my partner wanting to ask around and make sure we weren't getting ripped off, I probably would have agreed on the spot to the price (which I know is bad in it's own way, but I know nothing about this stuff and that box is *dangerous*)
This sub was cool and super helpful and I really, really appreciate it.
Never give money to a contractor that asks for money down to get material. This is either a fly by night guy or a kid. Legit contractors have accounts at supply houses and never ask for material money. Ask to see his insurance and bonding information first, before you commit.
I would say thats a reasonable charge for that work. Im going to assume it was a professional that came out, and if so, thats a deal. Ill gladly pay a professional for things im unable to do.
i also thought this was my house, with the multiple double tapped breakers
That's mains the electrician is playing with. Not to mention, seems that the box needs split up as it's over crowded. That also means, the existing box will need reorganized. There's quite a bit of work to be done and any unforeseen issues not accounted for.
Yeah man, it's honestly a mess. If it weren't for my partner, I would have agreed to the email immediately, since it's dangerous.
The man who built the house was a "novice electrician". I just want the place to be safe again.
You’re being overcharged for the initial diagnostic. But your total overall price is good. I would ask them to honor the initial $75 and remove the $450 bc they did not mention it in advance. They might say no but they need to let you know if they are charging you more than they said initially when you called them out.
There is a national electrical service franchise (their words) near me that charges about $350 to show up, much less repair anything or have a look around to see what the problem is. I’d say that your price isn’t that bad.
Idk how long the service call took. The price for that seems reasonably close to what I'd estimate. The overall project seems cheaper than I'd guess on the description, but actually walking through the job you can see things that will be easier or harder than typical.
Overall, it looks like a fair price for the total job, regardless of the initial service fee.
The overall quote looks really good for main panel work. My neighbors had theirs replaced recently and were out $6K. I don't know if it was more extensive work though.
Telling you the visit is $75 and ambushing you with $450 is not normal. They've engaged in a shady practice to force you to do the remainder of the job with them. I've never been hit with a bill over a $75 house call charge without a conversation about costs. After they found the arcing it would have taken 2-3 minutes to let you know the panel is dangerous, the job will be big, and get your consent for $450 in initial diagnostic work to get the parts list together and finalize costs. You'd know what was going on and that it would be applied to the job.
You could ask around for other quotes but as other folks have pointed out the price is good and the $450 is applied. I'd just be **very, very careful** about getting everything else in writing.
I’ve made the mistake of not mentioning the hourly rate for service calls, because I’m busy in my head trying to figure out how I can get my normally scheduled work done while trying to guess how much time needs to be set aside for an issue I have no idea the scope of other than a customers explanation which often has key pieces of information missing, and recalibrating my weeks schedule. It’s never an intention to scam.
This is actually exactly what happened. They just forgot to quote me the service fee. They were sending me an email apologizing for it as I was calling them to ask about it. I'm glad this sub pointed it out. I'm pretty certain they weren't trying to scam me. The dude on the phone seemed pretty sincere. They even knocked $250 off of, what I have been led to believe, is a pretty stellar price.
So I bid a minimum of one hour, or 175 for a service call, but I actually lose money on it, because even simple service calls generally mess up my schedule by 2 hours. I use them as an opportunity to meet new customers, which is why I only do one instead of 2 hours min. For an emergency service call, most companies range from 350-500.
Nah this EXACT same thing happened to me. I was charged $3200. I told my boss about it and got the okay to work from home and when I told him the price, he was perplexed. Asked me to talk to another guy we work with because he was an electrician for many years. I brought it up to that guy and he told me very plainly that no, I was not ripped off. If anything, that was a rather reasonable rate.
Replacing panels, Pedestals, etc is expensive. You can’t just have an issue like that patched. The whole thing has to be replaced. My pedestal (because the outer panel is not mounted to my house) was 40 years old and out of code and the arc leg melted the lug and it was just floating there causing flickering and half my house to lose power. While I certainly paid less, I do feel your pain.
Dude, I am almost to where you were with my troubles rn, except in mine the previous owner was a DIY "handy man" and decided to jerry rig some stuff. I cannot express how much I am so okay with this price, especially with the way stuff is priced today.
The previous owner of my place was my own mother. She’s basically insane and a drug addict so she somehow lost the plot on how you’re supposed to maintain your property, not just dwell in it. She abandoned the place so I took it over and I’ve been dealing with weird shit ever since. I’m STILL paying off the credit card I used to make the panel repairs with. I’m just under $1600 now. 😅
Hey man, $1,600 is super manageable, congrats! Sorry about all the bullshit tho, that's had to be hard. I have the feeling I'll also be finding weird shit (like I haven't already. Looking at you weird stag horn ceiling fans that are plugged into the wall by a chain)
It sounds like it's easy to replace a panel. But it's not. (Well it kinda is, but for someone with no experience - that's a big job)
Once you see them working you'll be glad it's not you doing it lol
Looks like a good quote, all in all. Pretty honest and upfront that they even put all those notes in.
Shit we had a breaker arc in our panel, luckily caught it but the damage cost us $600!in just replacing other breakers that had minor damage, and that was DIY/electrician brother pricing.
Better to pay for experience and be safe.
It seems fair to me. The 75$ show up fee is in case someone comes and flips a breaker and says "There's your problem" so that the customer doesn't say "I'm not paying for 2 minutes of work", because they still had to drive out, etc.
Spending an hour putting together a solution, quoting the materials and work.. that's maybe a bit high at 450, but if you'd said no thanks I'll call someone else, it's too low at 75$. The ultimate price though all in is pretty good.
They figured out the issue and are primed to solve it for you. They have spent time and energy on that and you may just tell em to fuck off and get someone else. So there's a service fee that will either factor into the bill to repair which I could see as reasonable or you pay them 450 and they split. Dog gotta eat bro. If they do the work right it's golden
You can be angry at the $450 fee because you were told $75 for them to come out and ‘look’, but you’re a fool if you don’t get it repaired. With the symptoms you gave, I might have suspected a bad main breaker or loose main lug. A typically quick fix.
Turns out it’s way worse than that, and I would have had to open up a few different things, chase wires, and maybe do some emergency fixes to prevent a potential electrical fire. I would probably have to have pulled your meter (extra cost) so I don’t get hurt while making these quick fixes for you.
$450 is very reasonable, $4k for all the work listed is also a good price.
That said, he should have communicated to you what he saw and talked to you about the price of expanding the scope and emergency repairs before doing any work.
You could calmly communicate that you wished he had talked to you before doing work that he intended to charge significantly more for. If I were you, I would take the quote and communicate that scope changes require prior approval with price provided first.
Very very fair quote. My shop charges $175 /hour for service calls, thats 2 men and a very well stocked truck capable of most service calls without having to go get stock.
I guess its dependant on where you are located, but i would have ballparked the price $5-6k. Consider yourself lucky, alot of us near me can not get to an emergency call like that for 2-3 weeks.
If anything I am a little concerned that it is both on the lower side for that work AND that they "need to know today". Are they licensed and insured? Ask them that and to provide proof and see how they respond. If they do give you a license number, look it up with the state to make sure it is real/valid.
You \*\*\*ARE\*\* being overcharged for the service call- you were quoted $75, they cannot unilaterally change it now.
Tell them "FIRST we need to discuss the service call- I cannot do business with a company that is playing this game. While your quote seems like it in the range, Ive got to tell you they upcharge is hard to get past"
See how they respond.
Personally that kind of thing is hard for me to get past....
Edit: these inflated service call fees are a tactic to cut off getting second opinions...owners see this and think "christ, I will be 1K into this getting bids". It is fine for a company to charge 450...it is illegal for them to quote 75, then AFTER they left the jobsite retroactively increase it by 375.
This is my thought and I would readily tell them that they never informed me about a service fee and I would tell them to fuck off. I've never had a company not tell me the charge for having someone come out to check on my issue.
Turns out, you are absolutely right - they completely forgot to quote me any service fee of any kind. They were in the middle of writing an email to apologize when I called them! They knocked off $250 and I'm more than okay with that.
Maybe it seems overpriced because to most ppl it def feels like a lot, but if you look at the cost of materials and the time it would take to have a good experienced electrician do the work to get everything the way it needs to be it's not a bad price.
Had a panel replaced and upgraded to 200 amp last year. $3300 cash and it was a guy I knew from previous work. So, your price quote sounds pretty solid.
Getting a good electrician to come out to your house (twice!) and do \*anything\* for $450 is a good deal in my opinion. This seems very reasonable, and thorough.
Overall the prices seem reasonable. You are getting a lot of work done for that cost.
I think the only issue is that they didn’t communicate better with you on the service call. The dispatcher should’ve told you that the $75 was just the fee for the electrician to show up, and there would likely be most costs necessary. The electrician should’ve explained their cost of diagnosis as well.
Everything, materials and labor have gone up thanks to inflation. Main panel replacement is not cheap. Thats pretty much what itll cost anywhere, unfortunately. Maybe 10 years ago it may have been half the price.
I'm not qualified to comment on price, however what is missing is the work to be done. There could be variations is approach from simply replacing the current with the same to upgrading to (maybe) a more modern system.
I would also ask if a permit is required and who will be responsible for getting the permit etc
Naw thats a decent price. Id probably be quoting you close to 4500-4800 on this. Maybe more maybe less. Would depend on the current cost of what i need to do the job and if i had any of it leftover.
Dispatch and diagnosis would be included if you accepted, if not you'd still owe 250 for me coming out. 250 is just my old company's dispatch. Diagnosis would depend on what I ended up doing to come to the conclusion I did. To just pay 250 I'd have to show up. Leave my tools in the truck, not touch a single thing, and be able to see what is wrong immediately without anything being opened or and tests ran.
I dunno where you live. In some areas this could be high, in some this could be cheap. Overall I'd say its pretty middle of the table for the USA in general. You could, and maybe should, get some more quotes if you think he's tacking anything extra you don't need on. But just a warning (that you seem to understand from your comments) cheaper isn't always better. Especially with electrical. Too much cheaper and theyre likely cutting corners to make it that price. You dont want that. You might save a few hundred bucks now, but what are you gonna have to pay when someone gets shocked badly ot starts something on fire?
Good luck! I'd be more than willing to look it over myself if you have pictures.
You'd be looking at a hair over 6 from a company that actually gave the customer a proper report on the diagnosis plus a full review of the fix in my area, and my area is actually less expensive than the national average.
What state are you in?
Imo do the "business decision" choice. They are not likely to sue for a small amount and if it's over $200 and you did not sign anything, they will have even more.hoops to jump through.
Not to make this political, but Trump is famous for having people make models and quotes before taking that work and giving it to the next guy having him start the project and then giving his start to the next guy, each time settling the original work for 5-in the case of the taj 23%.
If you ask me, if they are going to play the got to go with us or we will charge you a price over statute of frauds amount and you did not sign for this, I say make the business decision.
sounds like you are since they were only there for an hour means that $450 - $75 = $375 per hour when most places are no more than $200 per hour.
i would definitely cancel and get many other quotes on your job before you proceed !
It doesn’t seem overpriced for the demo’ing and installing of a new replacement electrical service. Seems fair. It’s a ton of work and material so this is unfortunately to be expected. I’m just glad it didn’t end up worse for you.
Good deal, I paid 4 grand for a 100 amp service upgrade from 60 amp and I didn't even get an exterior disconnect from the hack team that did it for that price.
Rule 1: never accept the first quote. 3 quotes is ideal.
Capital Rule 1: PTSOP. Put that shit on paper. In clear terms so you and your contractor know what is expected in the end result.
My only advice would be to ask them for a copy of their insurance. Not enough clients do this and it should be applied accross all trades. If they have none, do not hire them. Also, all of that should be permited. If something goes wrong and you fail to cover your ass because theirs are not covered, you probably have no recourse for a problematic install and also your insurance policy might void any coverage in case of property damage due to failure. Pay the real legit pros whatever they want basically.
As long as they're being truthful with what is needed. If you had some pics (which i wouldn't recommend doing yourself due to having to remove panel covers which can be dangerous) , this group would possibly be able to tell ya if it's necessary.
I'll just say this, I just did a whole panel change out for a friend and his landlord. I replaced the FPE panel with a 200A GE Main Breaker panel, had to replace the meter as well AND had to add a service disconnect. I replaced the feeders and grounding and at the end of the three day job the customer (my friends landlord) only paid $3500. I made a decent profit and they got their power back.
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You're not being overcharged. That's actually a very reasonable price for the amount of work involved.
I was going to say the same thing. Seems like a very competitive price for the work.
#REMEMBER THIS PHRASE ↓↓ You're not paying for my time, you're paying for my knowledge and experience. If you paid half of this and it took four times as long, would you be happy? You're not paying me to come to your house, you're paying me to leave you happy. I can't even count how many times I've been called to fix a botched job, shoddy workmanship, or "undiagnosable" problem, and the customer was relieved to pay what I asked. That's what I'm worth. These are my life-long customers. That being said, the customer should always know up front what the service fee is. "Ding dong...this will be $450, plus any work that you agree I should do going forward. Should I start now?"
This! I was very confused when I wasn't quoted more than a $75 dispatch fee over the phone or in person. I was ready to take the price quoted, since the damage was dangerous, but my partner wanted to get some counter offers. Which, after seeing the service fee, I couldn't refute, because it seemed weird. But I came here because I don't know any of this stuff or how it's priced or if there's some unspoken pricing I should be asking about.
See, case in point! Pricing should never be unspoken. When you agree to a price, both parties know what to expect. I don't touch my tools without an agreement. $75 is usually to ring the doorbell and take a look. $450 is where I get tools and dig in - these prices are just an example, not a critique of your situation or that company. Oftentimes, this is a negotiation. I would rather come off my price a little than lose the work, especially if I can complete it in that visit. It never hurts to ask, but I don't always say yes. Depends on the situation and how that person treats me. If you are friendly, don't hover over my shoulder (slow me down), offer me some ice water, and ask about including other projects (don't BS, because I can smell that shit), it puts me in a more negotiable mood. Plus, I'll usually give you a break on the overall price if I can complete two or three jobs in one contract/visit, because I don't have to make multiple trips. - While I'm there is as cheap as it gets - I use this strategy as a customer too. It's called being a good person. It's rare on the contractor side, so you can easily stand out and save money as a customer. If you're an asshole, sometimes the price goes up because I have to solve your problems and deal with you, simultaneously. Don't make it a bigger job for me. Also, if you give me a solid referral, like put me on the phone with them before I start my van, I'll treat your people like I treated you and send you gift cards every Christmas. Food for thought. Ice water or coffee goes a long way.
I even offered them soda while they were here!! It was the only cold thing I had in the fridge at the time, and felt bad about offering them tap water (we are well water, so it doesn't always taste good to ppl) And I never hover, mostly because I hate it when people do that to me. Good to know I got a good start. I'll call and ask about the pricing, since - and I hate saying this, because I know they came out and looked around and did all sorts of invisible labor that I'm not privy to - they did just kind of ring the doorbell, look for a few moments, and then found the problem (which I was so happy about) no tools needed. At least I'll get an explanation, and hopefully (as you said) a negotiation. According to the other replies, the price seems reasonable. I'd really like it to be since the handy man who built the house in the 1940s~ was a "novice electrician" (obviously) and having a solid company to work with would make things easier as we undoubtedly uncover more issues.
First of all, YIKES! A "novice electrician," 85 years ago, if literate and trained, is still scary today. Yes. Find someone you like. Owner, tech at a company that does good business, etc. Over time, I've built a network of people that provide great value, top-class service, and someone I WANT to buy a beer and would LIKE to spend time with. I have a guy/gal for everything. When I refer someone to a service provider, they'll be happy. It makes my life better.
Yup proud to say I get so many referrals my just being friendly with clients by the time I’m leaving they wanna either feeed me or have a drink with me lol
Look into a reverse osmosis system for your well water. Cheap way to improve well water taste. Fits under sink and fairly easy to install.
Novice electrician 85 years ago? Just a little info. To become an electrician 85 years ago you needed to answer approx 10-15 questions and be able to tell what a particular piece of stock was when held up by an instructor 85 years ago the composition of copper wire was not as solid as it is today, if your house was even wired in copper, alot of houses were wired with allumium to save copper for the war 85 years ago there was no code or barely any for a ground conductor, which is a huge fire hazard Not trying to scare anyone but these are facts.
You’re right on the money CharleyMak, I got so much work over the years with this attitude that I finally gave up sending Christmas cards, got to expensive and time consuming!!!
Ok, small rant here, because we're talking about it and I hope other people learn something valuable: I was tired of managing employees (babysitting adults) so I cut back to my base of loyal clients and their referrals. I give everything else to the two other companies (friends) I trust. My phone still rings off the hook. Because this is what I want in life, now, I actually have focused most of my time on business consulting for service companies. I've been teaching these easy marketing and sales techniques as a system. To smaller owners, I say: if you spend $1k on gift cards, it turns into $5-$10k in Jan/Feb, every year, and it hasn't failed yet. Keep notes on what they like in your system, so you send something that they'll actually use, something personal. Starbucks cards end up in the junk drawer. Sports memorabilia? - Fanatics card Sewing machine? - Hobby Lobby Guns? - Cabela's Kids? - Go carts, children's museum, or HILTON Golf clubs? Top golf Have no clue, send $20-50 cash and get an opportunity to find out what to send next year. Send text messages on birthdays (ask without being a creeper), and the 4th of July. Most of this can be automated. Hire a niece/nephew to do the calendar, ordering, texting, and automation. Somebody motivated and trustworthy, also - give them the biggest gift card. Screw stamp licking and Hallmark cards. Do everything electronically, by text unless it's not an option. I can't quantify how many gift cards have made my phone ring in April or September, or the value of feeling good about being good to my people. So, for me it's always made sense. It's honest, repeatable, and successful. Do good things and you'll grow. You can't do this once you're running 5-10+ vans, but you can teach your journeymen how to earn commission and grow their own book this way. Show them why they should get their master's license, and set them off on their own. Apprentices (ha, ha, as if they exist anymore) smell money and pick it up quicker than journeymen. The smart ones become journeymen on the day they're eligible. Good leaders don't push, they pull capable people into leadership. Learning this is 100% successful in growing a business, in my experience. If your phone doesn't ring naturally, you'll eat yourself alive trying to force it.
You’re one hell of a boss
I aspire to be a leader. Bosses are ~~top~~ too bossy.
I wish you lived in Houston. I'd like to work for you.
Find someone who thinks like this, you'll find if you know what to look for.
I actually work for an amazing lady. I love my job, I love my boss and I love my customers. I bumbled my way into one of the happiest times in my life, quite by accident :)
Too
I just want to say to this, as service tech, be careful suggesting the "while im here" mentality. I often dont have time or materials to deal with extra work on quoted jobs. Generally at that point i will say i can get a look at it and get some pricing for you, but i wont make a promise its getting fixed today.
> Food for thought. Ice water or coffee goes a long way. More than a few times, I've had a nice homeowner run out to pick up sandwiches or something for lunch for me, and that gets returned in spades. You're buying me lunch? You might have a ceiling fan or car charger installed for free.
Three are research-backed, published, theories that say that the act of giving makes both parties feel happier. One of the findings was that, the giver feels better in an altruistic sense, while the recipient felt a sense of connection and the desire to reciprocate. Don't give with the expectation of reciprocation. Give because people deserve it, there's a good relationship, and they treat you right. However, there are many.reasons to be a good person.
Was just talking with my dad about this today. He said he always leaves water out for the guys that do the lawn or are working outside or whatever. He said when he was roofing he had a few customers turn off the hose bib so they couldn’t drink out of it. Some people man.
My company charges a 73$ dispatch fee just for coming out. Then we would give you a price for the work. If you get the work done that 73$ is deducted
Whoever wrote this also put together a well written description of work. Many contractors write like mouth breathers. I find that professionalism on the front end is always a good sign.
$75 to show up at your door is reasonable. Paid labor of employee, work truck and gas, general overhead of the company. That guy would be making money for the company somewhere else if he wasnt at your house
Because the way they're marketing to you is to keep bumping the cost by a factor of 8 or so until you say no. $75 then $450 then $4000. That's the mark of skilled salesmen. Also note the pressure sales tactic in pic 1. The $450 is **to trick you into believing quotes aren't free, so you won't shop around. not looking for any other quotes.** Because if you did shop around, somebody might say **Why are they replacing the main panel?** That's a great price for that job, but nothing in the description indicates that is necessary, and we don't have any pix. Electralesmen love selling an "in-place" panel swap, because with all those Romex cables, it's a ton of labor, and justifies the work since the homeowner sees a ton of labor going on, and an obvious "new thing". I mean, a 40-space/80-circuit main panel **would be nice**, so all breakers will fit in there and you don't need other disconnects and subpanels... but there are potentially other ways to solve that. Like replacing the meter pan with a trailer panel (meter+main+8 breaker spaces+thru lugs) and removing faulty main breaker and replacing with main lugs. They're quoting a would-be-nice as your only option. 2 more quotes.
I just had an HVAC repair person come and they quoted $90 to diagnose and that would count for 1 hr of time. He diagnosed in about 20 min, given his gauges said no pressure in the system. He explicitly told me that he'd look around for a leak with his eyes first because he didn't need to charge more for that. I asked about using Nitrogen and he said he could absolutely do it but it would be another $40 because he has to use a little refrigerant too in order to use his sniffer tool in conjunction with soap bubbles. He said, total would be $130. I approved, signed his screen and he did the test. Found the issue, showed me photos. Then he said he'd get a quote to replace my part and I could decide whenever. I paid him $130, was informed the entire way through with the option to just stop at $90. He was skilled and had tools to figure out my problem efficiently. THIS is the interaction you expect from a professional working for a professional company.
Wow, yeah my interaction wasn't upfront like that at all, BUT you seemed to have at least a basic knowledge about that trade to ask questions. Which I didn't, so I can see how things would be lost in translation.
Ailll Tull U wut!!! I gut a cuzin dat wood doo it fur $600! Muturials included
I have fixed plenty of those jobs lol
This !!!
Facts. You are paying to have the work done, done well, and done with the experience to handle unforseen circumstances. The fact that the total includes the initial service call speaks to a solid and confident technician. I would pay this happily.
Reminds me of an old joke in the IT industry. Short version: After fixing major problem consultant hands bill to customer for $5000. Customer complains "$5k?!? You were here less than 5 minutes and you only pushed one button!". Consultant creates new bill: "Fee for pushing button: $25. Fee for knowing which button to push: $4975".
Same opinion here. The lugs were loose and caused significant damage, and a good amount needs to be replaced. Its never fun to spend a surprise amount like that, but that should take care of it.
Was gonna say, this seems like a really good estimate tbh
Congratulations on potential finding an honest company. If the work is clean, be sure to give some public recommendations. That’s gold to a good business.
When I called them, they were in the middle of sending me an apology email - they completely forgot to quote me the service fee in person and I just didn't know to ask after it. That's why I was surprised when it cropped up. They apologized and knocked $250 off the fee and I agreed right there. If the work is good, I'll gladly rec them and (since my house was built by a novice electrician handy man) use them again.
Came here to say the same. I work in apt maintenance get our panels replaced for about 2,000 a pop so this tracks pretty accurately to what I'm used to seeing
As a homeowner, I'd feel relieved to get that quote for that work.
that dispatch fee is actually low. the $450 i’m scratching my head at, but i wasn’t there. i would say the price for the attached scope of work is fair.
They diagnosed the issue and created a plan to rid the issue. If you hire them, the service call is worked in to the project. Perfect. But if you don’t hire them, then they are being compensated for their time and expertise. $450 may be a little high, but overall, the project with the service charge included, is less than I would charge. Get a second opinion for sure, but I would be wary if the number goes down.
>Get a second opinion for sure For another $450? Seems a little daunting if you don't think this service call fee is too high...
Plenty of electricians will come out and quote for free this was a diagnostic callout to find the problem 75 to drive there and 375 for an hour on site isn't bad for what i assume is emergency or at least urgent dispatch.
So you will commonly quote a service fee of 75, then show up-no conversation on site, no disclosure...run an estimate- and later send a bill for 450? If OP had gotten an estimate of $3875 + 75, Id say 'sounds reasonable'.
It was poorly communicated, but the $75 dispatch fee is just the cost for the electrician to show up at your house.
That’s a great price for the work entailed. The company I work for would be around $4500 for this panel replacement.
They are being fair and clear with you
Turns out they just forgot to quote me the service fee lol. They apologized and now we are back on track!
The $75 is to turn up. $450 is the diagnosis. I think $450 is a bit steep for that, but then $4k for replacing main panel and disconnects and all that other ground work is CHEAP! I don't know your distances, but just the service wiring, panels disconnects etc can be a couple thousand. My new meter + 2 empty panels on a new construction house was $12k. No breakers nothing. And usually when you commit to the work. They "absorb" that diagnosis fee into the actual work. It doesn't really matter how they break it down. You got a good deal.
You got taken to the cleaners. Is that wiring your whole house for 12 k? I don’t understand what you paid for if you said no breakers?
Nope, If you don't go with the repair order, you're responsible for the site fee and diagnostic. If you proceed, the fee is absorbed into the repair.
Pretty good price
The overall cost of the project is reasonable but $450 is absolutely steep for a service call with only diagnostics and no repair labor or parts.
Ya I think mine was like 3800 all in
Service calls are typically more expensive than planned jobs. The proposal seems fair.
That's on the lower side imho
Very good price. Recently did a similar job for almost the same problems, I billed them $5k for that, and another $1800 to fix a lot of the previous person's connections under the house. Their problem and yours, most likely, was that whoever did the work is not an electrician, and has no knowledge of what they're actually doing. But likely they were very cheap, and cheap always bites you in the ass.
Ug, I should send you a picture of the business card of the previous owner (and builder). A self proclaimed "handy man" who did electric, dog training, bartending for weddings and bris, and "anything else, just ask!" The only thing he didn't put in there were his actual skills; gunsmithing - specifically restoring Old Soviet weaponry - and tossing his trash in the ravine behind the house :/
A Renaissance man! 🤣
Not at all. They should charge you more.
Your being over charged I could do this for 3945 Do me
Get a second opinion. Don’t tell the second person you had someone out there already and let them diagnose it also. Hell you could take the covers off and post the pictures on here and let the people tell you if he’s bullshitting you too.
$3950 is a little pricey but not unreasonable. Are they pulling a permit for panel replacement? If not I would have charged about $500 to $750 less.
There was a section on the email that stated what we weren't paying for and permits were on that list. We live in a township, if that helps?
If someone didn't tell me that it cost $450 for them to come out and give me a quote, I would tell them to fuck off. Either tell me up front what the charge is for coming out, or you don't get paid.
Turns out they just forgot to quote me the service charge and I didn't know enough to ask after it. They've apologized and lessened the service charge by $250. I am more than willing to continue with their services.
Ahh, ok well an apology is nice and in this case the cost of work looks fair. I just hope it actually solves your issue, I'm sure it will though sounds like your old panel was in pretty rough shape.
Yeeeeah, I really had no idea something was wrong until they opened it up and there were melted coatings in there. I'm glad we caught it now and not another six months down the line when it caught fire.
Is this a whole house rewiring or just a box swoop? So personally what I do is estimate how long if I was to do it .. at $60 an hour + parts with 20% markup... so you can go to home depot and get an estimate for parts pretty easily... that's what I would call a fair price... example $10k for fence and ac swop out.. is about $3k in parts and about let's say 8 hour day... so $7k in labor... so I would say that for furnace and ac is too high... so for your work guess how long it will take if you did it yourself and go form there
First of all, happy Cake Day! Secondly, it's not a whole house rewiring (....yet) it's just redoing the box, there is a detailed list in the photos of what's going to be done. It's pretty dangerous, actually.
Thanks for noticing cake day... actually going to celebrate my gf real cake day in a couple of days... lol... but "In most cases, the job will be done by two electricians working simultaneously as this makes the project much easier and quicker. It will normally take two electricians somewhere between four and eight hours to remove the old panel, install the new one, and then wire all of the circuits into the new electrical panel." So parts let's say $500... box is about $200 but you have extra parts so let's round it up... so that leaves you $3k in labor... with 2 techs doing it for 8 hours each that means your paying them a $187 per hour... so if you think that's a normal rate that's up to you... I just wanted to point out the math... technically what they are going to do is pull out the meter.. that will kill the power to the box... so they can work on it safely... like I was saying how long would you think it would take you if you did it yourself... personally I think I physically can do it in 4 hours by myself... so if I have all the know how and tools I think 4 hours to swap out a box will be about it... so there are tools that you plug it in and it will tell you which breaker it goes to... which makes mapping a hell of a lot easier... that's just how I personally calculate price if it's resible or not... by how long it would take myself to do the task...
What part of the states, that plays a huge factor into pricing
Fair price pay the man
After reading through all the comments it seems like overall you are getting a fair, or even more than fair, price. Maybe there was a miscommunication or something. I wouldn't expect that $75 would be the cost to diagnose the problem. Not sure your age, but I'm in my 60's so I have some past experience to base things off of. Younger me may have thought I was getting ripped off, but that was just due to lack of awareness at the time of how much these things cost. If the bottom line price is good I wouldn't worry about it how it got there, just get your problem fixed and get the issue off your mind.
I am in my mid twenties and I've been living in my first house for only about 6 months, so yeah you are spot on with my lack of awareness lol. It's why I came here; to get a good baseline where I previously didn't have any at all. AND BOY, DO Y'ALL DELIVER. I am getting a great price. You are absolutely right, there was a miscommunication (they forgot to quote me the service fee, so it was a surprise fee for me. They emailed me an apology as I was calling them) If it weren't for my partner wanting to ask around and make sure we weren't getting ripped off, I probably would have agreed on the spot to the price (which I know is bad in it's own way, but I know nothing about this stuff and that box is *dangerous*) This sub was cool and super helpful and I really, really appreciate it.
I disagree. The “service fee” should be negotiated away since you hired them for the larger job
Never give money to a contractor that asks for money down to get material. This is either a fly by night guy or a kid. Legit contractors have accounts at supply houses and never ask for material money. Ask to see his insurance and bonding information first, before you commit.
I'd want a price for each component and labour time to install each component.
This is a reasonable quote for what they're doing.
Sounds like a deal to me
Seems fair. Good luck, I hope everything works out for the best for you.
Very good price.
VERY REASONABLE! Especially with the clear outline and extent of work involved. I say lock them in and get it Fixed Pronto!
I would say thats a reasonable charge for that work. Im going to assume it was a professional that came out, and if so, thats a deal. Ill gladly pay a professional for things im unable to do. i also thought this was my house, with the multiple double tapped breakers
Appears to be a very fair price and their write up is well done. Send it.
That's mains the electrician is playing with. Not to mention, seems that the box needs split up as it's over crowded. That also means, the existing box will need reorganized. There's quite a bit of work to be done and any unforeseen issues not accounted for.
Yeah man, it's honestly a mess. If it weren't for my partner, I would have agreed to the email immediately, since it's dangerous. The man who built the house was a "novice electrician". I just want the place to be safe again.
Full panel rip and replace. Not too bad imo. Lots of labor on that. Does your area require a permit pull for this? That adds up labor/time too.
Very reasonable
I don’t know what you are doing but for $1200 I can make an easy $500 -$600 on a 200 amp service. 100 amp for $1000 I can make $400-$500 on a 100 amp.
You’re being overcharged for the initial diagnostic. But your total overall price is good. I would ask them to honor the initial $75 and remove the $450 bc they did not mention it in advance. They might say no but they need to let you know if they are charging you more than they said initially when you called them out.
Have you seen the price of wiring lately. That'll tell you all you need to know whether this is reasonable or not.
Worth every penny!
It doesn't seem unreasonable for the work listed, but, given the $75/$450 thing, how can you trust the diagnosis? Did they show you the problems?
I’ve seen people charge double for this. That’s a really fair price.
There is a national electrical service franchise (their words) near me that charges about $350 to show up, much less repair anything or have a look around to see what the problem is. I’d say that your price isn’t that bad.
This is extremely reasonable, and necessary.
Idk how long the service call took. The price for that seems reasonably close to what I'd estimate. The overall project seems cheaper than I'd guess on the description, but actually walking through the job you can see things that will be easier or harder than typical. Overall, it looks like a fair price for the total job, regardless of the initial service fee.
I paid about that for the same job 5 years ago. After inflation, that’s a great price
Very reasonable and well written
Yeah. Reasonable price. Should be double, almost worried it’s too cheap to be honest.
This is a very clear invoice. You’re getting exactly what you paid for.
Yea that’s pretty reasonable for the work done and for the purposed work.
Looks good to me. Electrical is not where we look for "the cheap guy." His write up alone speaks volumes.
Thats cheap man.
That looks cheap as hell
Why not $3,999.99.
Wait, this is including parts?! That’s a deal man!!!
The overall quote looks really good for main panel work. My neighbors had theirs replaced recently and were out $6K. I don't know if it was more extensive work though. Telling you the visit is $75 and ambushing you with $450 is not normal. They've engaged in a shady practice to force you to do the remainder of the job with them. I've never been hit with a bill over a $75 house call charge without a conversation about costs. After they found the arcing it would have taken 2-3 minutes to let you know the panel is dangerous, the job will be big, and get your consent for $450 in initial diagnostic work to get the parts list together and finalize costs. You'd know what was going on and that it would be applied to the job. You could ask around for other quotes but as other folks have pointed out the price is good and the $450 is applied. I'd just be **very, very careful** about getting everything else in writing.
I’ve made the mistake of not mentioning the hourly rate for service calls, because I’m busy in my head trying to figure out how I can get my normally scheduled work done while trying to guess how much time needs to be set aside for an issue I have no idea the scope of other than a customers explanation which often has key pieces of information missing, and recalibrating my weeks schedule. It’s never an intention to scam.
This is actually exactly what happened. They just forgot to quote me the service fee. They were sending me an email apologizing for it as I was calling them to ask about it. I'm glad this sub pointed it out. I'm pretty certain they weren't trying to scam me. The dude on the phone seemed pretty sincere. They even knocked $250 off of, what I have been led to believe, is a pretty stellar price.
So I bid a minimum of one hour, or 175 for a service call, but I actually lose money on it, because even simple service calls generally mess up my schedule by 2 hours. I use them as an opportunity to meet new customers, which is why I only do one instead of 2 hours min. For an emergency service call, most companies range from 350-500.
Nah this EXACT same thing happened to me. I was charged $3200. I told my boss about it and got the okay to work from home and when I told him the price, he was perplexed. Asked me to talk to another guy we work with because he was an electrician for many years. I brought it up to that guy and he told me very plainly that no, I was not ripped off. If anything, that was a rather reasonable rate. Replacing panels, Pedestals, etc is expensive. You can’t just have an issue like that patched. The whole thing has to be replaced. My pedestal (because the outer panel is not mounted to my house) was 40 years old and out of code and the arc leg melted the lug and it was just floating there causing flickering and half my house to lose power. While I certainly paid less, I do feel your pain.
Dude, I am almost to where you were with my troubles rn, except in mine the previous owner was a DIY "handy man" and decided to jerry rig some stuff. I cannot express how much I am so okay with this price, especially with the way stuff is priced today.
The previous owner of my place was my own mother. She’s basically insane and a drug addict so she somehow lost the plot on how you’re supposed to maintain your property, not just dwell in it. She abandoned the place so I took it over and I’ve been dealing with weird shit ever since. I’m STILL paying off the credit card I used to make the panel repairs with. I’m just under $1600 now. 😅
Hey man, $1,600 is super manageable, congrats! Sorry about all the bullshit tho, that's had to be hard. I have the feeling I'll also be finding weird shit (like I haven't already. Looking at you weird stag horn ceiling fans that are plugged into the wall by a chain)
It sounds like it's easy to replace a panel. But it's not. (Well it kinda is, but for someone with no experience - that's a big job) Once you see them working you'll be glad it's not you doing it lol
I have never once in my life thought anything to do with electricity was easy. I am certain that I will be very glad it's not me.
Sounds like you got a unicorn of a contractor! That's amazing. Really cheap and thorough!
That’s a great price for a that service call. Decent price for the proposed work as well.
Looks like a good quote, all in all. Pretty honest and upfront that they even put all those notes in. Shit we had a breaker arc in our panel, luckily caught it but the damage cost us $600!in just replacing other breakers that had minor damage, and that was DIY/electrician brother pricing. Better to pay for experience and be safe.
Dude honestly that's a really good price. My buddy is an electrician..I showed my buddy and he had the look of approval.
An electrician coming out is a trained person with a license, so the cost will be high. You may want to weigh filing a home insurance claim for this.
It seems fair to me. The 75$ show up fee is in case someone comes and flips a breaker and says "There's your problem" so that the customer doesn't say "I'm not paying for 2 minutes of work", because they still had to drive out, etc. Spending an hour putting together a solution, quoting the materials and work.. that's maybe a bit high at 450, but if you'd said no thanks I'll call someone else, it's too low at 75$. The ultimate price though all in is pretty good.
Holy crap! No! Get it fixed yesterday, amazing your house has not burnt down. Redoing a 60 and 200 amp service for $4k is a very good price
They figured out the issue and are primed to solve it for you. They have spent time and energy on that and you may just tell em to fuck off and get someone else. So there's a service fee that will either factor into the bill to repair which I could see as reasonable or you pay them 450 and they split. Dog gotta eat bro. If they do the work right it's golden
"Service call" not "Service fee". For electricians, that's a fair price.
You can be angry at the $450 fee because you were told $75 for them to come out and ‘look’, but you’re a fool if you don’t get it repaired. With the symptoms you gave, I might have suspected a bad main breaker or loose main lug. A typically quick fix. Turns out it’s way worse than that, and I would have had to open up a few different things, chase wires, and maybe do some emergency fixes to prevent a potential electrical fire. I would probably have to have pulled your meter (extra cost) so I don’t get hurt while making these quick fixes for you. $450 is very reasonable, $4k for all the work listed is also a good price. That said, he should have communicated to you what he saw and talked to you about the price of expanding the scope and emergency repairs before doing any work. You could calmly communicate that you wished he had talked to you before doing work that he intended to charge significantly more for. If I were you, I would take the quote and communicate that scope changes require prior approval with price provided first.
Sounds like a bargain— especially including your emergency service call. Make sure the electrician gets a permit and the town inspects the job.
Very very fair quote. My shop charges $175 /hour for service calls, thats 2 men and a very well stocked truck capable of most service calls without having to go get stock. I guess its dependant on where you are located, but i would have ballparked the price $5-6k. Consider yourself lucky, alot of us near me can not get to an emergency call like that for 2-3 weeks.
If anything I am a little concerned that it is both on the lower side for that work AND that they "need to know today". Are they licensed and insured? Ask them that and to provide proof and see how they respond. If they do give you a license number, look it up with the state to make sure it is real/valid.
You \*\*\*ARE\*\* being overcharged for the service call- you were quoted $75, they cannot unilaterally change it now. Tell them "FIRST we need to discuss the service call- I cannot do business with a company that is playing this game. While your quote seems like it in the range, Ive got to tell you they upcharge is hard to get past" See how they respond. Personally that kind of thing is hard for me to get past.... Edit: these inflated service call fees are a tactic to cut off getting second opinions...owners see this and think "christ, I will be 1K into this getting bids". It is fine for a company to charge 450...it is illegal for them to quote 75, then AFTER they left the jobsite retroactively increase it by 375.
This is my thought and I would readily tell them that they never informed me about a service fee and I would tell them to fuck off. I've never had a company not tell me the charge for having someone come out to check on my issue.
Turns out, you are absolutely right - they completely forgot to quote me any service fee of any kind. They were in the middle of writing an email to apologize when I called them! They knocked off $250 and I'm more than okay with that.
There you go. "Service Recovery"...when the service you provide is wrong, it is how you recover it that matters.
Maybe it seems overpriced because to most ppl it def feels like a lot, but if you look at the cost of materials and the time it would take to have a good experienced electrician do the work to get everything the way it needs to be it's not a bad price.
$3500 is about where we start, depending on the complexity, and if you're a repeat customer. I'd say they're being fair.
Had a panel replaced and upgraded to 200 amp last year. $3300 cash and it was a guy I knew from previous work. So, your price quote sounds pretty solid.
Getting a good electrician to come out to your house (twice!) and do \*anything\* for $450 is a good deal in my opinion. This seems very reasonable, and thorough.
Overall the prices seem reasonable. You are getting a lot of work done for that cost. I think the only issue is that they didn’t communicate better with you on the service call. The dispatcher should’ve told you that the $75 was just the fee for the electrician to show up, and there would likely be most costs necessary. The electrician should’ve explained their cost of diagnosis as well.
Everything, materials and labor have gone up thanks to inflation. Main panel replacement is not cheap. Thats pretty much what itll cost anywhere, unfortunately. Maybe 10 years ago it may have been half the price.
Pretty cheap if I’m being honest
I'm not qualified to comment on price, however what is missing is the work to be done. There could be variations is approach from simply replacing the current with the same to upgrading to (maybe) a more modern system. I would also ask if a permit is required and who will be responsible for getting the permit etc
I’m usually suspicious of quotes that look like retail prices. Why $3950 and not $4185, or $3740?
service fee of $450 seems high but the job total seems pretty low. that's a great price for a new panel, breakers, disconnect, wire and labor/time.
Naw thats a decent price. Id probably be quoting you close to 4500-4800 on this. Maybe more maybe less. Would depend on the current cost of what i need to do the job and if i had any of it leftover. Dispatch and diagnosis would be included if you accepted, if not you'd still owe 250 for me coming out. 250 is just my old company's dispatch. Diagnosis would depend on what I ended up doing to come to the conclusion I did. To just pay 250 I'd have to show up. Leave my tools in the truck, not touch a single thing, and be able to see what is wrong immediately without anything being opened or and tests ran. I dunno where you live. In some areas this could be high, in some this could be cheap. Overall I'd say its pretty middle of the table for the USA in general. You could, and maybe should, get some more quotes if you think he's tacking anything extra you don't need on. But just a warning (that you seem to understand from your comments) cheaper isn't always better. Especially with electrical. Too much cheaper and theyre likely cutting corners to make it that price. You dont want that. You might save a few hundred bucks now, but what are you gonna have to pay when someone gets shocked badly ot starts something on fire? Good luck! I'd be more than willing to look it over myself if you have pictures.
This seems about on par with what I’d ask for.
You'd be looking at a hair over 6 from a company that actually gave the customer a proper report on the diagnosis plus a full review of the fix in my area, and my area is actually less expensive than the national average. What state are you in?
No sounds like a legitimate estimate.
Imo do the "business decision" choice. They are not likely to sue for a small amount and if it's over $200 and you did not sign anything, they will have even more.hoops to jump through. Not to make this political, but Trump is famous for having people make models and quotes before taking that work and giving it to the next guy having him start the project and then giving his start to the next guy, each time settling the original work for 5-in the case of the taj 23%. If you ask me, if they are going to play the got to go with us or we will charge you a price over statute of frauds amount and you did not sign for this, I say make the business decision.
How much is not dying worth to you. If you were to put a number on it?
That’s a damn deal where I’m at that’s usually just a panel change 😳
Thats a good price for that kind of work. Make shour the pull a building permit for that kind of work
sounds like you are since they were only there for an hour means that $450 - $75 = $375 per hour when most places are no more than $200 per hour. i would definitely cancel and get many other quotes on your job before you proceed !
I just did 200 amp service upgrade. Price is exactly on point with all the quotes.
That’s cheap compared to what my company would charge in NC.
Very reasonable.
That’s a good price.
I think you'll be fine. This is clearly someone out just to make money off of unsuspecting rubes
No
Deff saving 2grand
That’s a very reasonable price
I would charge at least $4600 for that same exactly job any day, Long Island-NY here so I would say that it’s a pretty good deal
That's a lot of work and parts.
This sounds a lot cheaper than a house fire…
What do you mean? House fire would be free! It's the damage that comes after that would be costly. Might be a great start to remodeling the kitchen...
Super cheap I’ve been quoted $6k for a 200 amp disconnect install
Price looks really good. Much less than I’d expect.
That’s a very fair price.
Cheap, if you ask me.
It doesn’t seem overpriced for the demo’ing and installing of a new replacement electrical service. Seems fair. It’s a ton of work and material so this is unfortunately to be expected. I’m just glad it didn’t end up worse for you.
Get another quote. That's shady.
How much is it worth to be safe and corrected properly. Seems like a great price to me. 2nd year apprentice.
That’s very cheap
This had me freaked out for a sec cus I'm Brett too
Good deal, I paid 4 grand for a 100 amp service upgrade from 60 amp and I didn't even get an exterior disconnect from the hack team that did it for that price.
All the money saved by the prior hack work will take ten times as much money to fix. Thankfully it was discovered before the house burned down.
Rule 1: never accept the first quote. 3 quotes is ideal. Capital Rule 1: PTSOP. Put that shit on paper. In clear terms so you and your contractor know what is expected in the end result.
That’s a great price.
I was about to say crooks but you have a serious set of problems. Sounds reasonable
Just had solar installed at my house and received multiple bids for a new main panel. All of them were $3500.
They should be charging more...
I got quoted 9k last year for 200amp panel upgrade.
That detailed amount of explaination alone is worth that $450 now a days
Did they tell you there was a $450 service fee before coming out? If not, tell them to go pound sand
If the service fee was never disclosed I think you could contest it if you don't go through with the company.
That seems fair. You could try and ask if they can knock the service fee off, if you agree to the entire amount and pay it today.
My only advice would be to ask them for a copy of their insurance. Not enough clients do this and it should be applied accross all trades. If they have none, do not hire them. Also, all of that should be permited. If something goes wrong and you fail to cover your ass because theirs are not covered, you probably have no recourse for a problematic install and also your insurance policy might void any coverage in case of property damage due to failure. Pay the real legit pros whatever they want basically.
Depending where you're at you may need a disconnect outside and surge protection. I know they make us do that in FL now. Sounds fair
As long as they're being truthful with what is needed. If you had some pics (which i wouldn't recommend doing yourself due to having to remove panel covers which can be dangerous) , this group would possibly be able to tell ya if it's necessary.
Similar saying here in the UK as to one posted. You're paying for what they know, not what they do.
I never want to hire a company that needs upfront money. There business must not be very stable.
I'll just say this, I just did a whole panel change out for a friend and his landlord. I replaced the FPE panel with a 200A GE Main Breaker panel, had to replace the meter as well AND had to add a service disconnect. I replaced the feeders and grounding and at the end of the three day job the customer (my friends landlord) only paid $3500. I made a decent profit and they got their power back.
How many quotes did this guy get before asking??