4 ms·

The company sending you a high bill doesn't automatically mean the guy who fixed your house gets paid well though, does it?

WalterBright 4y ago
They were one man shops. 20 years ago, the going rate for installing a socket in an existing wired and ready to go junction box was $50. It's about a 5 minute job. I know it's about 5 minutes because I've done a lot of them myself. I'm sure prices have gone up a lot in the last couple decades.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  The electrician is not charging to do a 5 minute job. They do not know that when they accept the job over the phone. They are charging for their time to drive to and from you, the possibility that the job is more involved than described, and the liability from doing the job. And the opportunity cost of not accepting a different job due to your job.
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    That's the price I was quoted to do the whole house, not one socket. $50 per outlet. If I hired one to come out and do one socket, I'd be sure to get a $200 site visit charge added on.
    - SoftTalker 4y ago
      This is what a contractor does when he doesn't want the job because it's basically too small and would be more of an annoyance than anything worth doing. Bid an outrageous amount and then if the client says "yes" at least you're making some money. He's probably got a backlog of large jobs he can make more money on. So if he's going to come out and do outlet installation on one house, he's going to bid an amount that is worth delaying other work. For small/simple household jobs, you should call a handyman not a trade contractor.
      - adastra22 4y ago
        I can confirm that is the the going rate right now.
        inferiorhuman 4y ago
        FWIW I paid about $100 an outlet recently (as part of a much larger project). Yes you can get 99 cent receptacles at Home Depot, yes they will be crap (residential grade) and likely not up to code. NEC requires all circuits in the kitchen and bathroom be GFCI protected, and all kitchen outlets to also be tamper resistant. A GFCI, non-TR receptacle costs bout $15 at Home Depot, and again you're talking bargain basement units that a professional electrician may not want to install for risk of having to eat the cost of a return visit. Commercial and hospital grade outlets both cost more ($30+, $50+ respectively for tamper resistant GFCI). The outlets with USB A+C ports start at around $60 per. In some jurisdictions you may be able to get away with one GFCI outlet per circuit, but then you're paying for their time to map out which circuits are which.
        adastra22 4y ago
        To be clear, the $50 was labor only.
        inferiorhuman 4y ago
        Twenty years ago I'd expect $50 to cover materials and labor. Prices have exploded in the past couple years.
- danielheath 4y ago
  It's hardly surprising that a 5 minute job that requires travel to and from the customer site on your own dime costs enough to cover their travel time & costs; 20 years ago they had to read a map, plan a route to their jobs for the day, drive to and from the site.
- nemo44x 4y ago
  You're going to pay for a couple of hours no matter what. He isn't just getting salary either. There's employment taxes that need to be paid, tools and transportation costs, insurance, benefits, etc.
- karaterobot 4y ago
  One thing about contractors is that you're paying them for the time they aren't working. As in, they're probably not working steadily, 40 hours a week, every week, but they still have bills to pay, and this down time must be factored into their rates for the profession to be sustainable. On the other hand, if they DO work 40 hours a week, every single week, they can probably afford to raise their rates... Have not been an electrician, but I have been a software contractor, and the idea is the same.
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    As a programmer who sometimes does contract work, I know how that works.
- Manuel_D 4y ago
  Then do it yourself. I change my own oil and filters. They're able to charge that much because plenty of people can't do it themselves. But the reality is they've also got the businesses expenses of maintaining their work vehicle, their insurance, their healthcare, etc. That $50 probably only translates to $20 into usable income.
- cosmodisk 4y ago
  Having done one myself, I blew off the fuses and burned some wires, because I bought a wrong thing,so yeah, it's a 5 min job but you still need to know what to do.
missedthecue 4y ago
Interestingly, in my experience the difference between company quotes and owner-operator quotes are that the companies are somehow cheaper.
playingalong 4y ago
They need to cover the contingency. You don't expect them to be scheduled back to back from 9 to 5 each day.

WalterBright 4y ago

They were one man shops. 20 years ago, the going rate for installing a socket in an existing wired and ready to go junction box was $50. It's about a 5 minute job. I know it's about 5 minutes because I've done a lot of them myself. I'm sure prices have gone up a lot in the last couple decades.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
lotsofpulp 4y ago
The electrician is not charging to do a 5 minute job. They do not know that when they accept the job over the phone. They are charging for their time to drive to and from you, the possibility that the job is more involved than described, and the liability from doing the job. And the opportunity cost of not accepting a different job due to your job.
- WalterBright 4y ago
  That's the price I was quoted to do the whole house, not one socket. $50 per outlet. If I hired one to come out and do one socket, I'd be sure to get a $200 site visit charge added on.
  - SoftTalker 4y ago
    This is what a contractor does when he doesn't want the job because it's basically too small and would be more of an annoyance than anything worth doing. Bid an outrageous amount and then if the client says "yes" at least you're making some money. He's probably got a backlog of large jobs he can make more money on. So if he's going to come out and do outlet installation on one house, he's going to bid an amount that is worth delaying other work. For small/simple household jobs, you should call a handyman not a trade contractor.
    - adastra22 4y ago
      I can confirm that is the the going rate right now.
      - inferiorhuman 4y ago
        FWIW I paid about $100 an outlet recently (as part of a much larger project). Yes you can get 99 cent receptacles at Home Depot, yes they will be crap (residential grade) and likely not up to code. NEC requires all circuits in the kitchen and bathroom be GFCI protected, and all kitchen outlets to also be tamper resistant. A GFCI, non-TR receptacle costs bout $15 at Home Depot, and again you're talking bargain basement units that a professional electrician may not want to install for risk of having to eat the cost of a return visit. Commercial and hospital grade outlets both cost more ($30+, $50+ respectively for tamper resistant GFCI). The outlets with USB A+C ports start at around $60 per. In some jurisdictions you may be able to get away with one GFCI outlet per circuit, but then you're paying for their time to map out which circuits are which.
        adastra22 4y ago
        To be clear, the $50 was labor only.
        inferiorhuman 4y ago
        Twenty years ago I'd expect $50 to cover materials and labor. Prices have exploded in the past couple years.
danielheath 4y ago
It's hardly surprising that a 5 minute job that requires travel to and from the customer site on your own dime costs enough to cover their travel time & costs; 20 years ago they had to read a map, plan a route to their jobs for the day, drive to and from the site.
nemo44x 4y ago
You're going to pay for a couple of hours no matter what. He isn't just getting salary either. There's employment taxes that need to be paid, tools and transportation costs, insurance, benefits, etc.
karaterobot 4y ago
One thing about contractors is that you're paying them for the time they aren't working. As in, they're probably not working steadily, 40 hours a week, every week, but they still have bills to pay, and this down time must be factored into their rates for the profession to be sustainable. On the other hand, if they DO work 40 hours a week, every single week, they can probably afford to raise their rates... Have not been an electrician, but I have been a software contractor, and the idea is the same.
- WalterBright 4y ago
  As a programmer who sometimes does contract work, I know how that works.
Manuel_D 4y ago
Then do it yourself. I change my own oil and filters. They're able to charge that much because plenty of people can't do it themselves. But the reality is they've also got the businesses expenses of maintaining their work vehicle, their insurance, their healthcare, etc. That $50 probably only translates to $20 into usable income.
cosmodisk 4y ago
Having done one myself, I blew off the fuses and burned some wires, because I bought a wrong thing,so yeah, it's a 5 min job but you still need to know what to do.

missedthecue 4y ago

Interestingly, in my experience the difference between company quotes and owner-operator quotes are that the companies are somehow cheaper.

playingalong 4y ago

They need to cover the contingency. You don't expect them to be scheduled back to back from 9 to 5 each day.