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Posted by PipeDown on May 19, 2006, 7:27 pm
> did they get a permit for the work?
>
If they did, you can add that to the price of materials they used.
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Posted by James \"Cubby\" Culbertson on May 19, 2006, 11:19 pm
>I called an electrician (from the yellow pages) to come to my home
> (florida) and wire up an RV power outlet that I had bought online ,the
> electricians bill just came in and it seems high ($378).
>
> They came out and said yes we can do it, and started work, I asked what
> it would run/cost, the guy said I dont know. All I think that they
> needed for supplies was a circuit (60amp), 4 #6 wires for about 30 ft,
> and pvc pipe to go around the wires, I had already bought the rv power
> outlet. This week the bill came in for $378. 2 guys came out and spent
> 1 to 1 1/2 hrs working. One fiddled about mostly, and installing a new
> doorbell (probably charging me time while he did this!).
>
> I did not sign anything, didnt get an estimate, but asked for the
> estimated amount, he couldnt tell me about what it would be. What can I
> do? Do I have to pay this bill? I only figured it would only be around
> $200, since I already had the rv pwer outlet.
> -MrJ
>
I believe it's been said before but I'll reiterate. You should have
demanded a written estimate. Settling for "I don't know" is not acceptable
and quite frankly, you're pretty much obliged to pay the price they give you
since there was no pre-agreed price. Additionally, get yourself 3 seperate
estimates (written!) in the future particularly if you think it'll cost a
bit. If someone refuses to give a written estimate, say "thank you" and
call another person. Pay it and chalk it up to inexperience.
Cheers,
cc
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Posted by Al Moran on May 20, 2006, 7:26 am
>I called an electrician (from the yellow pages) to come to my home
>(florida) and wire up an RV power outlet that I had bought online ,the
>electricians bill just came in and it seems high ($378).
>
>They came out and said yes we can do it, and started work, I asked what
>it would run/cost, the guy said I dont know. All I think that they
>needed for supplies was a circuit (60amp), 4 #6 wires for about 30 ft,
>and pvc pipe to go around the wires, I had already bought the rv power
>outlet. This week the bill came in for $378. 2 guys came out and spent
>1 to 1 1/2 hrs working. One fiddled about mostly, and installing a new
>doorbell (probably charging me time while he did this!).
>
>I did not sign anything, didnt get an estimate, but asked for the
>estimated amount, he couldnt tell me about what it would be. What can I
>do? Do I have to pay this bill? I only figured it would only be around
>$200, since I already had the rv pwer outlet.
>-MrJ
Only a moron would let someone work on something without a written
estimate. Pay the man idiot.
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Posted by Glen@ExpressQuoteOnline.com on May 21, 2006, 11:28 am
mrj wrote:
> I called an electrician (from the yellow pages) to come to my home
> (florida) and wire up an RV power outlet that I had bought online ,the
> electricians bill just came in and it seems high ($378).
>
> They came out and said yes we can do it, and started work, I asked what
> it would run/cost, the guy said I dont know. All I think that they
> needed for supplies was a circuit (60amp), 4 #6 wires for about 30 ft,
> and pvc pipe to go around the wires, I had already bought the rv power
> outlet. This week the bill came in for $378. 2 guys came out and spent
> 1 to 1 1/2 hrs working. One fiddled about mostly, and installing a new
> doorbell (probably charging me time while he did this!).
>
> I did not sign anything, didnt get an estimate, but asked for the
> estimated amount, he couldnt tell me about what it would be. What can I
> do? Do I have to pay this bill? I only figured it would only be around
> $200, since I already had the rv pwer outlet.
> -MrJ
MrJ,
As an electrician myself, the price they are charging sounds very
reasonable to me. I understand that you thought that it might cost up
to $200, however, based on the materials that you mentioned were
neeeded, and knowing that the price of copper wire has almost doubled
in the last several weeks, I believe that the amount they charged for
their services was extremely reasonable. As an electrician, I know
that in my area, the cost of the wire and breaker is a little more than
1/2 the amount you were charged for the installation.
As for the issue of estimates prior to having the work done, that is my
preference. However, realize that there are many excellent
tradespeople out there who have started their own business and haven't
yet learned the skills to estimate projects well, in advance of the
job. This doesn't mean that the work or service provided is lacking,
they just prefer to do the work and charge a fair price for the
services provided once they have completed the job. In this way they
are certain of the time involved and the cost of materials and they
know that they aren't overcharging or undercharging based on the
possibility of an unforeen issue.
My recommendation is to always get 3 estimates up front (especially for
larger projects), but as was mentioned, when you have a contractor
provide the estimate up front, they have to try to allow for the
unforseen and things like the cost to travel out to your home to
provide an estimate for work that they will only have a 1 in 3 chance
of winning, and then the time to travel to the supplier to pick up
materials and then travel to the jobsite to perform the installation
and allow for the possibility they might have to return to the supplier
for something; so chances are quite good that the price you would be
paying would be much higher.
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