Replacing A Circuit Breaker Box With A New One: Cost ?

[Duane Bozarth]

Depends on too much to tell w/ any accuracy at all--starting with whether your outside service is up to the higher supply rating.

[Robert11]

Hello:

Would like to get some idea of what a "reasonable" cost would be before contacting any contractors.

Job would entail replacing an old 120 amp FPE circuit breaker box with a new

200 amp, probably Square D, one. To include about 20 or so new breakers, etc.

Thanks, B.

[John Hines]

Two grand. People around in here have reported 100amp upgrades for less.

I paid more, like $2800, but they had to remove 2 old panels with addition of the new 100amp unit, so there was a bunch re-wiring that needed to be done.

So for a SWAG, $2K USD.

[William.Deans]

Greetings,

I figure roughly $500 worth of materials and one weekend worth of time. Somehow electricians manage to earn $1000/day on such jobs. I don't get it. What is badly needed is a service for homeowners where a qualified individual will come in and tell the homeowner exactly what to do (in this case) to upgrade his or her own service. They would then come back in advance of the inspector and tell the homeowner about anything that they did wrong so that it could be corrected. The homeowner would also get a 24-hour hotline in case they have some "stupid questions". Specialized tools would be loaned to the homeowner for the duration of the activity (such as a large SDS hammer-drill to make a hole through the foundation for the service entrance cable). This would not work for all homeowners but would significantly reduce the cost for many.

Hope this helps, William

[Parsons]

I just got a quote to replace a 200 amp box at 800.00. I don't know if thats high or low but there you have it

[Percival P. Cassidy]

I bought a 200A CH panel complete with main breakers, a twin 30A breaker, and 5 or 6 20A breakers for less than $150 at Lowe's. Additional single breakers are $7 each, twins are $17 each.

I haven't done the job yet, but I'm guessing it might take me a day (8 hours): I'm simply replacing an existing panel by one with more spaces, with a view to splitting some circuits and maybe adding some new ones

*later*. I don't know what an electrician might charge: in NY we paid $90 an hour for car repairs; would it be more anywhere for an electrician? Let's say $800 for labor -- but I don't know how complex your job is.

On 08/06/05 04:32 pm [e-mail] tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

[Edwin Pawlowski]

In central MA, the electrician I use at work bills $60 an hour. Car repair shops in the area run abut $50 - $60 an hour.

[Pagan]

Cost me about $3,200.

While that may seem steep, several things needed to be addressed.

The house is almost 70 years old, with old cloth-type insulation on the wires. Yank it around like it's new stuff will cause the insulation to flake off, causing shorts.

The box needed to be moved to the other side of the house to comply with code.

Some of the codes for my city required some pricey materials, such as a 4" pipe for the entry elbow, all metal conduit, and so forth.

Some new circuits needed to be run, such as a 50 amp feed for the new A/C.

Over the past 70 years, a couple amateur electricians made some very amateur repairs/additions, which needed to be redone.

It took two days, during which I still had electricity for most of the house, most of the time. I upgraded a 100 amp panel to a 200 amp Square D, with a butload of extra breakers for future circuits. Everything complies with code, and it works.

He did a fantastic job. I've had other electricians who did sloppy, unreliable, and mostly dangerous jobs, which I ended up having fixed by the expensive guy. He's the only contractor which I can say I get what I pay for.

Pagan