I had my basement done and I received a bill from the electrician in the amount of $3150.00. $2400 being labor. My wife said that he was at the job only about 10 to 14 hours. Do you think that is a good rate. He won't show on his invoice how many hours he worked?
He said he did not want people to know what he is charging?
Get his license number, which should be on his bill, and also on the agreement you signed before he started, and contact your state's consumer protection department BEFORE paying him a dime.
I can see why! :)
Where are you and what about travel time, other shop time if the job required anything special, who did the parts procurement, etc., ...
And, of course, we have no clue where you are -- rates in downtown San Francisco don't quite correlate w/ somewhere in Anywhere, USA.
What kind of contractual arrangement did you have? What level of detail you're entitled to see is dependent on that and whatever rules/laws are in your governing jurisdiction...
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I think you can do the math....
2400/14 = 171.42, but that doesn't count the time that they spent doing the estimate, acquiring parts, driving to your house (probably twice), overhead, etc, which would add the equivalent to several more hours.Having said that, if someone doesn't want you to know how much they charge by the hour, I assume because it's probably too much.
To that 14 hours, add some travel time and shop time, so it may be another few hours, Even at 20hours, he is high. I'd expect to pay $75 to $100 depending on location.
Did you get more than one bid on the project? Did you agree on a total final price before beginning? If yes, what do you care what he charges. You paid an agreed price for a specific job. You did not pay based on what he in turn pays himself.
If you gave him a blank check to begin with or you did not check out his price before he was done,. well ......
"jsanders" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@homerepairlive.com:
Feeefte-fie dallah
IF you have not paid him yet, you are in the enviable position of being ahead of a sub.
If you have paid him, then all this is mental masturbation.
You can demand an itemized bill, and if you have differences with it, submit it to your State's Contractor's Board or the Governor's Council for Consumer Affairs for arbitration.
BUT, what did the original agreement/contract say? Or was there even one? It's hard to hold someone to an agreement that was never put on paper.
Good luck.
Steve
I wouldn't hire one unless I knew in advance. We just had an electrician do some work (Florida) and rate was $80/hour, counting travel time. OK by me.
$ 125.00 per HOUR.
googling a little finds
Electrical Labor Rate - Seattle $90 per hour ($150 for the first hour) for one contracting firm (as it says, in Seattle). I would expect that to be a fairly typical rate/schedule for most cities, probably higher in Boston, San Fran, NYC, etc.
A 2005 Survey of rates by a trade association of facilities for exhibitions for comparison
Anaheim Atlanta Atlantic City Boston Chicago $78.83 $51.25 $85.58 $48.09 $98.30
Boston seem terribly low in comparison and compared to expectations. There weren't any other "left coast" places in this tabulation. All else found was wages for employees, not nearly as directly correlateable to consumer charges.
The average of the three "high-price spreads" above is $90/hr in round numbers, right in line w/ the Seattle contractor number.
W/ OP's original statement of 12hr (midpoint of estimate, that would be about $1150 in round numbers for the labor w/o any of the other adjustments that might have been reasonable.
No way to know how accurate the time estimate is, but if it's at all reasonable, certainly would seem to be on the high end...
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Hmmm, Compared to auto dealer's flat rate like 90.00 per hour, my rule of thumb is from total amount usually halfs is labour. Maybe he charged travel time as well.(coming and going picking up material, etc.) My rate is 2 hour minimu 250.00/hr plus T&L. I am retired now. Wiring a basement, I do it myself after getting DIY permit from city hall which includes two inspections, so it'll qualify for insurance coverage.
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