Hi All,
This quote came thorough for a full house backup generator. Some of these numbers seems a bit high.
Labor: $ 11,200.00
Generator: $ 5,505.65
ATS-100AMP: $ 913.40
Concrete Pad: $ 294.16
Battery: $ 154.86
On Cue: $ 252.10
Cold Weather Kit: $807.71
Installation Materials: $ 2,525.63
Permit: $ 1,200.00
Grand Total: $ 22,853.51
Am I missing something?
-T
[snip]
a: location b: size (kw or VA) of generator
Yes, the lube.
$1200 for a permit? What are they buying the inspector for supper?
That was one of the things that stuck out, wasn't it? IDK how permits work there, or how many are needed, but it sure looks very high. A lot of obvious info is lacking. Gen make, capacity? fuel? nat gas lines need to be run? I know one thing, I could buy a 6KW portable, put in an interlock kit on the panel and an inlet, DIY for about $1000 plus permit. And if that unit fails someday, it's $700 to replace it, not $5500 plus labor.
Tell them that you'll take the concrete pad .. and hire someone else for the rest. John T.
I would do something along the same line.
I do not know how much natural gas cost or if that is an option in this case. But for a whole house generator if one looks at the cost of fuel, the price of the generator would not even be an issue.
The $ 1200 for the permit seems way too high. I find it hard to have $
11,000 for labor. Two men for 3 days would be excessive. Even at $ 100 per man per hour would only be $ 4800.Is this just a house of less than say 3000 sqft or something else ?
1) Note that the labor costs include preparing and pouring the pad for the generator. 2) You haven't been paying attention to the effects of inflation and scarcity on the labor costs. 3) The electrical work may be extensive to wire in the transfer switch.
Your points are valid but that still sounds extremely high for labor. I'd want to see a breakdown of what it is.
Slab could easily be $500 to $750. But that still leave a lot of money to spend. Without a list, anything here is speculation.
Is there. anyone nearby to give competitive quotes? Could you hire someone to do the electrical, someone else to do the gas hookup etc? Could you do some of it yourself? Granted it's a lot simpler to hire one crew to to all of the work and take responsibility for improper work.
As mentioned we did not get enough info about the instalation. Even allowing for inflation I would think $ 100 person per hour and 2 people every day could install the generator in 3 days. That would include the pad. For a whole house switch over all that would be 9 or 12 wires to deal with on the switch, not like seperating out just some circuits for a partial switch over.
With a number of $ 294.16 for the pad it might be an already made pad that is just dropped in place like many of the heat pumps are around here.
I would get another bid from another company. About 5 years ago I got a bid to change the water heater. It was about $ 1800. Another company charged me $ 950 which I thought was reasonable. It only took the men 2 hours to install it. At that time labr was $ 50 per man per hour.
Been a couple of years but think my brother only paid about half that plus he had to add a tank for gas as service is not available in his area.
Permit cost is annoying. Reminds me of county charging permit for me to take down old deck and permit to put up a new one a few years ago.
You should have just gotten a repair permit.
I do not recall the details but around here was a restraint. The owner wanted to tare it down and build back better. Could not get a permit for that so he got a repair or remodel permit. Built a new building and when the outside walls and roof were on it he tore the old building down and pitched it out the doors and windows.
My house is 1230 sq ft.
The generator is a
I think the quite I got sent was purposely to get rid of me because of the 1-1/2 hour travel ties one way involved.
$1200 for permits and 11,000 for labor. Give me a break!
The pads come from Kohler. No pouring involved.
I am trying to contact three other companies.
What would be the downside of not using a "Kohler" authorized dealer I wonder. I work for a contractor that uses an electric company for years and years now that is really stellar, but they are not authorized by either Generac or Kohler
Better yet, since the pad comes with the generator, forget the whole thing!
Yes, in progress.
Yes
That is the upside. Affording it is the downside.
Spoke to the local generac dealer. He did two of my friends units, so I am interested. One for 6k and one for 11K which included a YUGE LP bottle.
By the way, they said the permits are $400.
Oh and they use two inch thick pavers.
And, as far as vibration goes, they said if it vibrated a lot it would walk off the pavers and that has never happened.
Had I done it myself, no permit would be needed. Just our county rule as downstate no permits needed and codes different.
My old deck had stood over a concrete pad for over 40 years with no problem but code called for anchoring 3 ft below grade and contractor had to cut through old pad and send in pictures for approval.
I had one bid where the contractor would have ignored the county and permits but county can be a PITA as if they come out for a nearby neighbor they will look around for violations. Guy I know called the county on a neighbor's violation and both he and the neighbor got gigged.
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