Electrician cost

[Barry_White]

It's not always easy to get three quotes.

SWMBO rang 4 elect contractors in the local paper and only one turned up.

Is $1300.00 too much to shift the meters from inside (old in the passage way) to outside.

As we intend to do an addition out back and install air con he suggested we connect 3 phase for an extra $350.00

Does this sound reasonable.

I reckon that's very reasonable considering he will probably have to rerun and put in extra mains and to put the three phase metering in and supply a new meter box and extend all the circuits to the new meter box.

[Smurf]

I think you are a bit unfair on HPM.

One thing I will not do, not matter how hard anyone tries, is fit a Clipsal 3 pin plug to anything.

Simple job. Even a handyman can legally do it since it's plugged in. But I keep well away from those Clipsal plugs with the clear plastic cover for one very simple reason - even 5% overload and they melt to the point of being outright dangerous.

All it takes is 250V instead of 240V and a fan heater draws enough extra current to melt the plug. I've seen at least 20 of those plugs seriously melted (installed by various people including myself).

Now, if Clipsal chooses to manufacture such plugs with an obviously virtually zero tolerance to overload then that doesn't give me too much confidence about the rest of their stuff. A plug is pretty simple after all.

So I don't agree with those who rubbish the HPM gear. Sure, some of their stuff isn't so great but the competition also produces some outright rubbish.

[dan76]

just going from my experience as a tradesman, hpm is a cheaper alternative and is not as robust.
also to get this thread back on track, 70 dollars an hour incl gst for a sparkie

smurf , i think any 3 pin plug is guilty of what you state , especialy (sp?) on air cons up my way

[MrFixIt]

Hi

Overall a FAIR price.

[patty]

Alll the tradies out there especially the plumbers and the sparks have the Olympic games to thnk for the increased pay put it this way I was charging $35 per hr in 1998 then 2000 came along and work was everywhere and the rates increased because if you wanted it done that was the goin rate and it looks like it has stuck now 2008 i am earning $60 per hr i sure as hell know people in other industries have not had a hourly raste rise like what we have had and I am not complaining!

[Tabby]

About a year ago I had some serious electrical work done and all up it was approx $1,500 (incl materials & GST but excl h/w controllers and their cables).
What the sparkie did:
1) Complete change over of switchboard and install circuit breakers/safety switch stuff (same location as old box)
2) install 2 phone points
3) change 3 light fittings from fixed wiring to baton type
4) install waterproof powerpoint for continuous flow h/w system, 2 controllers and wire to switchboard
5) change 2 single power points to 2 double points
6) disconnect old electric cooker and rewire and install new electric cooker
The cost was $60 per hour.
As for the plumber, I felt ripped off. For $1,200 he drained the cravity h/w system (no rocket science here, turn the tap on until it runs dry), ran 10m pipe from gas meter, redirect the water pipes from the cavity system to the new system, install the continuous flow unit. Before you ask, no it didn't include removing the gravity system from within the roof, it's still there. What I didn't know and therefore didn't state when requesting a quote, is that the taps would probably leak once changed from cravity to main pressure, nor did the plumber mention it. So as soon as the water was connected to main pressure most of the taps leaked. Then it was another $160 for a return visit to change the washers in the taps. The price also did not include the hot water unit as his quote for the unit I wanted was $200 more than Origin Energy price.
So sparkies are pretty good with their pricing, but plumbers are a killer.

[nev25]

Tabby as I said in another post of yours I thing you got a bargain from you're sparkie
As for the plumber I think the one of the biggest expense would have been the copper pipe.
What people don't seem to realize is copper prices have gone though the roof and plumbers copper pipe and electricians cable cost have skyrocketed in the last few years
An example is some cable I use to pay around 90cents a metre for 12 months ago is now over $2 a metre
Plumbers copper pipe is the same

[glenne79]

HA HA its really funny reading this thread.
I Just had exactly the same thing happen to me.
A "friend referred an electrician. the electrician told me i would get a good price and i said go ahead with the electrical work for a bath and kitchen reno without getting a quote.
I was shocked at the invoice: He charged $70 per hour for two full days plus $700 for materials. $1900 later we are only half way through.
thanks "Friend". but really my fault for not getting quotes

Glenn