? Cost of Electrician Question

Every location will have different labor rates for everything. A few years ago I added a 30 amp box to the side of the garage. I did all the pre-wiring myself and purchased the RV box. I ran all the wire through conduit, after removing paneling inside the garage and up through the rafters and down the other side. I ran about 75 feet of wire, with conduit and everything, cost of materials was around $250.00.

I then called an electrician who came out and installed the 30 amp breaker in the main box and actually hooked up the wires to the breaker box and the RV box outside. His job was easy, just attach the wires and pop in a new breaker. Everything else was done. He charged me $100. I then reinstalled the wall paneling and cleaned everything up myself.

Money well spent since I didn't want to touch the inside of the main breaker box.

A couple years later, I added another 30 amp RV box, near the junction where my electric meter is. I did wire that one in myself. Total length of wire was only about 18 inches!

If you dig the trench yourself between house and garage, or garage and location of the RV box, run the conduit yourself, do all the pre-wiring yourself, and then just hire the electriction to hook up the wires, you can get it done a lot cheaper. If you hire someone to dig up the ground, your talking much, much more. Do as much as you can yourself. Everything you can do yourself will save you more.

An electrician can't touch a power pole so you'll have to get the power company involved. When I worked for the phone company years ago we would charge $125 an hour for a line truck and $150 an hour for two linemen, plus engineering fee and permits. Now back then the power company rates were higher than ours. I think it would be cheaper to go 30 amp from your house with just an electrician.

There are many variables (besides local labor rates) as well that could dramatically affect the cost.

What's at the pole already--would this be a new service entrance, requiring connection to the electric company's grid, or a subpanel fed off an existing service drop/panel? Is the wire run overhead or underground? If underground, who is responsible for the excavation, and is there anything in the way (like a driveway or building)? Are materials included, or only the electrician's labor? What's permitting like in your area?

I'd guess that the costs of excavation/ditching (and filling), assuming an underground run, and probably also the cost of materials will exceed the electrician's labor taken strictly on its own.

If by "pole" your talking about running a new electrical service from the power company's pole, you're going to have a heart attack when you hear the cost.

From the pole may mean you might have to pay for a separate meter. It won't be cheap, and you will have linemen, an electrician, and possibly an inspector to do the work.

Running it from the house will be easier, and much cheaper the more work you do. Labor by us is often quoted by the job, try to find someone you know or an apprentice to lower the rates. I'd say that $100/hr. Would be in the low side.

If this is near any service panel, I would strongly look into adding a 50-amp service thru that panel, even if it should require adding a auxilary panel beside the main service panel.
Best bet would to get an electrician out and have him/her give you the options you face and costs for each option.
Can tell you from experience if you have to come off the transformer with a new service, just run that generator or heavy duty extension cord and forget about it !

Make sure the electrician understands this is a 50 Amp RV receptacle NOT a 240V RANGE receptacle.

seaeagle2 wrote:
Make sure the electrician understands this is a 50 Amp RV receptacle NOT a 240V RANGE receptacle.

Sorry but that's bad info. They are exactly the same thing - a 125/250V, Nema 14-50R.
A 50A rv receptacle is simply a common 4 wire, 240V range receptacle that's got a cover for outdoor use.

ScottG wrote:

seaeagle2 wrote:
Make sure the electrician understands this is a 50 Amp RV receptacle NOT a 240V RANGE receptacle.

Sorry but that's bad info. They are exactly the same thing.
A 50A rv receptacle is simply a common 4 wire, 240V range receptacle that's got a cover for outdoor use.

x2 on this.

It's the 30A RV receptacles that sometimes cause confusion (with disastrous results); they look superficially like older three-wire 30A dryer outlets, but are wired differently (120V vs 240V). A 50A RV outlet, on the other hand, is a standard 50A 120/240V four wire receptacle such as is used for many things including electric ranges.