Crazy charger install estimate?

[Loops818]

Hi guys,

I am awaiting the arrival of an MYP I ordered back in Feb. Had an electrician (friend of a friend, honest guy I was told) recently out to the house to give me a quote for wall charger install. I will have to park outside and the charger will be installed against a post at the end of my driveway closest to my house. He will have to dig a trench and run the wire approx 30 feet from the breaker box to the wall connector. Post is already in place. He gave me an estimate of $4k for this work. Thought that was about twice what I expected it to cost. Am I crazy? I live in the northeast and imagine prices here are above national average but that kind of blew me away. What do you think this should cost? Thanks.

 

[1965Falcon]

Did you get a detailed breakdown of the work involved? For that price I would expect the main panel needs replacement in order to fit a 240v GFCI. Or the trenching is through an expensive surface? If you have room for the breaker in your existing panel I'd expect the cost to be about half of that.

 

[Loops818]

Yeah, no breakdown yet but I did confirm with him when he came that I have plenty of room in the panel. The trenching is through my yard (grass and mulch).

 

[Cosmacelf]

Electricians hate trenching. Ask him what it would cost if you did the trenching and backfill.

 

[arichard2401]

With trenching involved I don't think 4K is

Electricians hate trenching. Ask him what it would cost if you did the trenching and backfill.

Was about to say the exact same thing. Trenching should be easy to do yourself. Unless your soil really sucks.

4K with the trenching involved seems a tad high but not crazy high. I think this might be a situation where the guy doesn't want to do it so he's bidding it high. If he gets it, great, he gets a decent pay for it, if not, oh well.

 

[Vicj]

Or, even simpler, just get an estimate from an electrical contractor that's not a friend of a friend. Try one of the contractors recommended in your area from the Tesla site. It can never hurt to get multiple estimates

 

[Loops818]

Thanks for everyone's thoughts. I have another guy coming to give me an estimate on Wed. I honestly don't mind doing the trenching if it will save me significant money. Will see what this other guy has to say.

 

[Goobers]

I got a few quotes to install an outlet in a detached garage.

One electrician told me it would be better to wait until spring for the ground to thaw out, which will make the install cheaper.

I know, spring "officially" starts next week, but the ground might still be too hard for a bit longer.

 

[Sophias_dad]

main panel needs replacement in order to fit a 240v GFCI

Just a point of order... the wall charger doesn't need or want a GFCI, but its the same physical size breaker whether GFCI or not

 

[qdeathstar]

Hi guys,

I am awaiting the arrival of an MYP I ordered back in Feb. Had an electrician (friend of a friend, honest guy I was told) recently out to the house to give me a quote for wall charger install. I will have to park outside and the charger will be installed against a post at the end of my driveway closest to my house. He will have to dig a trench and run the wire approx 30 feet from the breaker box to the wall connector. Post is already in place. He gave me an estimate of $4k for this work. Thought that was about twice what I expected it to cost. Am I crazy? I live in the northeast and imagine prices here are above national average but that kind of blew me away. What do you think this should cost? Thanks.

Really seems high but hard to say. Are there a lot of trees or concrete along the route??

 

[qdeathstar]

Electricians hate trenching. Ask him what it would cost if you did the trenching and backfill.

The issue is that the guy giving you the estimate is saying well, it takes 2 guys 2 hours to dig a 30ft trench, 60 bucks an hour, costs me $120 to dig it myself, I’ll give you a $100 discount.

 

[Rocket_man]

Not just any trench, it probably needs to be 18 inches deep, some places maybe 24 inches. Direct bury cable? Conduit? Then covered with a protective cover and marked to prevent someone digging it up later. That is a lot of work to do by hand. He probably just doesn't want the job so he bid high rather than tell you he doesn't want the job.

 

[howardnj]

Hi guys,

I am awaiting the arrival of an MYP I ordered back in Feb. Had an electrician (friend of a friend, honest guy I was told) recently out to the house to give me a quote for wall charger install. I will have to park outside and the charger will be installed against a post at the end of my driveway closest to my house. He will have to dig a trench and run the wire approx 30 feet from the breaker box to the wall connector. Post is already in place. He gave me an estimate of $4k for this work. Thought that was about twice what I expected it to cost. Am I crazy? I live in the northeast and imagine prices here are above national average but that kind of blew me away. What do you think this should cost? Thanks.

Does that quote include the application for the permit, arranging the time for the local inspection, the submission of load/data to your local utility for a possible rebate?
My Tesla recommended electrician did all of those and I qualified for the NJ PSE&G $1500.00 rebate
You just add the cost of your first EV charger to the price of the vehicle as an option add on just like if you were purchasing a Mercedes and wanted a better sound system that costs an additional $4k

 

[240vPlug]

It is hard to say without seeing your site, but if you feel its high its probably time to get a couple other quotes. I have seen some electricians charge 2 or 3x what others charge for the same job. Then yet other electricians will flat out tell you they don't want the job. The bottom line is if the electrician wants the job the bid will be competitive with the other bids.

Also, always make sure the work is permitted and inspected! When you get quotes make sure they break down what they are charging you for labor and materials at the least.

Unfortunately, many electricians see "EV Charger" and think its a license to charge ridiculous amounts for the job. I usually deal with smaller local businesses vs. the bigger outfits.

 

[GrinchKing]

I got a quote last year to run a 6/3 wire from the panel to new outlet in the garage for EV charger. Quote was around 1800. 4k does seem really high but I also heard that the train derailment in Ohio caused a shortage of 6/3 wire and the price has skyrocketed. Maybe that’s part of why he quoted 4k? In my new garage I was going to run the wire myself but for 50ft of 6/3 wire it’s now $230 vs <100 a few weeks ago, that’s not including the breaker, outlet, conduit to run it in.

 

[qdeathstar]

I got a quote last year to run a 6/3 wire from the panel to new outlet in the garage for EV charger. Quote was around 1800. 4k does seem really high but I also heard that the train derailment in Ohio caused a shortage of 6/3 wire and the price has skyrocketed. Maybe that’s part of why he quoted 4k? In my new garage I was going to run the wire myself but for 50ft of 6/3 wire it’s now $230 vs <100 a few weeks ago, that’s not including the breaker, outlet, conduit to run it in.

Can’t run 6/3 romex uhdergrouns. I would recommend running 3/4 IMC and #6thhn. Only have to go down 6” in that case.

 

[Rocky_H]

It probably is because of the trenching. This thing a couple of people have mentioned is a technique called "pricing yourself out of the market", and it's done in a lot of industries when someone doesn't want to do something. You can create a win-win for yourself by intentionally bidding really high. Either the customer turns you down, and you don't have to do the job you didn't want to do anyway, or they take it, and then it makes you feel better by getting an unreasonably large amount of money for work you didn't want to do.

My wife had an econ prof in college who used to do consulting for companies, but he was getting to where he didn't like it because of all of the travel involved. So he just raised his consulting rates really high, and that shut off most of his consulting work, which was what he wanted. But he would still get one or two jobs a year and was happy to be overpaid for those.

 

[fredzos]

It probably is because of the trenching. This thing a couple of people have mentioned is a technique called "pricing yourself out of the market", and it's done in a lot of industries when someone doesn't want to do something. You can create a win-win for yourself by intentionally bidding really high. Either the customer turns you down, and you don't have to do the job you didn't want to do anyway, or they take it, and then it makes you feel better by getting an unreasonably large amount of money for work you didn't want to do.

My wife had an econ prof in college who used to do consulting for companies, but he was getting to where he didn't like it because of all of the travel involved. So he just raised his consulting rates really high, and that shut off most of his consulting work, which was what he wanted. But he would still get one or two jobs a year and was happy to be overpaid for those.

i used to do that over 20 years ago.

people used to come to me to install lowering springs on their hondas and acuras.

hated doing those back then.

 

[GrinchKing]

Can’t run 6/3 romex uhdergrouns. I would recommend running 3/4 IMC and #6thhn. Only have to go down 6” in that case.

Good point

 

[Loops818]

The issue is that the guy giving you the estimate is saying well, it takes 2 guys 2 hours to dig a 30ft trench, 60 bucks an hour, costs me $120 to dig it myself, I’ll give you a $100 discount.

I went back and talked to him a little more and it sounds like what you guys mentioned: he doesn’t seem to want to deal with trenching, he priced that aspect alone at $1,200 which seems nuts considering it is 30 feet of grass. Gonna see what this other guy coming tomorrow has to say but worst case scenario I don’t mind renting a trencher and saving $1k.