# hours to wire house



## rebel34 (Nov 27, 2007)

I talked to a fellow electrician the other day and he told me that he and 2 helpers can rough in a new 1800 sq. foot house in 2 days, I just wired a 2 story 3 bedroom, 3 bathrooms, 6 rec. and four light boxes in garage, full basement 8 rec. 4 lights and all the other usual work as well as put up the panels and tied them in (400 amp service) plus i crimped all grounds. I work alone and it took me 84 hrs. does that sound about right or, compared to the other guy, am i slowwwwww?


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## john salyards (Feb 16, 2008)

why the heck did you need a 400 amp service in a 3 bedroom house????
in a spec house 1800sq ft i can do by myself in a day and a half...and as per a earlier thread this is in romex.....



rebel34 said:


> I talked to a fellow electrician the other day and he told me that he and 2 helpers can rough in a new 1800 sq. foot house in 2 days, I just wired a 2 story 3 bedroom, 3 bathrooms, 6 rec. and four light boxes in garage, full basement 8 rec. 4 lights and all the other usual work as well as put up the panels and tied them in (400 amp service) plus i crimped all grounds. I work alone and it took me 84 hrs. does that sound about right or, compared to the other guy, am i slowwwwww?


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## a-bulb (Feb 13, 2008)

about 4 years ago I moved to FL and I'll tell you its a diffrent world down there from where I'm from. cookie cutter homes being thrown up in a flash and you are expected to do a 1800 sq ft house in 1 1/2 days by your self:sweatdrop: . I worked in a 800 house development 6 diffrent models ranging from 1600 to 2400 sq ft, so rough wire, low voltage 3-T.V,4-phone,chime, garage L.V,and sevice an average of 15 rec lts,all electric appliances. It took me 2 days to do the2400 sq ft 2 story 4 bed 3 bath house. But don't forget these are cookie cutter spec homes when you wire the same house over and over there is no thinking no looking at prints it's pick up the drill and go. Needless to say I became real tired of my job moved back home.The work I do here is much diffrent the house I'm doing now is a 16,000 sq ft with a 800 amp service, lighting contol system, 8 air handlers, 2 boilers, 21 zones of heat, 467 rec LTS,elevator, 210 landscape LTS, It's 9 bed rms, 14 bath rms.It's a 4-5 month rough with 3 guys.I wish it was a day and a half $$$$$$:laughing:


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

a-bulb said:


> about 4 years ago I moved to FL and I'll tell you its a diffrent world down there from where I'm from. cookie cutter homes being thrown up in a flash and you are expected to do a 1800 sq ft house in 1 1/2 days by your self:sweatdrop: . I worked in a 800 house development 6 diffrent models ranging from 1600 to 2400 sq ft, so rough wire, low voltage 3-T.V,4-phone,chime, garage L.V,and sevice an average of 15 rec lts,all electric appliances. It took me 2 days to do the2400 sq ft 2 story 4 bed 3 bath house. But don't forget these are cookie cutter spec homes when you wire the same house over and over there is no thinking no looking at prints it's pick up the drill and go. Needless to say I became real tired of my job moved back home.The work I do here is much diffrent the house I'm doing now is a 16,000 sq ft with a 800 amp service, lighting contol system, 8 air handlers, 2 boilers, 21 zones of heat, 467 rec LTS,elevator, 210 landscape LTS, It's 9 bed rms, 14 bath rms.It's a 4-5 month rough with 3 guys.I wish it was a day and a half $$$$$$:laughing:



What is soo funny to me about Florida (by the way, I came from there and so I do have a bit of experience in this matter) is that not only do they expect you to work about 3 times faster and harder to wire houses, but they pay 3 times less than pretty much every other place. Do the math yourself. :whistling2:


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## rebel34 (Nov 27, 2007)

*hours*



john salyards said:


> why the heck did you need a 400 amp service in a 3 bedroom house????
> in a spec house 1800sq ft i can do by myself in a day and a half...and as per a earlier thread this is in romex.....


Thats what the Hvac told the owner he needed there was no talking him out of it could have gotten by with 200 amp i felt plus this was a custom house and i did it by the job , he paid for it


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## john salyards (Feb 16, 2008)

well all that matters is that you got paid right..the thing is the companys i worked for it would have hard to explain to the owner the extra time it took regardless of the increased profit.. i find in some of the companys ive worked for how they like to throw in all the little extras without the extra time....ohhh and i dont think i would have let the hvac guy make any electrical decisions....lol..try telling him how many vent openings he needs see how he takes that...


rebel34 said:


> Thats what the Hvac told the owner he needed there was no talking him out of it could have gotten by with 200 amp i felt plus this was a custom house and i did it by the job , he paid for it


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## a-bulb (Feb 13, 2008)

macmikeman I know what you mean and that was my main reason for leaving. If you couldent keep up there was a sucker behind you to take your place not that they were qualified:laughing:. Any joe could be an electrician 2 weeks of training and off you go. Never seen anything like it.


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## bbaumer (Feb 18, 2008)

2000 SF spec home (TK home for the Hoosiers/Buckeyes and whatever you Kentuckians are)

1 guy nailing boxes on. Measuring box height by the length of his hammer then helping pull romex after all boxes installed.

1 guy drilling holes like a madman then going back and nailing on nail plates where holes are close to the edge of the framing member then cleaning up.

1 guy following the hole driller and box nailer with Romex.

1 guy on ceiling boxes then pulling romex and TV and phone.

1 guy roughing in the service.

Done in about 5-6 hours. Maybe less depending on who you are working with.

Guess that works out to be about 25-30 manhours or so for rough-in. This is for a house you've done over and over so no looking at prints or even much thinking.


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## a-bulb (Feb 13, 2008)

And looks like [email protected]#t when your done:laughing:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

john salyards said:


> why the heck did you need a 400 amp service in a 3 bedroom house????
> in a spec house 1800sq ft i can do by myself in a day and a half...and as per a earlier thread this is in romex.....


Some heating & cooling equipment can require 100-150 amps all by itself. A 200a service leaves very little for the rest of the house.


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## rebel34 (Nov 27, 2007)

*hvac*



480sparky said:


> Some heating & cooling equipment can require 100-150 amps all by itself. A 200a service leaves very little for the rest of the house.


yes there were two units, 1 upstairs 1 downstairs and there was the 2, 60 amp breakers for the tankless water heater


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## a-bulb (Feb 13, 2008)

on a 1800 sq ft house your going to have a 3 0r 4 ton unit 30 to 40 A max. Don't forget your using one or the other. 200 is plenty. I know what you mean, some of these HVAC systems in the bigger homes easily can draw up to that much.


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## a-bulb (Feb 13, 2008)

60 amps for a water heater. OH MAN never seen that. Who makes it?


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## rebel34 (Nov 27, 2007)

a-bulb said:


> 60 amps for a water heater. OH MAN never seen that. Who makes it?


I believe it was by titan, btw when we bid this job they wanted a regular water heater then later decided on a tankless where we ran 2 seperate feeders from 2 40 amp breakers to 2 disconnects near the waterheater, then when the tankless waterheater arrived the wife had ordered the bigger unit that required 2, 60 amp breakers, had to run new wiring after all the sheet rocking was done.


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## gilbequick (Oct 6, 2007)

a-bulb said:


> on a 1800 sq ft house your going to have a 3 0r 4 ton unit 30 to 40 A max. Don't forget your using one or the other. 200 is plenty. I know what you mean, some of these HVAC systems in the bigger homes easily can draw up to that much.


I've wired dozens of homes where they use cheap inefficient electric heat units that required 50- 60A DP breakers. You just never know what's going to go in until it's in.

Also, those electric on demand water heaters pull big amps when they run. Last year one we did required a 240V 80A circuit. MAKE SURE you get the specs on those things before you pull the wire to them!! Those things have tons of problems with them, IMO they're not worth crap. If you go with an on demand water heater GO WITH GAS!!!!


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## bbaumer (Feb 18, 2008)

a-bulb said:


> And looks like [email protected]#t when your done:laughing:


Well, not gonna really argue with you there.

The guys doing these homes are on the slimmest of margins. Speed and low wages are the name of the game with these types of homes. Not trying to defend the practice, just stating how it is.

It is quite a sight. You should see the painters. Two guys painting a whole house in less than one day. All painted trim. One guy sprays and one guy goes over it with a roller to give it some texture. No masking. A month later the Owner is moving in and repainting 'cause that really does look like *bleep*.


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## Mr A (Feb 17, 2008)

*In Australia*

G,day,

In Australia we wire up a spec home in 1 day 1 tradesman and 1 x apprentice this includes
approx
25 power points
30 light fittings
5 x fans
3 x exhaust fans
a/c circuit
1 hot water system
1 oven
1 x hot plate
4 x tv points
3 x telephone points
switchboard wiring
earthing
etc

then it takes approx 1 day to fit out all the outlets with the same guys.

This is for a brick vaneer home. with a 63 amp main circuit breaker.

total for job 40 hours 

Regards


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## waco (Dec 10, 2007)

Sounds about right to me. In some places, rough-in doesn't include service and panels. It doesn't here, but it does include "cutting in." I sometimes "cut-in" as I go and sometimes I don't.

Two or three levels make a big difference. I can rough a slab-on-grade, 1800 foot "shotgun" ranch style house by myself in one and a half days, assuming I have all the materials and encounter standard framing. The service takes another day or two, depending on the construction and the route, overhead or underground.

Also, the time depends on the number of can lights (and such) involved. I did one once with 129 can lights and joists on 12 inch centers! They took forever!


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## nakulak (Dec 10, 2007)

does that include shrimp on the barbie ?


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## waco (Dec 10, 2007)

No, it doesn't. Barbie doesn't like shrimp on her.


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## Greg (Aug 1, 2007)

Talking about houses in Fl. That's why the company I work doesn't do houses only commercial and industrial. We do resi service calls and have done houses in the past but only custom homes.


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## excellencee (Feb 20, 2008)

I try not to compare myself to how fast others work. I only know one way to wire and thats neatly. I hate to see wires not squared off. As long as I make what I want/need and the GC is happy, I guess it don't really matter how long.


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## gold (Feb 15, 2008)

this is way to fast we should all slow down. I say a 2000 ft house should take at least 320 manhours( to do a real nice job ) No need to sacrifice quality...


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