# Parking Garage Retrofit



## Cletis (Aug 20, 2010)

Let's say 200 parking garage light swap outs with a 1 ft whip and 2 connectors to jbox. Dispose of old fixtures. Partial normal hours and night hours. What's the going rate where you are per fixture? 

There is a punch line and story when I see some numbers. I'll give you a hint what happened. The argument was over so called "National Average Rate" for this type of isntallation. Had a deal, the deal changed, big argument, pulled off job.


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## 10492 (Jan 4, 2010)

Cletis said:


> Let's say 200 parking garage light swap outs with a 1 ft whip and 2 connectors to jbox. Dispose of old fixtures. Partial normal hours and night hours. What's the going rate where you are per fixture?
> 
> There is a punch line and story when I see some numbers. I'll give you a hint what happened. The argument was over so called "National Average Rate" for this type of isntallation. Had a deal, the deal changed, big argument, pulled off job.


 
Based upon your info only, 1.25mh per light, $45/ea light disposal.


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## geoffvro (Aug 15, 2011)

> Based upon your info only, 1.25mh per light, $45/ea light disposal.


Sounds, about right

I bet the guy said "back when I was an electrician, the company I worked for allowed 30 seconds per wire nut, 2 minutes per receptacle, 5 minutes per split bolt, 15 minutes per flourescent fixture, 2.8 hours to install a 2000A MCC, 28 seconds to piss, and 3 minutes for lunch" ...we would always leave, and end up getting a phone call thirty minutes later asking us to come back...our answer was always NO! get somebody else


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## 10492 (Jan 4, 2010)

I guess we're still awaiting the punch line.:001_huh:


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## Lighting Retro (Aug 1, 2009)

Dnkldorf said:


> Based upon your info only, 1.25mh per light, $45/ea light disposal.


I think the number depends on the solution. I think this is a pretty accurate number overall for the installation. 

I was recently asked about changing out parking garage lights that were 175W MH and going to a 2L4'T8 strip light with cage. That would require dropping anchors, 2 sticks of rod, opening the fixture, extending power to the fixture, etc. That would take much more time than a one for one swap of a like fixture. 

$45 each for disposal? You can't be serious. Can I haul off your fixtures for you from now on? 20 fixtures would give me 900? I guess we include that in our per fixture price and build in the recycle cost with certificate, and it's a nominal fee. We get paid by the fixture, and pay by the fixture, so it's a very lean and predictable model. Considering you can actually recycle the ballasts, and lamps cost about $1 to recycle, I think the labor portion of your handling might be pretty high in a competitive environment. 

Also just dropped some LED fixtures in a parking garage that were much shallower than the previous MH fixtures. In order to reach the intended level off the deck, we had to cut and thread new nipples for the install--so that was a different time factor. If you had more info, I'd throw you another number. 

My guess if you are comparing numbers to someone who is familiar with national contract retrofit rates. It's pretty interesting how efficient guys can get when they do the same thing all of the time. They flat out become lighting ninjas and will blow away guys who do it only on occasion. It very well may not be worth your time, but could end up being a very profitable job for a specialty contractor.


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