sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring How to quote

I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to quote a wiring job for a customer I just saw. I normally do all of my wiring as a sub-contractor, but want to get more into doing this myself and and not sure what a going rate is. i want to run new cat 5e for both phone and internet and put a 110 block as a demarc in the basment for this user.

any ideas on where to start would be of great help.

Short runs figure 1hr per run plus material. If you have to fish walls or long runs figure 1 1/2 hr per run dual pulls add 1/2hr to each. At least that's how I figure it, this or T&M it's their choice. I wouldn't use CAT5 for voice, but that's up to you. The time per run is for pulling and terminating. I'm sure some others will chime in.

Edit: by Bill

Do you figure in the cost of the jacks, wallplates, boxes, patch panel in the price per run?

Nope plus material.

justbill;
so if i re-run cat5e for network and cat3 for phone you are saying charge 2 hr per run like that? well you are saying you charge that? in residential?

what do you get per hour. i know some get XX as a min. but other get XX as a min......... :shrug:

and what is a fair price for a new jack install if say that was what someone wanted instead.

Please no prices in the open forum. If you need to go deeper than this I'd suggest further discussion be moved to the Installers forum.

Residential, I just charge time and materials. I have never been asked to quote a price for residential. Most of it is just 'hey can you come run a couple cables for me?'
FYI we are not permitted to discuss pricing in the open forum.

nextlevel, pricing will be what you make it based on the going rate in you're area. I add 1/2 for dual runs, simply because there's more terminations.

Jeff, If asked for a quote I give one than give them the option of making it a bid or T&M.

I've won the bids I've made using this and it's worked for me. I'm sure others have other formulas I'd also like to see what others think.

I agree with Bill's time per run estimates. When billing per run I include materials at the workstation end. Patch panels, BIX, 110 are billed separately. A lot depends on the size of the job however. You may want to use the numbers Bill gave to estimate the time it's going to take, and then do a lump sum quote based on that. Of course the actual rates you charge will depend on the area you're in, and how much you need/want to make on the job.

Personally, I much prefer billing T&M. It's far less complicated to deal with taxes that way. If I were doing residential cabling, T&M is the only way I would do it. That said, I won't do residential.

An easy to make mistake when you're used to working for someone else is charging too little. Think carefully about all the costs you need to cover that are not directly billable to the customer.

Remember also that residential customers and some contractors think that residential charges should be less than commercial. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Residential always takes longer and is more labor intensive than commercial because of the construction, care that must be taken and dealing with the customers themselves. Residential should always be T&M in my opinion.

-Hal