Real World Prices- Upgrading Electrical Service

Real World Prices- Upgrading Electrical Service

Investor · McKinney, TX · Member since 2012 · 588 posts · 224 votes

For newer people, I am posting some of the prices I am seeing to help them gauge and calculate prices.  Sometimes I get good prices, sometimes not.

When you are dealing with older house, you will often find they have a few electrical issues that need to be addressed to bring them into the 21st century.  In my example, I found 2 things.

#1- it had a Federal Pacific breaker box.  Those apparently can be a fire hazard.

#2- It had 100amp service.  I wanted to put in Central AC & an electric dryer plug.  100amp doesn't have enough juice to run a lot of big electrical things at once.  Since most people want to run their AC, run their dryer and watch TV at the same time I upgraded.

To give others a sense of prices if they run up against this, here are the options that my electrician gave me:

replace existing 100amp service with new panel   $900

Upgrade from 100am service to 200amp service.  This included raising the existing electrical line to the new height requirements, a new conduit riser, and service head (I may have those names wrong).  there were some other odds and ends to make the connections up to code= $2500

I also added 2 lines.  1 30amp line and plug for the dryer and 1 40amp line for the outside AC unit.  He charged me $400 for those.  Both had a pretty long run.

I think I got average pricing on the service upgrade and a pretty good price on the dryer and AC line additions.

PS, just for info, if I had a 200amp service already and a problematic breaker box, replacing that 200amp break box would have been around $1200.

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  • Investor · McKinney, TX · Member since 2012 · 588 posts · 224 votes
    10y

    What are other people seeing for prices in similar work?

  • Visalia-Fresno, CA · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 863 votes
    10y

    Those prices seem fair.


    Franklin

  • Buy & Hold Owner · Redlands, CA · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y

    Recovering from a fire, I upgraded to 200amp service, new breaker box and a new 20amp outlet for a window AC, but also rewired the entire apt.

    Don't faint (this is Calif), the bill was $6800

  • Greg H.Pro Member
    Moderator
    Broker/Flipper · Austin, TX · Member since 2013 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    10y
  • Contractor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Jeff B.:

    Recovering from a fire, I upgraded to 200amp service, new breaker box and a new 20amp outlet for a window AC, but also rewired the entire apt.

    Don't faint (this is Calif), the bill was $6800

     I assume for this to be open drywall? kinda cheap.

  • Buy & Hold Owner · Redlands, CA · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Manolo D.:
    Originally posted by @Jeff B.:

    Recovering from a fire, I upgraded to 200amp service, new breaker box and a new 20amp outlet for a window AC, but also rewired the entire apt.

    Don't faint (this is Calif), the bill was $6800

     I assume for this to be open drywall? kinda cheap.

     Yes, once the wall was opened, I did everything accessible, including replacing the old galvanized pipe (separate bid of course)

  • Contractor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y
    J Beard Pretty good price you got there. :) Happy new year J.
  • Russell BrazilBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes
    10y

    I recently did a heavy up from 100 amp to 200 amp service here in the DC area for $2,200.

    Interestingly enough it is because I also bought a house with a Federal Pacific panel.  Those things should have a skull and crossbones on them. I dont know how many times Ive told clients, or neighbors, or friends about them that have them, and they all just blow me off.  

  • Investor · Salisbury, MD · Member since 2015 · 31 posts · 17 votes
    10y

    I have paid anywhere from $1800 to $2200 for a service upgrade from 100amp to 200amp. Those prices are the total after me buying materials and hiring someone for labor to just hiring someone including materials and install. Before I got into flipping homes me and our business partner generated a lot of our initial income from doing hvac installs on the side in our area. 

    So most of our projects required a service upgrade as have all of our flips. 

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