All Forum Posts by: Robert S.

@Sophie Maisel I am glad to help. It gives me a chance to give back to the people in a position where I once stood. If I understand your last post correctly, your contractor completed the work and the inspector gave you a final inspection in which you passed. Since you did a service upgrade, all facets of this work mentioned by @Stephen Gallagher were completed, with the exception of adding the GFCI protection. They are not required by a service upgrade. The inspector knows this, and would have required it if it was necessary. Unless a customer directly asks about the upgrading of grounding and bonding techniques, I do not even bring it up, because quite frankly, it is an automatic part of every service upgrade and customers don’t really know or care about it. I just ask them to show me where the water heater and water meter are at the time of the estimate.

You are correct that a home inspector should bring up GFCI protection. He will check for it in the kitchen, bathrooms, garage, unfinished areas, and exterior. This is not a costly add on to a project, and usually ends up on the list once a home inspector does his walk through. I advise the investor take a couple of bucks off of the sale price and let the new owners fix it, because it is that cheap of a fix, <$500, usually less. You seem like you want to do things the right way, please continue to post any issues as they arise.

@Sophie Maisel According to one of your posts, originally there was 3 panels, and then 2 and he is combining them all into 1. Just because he is removing 3 existing panels and combining them into 1 does not mean you are being overcharged. You could be, but that is not the deciding factor. Your market, as with any market, dictates the price. Therefore, you should get 3 quotes for the prescribed work, then based on how each contractor communicates with you, make your decision on who to hire. As stated earlier, I am licensed in NJ. I started doing residential electric work in 2004, back then we charged $1800-$2000 for a 200 amp service upgrade, and I don’t recall a time when we lost a bid. The only major code change on services is the addition of Arc Fault circuit breakers. They add approx. $30 in material per circuit and another $100 or so in labor. This is because these breakers have an additional wire that gets tied in at the panel. Also, at the local level, the NEC (National Electric Code) is governed by the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction). Your locale might not require Arc Fault protection on service upgrades, happens all of the time here in NJ and varies from town to town.

I currently charge $2200–$3000 and none of my customers(who are all investors) ever made a comment about the price.

The Austin market is hot, I have family there, they own rental property there. My brother in law tells me his GC floats approx. $40k in work per month, and that GC is a transplant from the Northeast. That tells me he built a skill set elsewhere and moved to where the work is.

As for the condensing of three panels into one, this requires a significant amount of work. It should take two electricians one full day to complete. Based on all of the variables covered in this thread, I would not feel you are being overcharged. Some markets are cheaper than others, I don’t feel Austin with its ever growing population is one of them. I know it’s hard to read through the BS on BP, and believe me, there is plenty, I would suggest you learn the proper vernacular for each facet of residential construction. As plenty of folks on here are way off with their terminology and this will only confuse you. Since it is your property, you need to do the best research you can and be responsible for the end result in your choice. Feel free to reach out to me if you require any assistance. Best of luck.

@Daniel Anshus I pay, at most, 16% in Ocean City, MD. Since it is a resort area with a limited rental season, and not a STR for professional use, the arrangement works just fine. It's 3.5 hours away from my primary residence, and there is no way I'm driving 7 hours (probably more with the beach traffic) every weekend to give the new renter keys and the parking pass. I bought this place to spend more time with my family, not less. Also, due to MD's landlord tenant laws, I will not do month to month or long term rentals in the off-season.

@Sophie Maisel Good day, I’m a licensed electrical contractor in NJ. Perhaps I can shed some light on your issue. Your question pertains to the installation of GFCI circuit breakers during an electrical service upgrade. GFCI protection is required for outlets near a water source(like a sink or bath tub), anywhere on the exterior of the building or in an unfinished portion of a structure(like an attic or crawl space). There are a few ways you can accomplish protecting these circuits, however there are two that are used way more than the others. One is the way you mentioned, installing a GFCI circuit breaker, in which case provides GFCI protection for the whole circuit. However, the downside is the cost and that each time an issue arises, you have to reset the circuit at the panel. The other is using GFCI receptacles, these are the outlets you see with the “RESET” and “TEST” buttons on them. For the most part, these keep the reset situations local to the room you are in. Since you hired your electrician to upgrade your service, he is only responsible for that portion of the work, which includes replacing everything from the weather head to the electric panel. If you require your electrician to install GFCI receptacles in other areas of the building or want them to install GFCI circuit breakers, let them know, and they will give you a price for the work. I hope this helps, please let me know if you require any further clarification. Best of luck.

@Adam L. Good day, as a contractor who gets approached quite frequently to participate in these type of loans by my own clients, please take into consideration that you need to pay taxes on your return. So the IRS’s take should get factored into your required return.

@Chris Dragotta Great job Chris, glad to hear you helped an investor negotiate and close a great deal in Phillipsburg. Looking forward to hearing the details. Congrats!!!

@Joshua Howaniec I’m a licensed electrical contractor in NJ. I also work full time for an electrical contractor. I work primarily for single and multi-family investors and spend a few hundred/year on advertising(networking would be a better way to describe it). I refuse to pay someone else to market my business, and my plate is healthily full. As for the electrical contractor I work for, his revenue is approx. $10m-$15m /year, and he he spends less on advertising than I do. Oh and neither of us have a functioning web site. Networking and relationships are a very big deal in construction.

@Wilson Lee Good day, I am a licensed electrical contractor in NJ. I believe getting ripped off means you overpaid for a service. How much were you charged for two new electric panels?

@January Johnson @Maggie Medal If the home is bought using a mortgage for a second home, it clearly cannot be a primary residence. When purchasing a property in this fashion, there a few things to take into consideration insurance wise. Purchase loss of rent insurance, it is a cheap add on to your policy and comes in extremely handy. Also, make sure you have proper property damage insurance and mold remediation insurance, also a cheap add on. I recently suffered a burst pipe in my beach property, approx. $70k of damage including mold remediation. Insurance covered everything, and paid my rent for the lost rental season. The only downside was having to float the construction cost (write a check for approx. $10k- 20k every couple of weeks) to keep the contractors moving forward while waiting for the insurance checks to come in.

@Kevin Barry Good day, I’m a licensed electrical contractor in the state of NJ. I would like to help shed some light on your situation. Yes, the price of $30k to upgrade your service and rewire your house is in the ball park of what a licensed electrical contractor would charge. Is the house wired in knob and tube? If the answer is no, then it does not need to be rewired. Will this home function as your primary residence? If the answer is no, you do not have the ability to pull your own permits. Therefore, it is illegal for you to perform unlicensed electric work on it. Will you ever get caught if you should proceed and do it yourself, probably not, however if something goes awry down the road, you will need to document who performed the upgrade(s) other wise your insurance company does not(read will not) cover your claim.

I am not here to scare you, so please do not think this is my goal. I am an expert in this field and will continue to explain to you your legal options. I own an out of state rental property, and hire electrical contractors when the need arises.

Now let’s get back to your property. Your potential house has a Federal Pacific panel, I have yet to find an insurance company that will cover a property with this brand of panel in it. At best, they will grant you a temporary policy stating that you have 90 days to remedy the situation. If I were in your situation, I would upgrade the service and call it a day. Since you are receiving a $15k credit, I see no reason why the cost should hold you back from profiting $1k+/month.

One thing I would look into during this process, check if you can get the units separately metered. It could be possible within your $15k credit and your tenants will end up paying their own electric bills. I also recommend you get 3 quotes from 3 licensed electrical contractors and between the 3 of them you will receive quality recommendations specific to your situation. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. Best of luck.