Electrical work is expensive!

[torredcuda]

Just got a quote to re-wire my 2 car detached garage - $5600 ! I understand he needs to run a heavier wire from the house for more amps but otherwise it`s just lights and outlets. I guessed around $3000 but labor rate is $75/hr and quoted 40 hrs and the rest is materials.

[1 Wild R/T]

$2600 in materials?  I hope the lights are LED & there is gonna be a bunch of them all individually switched? And at least a dozen outlets including a couple 220v outlets for the compressor & welder....

How much if you dig the trench?  Get another quote or two...

[JH27N0B]

That seems pretty extreme, but I'm not an electrical expert by any means.
I had my detached 3 car garage built 10 years ago this month, and at the time I was an engineer at a electricians hand tool manufacturer.  My garage quote included basically the minimum electrical service required by code.  There was a industrial electrician at my company who was a licensed electrician and did side work, so I resisted any attempts to upsell electrical work by the garage contractor other than having them install a 220 outlet,  and had the electrician from work go to town on my garage.
The electrician had me buy most of the supplies.  One thing I learned while working at that company and by my experience with my garage, is how much code requirements differ across the company, and how much that means costs can vary regionally.
My area requires all wiring to be in rigid metal conduit.  The one thing I recall that seemed really expensive was the metal conduit that is buried in the ground.  Even for a relatively short ~40' from house to garage the conduit cost was a lot! The contractor used a small diameter conduit, and my electrician needed larger, so he used PVC since he didn't pull a permit.
Otherwise everything was done to my area's strict code.
I have 2 8' zero degree ballast fluorescent lights, outlets every 4 feet, ceiling fan, and 3 exterior garage lights, all that I doubt I paid much over a grand for between the electrician and supplies, on top of the panel, 2 wall outlets, 2 ceiling outlets, and side door light the contractor had installed. I'm really happy with the work, at night I turn the lights on and my garage is bright as day!
I hope you get multiple quotes to see if your quote is realistic.

[7212Mopar]

Residential wiring is fairly simple and you can do most of it yourself. I would not touch the underground stuff or install a new panel. Those should be done by a licensed electrician. Check if he is using copper or aluminum wiring. Copper will be more expensive. If local code requires the feeders to be run in conduits, the cost goes up significantly. For residential, running Romex inside framing behind drywall is code compliance in most jurisdictions.

[Rich G.]

Materials are getting very expensive. How big is this garage that it will take 40hrs to wire? Buy some beer and pizza and get some friends to do all the dirty work, run the wires and have the electrician hook everything up.

[BIGSHCLUNK]

When my old garage feed took a crap maybe 20 years ago, I paid one of my guys at the shop side money to dig a new trench. Maybe like a 40 ft run. Did the rest myself including a 4 ft run under an existing side walk. Home wiring really is pretty simple. Granted codes are different everywhere! But here I am years later.... never had an issue. There is so much DYI stuff online now it can walk you thru just about anything. I you can work on your car you can do this too!   

[torredcuda]

Standard 25'x 26' garage, underground line is there but he needs to up the gage, install panel, 3 8' LED strip lights, 12 outlets, run in Romex, was more $$  than I expected. I am pretty do it myself kinda guy but I don`t mess with electric and really don`t have much time and want it done soon so not doing it myself. Going to call another guy tomorrow and get another estimate.

[Topcat]

$75 Bucks labor rate? 

Gawd we'd be all over that out here.

Probably more like $125 to $150 an hour out here.   

[1 Wild R/T]

$75 Bucks labor rate? 

Gawd we'd be all over that out here.

Probably more like $125 to $150 an hour out here.   

Yeah but his parts markup & padded hours more than make up for it...

I'm not an electrician but I've done plenty of conduit & wiring... I could do that job in a two days without breaking a sweat....

[Topcat]

Wee than a materials quote separate might make some negotiating leverage?

[Plumcrazzy]

Crazy high quote. IMO, at least 2 1/2 times what it would require. Like the post above, this would be an easy two day job.

[1 Wild R/T]

Standard 25'x 26' garage, underground line is there but he needs to up the gage, install panel, 3 8' LED strip lights, 12 outlets, run in Romex, was more $$  than I expected. I am pretty do it myself kinda guy but I don`t mess with electric and really don`t have much time and want it done soon so not doing it myself. Going to call another guy tomorrow and get another estimate.

Is the underground conduit large enough to allow him to snake in the new feed? Or will he need to run a new conduit? Big difference....

[torredcuda]

Didin`t see anything about running a new conduit but I`ll make sure.

[1 Wild R/T]

If he's gotta dig a trench below the frost line 40' long he's gonna be tearing up your yard, I'd expect he would have discussed it with you...

[autoxcuda]

If he's gotta dig a trench below the frost line 40' long he's gonna be tearing up your yard, I'd expect he would have discussed it with you...

And that is very labor entensive and could be where a lot of those costs are.

That said, don't be surprised to get a quote significantly differently.