The highlight: $800 saved with 5-minutes of work--maybe 10-minutes at the most…read more
The long story...
We moved our washer and dryer from our main floor to our basement floor, converting a washing room to a pantry for additional storage and repurposing some unused space in the basement. Win, win! Wife is happy, and things are totally worth it!
Well to my dismay, the 240VAC outlet that existed in the basement was no longer connected (the joys of having a house made in '81). Knowing that the ceiling is largely accessible, the outlet is still very intact, and remembering a discussion with an electrician a couple of years ago that, "Hey, there's an additional 240 breaker here, and we could reuse that for your new HVAC unit," I assumed the work wouldn't be too difficult to hook up the new wire.
But this discovery of an unfunctioning receptacle is on a Sunday. And I'm starting to feel congested because of sinuses. And I have to fly to California on Monday. And I still have to work out the presentation details before Monday, so I don't really have any more time on Sunday.
So I say, "Let's call an electrician. Once they come out and give an estimate, if it's any less than $300, it's reasonable, and you should give them the thumbs up. They can just do the work while they're here."
My reasoning:
Time to drive to the house and do the work: $150. Maybe having to run a new wire all of like 25' - $100. Total: $250 + some buffer = $300. And whatever, the issue will be handled.
We call Noor Electrical Services, which Google says is local, and the guy is SUPER responsive--answers on a Sunday, friendly guy, and he says he can come out on Wednesday. Awesome!
Fast forward: I fly out to Cali. Wednesday comes; guy comes out; and I get a text that the work order is ready. They even emailed me a work order that linked to my specific job -- how awesome of technology is that!
I quickly look at the work order--excited by the use of technology and these guys' professionalism--but then I see the quote for $849.16, "NM B 240V Circuit, First 50 Feet". To say I chuckled was an understatement. I immediately declined the work order, expecting some reply if it was declined but unable to step out of the presentation in front of numerous agents.
Travel ends; I return home, open the panel, remove the dead front, and I see the previously ran wires. I flip the breaker, disconnect the run that is no longer being used, connect the old run, and flip the breaker back on. Voila! Power.
If you are a professional that is good at what you do, you should get paid for your worth. However, if it doesn't occur that you should open the dead front and see if the wires are already ran, maybe ring them out ahead of time if you're unsure, you're not worth an expensive quote.
Similarly, if you know what you're doing, and you know that the work is going to be 10-minutes of work because you did look behind the dead front... Why wouldn't you quote that work, get paid, and save yourself a trip back out to the site?
Pictures of the panel and panel schedule, description that the wires may already be ran--these are things I provided ahead of leaving just to be as transparent as possible.
At the end of the day, knowledge can clearly save you a lot of money, and I hope that I can find a local electrician that's worth their salt so that when I don't feel like doing the work myself and have the cash to spend, I can pay someone what they're worth.
I see the other reviews; I know how friendly the guys were, and maybe this was a one-off, but in retrospect, this one fell flat and was disappointing.
I would give 1 star, but the responsiveness and technology were awesome.
I can't give more than two stars because the communication fell down at the end, and the quote is unreal.
