Wild price quote ranges for a Nema 14-50 outlet install

jericho

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I’m getting quotes from 300-1200 for a Nema outlet install and I’m not sure who to believe, one of them said permits are required... the place where I want the outlet is 3 ft next to my panel! Any advice?
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I’m getting quotes from 300-1200 for a Nema outlet install and I’m not sure who to believe, one of them said permits are required... the place where I want the outlet is 3 ft next to my panel! Any advice?
Mine was 3 feet from panel. They added a 50A breaker and NEMA 14-50 plug for $250.00 total. I did have a conduit already in wall for the wire but that's would not have been more than another $150.00 of work.
 

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I’m getting quotes from 300-1200 for a Nema outlet install and I’m not sure who to believe, one of them said permits are required... the place where I want the outlet is 3 ft next to my panel! Any advice?
240 outlet install, about 8 feet away from panel cost me $450 plus inspection fee of $70.
 

JCHLi

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$300 seems reasonable, permits would almost definitely be required (could be $50 for the permit but that depends on the location).

The higher prices only make sense if it's a long distance to run or if they need to upgrade your service.
 


Mirak

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You have to evaluate the electrician. Find yourself a guy who’s licensed but basically working out of his truck. If you get a bid from one of those big outfits with the fleet of vehicles or, even worse, a franchise, there is a big cost associates with that. One of the bids I got was so outrageous that it came with handy financing options. It was all I could do not to laugh him out the door.

For that simple of a job, you shouldn’t be paying more than 2 or 300 bucks.
 

TheVirtualTim

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The question is ... what's the amperage (capacity) of your electric meter and service panel? How many amps do you want to provide to your car and do you have enough capacity in the meter & panel without having do upgrade it?

If you do have enough capacity then the charge should be a few hundred dollars. If you don't have enough capacity and the service to your home & panel have to be upgraded... then it will cost a bit more.
 

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I’m getting quotes from 300-1200 for a Nema outlet install and I’m not sure who to believe, one of them said permits are required... the place where I want the outlet is 3 ft next to my panel! Any advice?
I would go with someone you know has done good work for someone else you know. As far as permits, it wouldn't need a permit here in Destin as long as we were using the same panel. If they have put in a larger main panel we would need a permit.
 

malba2366

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I’m getting quotes from 300-1200 for a Nema outlet install and I’m not sure who to believe, one of them said permits are required... the place where I want the outlet is 3 ft next to my panel! Any advice?
300-400 is about right. Permit is technically required when installing any new electrical outlets/fixtures/wiring. I skipped the permit, but the work was done by a licensed electrician.
 

Mirak

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My job was tougher. Service panel is adequate but in a finished basement about 50’ away “as the crow flys” from where I need the outlet installed in the garage.

I got three bids. The first was $1800 - that was the guy with the snazzy uniform and iPad and financing plans.

The second was $850 and he thought it would be too difficult to fish the wire through the house, so that was the price to trench along the outside.

The third guy quoted me $600 labor plus materials of approx $300-400 - no markup - and he would fish the wire through the basement ceiling, out into the nearest garage wall where he would then run conduit to the final destination. He said I could get by with 40amp and 8awg wire but he said he’s go with 50amp and 6awg because that seems to be what is recommended for the mobile charger. He said the wire would be by far the most expensive material - about $280-300 for a 125’ roll of 6/3 with ground. He pulled it up on his phone at the local big box store.

I’m going with the third guy. He seemed very knowledgable and reasonably priced, even if he wasn’t the cheapest bid. If he wants fish through my ceiling (using the can lights - no new holes - then have at it. I hate doing that kinda work. Otherwise it’s a simple electric job.
 
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kikibop

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I paid $900 and the electrician was already on site for another project. He added a new 50-amp circuit breaker, and about 30-ft of new wiring including 15-20 of conduit, plus the outlet of course.

I’ve heard that in general electricians charge a premium for these outlets. Just the nature of the business.
 

DanCoon

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I paid $375. Local, popular, licensed electrician working out of a truck. He basically upgraded a dedicated circuit to a 240 volt NEMA 14-50, about 5 feet from the main box.
 

TundraEV

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Nothing against the tradespeople in general, but anyone in the trades right now is just throwing numbers out to see what sticks. Easier to land a few whales that overpay for a quick job than try to schedule out lower margin reasonable cost jobs.

I ended up paying $800 for mine because I didn’t want to wait. Guy took half a day and it was legit 20 feet of run. 12 feet straight from panel through a basement drop ceiling, 8 feet straight up garage wall.

Should have been $300 or $400 but I didn’t want to wait 2 months.
 

benk016

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I had two spots in my garage where I wanted my charger installed. the first was next to the panel in the garage, about 12ft of wire would have been needed. The other was on the other side of my garage door between two doors so it would be easy to charge cars in the driveway as well. The first electrician quoted me $1600 to do that work. Told me the price was the same for either location. After I realized he wasn't joking I basically told him to get out of my house.

The 2nd electrician charged me $400 for the farther run. Ended up being about 65 foot run. And he mounted and hooked up my chargepoint.

I've heard from a few people that electricians are just quoting insanely high prices so control amount of work they do. And they are actually getting people paying those prices so they keep doing it.
 

Mirak

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Nothing against the tradespeople in general, but anyone in the trades right now is just throwing numbers out to see what sticks. Easier to land a few whales that overpay for a quick job than try to schedule out lower margin reasonable cost jobs.

I ended up paying $800 for mine because I didn’t want to wait. Guy took half a day and it was legit 20 feet of run. 12 feet straight from panel through a basement drop ceiling, 8 feet straight up garage wall.

Should have been $300 or $400 but I didn’t want to wait 2 months.
I dunno. If the job was really easy enough to be $300 - $400, why didn't you do it yourself? $300 sounds more in line with an electrician making a service call to spend an hour and materials installing a short run to a garage service panel. Your job involved fishing wires through walls and ceiling, which can be, and often is, a pain.

I just painted all the trim and walls in a bedroom this weekend. The actual painting wasn't too hard. The prep was a PITA. This is why painters get paid a lot of money for an "easy" job - it's physically demanding and time consuming to do it right.

The wire alone for my job is $250 - a 125' spool of 6/3 WG romex - and I picked that up on eBay or it would have been $330 after tax.
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