Do you guys have a rule of thumb for pre-wire pricing? Per drop, per type, etc? this is pricing with the assumption that you will NOT get the bid later/no discounts for "coming back to us when you get the house built", etc.

example: voice/data/single coax per drop.....

For pre-wires I sub it out to a good level security company for $50 a cable regardless of length. It's not an ideal solution but great for quick quotes and much more accurate than hourly. I should mention I'm in L.A. so rates are typically way higher here than in most states, (I think?).

Terry

See the story How to Price Structured Wiring:
[Link: ce-pro.com]

Among our CE Pro Top 30 Integrators (these are high-volume installers), the avg. charge per drop (whether coax or cat5+) is $50 for homebuilders, $75 for consumers.

Below is from a 2-year-old dealer website. This is what they charged consumers. There were about 6 packages total. HEre are a couple.

Base package 1
•One structured panel enclosure
•One 6 Phone/ 4 Cable module
•4 -CAT5E Telephone locations including all wall plates and termination
•4 -RG-6 Quad Coaxial locations including all wall plates and termination
Includes interface to telephone and cable services
$935.00


Standard 16-port package
•1-structured panel enclosure
•16 phone locations
•16 cable locations
•16 data locations
•Return path for interactive CATV
•Satellite ready, Cable modem ready, HDTV ready
•Surge protected, Low voltage power supply
•Telephone interface for security
•Upgradeable and expandable
$ 5870.00

Also Available:
Ethernet Hub $235.00
Color camera $635.00
Black and White camera $425.00
Camera module $92.00
One bundled location $235.00
One phone location $85.00
One cordless wall hanging phone location $105.00
One cable location $85.00
One-internet locations $85.00

T&M...

Good articles. Thanks

you guys give shit away..100 for builders 150 for home owners 200 if i dont like you

Just curious how many people use the method of charging a certain price per drop. At the company I work for we estimate total wire of each type and total prewire labor and bill accordingly. We have talked of using the price per drop method and would like to know if you guys think it works better. Thanks

I price per drop as follows:
Contractors: 50.00 each
Consumers 55.00 each
Includes: plates, plugs, compression fitting, yatta yatta..
Does not include box. (some want boxes/some don't)
Also, feeds from termination point to service location outside counts as a drop.
More than 4 CATV outlets gets 2 feeds, and 1 feed for tel.
Residential camera locations are 100.00 per location for prewire.
I offer packages also.
These are obviously prewire/new construction only.
Retro's are by the hour + materials.

Holy crap. I charge a lot compared to some of you.

How about a 5.1 surround sound prewire? New construction...
My price includes 14/2, plates, binding posts. 350.00
I have had contractors tell me this is too high... Too bad for them.....
I actually recently had a contractor ask me to do it for free, and make my $$$ on the retail sale. I told him that if he could gaurantee me (signed, sealed, delivered) the retail, I'd do it for material cost. He told me that he couldn't gaurantee that, and I told him that I don't work for free...

I offer a guaranteed estimate based on an average price per drop. The final price will not exceed my quote and may actually be less if time and material logged is less than estimated. The customer finds this fair most times.

MrT, that sounds like lose/lose to me... The idea of fixed pricing is that you win some, and you lose some, and end up coming out OK. The idea of T&M is you always come out even... So if you need to use your guaranteed estimate even though you went over on T&M, then when do you make that up if you just charge T&M when you come in under?

Just wondering...

The gall!!! Unbelievable what some people pull. I hope you punched him in the face before you walked away.

Got a little "Anger Management" Issue?

$ 100.00 per pull less than 125 feet for belden banana (2XRG-6 2XCat-5) + Trim-out.

Proflex 14/4 speaker pulls $1.25 per foot on average.

Who pre-wires for 5.1 anymore? I have done nothing but 7.2 for the last 3 years, its only a few bucks more investment in materials and labor, but you really make out good when the customer decides to buy the extra speakers and sub simply because his/her home is wired for it.