I was wondering how most of you charge for wiring for 5.1 or 6.1 or 7.1? I'm sure you charge by the foot + labor. What I would like to know is how do you determine your markup by the foot? Do you buy a roll of 500' for x and multiply that by y, or just say you want z per foot. I was wondering if there is some type of formula for each type of wire and brand. Thanks.

New Or Existing construction?

What color? :P

In our company, the prices have been figured out long ago. If your talking about new construction, we have prices for 5.1, 6.1 etc. In addition, the prices change according to the wire gauge. Retro installs are a whole different animal.

Ed

I take my price per foot x 100 ft, figure my cost for boxes, and fastners, add 10% for misc and price increases, and then double that. Round that up and that is what I charge per run. I figure this covers my cost for the tech, the truck, and the tools, plus adds a little for profit. I review this number twice a year. I figure speaker brackets as part of the speaker price.

doopid, rainbow colored wire, of course.

I am actually doing a retro install, but, using speaker stands and drilling right through to the basement underneath, at customer request, so no surprises. So even though it's a retro, it's fairly easy. I will be using 14ga wire, either monster cipro or MONSTER CABLE S142RCL500 thx rated. I like both because they are so flexible and easy to pull, and they are actually a really well made wire. I buy the rolls in 500' length. My original question is how much of a mark up do you usually take on the wire per foot. For example, if it costs me .27 per foot, would you sell it for $1.00 per foot or more? I know a few ci people in business near me charge well more than $1.00 per foot, and I know their wire is no better than mine, if not worse!

What?


I understand that different wire gauges have different prices. That's the only thing about this post that I get.

Are you saying that the price per foot for wire varies based on whether the install is 5.1, 6.1, or retro? Or are you saying that you don't have a price per foot for those different things, but a fixed price, which is the same whether the components are just below the speakers, or off in a closet in another room?

All you customers reading this, please be aware that copper prices are going up and we are all having to pay more because of it.

Also, I found it interesting as an installer that tschulte talks about figuring out what is needed, then DOUBLING it. This is exactly right! When I started doing custom installs, after wiring stores for years and years on a salary, I figured out how much time I thought the installs would take, and gave those prices to the customers. I found out VERY rapidly that I should have doubled them to represent reality. This is not to make a killing; it is to make enough to survive to install another day.

And installers, remember when you discuss this sort of thing here that this is an open forum. If a client reads these posts and sees that "doubling" comment, they might come away thinking that components have the same kind of pricing (as still exists in furniture sales). That is BAD for us because there are a lot of components where we lose money if we have to drive to pick them up!

Ernie, you are right, and I should have worded that a lot different. Because it is out there, let me clarify a bit. We are not talking a lot of money on this. Any consumer can go to Home Depot and see we pay about $0.20 for a box, fastners are like $5 for a 1000, and plates & connectors run maybe $10. My price per run is fair. Am I making a mint off of it? NO. Can Joe Schmoo go buy his own wire cheaper? Yes, but it would not be the same quality and he probably would not know how to run it or where. The bottom line is the H/O is paying you for your expertise.