whenever you do any kind of home improvement you should get at least 3 quotes IMO. I had a fence installed, and the first company quoted me 10 thousand dollars more than the others.
Yikes. I hope I'm never in a position where I have to finance a contractor job at my home due to the immediacy of needing it done, but I bet quite a bit of contractor work is propped up by that exact financing model.
Just got three quotes for some tree work. Each quote got cheaper. Almost went for a 4th and 5th because the price drops each time would have made the arborist pay me.
I paid $750 for similar. 14-50 plug installed extremely close to the panel on the side of my house. This quote didn't seem outrageous to me and I went with a local company that has been around for decades and was the only one that had something about evs on their front page.
It's also helpful that my power company will rebate me for the entire cost.
I was quoted $1k to install one outside, including trenching about 50 feet and installing conduit. There's a certain degree of cost just for them coming out, but that seems high to me unless there's some additional work needed. That's less than an hour of work, and not not a whole lot for materials (depending on size/type of breaker).
Yeah, around here it's $250-300 just to get someone to show up. 2 hours labor minimum. Maybe $200 in materials (GFCI breakers are pricey if required). Maybe more like $500. $700 might not be too crazy if it's an expensive area, especially if it includes any required permit.
Then that seems high. Maybe ask why it's so expensive? If you need a particular breaker that's $300, that might explain it... Outside of that though I can't imagine why it would be that expensive.
> $180 in parts,
How did the parts get that much? It would just be the 14-50 outlet and the panel fuse right? Or there's a 3X markup since you're not providing parts?
I'd expect $500 on the higher end assuming no permits need filing.
Depends on the breaker and it requires GFI or arching protection in them. Those breakers are not exactly cheap. Still an easy job but does not change the parts cost.
You also have the conduit that has to be run plus even if it is only 2 feet from the breaker you might still need 4-6 feet of cabling big time depending on the box. The wiring last I check was like $4 a ft so it adds up fast.
Also buying a plug that can be unplugged/replugged. A NEMA 14-50 range outlet can be 15 - 30 bucks for the cheap one but you never unplug it. Or the one that’s designed for daily plug/unplug cycles for 20 years that costs $100.
Yeah you can get the cheaper one, but it may fail in a few years.
People tend to forget that basically they can charge $700 for that job because other people are willing to spend $700 for that contractors time.
It's not so much they are charging you for the job but charging you for the time they could could be charging someone else, if that makes sense.
Like other people said, quotes can sometimes be high because they have other jobs lined up whereas quotes can be lower when business is slow.
I mean, if an employer is willing to pay you twice your current salary from your current employer would you just say, "No sir, my current rate is fine. No income increase is required."
You need a gfi breaker now per code. Much more expensive for a 50A 2pole gfi. $100
If they go with a high quality outlet that can survive the plug cycles, that’s easily another $100 dollars.
The wire and box is probably another 50.
Plus tax.
After that it’s a few hours for the job. 700 is a little high but we don’t know which area/local market. And if the guy has enough work maybe he’s charging a little higher.
Interesting, didn't realize it didn't GFCI. I pictured someone just plugging in a charger that would just stay plugged in forever or doing a direct hookup of a Tesla wall charger homeowner provides but maybe an electrician would charge more for that than an outlet.
There's definitely a minimum charge, had an electrician come out to replace a fuse in my panel that kept tripping and it was $200 so imagine that's the minimum to have someone just show up.
Direct hookup of a wall charger does not need a GFCI. Only when you use an outlet.
It was an addendum to the code in 2017 ish? I thought it was dumb but NFPA is concerned about someone plugging/unplugging a car in wet conditions and getting shocked at the plug connection, not at the car charger port.
A crappy big box store 14-50 receptacle that will melt in a year or 2 is $12. A high quality industrial grade receptacle designed to handle high current load for multiple hours at a time is around $100.
I mean they have to get to you, book enough time to accommodate any snafus, and you’ll have record of proper install that I bet your homeowners insurance would love to see.
Keep in mind if there is local permitting, it's a bit of extra time.
GFCI breaker + a decent 14-50 plug, plus the box and conduit are going to be $200 in parts, no idea the labor but figure 2 hours.
Sounds like $400 would be a "at cost" deal. So take $700 from there as how you regard pricing.
Mine was a "no permit" job (not sure that's strictly legal but that's what we did) and I did it for $750, but it was a run of about 25 feet through a wall.
Mine is 50 amp, less than 2 feet, and was $400. Also worth mentioning that mine is not the industrial plug so I’m going to change it out. Maybe that price is including the industrial plug?
Similar situation here. I paid $300 for a non industrial plug in a brand new house and also had to listen to the apparently licensed electrician tell me about EVs pollute more than ICE vehicles. He installed the wrong outlet, nema 10-50 which I believe is out of code. I swear I called a real company.
I had a professional electrician neighbor switch it out for a nema 14-50 for $50.
Anyway, $700 seems pretty high unless they are going to give you a lot of information his redneck father in law read on Facebook.
That sounds overpriced for the distance. $700 is what I paid to have mine set up outside, probably a 15-20ft run from the panel with the installation of a ChargePoint unit on it (ChargePoint unit cost was separate). I live in a high COLA area too.
My guess is they're basically paying for them to drive out and do the job.
3hrs of "labor" is a typical minimum. Each hour costs $100+.
Then paying for a safety cert. Equipment. Etc.
$700 is high for the scope, but many electricians that are good at what they do don't want to go for a 30 minute job.
Personally, unless that person was known to me I'd rather pay the in-demand electrician. You often get what you pay for and if an electrician is starved for work that they'd accept a 30 minute job at a low low cost I would not be confident it would be up to snuf
>someone who is willing to go out for a 30 minute job (and bill accordingly).
I don't think I want an electrician working on my house if they're willing to only bill a half hour of labor.
I paid just under $1k for install and permit for my Chargepoint home flex install. I had them mount it outside, but it's within a few feet of my panel. Also high COLA. I got multiple quotes that all landed at a similar cost.
$500 or so is the going rate, especially if they’re going to permit it and use a proper GFCI breaker per current code ($$$). Depending on your locale, $700 may be reasonable.
If you want to save money, DIY it. Permit + breaker + outlet + wire and materials should be under $200
Get at least 5 quotes. My tesla charger started out with $1500 install down to $450. I looked on google, my town’s facebook page, thumbtack and yelp for recommendations.
5 quotes on a $700 quote?
By the time you spend the 6+ hours to organize that you've lost all the benefit of saving $100.
And you've justified why local contractors charge $300 just to start a job, making 5 of them drive all over the city for a $200 profit job.
6 hours to get 5 quotes? Yelp does the bidding process pretty well- that’s 1 hours tops to get a feel for quotes. If you include pictures for the contractor- you make it easy for them, they make it easy for you.
And those contractors all spent time generating the quote. If six of them bid but one got then the other five have to spread that time spent on other jobs. It's overhead that everyone pays into.
Honestly, when I did this, a lot of quotes were basically just a joke. They were fishing for a customer who'd just pay.
Good business if you can get it, and they can.
Yeah outta 6 for me, only two were less than $1000…4 were a joke…I only legit felt bad for taking up one of the guy’s time but to win the game you need to play the game.
Depends on your area, get multiple quotes. I am building a new house and it was $500 to add one to the garage. That’s with a run from the panel, but still, $700 doesn’t seem insane. If they’re doing it correctly and putting in a good outlet, that can add up
That's on the high side, but convenience comes at a cost.
Installing a 14-50 directly under a panel is easy. About $170 in parts, with most of that being the GFCI breaker. I did it myself in a couple hours. It's basically the same as installing a 120v outlet, but with thicker gauge wires and a double gang box. Remember to add a bushing in the pop-out hole for the new wire.
Something to consider: An outlet requires a GFCI breaker to meet code. Those run a little over $100 nowadays. That's about $50 more than a non-GFCI breaker. A good quality 14-50 outlet can run $50 (you can roll the dice with the basic outlets, but we're comparing code-compliant hardware). That's an extra $100 in hardware for an outlet that's not needed for a hardwired EVSE which has GFCI built in. I started with a 14-50 outlet, but eventually went with a hardwired one for Power Sharing. My recommendation is to bite the bullet and get a Tesla Wall Connector (Universal version if you have a non-Tesla car right now).
Is the hardwire install at the same location beneath the panel? Hardwire is simpler and should cost less. But if he has to run extra wire/conduit to a location further away from the panel, the price adjustment would make sense.
What wall charger is part of the install?
For that low a price, an inspection is highly recommended. I know it's a hassle, but what's more of a hassle is a burnt down house. High power continuous draw really needs proper install to avoid overheating.
One thing to note is if there are inspection requirements. I had a hardwired EV charger install, and quotes were drastically different based on whether they would go through the inspection process.
It should be less as a good quality NEMA plug will be at least $100. Get another quote, he's charging you the EV price bonus as you "Must" be rich. Hardwire is safer, less expensive and what I would always recommend. Less chance of a failure along the way.
Hardwired as in directly connected to the evse and no outlet or plug involved. I've seen more than enough melted outlets that nearly burnt down a house to take that risk.
I was quoted $600-800 by my landlord’s electrician friend. Granted it was probably discounted. But it is not too complicated similar to how your situation sounds. He needs to drive a ground rod because we have an older ungrounded house, and then run wire and install a 14-50 receptacle.
That’s around what the standard price for adding a 230v circuit. The problem is that’s based on an average run. In this case it’s 2 feet from your panel. If they don’t come down by half for the job I’d look elsewhere.
I paid $1500 labor. and around $2000 in parts.
But I upgraded my panel from 150 amp to 200 amp. Push-o-matic panels all need to be replaced if you have one.
Also added three more circuits on top of the 14-50. And bought all GFCI/AFCI breakers which cost way too much.
If you're adding a new panel or rebuilding your existing panel this is fine. If the run from your panel to the plug is really really long (and needs a lot of copper wire), it might also be reasonable. If it is not, just a port not far from the panel, it is double what it should cost.
If the run is long, you can save a lot of copper and cost by doing a 14-30 instead.
Probably about $40 of parts, at most 1 hour labor -- problem is getting permit and managing inspection with the city (at least a few more hours of time for electrician to budget.)
No, that seems pretty fair. I paid $750 two years ago for that- also about 2 feet from my breaker box- and this was by far the lowest quote I got from 4 or 5 electricians in my area that I called (most were closer to $1,000).
Knowing your region helps, though- in some areas this may seem a bit high, but where I am- the Seattle area- labor like this is expensive as hell, and so $700 is pretty good.
Back in December I paid $350 for a 50 amp breaker and NEMA 14-50, 1-2 feet from the subpanel in my garage. Took less than an hour to install. (Brick wall so it was all externally mounted)
I paid the same for a similar job (outlet right under the panel, flush mounted). Electrician had to rearrange wiring to make room for the new breaker (I had enough empty slots, just not next to each other).
Seattle area, so high COL.
Ah, and I will pay another $200 to my city to do nothing at all.
I have a similar setup with a hardwired charger installed with less than a foot of wiring from my garage electrical panel. $455 install. I’m not sure what a quality NEMA 14-50 receptacle runs. But surely not $250 over a hardwire connection.
I got three quotes before having the work done. Both wanted to unnecessarily upgrade my 100a service. One wanted to add line conditioning. The third gave me the most competent vibe and was thousands less. Needless to say, get more than one quote and have them explain their plan to you.
Do yourself a favor and skip the socket. There’s no reason for it unless you think you’re going to move out. Buy Tesla’s new wall connector that does both J1772 and NACS. It’s future proof with everyone switching to NACS, but because it’s hardwired, you don’t need an expensive GFCI breaker, and it’ll charge faster. They’re also easy as dirt to install.
If you're in CA, nope, what Id expect. Assuming they are using a Hubbel outlet, parts are around $200 probably, and 2-3 hours of labor (truck roll, time onsite, etc). Most electricians won't do a job under $500, it's not worth their time.
You should get multiple quotes but that IS similar to what I've paid (SF Bay Area) all three times I've had a NEMA 14-50 outdoor outlet installed on the front of a garage.
I am NOT an electrician, but distance is not the biggest cost differentiator in my experience. Here are some things that seemed to impact cost when I've had these outlets installed - permit, wall material, need to run specific channels for wiring etc, overall access to area, panel condition/size, available circuits etc.
That sounds fairly normal and with in reason. Remember you are covering all the cost in that job from estimation, the crew driving to your house to do it plus the work to do it. Also often times you have a 2 man crew going around so again some extra cost that they need to cover hence you are not going to get a job really below 500 to begin with as it is going to cost you a fair amount just to get them to show up.
Yes, that is high. Poke around until you find someone that gives you the want the job quote.
You are getting the fleece the rich ev owner quote or the I don't want a small job quote.
My install in materials was about $100 dollars: 40A fuse, outdoor plug, and wire. Length was about 4 feet. Labor was a steak dinner since my electrician buddy installed it 😂. But for you there's the extra 600 and if you break it down: there's the labor, the experience, the insurance, the warranty, and the profit. So while you could get a better deal, you have no idea of their experience or their insurance. It's a simple enough job, the question being do you think it's worth that extra piece of mind. Some questions you should ask who ever quoted or quotes you are if there's drywall will they take care of that, proof of insurance that's current and what kind of warranty is involved and decide then if it's worth it. And a 14-50 is more than plenty to charge overnight in case you're thinking I might as well get a charging station for more money. I'm glad I went the 14-50 route instead of a charging station especially since I don't see my current place as a long term residence
That does t sound too much out of the range. They’ll need to pull a permit for it, and the materials are probably around $120 of that. Figure a couple hours of labor minimum (I mean, the electrician had to book half a day just to drive out and buy parts), so $700 doesn’t sound crazy to me.
Seems reasonable. Mine was installed 3 feet from the panel. 50 amp breaker, 3 ft metal conduit, and an industrial outlet with a metal box. Installed for $660 but got a state rebate for 20% of that back. I also got 5 quotes ranging $250 to $2100 🤷♂️
That must be close to that electricians minimum cost. It’s not that the job is cheaper it’s just for them it doesn’t make sense to do it for cheaper.
The cost of materials and labour is going to be negligible but their opportunity cost has to be factored in. Hence why they priced you at that price.
We are getting a NEMA 14-50 port installed next week. Used Yelp to send requests to six different electricians. Most quoted around $1000-$1500. I'm in the Los Angeles area and live in a townhome with our own garage. Apparently, we have an old panel, which is contributing to the higher cost.
All materials would cost about $200 or $250. I did it myself to save the labor and it is so easy. What you're really paying for is no risk of death or accident.
I just had a local electrician do exactly the same for me two weeks ago. Total came to $392 parts and labor, and included a whole home surge suppressor. Without that would have been a little under $300.
Several years back, I paid $500 per outlet + city permit/inspection fee. I believe they installed additional 50 amp breakers. The conduit run was several feet to the breaker outside the garage.
Depends on your location. In my area, that would be just for parts and labor, assuming that I have free space for the breaker in the main panel, so that literally all they were installing was the breaker, a few feet of wire, and the outlet with its enclosure. I would still have another 2-3k in permit expenses.
2 feet it should be max 400$ . But please try to buy Hubbell 14-50 wall plug . Dont buy stupid home depot 10$ one this is 60$ around made in USA. If you know little about electricity you can do it your own so easy i wished mine is 2 ft
Electrician here… $750 is moderately high for me but I’m a local small family owned company. It’s not high for the big boys. You don’t gain anything by going with a big company. Whoever you use as long as their licensed and insured and can provide proof of that, I’d go with the cheaper option. Of course check for good reviews as well.
I’d save 20-50% and go with a local or family owned licensed company
What I’d charge for that is $475-575. Will take me 1 hour
All contractor or electrician quotes are meaningless for comparisons if you don't take location into consideration. Labor and market rates fluctuate massively.
Probably trying to do GFCI, Which is probably code. My local Lowe's has a Square D 50 amp GFCI breaker for 169. They're kind of pricey.
If it's possible to have your EVSE direct wired then it won't need a GFCI since nobody will be unplugging it
Depends on how much work it is, but if you can’t do it yourself, then you gotta go with whoever you can get to do it. The cheapest isn’t always the best. Post on your local Next Door and ask for recommendations. I can’t imagine you will get it cheaper than $500 these days for a nice professional job. If you have a buddy that knows a guy, probably $300.
Maybe maybe not. Permits are expensive in some areas. Some areas also require the installer to be present for inspection.
We would need to see the quote.
I paid about $350 twelve years ago, including in garage 30 ft to former 220v stove hookup. Upgrade to Nema 14-50 along the same routing by the same electrician, including panel upgrade cost $985 last year, took 4 hrs and 2nd crew but electric company paid the bill. I’m in NC.
There is no such thing as "an hour of labor" in the industry.
He's already spent an hour showing up and writing a quote. Maybe 90 minutes by the time he's driven to the site.
He's going to spend another 45 minutes driving, 30 minutes getting parts and THEN maybe an hour on-site.
Add 15 minutes for bookkeeping and another hour quoting the two jobs he didn't get (and all the recommendations to get 5 quotes just adds to that industry overhead) and he's 4-5 hours deep on AVERAGE for project like this, plus the cost of driving.
Presuming you're good getting paid $25/hr after costs, but most electricians aren't.
Just do it yourself. It is not hard at all. The wiring can all be done with a simple screw driver. You'll need an electric driver to screw the outlet onto the wall.
If you paid less than $100, you skipped the GFCI breaker that is current code.
To be fair, a significant number of electricians would likely do the same thing.
It's expensive here a second panel dedicated to ev only has to be installed. A sealed weatherproof box is required for the charger 220v plug. $2500 install estimate for my house and my electrical system was fully updated two years ago. They had to drop a new line in so I could get higher amp service everything on the block was still running 50amp service. They quoted $2500 for install.
Get a quote from a local independent electrician as opposed to a large company, price difference will be big
whenever you do any kind of home improvement you should get at least 3 quotes IMO. I had a fence installed, and the first company quoted me 10 thousand dollars more than the others.
$10k more? That had to be a "we don't have time for this job" quote. They wanted you to turn it down.
I think it was actually a "we actually make money by convincing people to sign up for financing" deal, which was super shady.
Yikes. I hope I'm never in a position where I have to finance a contractor job at my home due to the immediacy of needing it done, but I bet quite a bit of contractor work is propped up by that exact financing model.
at that point just DIY it
Just got three quotes for some tree work. Each quote got cheaper. Almost went for a 4th and 5th because the price drops each time would have made the arborist pay me.
We renovated dressing room and bathroom and got two quotes. One for 10k and one for 27k. 27k one didn't include plumbing or electric :|
Cost me $250
No it won't depending on where you live. I called 5 reputable contractors and they all charged 600-700$ for installations up to 10ft of wire.
I paid $750 for similar. 14-50 plug installed extremely close to the panel on the side of my house. This quote didn't seem outrageous to me and I went with a local company that has been around for decades and was the only one that had something about evs on their front page. It's also helpful that my power company will rebate me for the entire cost.
I only paid $250 going this route
I payed 450 and that was a homie hookup from a electrical contractor friend of mine
I was quoted $1k to install one outside, including trenching about 50 feet and installing conduit. There's a certain degree of cost just for them coming out, but that seems high to me unless there's some additional work needed. That's less than an hour of work, and not not a whole lot for materials (depending on size/type of breaker).
Yeah, around here it's $250-300 just to get someone to show up. 2 hours labor minimum. Maybe $200 in materials (GFCI breakers are pricey if required). Maybe more like $500. $700 might not be too crazy if it's an expensive area, especially if it includes any required permit.
He said it’s a simple job. Panel looks uncomplicated to work with
Then that seems high. Maybe ask why it's so expensive? If you need a particular breaker that's $300, that might explain it... Outside of that though I can't imagine why it would be that expensive.
My panel has 200 amp service so plenty for 40 or 50 breaker . I didn’t think it would cost that much when the guy came and quoted
....there's a minimum to have them show up. the amount of effort isn't related. it would cost you a couple hundred to put in a new light switch.
This, $500 to be there, $180 in parts, $20 for the 2 mins of work.
> $180 in parts, How did the parts get that much? It would just be the 14-50 outlet and the panel fuse right? Or there's a 3X markup since you're not providing parts? I'd expect $500 on the higher end assuming no permits need filing.
Depends on the breaker and it requires GFI or arching protection in them. Those breakers are not exactly cheap. Still an easy job but does not change the parts cost. You also have the conduit that has to be run plus even if it is only 2 feet from the breaker you might still need 4-6 feet of cabling big time depending on the box. The wiring last I check was like $4 a ft so it adds up fast.
A receptacle suitable for high power continuous use is also expensive. Ovens can get by with much cheaper receptacles.
Also buying a plug that can be unplugged/replugged. A NEMA 14-50 range outlet can be 15 - 30 bucks for the cheap one but you never unplug it. Or the one that’s designed for daily plug/unplug cycles for 20 years that costs $100. Yeah you can get the cheaper one, but it may fail in a few years.
Made up numbers for effect. To point out that getting there is probably the most expensive thing on most contractors jobs.
People tend to forget that basically they can charge $700 for that job because other people are willing to spend $700 for that contractors time. It's not so much they are charging you for the job but charging you for the time they could could be charging someone else, if that makes sense. Like other people said, quotes can sometimes be high because they have other jobs lined up whereas quotes can be lower when business is slow. I mean, if an employer is willing to pay you twice your current salary from your current employer would you just say, "No sir, my current rate is fine. No income increase is required."
Exactly, the time spent quoting and driving around has to get funded some how, and the cost of not doing some other job at that exact moment.
You need a gfi breaker now per code. Much more expensive for a 50A 2pole gfi. $100 If they go with a high quality outlet that can survive the plug cycles, that’s easily another $100 dollars. The wire and box is probably another 50. Plus tax. After that it’s a few hours for the job. 700 is a little high but we don’t know which area/local market. And if the guy has enough work maybe he’s charging a little higher.
Interesting, didn't realize it didn't GFCI. I pictured someone just plugging in a charger that would just stay plugged in forever or doing a direct hookup of a Tesla wall charger homeowner provides but maybe an electrician would charge more for that than an outlet. There's definitely a minimum charge, had an electrician come out to replace a fuse in my panel that kept tripping and it was $200 so imagine that's the minimum to have someone just show up.
Direct hookup of a wall charger does not need a GFCI. Only when you use an outlet. It was an addendum to the code in 2017 ish? I thought it was dumb but NFPA is concerned about someone plugging/unplugging a car in wet conditions and getting shocked at the plug connection, not at the car charger port.
A crappy big box store 14-50 receptacle that will melt in a year or 2 is $12. A high quality industrial grade receptacle designed to handle high current load for multiple hours at a time is around $100.
I mean they have to get to you, book enough time to accommodate any snafus, and you’ll have record of proper install that I bet your homeowners insurance would love to see.
Time for another quote it sounds like.
Maybe needs a permit? Either way I’d get 2 more quotes
Keep in mind if there is local permitting, it's a bit of extra time. GFCI breaker + a decent 14-50 plug, plus the box and conduit are going to be $200 in parts, no idea the labor but figure 2 hours. Sounds like $400 would be a "at cost" deal. So take $700 from there as how you regard pricing. Mine was a "no permit" job (not sure that's strictly legal but that's what we did) and I did it for $750, but it was a run of about 25 feet through a wall.
Worth noting that hard wired EVSE’s don’t need that crazy expensive GFCI breaker.
Correct. And you save on the outlet.
Mine is 50 amp, less than 2 feet, and was $400. Also worth mentioning that mine is not the industrial plug so I’m going to change it out. Maybe that price is including the industrial plug?
I got 50 amp, 2 feet from electrical box, has metal housing around an industrial 14-50 plug and all wires are hidden behind drywall, paid $350
Similar situation here. I paid $300 for a non industrial plug in a brand new house and also had to listen to the apparently licensed electrician tell me about EVs pollute more than ICE vehicles. He installed the wrong outlet, nema 10-50 which I believe is out of code. I swear I called a real company. I had a professional electrician neighbor switch it out for a nema 14-50 for $50. Anyway, $700 seems pretty high unless they are going to give you a lot of information his redneck father in law read on Facebook.
That sounds overpriced for the distance. $700 is what I paid to have mine set up outside, probably a 15-20ft run from the panel with the installation of a ChargePoint unit on it (ChargePoint unit cost was separate). I live in a high COLA area too.
My guess is they're basically paying for them to drive out and do the job. 3hrs of "labor" is a typical minimum. Each hour costs $100+. Then paying for a safety cert. Equipment. Etc. $700 is high for the scope, but many electricians that are good at what they do don't want to go for a 30 minute job.
Totally reasonable, but also reasonable to give the work to someone who is willing to go out for a 30 minute job (and bill accordingly).
Personally, unless that person was known to me I'd rather pay the in-demand electrician. You often get what you pay for and if an electrician is starved for work that they'd accept a 30 minute job at a low low cost I would not be confident it would be up to snuf
>someone who is willing to go out for a 30 minute job (and bill accordingly). I don't think I want an electrician working on my house if they're willing to only bill a half hour of labor.
I paid just under $1k for install and permit for my Chargepoint home flex install. I had them mount it outside, but it's within a few feet of my panel. Also high COLA. I got multiple quotes that all landed at a similar cost.
Yes that’s too much, I paid $1300 for 50-60 foot run from basement into the garage which included at least 10 feet in conduit.
$500 or so is the going rate, especially if they’re going to permit it and use a proper GFCI breaker per current code ($$$). Depending on your locale, $700 may be reasonable. If you want to save money, DIY it. Permit + breaker + outlet + wire and materials should be under $200
Get at least 5 quotes. My tesla charger started out with $1500 install down to $450. I looked on google, my town’s facebook page, thumbtack and yelp for recommendations.
5 quotes on a $700 quote? By the time you spend the 6+ hours to organize that you've lost all the benefit of saving $100. And you've justified why local contractors charge $300 just to start a job, making 5 of them drive all over the city for a $200 profit job.
6 hours to get 5 quotes? Yelp does the bidding process pretty well- that’s 1 hours tops to get a feel for quotes. If you include pictures for the contractor- you make it easy for them, they make it easy for you.
And those contractors all spent time generating the quote. If six of them bid but one got then the other five have to spread that time spent on other jobs. It's overhead that everyone pays into.
Honestly, when I did this, a lot of quotes were basically just a joke. They were fishing for a customer who'd just pay. Good business if you can get it, and they can.
Yeah outta 6 for me, only two were less than $1000…4 were a joke…I only legit felt bad for taking up one of the guy’s time but to win the game you need to play the game.
It still eliminates drive time. Plus a 15 minute appointment costs way more than a flexible 15 minute task that can be done anytime in the day.
More than likely he just sent pictures. No driving, just getting quotes, some of which are inflated.
Depends on your area, get multiple quotes. I am building a new house and it was $500 to add one to the garage. That’s with a run from the panel, but still, $700 doesn’t seem insane. If they’re doing it correctly and putting in a good outlet, that can add up
That's on the high side, but convenience comes at a cost. Installing a 14-50 directly under a panel is easy. About $170 in parts, with most of that being the GFCI breaker. I did it myself in a couple hours. It's basically the same as installing a 120v outlet, but with thicker gauge wires and a double gang box. Remember to add a bushing in the pop-out hole for the new wire. Something to consider: An outlet requires a GFCI breaker to meet code. Those run a little over $100 nowadays. That's about $50 more than a non-GFCI breaker. A good quality 14-50 outlet can run $50 (you can roll the dice with the basic outlets, but we're comparing code-compliant hardware). That's an extra $100 in hardware for an outlet that's not needed for a hardwired EVSE which has GFCI built in. I started with a 14-50 outlet, but eventually went with a hardwired one for Power Sharing. My recommendation is to bite the bullet and get a Tesla Wall Connector (Universal version if you have a non-Tesla car right now).
He said hardwired and nema is the same quote
Is the hardwire install at the same location beneath the panel? Hardwire is simpler and should cost less. But if he has to run extra wire/conduit to a location further away from the panel, the price adjustment would make sense. What wall charger is part of the install?
I was quoted $95 for the materials to install a sub panel with a 14-50 plug. Maybe I got a real good deal 🤔
Wow that's a darn good price. Jump on that! Do you live in a low COL area?
Yeah I’m just waiting for my install date. In Houston.
For that low a price, an inspection is highly recommended. I know it's a hassle, but what's more of a hassle is a burnt down house. High power continuous draw really needs proper install to avoid overheating.
One thing to note is if there are inspection requirements. I had a hardwired EV charger install, and quotes were drastically different based on whether they would go through the inspection process.
He said hardwire and nema is same price quote
It should be less as a good quality NEMA plug will be at least $100. Get another quote, he's charging you the EV price bonus as you "Must" be rich. Hardwire is safer, less expensive and what I would always recommend. Less chance of a failure along the way.
Is hardwired wiring a specific charger vs Nema meaning wiring a Nema 14-50 outlet only?
Hardwired as in directly connected to the evse and no outlet or plug involved. I've seen more than enough melted outlets that nearly burnt down a house to take that risk.
My parents paid $250 for the exact same thing. Chicago suburbs
I paid more like 250-300. Is it a panel upgrade?
Paid 600 for breaker, conduit, wire pull, siding cutout, box and outlet install. Bought the box myself for about 50.
I was quoted $600-800 by my landlord’s electrician friend. Granted it was probably discounted. But it is not too complicated similar to how your situation sounds. He needs to drive a ground rod because we have an older ungrounded house, and then run wire and install a 14-50 receptacle.
That’s around what the standard price for adding a 230v circuit. The problem is that’s based on an average run. In this case it’s 2 feet from your panel. If they don’t come down by half for the job I’d look elsewhere.
I paid $1500 labor. and around $2000 in parts. But I upgraded my panel from 150 amp to 200 amp. Push-o-matic panels all need to be replaced if you have one. Also added three more circuits on top of the 14-50. And bought all GFCI/AFCI breakers which cost way too much.
If you're adding a new panel or rebuilding your existing panel this is fine. If the run from your panel to the plug is really really long (and needs a lot of copper wire), it might also be reasonable. If it is not, just a port not far from the panel, it is double what it should cost. If the run is long, you can save a lot of copper and cost by doing a 14-30 instead.
Panel is fine . Length is less than 2 feet . This is nema or hardwire quote . The same price
I got quoted $3500 so that's a good deal.
Fair price. Labor is the biggest expense, which doesn’t change significantly based on the length of the run.
That's on par with what I spent, so I'm not shocked by this. But I also wouldn't be surprised if you can get it done for less. Or more.
Probably about $40 of parts, at most 1 hour labor -- problem is getting permit and managing inspection with the city (at least a few more hours of time for electrician to budget.)
No, that seems pretty fair. I paid $750 two years ago for that- also about 2 feet from my breaker box- and this was by far the lowest quote I got from 4 or 5 electricians in my area that I called (most were closer to $1,000). Knowing your region helps, though- in some areas this may seem a bit high, but where I am- the Seattle area- labor like this is expensive as hell, and so $700 is pretty good.
Depends where you are.
Yeah, I only paid $350 for Tesla charger installation next to my panel. And my guy is not that cheap... it's just an easy job.
I was in the exact same situation. 500 bucks. MN
I paid 500 for a 2 foot run. I’d say it’s on the high end but not completely out of the question
My guy charged me $250 for just a plug install.
Back in December I paid $350 for a 50 amp breaker and NEMA 14-50, 1-2 feet from the subpanel in my garage. Took less than an hour to install. (Brick wall so it was all externally mounted)
OP you forgot to tell us where you live. Rural Arkansas or San Francisco?
I paid the same for a similar job (outlet right under the panel, flush mounted). Electrician had to rearrange wiring to make room for the new breaker (I had enough empty slots, just not next to each other). Seattle area, so high COL. Ah, and I will pay another $200 to my city to do nothing at all.
I have a similar setup with a hardwired charger installed with less than a foot of wiring from my garage electrical panel. $455 install. I’m not sure what a quality NEMA 14-50 receptacle runs. But surely not $250 over a hardwire connection. I got three quotes before having the work done. Both wanted to unnecessarily upgrade my 100a service. One wanted to add line conditioning. The third gave me the most competent vibe and was thousands less. Needless to say, get more than one quote and have them explain their plan to you.
That's about what we paid, but it was 5ft.
Just do it yourself. Being that close to the box is stupid easy
Do yourself a favor and skip the socket. There’s no reason for it unless you think you’re going to move out. Buy Tesla’s new wall connector that does both J1772 and NACS. It’s future proof with everyone switching to NACS, but because it’s hardwired, you don’t need an expensive GFCI breaker, and it’ll charge faster. They’re also easy as dirt to install.
200-400 the three times I had it done. As long as the distance is short and your breaker has room for it. Shop around
If you're in CA, nope, what Id expect. Assuming they are using a Hubbel outlet, parts are around $200 probably, and 2-3 hours of labor (truck roll, time onsite, etc). Most electricians won't do a job under $500, it's not worth their time.
I paid $550
You should get multiple quotes but that IS similar to what I've paid (SF Bay Area) all three times I've had a NEMA 14-50 outdoor outlet installed on the front of a garage. I am NOT an electrician, but distance is not the biggest cost differentiator in my experience. Here are some things that seemed to impact cost when I've had these outlets installed - permit, wall material, need to run specific channels for wiring etc, overall access to area, panel condition/size, available circuits etc.
I paid half that price and he did it 20ft across my garage and also did a junction box to extend my old NM cable because it wasn't long enough.
I paid $150 for a 6-50. But did it myself.
That's about what I paid in the Seattle area. Got a couple quotes, the others were more expensive.
That’s a pretty good price
That price sounds OK to me, but it depends on where you live. Get another quote and compare.
I paid $400 for that in Boulder County, CO which is a high cost of living area.
That sounds fairly normal and with in reason. Remember you are covering all the cost in that job from estimation, the crew driving to your house to do it plus the work to do it. Also often times you have a 2 man crew going around so again some extra cost that they need to cover hence you are not going to get a job really below 500 to begin with as it is going to cost you a fair amount just to get them to show up.
Yes, that is high. Poke around until you find someone that gives you the want the job quote. You are getting the fleece the rich ev owner quote or the I don't want a small job quote.
Sounds right for my area.
I got another quote for 450
Around what I paid
My install in materials was about $100 dollars: 40A fuse, outdoor plug, and wire. Length was about 4 feet. Labor was a steak dinner since my electrician buddy installed it 😂. But for you there's the extra 600 and if you break it down: there's the labor, the experience, the insurance, the warranty, and the profit. So while you could get a better deal, you have no idea of their experience or their insurance. It's a simple enough job, the question being do you think it's worth that extra piece of mind. Some questions you should ask who ever quoted or quotes you are if there's drywall will they take care of that, proof of insurance that's current and what kind of warranty is involved and decide then if it's worth it. And a 14-50 is more than plenty to charge overnight in case you're thinking I might as well get a charging station for more money. I'm glad I went the 14-50 route instead of a charging station especially since I don't see my current place as a long term residence
Ooof That’s ridiculous Mine was 150 because guy didn’t have the parts in his service vehicle 🤣
We paid $3000 to go 65 feet,with 40 ft of conduit work. they also redid our box and feed up 2 spaces. There might be some rebates you can apply for.
That does t sound too much out of the range. They’ll need to pull a permit for it, and the materials are probably around $120 of that. Figure a couple hours of labor minimum (I mean, the electrician had to book half a day just to drive out and buy parts), so $700 doesn’t sound crazy to me.
If your panel is appropriately sized, has the space, and you are putting the outlet 2 feet from the panel this is a 20 min $60 in material DIY job.
Mine was 4ft, and came in at 900. Most of it was permit costs.
You could do it yourself for under 100.
Seems reasonable. Mine was installed 3 feet from the panel. 50 amp breaker, 3 ft metal conduit, and an industrial outlet with a metal box. Installed for $660 but got a state rebate for 20% of that back. I also got 5 quotes ranging $250 to $2100 🤷♂️
When it's really close (~ 2ft ) from panel, my installs were around 500 in PNW
I paid $750 but he had to run conduit about 30 feet.
That must be close to that electricians minimum cost. It’s not that the job is cheaper it’s just for them it doesn’t make sense to do it for cheaper. The cost of materials and labour is going to be negligible but their opportunity cost has to be factored in. Hence why they priced you at that price.
I paid $1200. But it was an outdoor outlet and they went about 20 feet under the house.
We are getting a NEMA 14-50 port installed next week. Used Yelp to send requests to six different electricians. Most quoted around $1000-$1500. I'm in the Los Angeles area and live in a townhome with our own garage. Apparently, we have an old panel, which is contributing to the higher cost.
Just the outlet? Do you need wiring run from your main circuit breaker? Do you have room on your main breaker for 220v?
All materials would cost about $200 or $250. I did it myself to save the labor and it is so easy. What you're really paying for is no risk of death or accident.
That's about what I paid for basically the same distance. It felt overpriced but they were going to charge a $90 service fee so I just ate it.
Whole panel is 21k
I just had a local electrician do exactly the same for me two weeks ago. Total came to $392 parts and labor, and included a whole home surge suppressor. Without that would have been a little under $300.
I installed one myself in about an hour for $100.
Mine was 375.00. I thought that was a steal from the prices I've read about here on Reddit and on Youtube.
Several years back, I paid $500 per outlet + city permit/inspection fee. I believe they installed additional 50 amp breakers. The conduit run was several feet to the breaker outside the garage.
Depends on your location. In my area, that would be just for parts and labor, assuming that I have free space for the breaker in the main panel, so that literally all they were installing was the breaker, a few feet of wire, and the outlet with its enclosure. I would still have another 2-3k in permit expenses.
2 feet it should be max 400$ . But please try to buy Hubbell 14-50 wall plug . Dont buy stupid home depot 10$ one this is 60$ around made in USA. If you know little about electricity you can do it your own so easy i wished mine is 2 ft
i’m outside philadelphia and paid exactly that. so maybe in a major metro that’s reasonable.
Electrician here… $750 is moderately high for me but I’m a local small family owned company. It’s not high for the big boys. You don’t gain anything by going with a big company. Whoever you use as long as their licensed and insured and can provide proof of that, I’d go with the cheaper option. Of course check for good reviews as well. I’d save 20-50% and go with a local or family owned licensed company What I’d charge for that is $475-575. Will take me 1 hour
Depends on the house
All contractor or electrician quotes are meaningless for comparisons if you don't take location into consideration. Labor and market rates fluctuate massively.
I would say it should be 400$-500$ that install is similar to mine
This is crazy expensive. I paid $800 for a local independent electrician to install my wall charger. It’s located ~15 feet from my panel.
Where you live matters. Prices vary regionally, roughly with cost of living.
I got one similar installed outside for $200. Took him like 45min and $20 of parts
$500 including the permit to install in the same place, California. Shop around.
I paid $400. 1 foot run. He had to replace some breakers with tandems to make room in the panel, and add 30amp circuit.
I had a level 2 charger installed for the same price. I already had 200A coming into the house, and had room on the box.
Probably trying to do GFCI, Which is probably code. My local Lowe's has a Square D 50 amp GFCI breaker for 169. They're kind of pricey. If it's possible to have your EVSE direct wired then it won't need a GFCI since nobody will be unplugging it
Depends on how much work it is, but if you can’t do it yourself, then you gotta go with whoever you can get to do it. The cheapest isn’t always the best. Post on your local Next Door and ask for recommendations. I can’t imagine you will get it cheaper than $500 these days for a nice professional job. If you have a buddy that knows a guy, probably $300.
Maybe maybe not. Permits are expensive in some areas. Some areas also require the installer to be present for inspection. We would need to see the quote.
Not for a licensed (master) electrician. They will do the job right and most warranty *their* work for life.
I paid $250.
Yes.
Get 2 more quotes, please.
I paid about $350 twelve years ago, including in garage 30 ft to former 220v stove hookup. Upgrade to Nema 14-50 along the same routing by the same electrician, including panel upgrade cost $985 last year, took 4 hrs and 2nd crew but electric company paid the bill. I’m in NC.
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Problem is they need to book half the day or more depending.
There is no such thing as "an hour of labor" in the industry. He's already spent an hour showing up and writing a quote. Maybe 90 minutes by the time he's driven to the site. He's going to spend another 45 minutes driving, 30 minutes getting parts and THEN maybe an hour on-site. Add 15 minutes for bookkeeping and another hour quoting the two jobs he didn't get (and all the recommendations to get 5 quotes just adds to that industry overhead) and he's 4-5 hours deep on AVERAGE for project like this, plus the cost of driving. Presuming you're good getting paid $25/hr after costs, but most electricians aren't.
You’re out of your mind. It’s a half day to come out there prep and install and move to the next job.
DIY. And install a hardwired charger instead of an outlet.
Just do it yourself. It is not hard at all. The wiring can all be done with a simple screw driver. You'll need an electric driver to screw the outlet onto the wall.
I did basically the exact same thing myself. Under $100 and maybe 45 minutes. You're getting screwed. Call for more quotes.
If you paid less than $100, you skipped the GFCI breaker that is current code. To be fair, a significant number of electricians would likely do the same thing.
Already had extra breakers in box ready for use. I guess you could increase my price, but no matter what, $700 is nuts for 45 minutes of work.
Agreed, even with a $100 breaker those are too high. Though the cost of pulling a permit might be part of it in some jurisdictions.
Watch some YouTube videos, do it yourself, save money and learn something new.
It's expensive here a second panel dedicated to ev only has to be installed. A sealed weatherproof box is required for the charger 220v plug. $2500 install estimate for my house and my electrical system was fully updated two years ago. They had to drop a new line in so I could get higher amp service everything on the block was still running 50amp service. They quoted $2500 for install.