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Price of electrical wire!!

neacpaneacpa Member Posts: 2,711 ✭✭✭
edited May 2006 in General Discussion
I got a huge surprise when I went to buy a 250' roll of 12/2 wire for some wiring I wanted to do in my shed. $102 for the roll. Last year when we added on the game room, it was $39. I thought surely not, and called around to a couple of other stores. Anywhere from $102 to $118. An electrician friend of mine told me they were being told to expect it to go to $550 to $600 for a 1,000 ft roll before long. He also told me he was paying a little over $2.00 per ft of 3/4" copper tubing where he was paying less than 70 cents a few months ago. And sheetmetal prices for the plentums (spelling ?) is going sky high.

250% increase in less than a year. I know plywood and sheetrock is about 10% higher than last year, but 250%??? That blows the fuel prices increase all to heck. Contractors who bid jobs a couple of months ago are either going to have to be able to renegotiate or eat quite a bit of costs.

Are these costs increasing like that in other areas of the US?
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Comments

  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    I have a clause in my contracts for this. Construction costs are going through the roof...and it's not the contractors fault either. I'm afraid we are going to price ourselves into a recession.
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  • garanchgaranch Member Posts: 3,681 ✭
    edited November -1
    Yes. anything metal has skyrocketed.

    Try pricing 2 3/8" structural tubing these days.
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  • gagirlgagirl Member Posts: 5,408
    edited November -1
    Copper has really gone up but Alum has not gone as high and from what I hear some areas are looking into changing back to Alum due to the cost of copper.
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  • abcguns2abcguns2 Member Posts: 2,320 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    O.K. , it is a scam like all oter 'supplies' that you may buy ! whaen we reopened the shop this last year , we went to the local hardware store and picked up a roll of 10/3 w-ground , price on the box was apx. 69.95 , took it up to the cash register , the old geezer says ,I have to look up the price ? and stated , its 109.95 , I said Hell No !
    the price on the box is 69.95 , and he stated "the price of coppper changes every day & we charge accordingly" ...I responded with "why in the hell is there a price on the box?" and this is a scam !!!!
    we left and went to the local Lowes Lumber and bought it (wire)for apx. $75.00 ......
    Thanks !!!
    d.a.stearns
    Gunsmith / LEO
    Niota , Tn
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  • hughbetchahughbetcha Member Posts: 7,801 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I interviewed the owner of an electrical contracting company the other day. he said they have to keep copper wire locked in a vault, that on some construction sites wire was being pulled from the walls by thieves the same day it was put in. The guy told me it is hard to figure costs for bids on jobs several months out.
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  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by abcguns2
    O.K. , it is a scam like all oter 'supplies' that you may buy ! whaen we reopened the shop this last year , we went to the local hardware store and picked up a roll of 10/3 w-ground , price on the box was apx. 69.95 , took it up to the cash register , the old geezer says ,I have to look up the price ? and stated , its 109.95 , I said Hell No !
    the price on the box is 69.95 , and he stated "the price of coppper changes every day & we charge accordingly" ...I responded with "why in the hell is there a price on the box?" and this is a scam !!!!
    we left and went to the local Lowes Lumber and bought it (wire)for apx. $75.00 ......
    Thanks !!!
    d.a.stearns
    Gunsmith / LEO
    Niota , Tn


    You could have held him to the advertised price by federal law.
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  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by hughbetcha
    I interviewed the owner of an electrical contracting company the other day. he said they have to keep copper wire locked in a vault, that on some construction sites wire was being pulled from the walls by thieves the same day it was put in. The guy told me it is hard to figure costs for bids on jobs several months out.


    Contractors should have a "Market Conditions" clause in their contracts. I've screwed myself in the past by not doing this...not anymore...
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  • richbugrichbug Member Posts: 3,650
    edited November -1
    They are paying $2 a pound for scrap copper locally. a roll of 12-2 weighs what about #35, so $70 for the cost of copper alone.
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  • texshootertexshooter Member Posts: 1,002 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    As some of you know, I work for a utility company. We bought, by bid, 5000 lbs. #6 soft drawn bare copper 3 months ago at $2.69 lb.

    Today it will around $4.50lb. It is locked in secure area.

    Around here the dopeheads are stealing anything with copper or aluminum, even a/c units from houses.
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  • CaptplaidCaptplaid Member Posts: 20,298 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    You have me curious. About 4 months ago I paid around $40 for one roll at Farm & Fleet. I thought it was still about that price. I need another roll but I have been putting it off. I guess I better check it out again, but I bet it is still in that price range in Illinois.
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  • SperrySperry Member Posts: 5,006 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    On the current [large] job I'm doing, given the start-stop nature of the work [as I knew it would be from experience], I told tghe guy I'd do it for time and material.

    Sure enough, the job was stopped for six weeks, while he caught up to me. Cast iron can go crazy in six weeks. 20%-40% difference in quotes in a couple of months.
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  • abcguns2abcguns2 Member Posts: 2,320 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Federal price law ??? sure , Im going to stand and argue with some * and tell him Im going to have him charged by federal law because of a price ??? RIGHT ! , Ive got better things to do , I dealt with it in a better way (4 me), I walked out , spent money else-where and tell people about when given the chance , hence , costing Him (the business) MONEY !!!! thats the bottom line for him being an idiot !
    And by the way , If we even tried (and would not even THINK of it) to pull this poop in our shop , "Oh by the way the marked price is wrong , Ive got to look it up" , we would be out of business before we knew it !!! Customer Service ! our first priority , and then we try and mke a certian amount of $ (a small amount compared to the 'big' shops)...Some dealers just dont get this concept .........
    Thanks !!!
    d.a.stearns
    Gunsmith / LEO
    Niota , Tn
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  • wanted manwanted man Member Posts: 3,276
    edited November -1
    As an aside, a couple of months ago a Kohler Co. trailer was stolen from a local trucking yard while waiting for the driver (or something).When the trailer was recovered, what do you think was gone? All the HIGH DOLLAR sinks, lavatories and bathtubs? NAH! The azzhats stole all the brass and copper they could TEAR out of the pieces (along with a FEW toilets and lavs!) *LOL* I didn't realize prices were getting THAT bad!
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  • EVILDR235EVILDR235 Member Posts: 4,398 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    My wife works for a rental car company at the Portland,Ore airport.Customers are always giving her free stuff when they are returning their rental cars.Two weeks ago one guy gave her a box of 100 feet of Romex type NM-B 14/2 indoor wire with ground.
    xxxxxxxx
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  • mrseatlemrseatle Member Posts: 15,467 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It's interesting to note that a scrap metal yard is one of the Top TV advertizers around here. Economy Indicator?
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  • Slow_HandSlow_Hand Member Posts: 2,835
    edited November -1
    In Arizona, the price of your more basic lumber jumps around a lot. 1x2, 2x3, 2x4 go up and down.

    Ironically, the difference in price between regular knotted shelving quality pine boards and premium straight white pine boards is not that big!

    Plywood is priced pretty high, except for exterior sheathing. MDF is not cheap either.

    Stuff like anchors, screws, nails, etc. are stable and electrical supplies are reasonable.

    No really cheap paints or primers except for the goofs.

    I find that the little insignificant stuff needed to finish a job is generally overpriced.
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  • zipperzapzipperzap Member Posts: 25,057
    edited November -1
    ... a LOT of building supplies have been headed
    down to the Gulf Coast - simple concept - supply
    and demand.

    Another hurricane season like the last couple and
    there won't BE any more building supplies on the
    market in this country - at least, none affordable![:D]
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  • bama55bama55 Member Posts: 6,389 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:a 250' roll of 12/2 wire

    Outdoor wire is $124 at Home Depot[:(!]
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  • matwormatwor Member Posts: 20,594
    edited November -1
    Here in SW MO 12/2 w/g is already 550.00-600.00/1000. I bought a roll, 250' about 2-3 weeks ago for a project at home....50.00. Then just a week ago on a Thursday it was 92.00, the very next day on Friday it was 115.00.

    A Senator wire salesman I talked to at one of our wholesalers told me it was due to a shortage of copper overseas, and a mexican copper mine where the workers were on strike. He went on to say that in Kansas City Mo they have multi-million dollar jobs going that were bid a coupla years ago, now it is to the point in the job to buy wire and if the electrical contractor buys the wire at todays prices it will bankrupt him. The jobs are just sitting, waiting till they figure out what they are going to do.

    Scrap #1..........2.30/lb.
    Scrap #2..........2.10/lb.
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