Buy or DIY?! Electrical Run to "Barn"

[slush]

We recently purchased a new house, which conveniently has a detached garage, which we call the barn since they original owner never ran power to it. It's about 2k sqft of down stairs garage space, and has a smaller upstairs area. I'm looking to get power run out there, I have a pretty straight shot from the service at the house to the barn. It's a 175' run.

The quotes I've been getting seem to be astronomical, The lowest I've received is 6k (highest was 20k WTF) for 100A service, panel and two circuits (down stairs outlets x3, over head outlets x3) And a single upstairs circuit to run power tools I need to use to finish it out.

There is no drywall in yet, upstairs it fully exposed, same with the ceiling down stairs. The downstairs walls are concrete block.

I'm pretty handy, electrical really isn't my thing, but with good planning and following code, it's not brain busting work. I think the trenching will be the biggest pain, but my buddy has a trencher and said he'd have one of his guys come run it for 300.00.

Is this something that is feasible for a DIY'r?

Thanks!

 

[Innovate1]

Sounds absolutely doable given your description and your background. You don't mention where you are. Are you allowed to do it in regard to permits and inspections? I have lived places where nothing was required and places where I could only do branch circuits (after the breaker panels) after taking a test.

Do your planning and you should be able to do that for around $1000 - $1500 is my guess. And it really isn't that hard. Just takes time. Someone to help on the wire pull will be needed or at least I would plan for that if I was doing it.

That's a nice size space for a work area!

 

[ard]

OP- doable.

Someone to help on the wire pull will be needed

Wife.

 

[aka Larry]

Around here the quote doesn't even matter. You can't get anyone to come do the work. My buddy wanted to connect his new shop to the house (approx 30 ft run) and couldn't get anyone to do it. He got quotes for like $2K, and those didn't include the trench. Apparently electricians don't like to dig, and said HE (not them) would need to sub that portion out.

Finally he got fed up, dug the trench, laid the conduit, pulled the wire, and then I helped him connect it to the panel. We did have it inspected, and the inspector said we did a great job.

TL;DR...Do it yourself man.

 

[mike93lx]

Go for DIY. You have a bunch of options that the folks here can help you with.

Will it be inspected?

 

[b-boy]

I'd hire out the trenching. I paid for a trench with conduit, water, and gas.

I pulled the cable myself and did all the connections. It was ~280ft. It was pretty straight forward process.

 

[wes73]

DIY I trenched, laid conduit, pulled water, (2) cat6 and cable, then installed the panel and all the wiring. Had an electrician come out pull the main, hook up both panels and look over everything I did. Saved a ton. Also now I know where everything is and how each circuit is run. If your inspectors are anything like mine was, you will know more than him by the time you are done. If you trench yourself, make sure to rent a trencher on tracks, well worth the extra rental fee.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

$6k for what you are describing is absolutely insulting. $20k is just stupid. I just did exactly what you are describing last summer myself...I'm a high school teacher. Read up on it, asked lost of questions to my electrician friends, had one of them sign off on the permit, and did it myself. I agree...about $1000 maybe? The only part I needed a buddy for was pulling the wire.

Depending on your inspector, he may allow you to dig your trench and lay all the conduit and make your PVC connections and fill the trench back in without him having to see it. Just leave the conduit exposed on both ends so he can see that it's deep as should be....18" to top of conduit here in Mass.

 

[mike93lx]

To the OP, please put your location in your profile. Without knowing where you are, we will be limited on advice or may give you wrong advice.

 

[slush]

Thanks. I'll update my profile. I'm in Bradenton, FL.

 

[slush]

Thank you everyone. I've been hedging on DIY, and having a buddy with a trencher (he's owns a plumbing company), it doesn't make sense to pay the crazy money people want down here. Hell it was 5300 w/o trenching. Absurd.

 

[ard]

Florida?!? You can trench with your kids sandbox shovel, no?

 

[mike93lx]

Florida?!? You can trench with your kids sandbox shovel, no?

No kidding, huh? I can't dig a 2' hole for my mailbox without needing a prybar to get rocks out of the way. I am dreading trenching for power and digging holes for deck footings

 

[PugetDude]

DIY all the way... digging the trench will be the toughest part of the job and you already have that figured out.

I'd drop a second 1" PVC conduit in the trench for cat5 cable- cheap and easy to do while you have the trench open. A water line, too if you're so inclined.
Always a good idea to bury a marker tape above the utilities to prevent problems down the road.
Good luck and be sure to post pics of the progress!

 

[dogdog]

DIY... Ez ... just spend some time planning where you want your electrical fuse box to be, where you are running the wires , how many bends etc, ... .... I did the 200' 1.5" or was that 2" GRC (outdoor portion) and EMT (indoor portion)... 7x 90 sweeps, 2x LB... pretty easy, only took about 3 weekends

 

[u2slow]

Buy some supplies and get the barn juiced up within a day.

Bury the cable in the spring after the snow's gone.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Trenching costs are one thing, the cost of materials is another...have you priced cable (and conduit, if that's what you have planned) for 175 feet at 100 amps? It won't be cheap. the contractors also may be including permit costs, and of course they are going to charge enough to make a profit.

I'm not saying the quotes you got aren't high, but there is probably more to them than you realize.

 

[dogdog]

Buy some supplies and get the barn juiced up within a day.

Bury the cable in the spring after the snow's gone.

what snow ? The OP is Florida

 

[u2slow]

what snow ? The OP is Florida

I skimmed the thread too quickly. His username is "slush" tho...

 

[OneOfEm]

Get busy digging the trench. It will be easier now than in a few months.

I'm in NW FL, and I had a 300' run - half of which I had to do by hand due to obstructions. I did it in June. In full sun.

Yes, sand/clay is easier than rocks. ANY digging in 100 degrees with 98% humidity sticks.

To the bigger question, yes, it can be a DIY job. Mine was my first electrical work, and my inspector complemented me. This place = great information.

 

[slush]

Get busy digging the trench. It will be easier now than in a few months.

I'm in NW FL, and I had a 300' run - half of which I had to do by hand due to obstructions. I did it in June. In full sun.

Yes, sand/clay is easier than rocks. ANY digging in 100 degrees with 98% humidity sticks.

To the bigger question, yes, it can be a DIY job. Mine was my first electrical work, and my inspector complemented me. This place = great information.

It's supposed to cool down this coming week, it's trenching time!

I need to start building out a parts list. Are there any online vendors yall recommend, or should I just hit up granger?

slush (not snow slush, but the kind you buy from a 7-11)

 

[Innovate1]

Not Granger unless it is your only choice - their prices tend to be high. Although sometimes I find decent prices there and they have some stuff that other places don't.

Most of the stuff you can get at big box stores - Lowes, HD, Menards. Wire prices are good at wireandcableyourway.com. For long conduit sweeps and other stuff that other places don't have check your local electrical distributors.

 

[slush]

Not Granger unless it is your only choice - their prices tend to be high. Although sometimes I find decent prices there and they have some stuff that other places don't.

Most of the stuff you can get at big box stores - Lowes, HD, Menards. Wire prices are good at wireandcableyourway.com. For long conduit sweeps and other stuff that other places don't have check your local electrical distributors.

TY

 

[ard]

Agree. Grainger is the last place I buy stuff.

Its for employees at companies where nobody cares about the prices.

If you have a local electrical supply house, great- otherwise HD and lowes

 

[OneOfEm]

There's a local electrical supply house that's DIY friendly and will sell to anyone. Many aren't and won't, though. It may be worth calling around, depending on your overall project size.

Big box stores will have just about anything you'd need, though.

 

[u2slow]

In my area...

- big box stores win on pricing every time.
- can't get everything at a big box store.
- anyone can buy from the electrical wholesaler (unlike plumbing & heating )

 

[theoldwizard1]

The first thing you need to do is figure out just how much power are you going to need in "the barn". Highly unlikely it would be 100A.

Even with a mini-split heat pump, my SWAG is that 60A would be more than adequate, unless you plan on running a couple of welders at the same time with the AC blasting.


The most common mistake is thinking that the size of the "main" in the breaker box install in the garage dictates the size of the wire leading to it ! The main breaker protects the bus bars inside the breaker box and is a convenient/required place to kill power to the rest of the building. Install a 100A breaker box if it is cost effective or has space for the number of circuits you need. It can be feed from a 60A breaker at the house and wire sized for 60A and your length.

 

[joe--h]

The big boxes don't have 20' conduit here, supply houses do and deliver. Although some of them are real AHs if your not an electrician.

Joe H

 

[Theruse]

When I ran power and cable in my trench I tried to keep the two conduits as far apart as possible. I recall (true or not) that the electrical fields can cause interference (noise) on the cable (particularly in parallel runs). I ran the conduit for watier down the middle and separated further by stone/pebbles. No noise issue, but who knows if its due to my installation.

 

[nadogail]

IMHO, if you are humble enough to learn (you demonstrated this by posting here) you can do the work. You might not be as fast as somebody who has years of experience, but if you can read, and watch Utube, you can get it done.

Good Luck, please keep us posted.

 

[dcg9381]

Get busy digging the trench. It will be easier now than in a few months.

Dig? Hell no. Trencher. Once and done. Make sure you don't have anything ot hit.

Quotes here for a 300' run of 200A were around $3k. So adding a panel and two runs, permits, etc - I don't think $6k is that far out of bounds.

 

[Ton ton]

Great thread, slush. Got a similar project going on in the next 2 weeks if everything goes ok.