My cost estimate was way off

[ticklechicken]

I finished my electrical plan and parts ordering for the 1,080 sf shop I'm building. Damn, that was expensive. Admittedly, I spent more than I needed to on several items. My research got away from me a little bit, but I'm happy with the final plan. I didn't realize that receptacles came in residential, commercial, and industrial. Once you know, you gotta get the good stuff, right? I didn't realize that all the nice box covers looked so good. I didn't realize that I could Wago everything and avoid wire nuts (which I **** at installing). On top of all this, I went overkill on the number of outlets and amperage.

To help others with their planning, here's my rough breakdown from memory:
$500 - parts to get power to the shop (meter box, inside breaker box, conduit, wire, fittings..)
$700 - power company fee to hook me up to the pole (I had run wire to the base of the pole)
$1200 - all the small parts for my interior wiring (boxes, covers, wagos, EMT connectors, receptacles)
$1100 - home depot (conduit, wire, and a few breakers and receptacles, )
$1000 - LED's for inside and out

That's $4,500 of stuff that I can remember. I'll have some new tools and lots of extra wire afterwards, but that probably amounts to $400 or so. I could probably have saved up to $1,500 if I had went with the lowest quality components and reduced the number of lights/receptacles/amps. Subtracting the $400 in extras and $1,500 in upgrades puts me at $2,600. I may have forgot a few things, and I'm still not done.

The minimum cost of $2,600 was way over my estimate. $4,500 destroyed it.

 

[Richard Cranium]

So what had you thought you could do it for?
When I built my house, my cost was only about 1000.00 over my guessament.

 

[6768rogues]

Our power company still hooks it up for free but we have to run it to the pole and leave enough wire to go up the pole. They used to also drop off a meter box, but that fell by the wayside a few years back. Mine is overhead from early in the 1980s and back then they ran their wire to a weatherhead I installed on the house.

 

[Gmonkee]

You will never regret too many outlets, good lighting and good quality parts.

Relax, that is a good use of the money.

 

[ticklechicken]

So what had you thought you could do it for?
When I built my house, my cost was only about 1000.00 over my guessament.

I just got home and checked. I was at $2500. I guess my $2600 wasn't that far off, although that's a pretty aggressive estimate at the lowest possible cost. I would say $3,000-$3,500 is a good estimate for this shop if you're trying to be as low cost as possible.

You will never regret too many outlets, good lighting and good quality parts.

Relax, that is a good use of the money.

I'm happy with the end product, so the money doesn't bother me. My post was to help others in their planning. This is my first shop build, so I had no idea what the electric would cost. I'm sure others are in the same boat.

My $4,500 (and probably growing) number was only for the building interior and exterior. While I was at it and had rented a trencher, I did more electrical around the house. That was at least another $500. I added a 50 amp for the camper, ran some lines to the sheds, ran a 50 amp to the pool deck for a future hot tub, and ran a 150' line to the backyard near the r/c track for charging. That extra stuff wasn't part of my original plan, but that's how projects go. You need to budget for that too. And this reminds me - I forgot to add the $300 trencher rental. Now I'm at $5,300 and counting.

 

[SiGmA_X]

That price doesn't seem too insane. Plus you won't have to do it twice, and I'm sure you'll thank yourself in the future.

I don't mind regular wire nuts - I have a bit of experience with them, for being a youngish DIYer - but those Wago's look pretty cool and don't cost much more than normal wire nuts. Thanks for informing me of what they are!

 

[Marctrees]

Wago's ?

Millions of installations residential, commercial, industrial are functioning with plain old wire nuts.

Marc

 

[ard]

Wago's ?

Millions of installations residential, commercial, industrial are functioning with plain old wire nuts.

Marc

True, but you DO need to admire the overkill.

 

[SiGmA_X]

Wago's ?

Millions of installations residential, commercial, industrial are functioning with plain old wire nuts.

Marc

This, apparently: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017NQWGDC/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I had never seen them before. Normal wire nuts are pretty straight forward, but those gizmos are pretty slick if you don't like wire nuts.

 

[ard]

This, apparently: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017NQWGDC/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I had never seen them before. Normal wire nuts are pretty straight forward, but those gizmos are pretty slick if you don't like wire nuts.

I am pretty sure Marc knew what they were, he was questioning their use.

I use these for active devices- controllers, x10, zwave, etc. Helps if things need to be replaced, and I find they take a bit less space in the box as the bundle of wires is not twisted together

They are sweet, but at 25 cents per....

 

[Gmonkee]

I am soon to be wiring a new addition to our home. No calculating at all. Wire in three colors, plastic tubing, boxes, outlets, switches and plates even before we get to the lights. I am just picking up what I can when I can and it costs whatever it costs. It will be done right the first time. No options on that.

The walls are not up yet and most of the bits are here now. If the day I start working it will be possible to lay it all out and just go without any emergency parts runs I win.

 

[sberry]

I have 6K sq ft and did it with 5 panels for 3 or so.

 

[prostreetamx]

I had lots of leftovers from my days of wiring tract houses so all I had to buy for my new 1200 sq. ft. garage was the feeder wire and a spool of 6/3 for a RV plug and some spare 50a plugs. I used 20a receptacles after the GFCI's since I had them. Personally I don't understand how Wago's are legal since you can't stab any connection on a device over 15a. The holes in the back of a 15a receptacle will only accept #14 wire. You have just moved the 20a pass through connection to a stab in connection. When I did houses we purchased up all the remaining stock in town of the #12 backstabbed receptacles before they quit stocking them. When doing piecework you didn't want to take the extra time to wrap the screws. My personal house does not use backstabbed plugs.

 

[justsam]

The maximum wire size in AWG on the Wago is 12 ga., which per NEC would limit to 20 Amp. The internal structure of them is rated for 30 Amp. They are not just a stab type connection as there is a clamping lever.

 

[ticklechicken]

I'm using the clamping style connectors for all my 12awg and the push-in style for my 10awg wire. Both of these work with solid and stranded conductors.

Total cost to me was about $50 more than wire nuts. I'm getting better at installing wire nuts, but I'm not at 100% success yet. I'm happy to spend the money to save time and avoid problems.