what can you write in your bid to cover yourself if you happen to hit something like exisitng underground electrical feeders and circuits and you need to cover cost? While trenching for partial store remodel we have hit several underground wiring store circuits on a couple of similar jobs. We have no idea they are there and they are group together in one area that you cant avoid hitting any of them
upcharge or no up charge
- Thread starter mannyb
- Start date
- Status
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
Cutting the slab? We have the area we are cutting scanned and marked by a company that specializes in it. Build that cost into your price.
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Call a locating service, so they bear the cost if they mess up.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
They will only locate utilities, not private customer owned lines. OP appears to be talking about lines inside building.
Fred B
Senior Member
- Location
- Upstate, NY
- Occupation
- Electrician
Here 811 only locates utility but a private locator will trace customer owned electrical, water, sewer and gas. Not cheap though, but tracing equipment isn't either.
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
The boring contractors here have Vacs. Have them expose each item. Build it in to pricing.
jaylectricity
Senior Member
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Occupation
- licensed journeyman electrician
Boring? I find them fascinating.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
To be more specific they have a high pressure water hose to blast hole in the dirt and a vac to suck the dirt and water up about as quickly as they displace it. talking about a big vac with a tanker truck to collect what they suck up, not a little shop vac. They expose the buried utility so they can see exactly where it is. Often is a utility already marked by the 811 service, but that service only is required to be accurate within about a foot maybe 18" and most won't tell you an exact depth. some won't even tell you an estimated depth, because if they do they sort of have to stand behind whatever they said. Had a phone company locator one time say he can't tell me how deep it is but he can let me look at the display on his locator.
brantmacga
Señor Member
- Location
- Georgia
- Occupation
- Former Child
So this is something I run into on a regular basis, but I’m doing the same store repeatedly so I know what’s likely to be there.
The first few times we T&M’d the repair, but the GC’s told us to start including a flat fee in the contract based on our average repair cost, which is what we do now.
Some stores take a little more, some take no repair at all. It all averages out in the end, honestly more in our favor, but it eliminates the change order requests.
If this is your situation, then you could certainly discuss a similar proposition with your customer.
In my situation when something is hit, it’s usually conduits going out for a few receptacles and maybe site lighting and road signage. And the damage is always caused by plumbers reconfiguring bathrooms and kitchen hand wash sinks.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The first few times we T&M’d the repair, but the GC’s told us to start including a flat fee in the contract based on our average repair cost, which is what we do now.
Some stores take a little more, some take no repair at all. It all averages out in the end, honestly more in our favor, but it eliminates the change order requests.
If this is your situation, then you could certainly discuss a similar proposition with your customer.
In my situation when something is hit, it’s usually conduits going out for a few receptacles and maybe site lighting and road signage. And the damage is always caused by plumbers reconfiguring bathrooms and kitchen hand wash sinks.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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