Magnettica

Don't sweat it, I fixed the crooked section at the top.



The infamous "5th jaw" required by Public Service Electric & Gas.



Old Westinghouse 100 MB, not your typical residential service panel. The deceased husband I am told was an engineer.



Ughck! Water damage to the buss and grounding bars.



Square D QO 200 amp MB 40 circuit panel

Magnettica

Finished product.

Kevin J

Looks good, what happened to the gray painted plywood? I thought that looked pretty sharp.

Magnettica

I had some leftover black paint on the truck I wanted to use up.

Kevin J

Good reason.

Black4Truck

Nice job with the service.. good to see you are finding work

Magnettica

I'm finding work but not getting the prices I want. What I mean is, I am making "that number" I need but working a lot more hours to get it. I chalk it up to just starting out and being hungry.

MDShunk

You're not painting your backboards ahead of time?

Curious what you attached it to the foundation with?

__________________
-Marc, ABC, XYZ, PhD, 1-2-3

-Someday, I'll wear pajamas in the day time.

Magnettica

I painted it yesterday it does look shiny though doesn't it? Not sure what the deal was with that. For this service, I just went right over the existing board that was there, strong like a bull.

TOOL_5150

Id like to see a better picture of your temp power setup.

Good looking job BTW.

~Matt

__________________
I would rather beg for forgiveness then beg for permission.

MDShunk

Methinks you used black railing paint. It's normally gloss or semi-gloss. I like to use flat or eggshell sheen.

My cut plan for a full sheet of plywood normally is (3) 24"x48" pieces, (1)24"x30" piece, and (1)24"x18" piece. I just strategically buy the cheap mis-mixed paint as I run across it. Mix a few gallons in a new 5 gallon pail and it normally ends up grey. You'll have paint for the next 5 years or so. My last batch ended up brown, so I've been putting up brown boards for a while.

__________________
-Marc, ABC, XYZ, PhD, 1-2-3

-Someday, I'll wear pajamas in the day time.

Magnettica

I don't have a shop yet.

Typically, I go to the Depot and buy it and paint it the day before.

When I get a shop believe me, I'm gonna have reels and reels of wire and buy stuff in bulk, especially romex when it's cheap.

Magnettica

12/3 SJO cord, meter, (2) 20 amp circuit breakers (lugs are jumpered so only 120 volts to ground is available, (2) quads.

The breakers or outlets really should be GFCI protected.

oldman

unless you are doing lots of resi new construction, it's not worth it...for service work, your price can easily flucuate to cover any cost increases...so why tie up capital?

Magnettica

Because I worked for a company (mostly service) that did that and the owner was quite wealthy. Buy low, sell high. We did mostly service and tons and tons of A/C split systems.

TOOL_5150

does the meter actually spin with 120v through it? I thought they do not.

~Matt

__________________
I would rather beg for forgiveness then beg for permission.

MDShunk

I've observed the largest EC in my part of the state at Lowe's from time to time loading up pallets and pallets of THHN and MC cable on their stake body. Must be a reason. My total material order will always be cheaper at the supply house than Lowe's or Home Depot. If I wanted to run two places, I could probably save a few dollars, but I just don't have it in me. At least the supply house won't give me broken THHN reels or a pallet of romex that's been speared in the middle with a forklift.

__________________
-Marc, ABC, XYZ, PhD, 1-2-3

-Someday, I'll wear pajamas in the day time.

oldman

ok....lets say you bought 10,000 feet of 14/2 romex at $20/250 ft....or $80/1000...you tie up $800,000?

if you use the romex fast enough, the price won't go up before you use it...if you don't use it fast enough, that's a lot of money to be sitting on the shelves...

if you do new construction, on fixed price contracts....go for it...if you are doing small service jobs, why bother?

MDShunk

In my case, I stock up simply so that I don't have to deal with fetching material nearly so often. Lets me concentrate on other things. I'm not buying 800 grand worth of romex, but I might get a few pallets at a go if it's a good deal. I usually don't stock more than I used last year, in total. For instance, if I'm running low on 2-1/8" deep handy boxes, I might buy 6 or 8 cases. I know I'll use them in a year. QuickBooks is pretty slick, in that I can look that sort of stuff up pretty quickly. I actually don't care that I have that money tied up, because having the inventory all situated is a stress reliever for me. You can't really put a price on that. In some situations, I'm forced to stock things. When I use a sufficient amount of a certain special order item, I feel compelled to stock it. Matter of fact, if I want to continue using it, I almost must stock it.

__________________
-Marc, ABC, XYZ, PhD, 1-2-3

-Someday, I'll wear pajamas in the day time.

480sparky

I can't see being a one-man shop and sinking thousands into just wire. Have enough on hand to handle service calls, the rewires/updates/additions you know are coming. But beyond that, it's not worth spending the money. I doubt I have more than 500' of NM between my garage and van right now.

ANYTHING you buy and don't use right away costs money. Not only to buy, but to have a place to store it.

If you sign a contract to wire a new house, use the deposit to purchase the copper & steel for the job. Then if the price goes up, you're covered.

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All responses based on the 2008 National Rat Code.