So guys, what do you think? Are wire prices still climbing or have they leveled out?
I've got some really big jobs coming up where wires price could be a significant factor. Been debating stocking up on wire for these and storing it to try and save the client a couple bucks. They'll make a progressive payment to cover it if I tell them its a good idea to get it now and store it.
I would think a copper futures trader would know the answer better than anyone here. If you have any heavy hitters like that as customers perhaps you could get them to comment (and join the fray in the world of commodities speculators). Seems like all the activity in New Orleans had an impact on wire pricing and it's cooling off. However that is only one variable out of many. If you find out the answer maybe you could share it. I suspect many posters here are in the same position you describe yourself in with wire and future jobs.
It's nice of you to try and save your customers some money but .............
What ever the price is ...... it is.
Why lose money just because no one can predict radical changes in the cost of wire? Even if you anticipate it by buying now and storing it, you should be compensated for that investment too, so ...... what's the difference? And even further, what if the price drops between now and then? Actually the better thing to do, I would think, is, on your large jobs, price it at todays prices and put a provision in your estimates that would allow your price to fluctuate with the price of wire at the time the job commences.
Well, we aren't talking about just a couple miles of wire like most jobs.
Hey Bob, you aren't actually wiring each of your jobs directly back to the central station ...... are you?
Now lookit ..... you're actually supposed to use the local TELEPHONE service to do that. Dint anyone ever splain that to you? :-)
LOL. Actually if you went back and added it up I bet you would find that several of your bigger jobs have a couple miles of wire in them. My first one like that was a network cabling job with 200 hundred drops about ten years ago. No run more than a couple hundred feet, but it adds up quick. We used a little under 4 miles of cat 5 cable on that one building.
Actually when I think about it some of the fire alarm systems I worked on before I used more wire than that, and of course I have done buried plant before too.
The job in particular I am thinking of has a couple miles of buried plant, and a ton of access and video as well as burg, phone, network, etc etfc
I don't do large commercial anymore but I can't imagine how many miles of wire I've installed through the years. The latest resi job of any size had, I'd guess, about 2 miles total. 72 windows, 10 doors, audio glass in every room, plus whole house audio,surround sound two locations, video, network, telephone.
In the past, I would not even consider the cost of wire but lately on bigger jobs, I add 2/3 hundred for wire and also for fuel, if there's any amount of travel. I add it to a line item labeled " wire, hardware, misc parts and material $+++.++ which can always be explained away if questioned about details. Clamps, screws, connectors, tape, tiewraps, stapels, pre construction brackets, foam sealent, wire, junction boxes, coffee and snacks, lunch, bribes to officals etc.
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