Providing mains power to a shed

Turbulent Bill

I've a Steeltech shed about 6m from the house, would like to add internal lighting to this. Toying with just using solar rechargeable LEDs, but I'm not convinced they'll be sufficient in the long run. Running mains from the house looks like a better idea, and would also allow for sockets for power tools etc. The shed is 4m*3m and just used for storage now, but will have some gym equipment shortly.

Can anyone give a ballpark figure of what this should cost to get done, and anything I should consider? Well beyond my DIY skills, so would get this professionally done.

JL spark

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

I've a Steeltech shed about 6m from the house, would like to add internal lighting to this. Toying with just using solar rechargeable LEDs, but I'm not convinced they'll be sufficient in the long run. Running mains from the house looks like a better idea, and would also allow for sockets for power tools etc. The shed is 4m*3m and just used for storage now, but will have some gym equipment shortly.

Can anyone give a ballpark figure of what this should cost to get done, and anything I should consider? Well beyond my DIY skills, so would get this professionally done.

To do it properly and depending on mains run from the house , 1500 give or take

Turbulent Bill

Should have mentioned, the shed is well positioned to stick some solar panels on its roof at some stage (probably about 5m^2). Presumably its straightforward to leave some unused cabling back to the house to provision for this?

whizbang

Add the solar panels first.
A decent 12v battery, solar charger and panel, and a heap of 12v lights, should cost you a damn sight less than €1500..

Not sure what kind of power you can get with 5M2, but as you get tuned into what's available, run the power to the house if its worthwhile.

punisher5112

6 meters that couldn't cost that much.

JL spark

punisher5112 wrote: »

6 meters that couldn't cost that much.

To suply all materials, install with proper mechanical protection , test installation, run new mains to house , over heads , vat wages van insurance etc etc
How much do you think then ?

2011

JL spark wrote: »

To do it properly and depending on mains run from the house , 1500 give or take

I will qualify my answer by saying this: I'm off my tools a long time, well over 10 years now. However this sounds about right to me.

I would expect labour to work out at around €50 per hour.

I were doing this:
1) The supply cable would be SWA
2) Steel conduit used within the shed.
3) At least 2 LED corrosion type light fittings within the shed.
4) A sub distribution board within the shed would be best.

I would consider (at extra cost):
1) Outside sensor light over shed door.
2) Outside socket on shed.
3) Extending alarm system to shed. It may be possible to do this wirelessly. I did this so that the shed is on a separate zone with its own code. That way the shed can be armed when the house isn't.

kramer1

If its one of those all metal sheds, would you have to bond it? Run a 10 sq?

punisher5112

If the run was done as in suitable conduit by the home owner would this not help reduce costs?

ESB red conduit.

alan4cult

Sorry to disagree with some posters here but I think €1500 is way above, I would be thinking €1000 maximum but then again I may have not thought of something. I have a 10m SWA run to a shed sub board and a couple of lights and sockets, whole thing cost €700.

JL spark

alan4cult wrote: »

Sorry to disagree with some posters here but I think €1500 is way above, I would be thinking €1000 maximum but then again I may have not thought of something. I have a 10m SWA run to a shed sub board and a couple of lights and sockets, whole thing cost €700.

Are you a RECI , business to run ? The work you got done , any paper work ? Receipt or certificate?

the boss of me

I'm no expert but I kitted out my shed identical size and distance for less than €100. Most expensive part was the armoured cabling. Rest was donated or salvaged. Definitely wouldn't pass any building regs but good enough to run a few lights, radio and the odd light power tool.

JL spark

the boss of me wrote: »

I'm no expert but I kitted out my shed identical size and distance for less than €100. Most expensive part was the armoured cabling. Rest was donated or salvaged. Definitely wouldn't pass any building regs but good enough to run a few lights, radio and the odd light power tool.

Good to hear you have a dangerous installation, did you inform your insurance

sheff the ref

Always price around

There are many options out there.

Just because someone on a forum tries to justify a price you are not comfortable with, does not mean that you cannot get the job done for significantly less online by a suitably qualified and registered person.

runawaybishop

I would JL is pricing it properly, as in all works done by the sparks, signed off properly and vat paid. If you want to cut costs you could chat to your sparks about running cable/conduit yourself. There is a decent bit of work in this either way.

sheff the ref

Someone I know got two prices for a particular last year

€1050 including VAT vs €700 including VAT.

The difference was that the cheaper guy was a one man operation with a 2004 van, the more expensive guy had a 191 van with two paid men.

The more expensive guy said he couldn't justify putting the keys in the ignition for the cheaper price. His final offering was that the job would be done a lot faster.


The moral of the story is that there are external factors that dictate pricing, other than the job itself.

Dunfyy

Dig a ditch run some plastic pipe from house to shed then pull some wires. Then you could hire electrician to install lights and sockets. For 200 euro

Suckit

I'm following this thread because I was delayed with new shed, and I am planning when the weather gets better. But I asked a ballpark figure from an electrician that came to some work in my house. He asked what exactly I wanted, I said a few lights and double sockets, one external socket maybe.
He said between €500 and €700.
When I saw the €1500 I started 2nd guessing him.
But it was only a rough ballpark figure there and then and without any shed etc.

Some very nice videos on youtube about cheap solar installations in sheds.
Some even have inverters to run 220V devices although they'd drain even the strongest of batteries quickly.

alan4cult

JL spark wrote: »

Are you a RECI , business to run ? The work you got done , any paper work ? Receipt or certificate?

Yes I have the paperwork and certificate, also I'm not an RECI hence why I paid for the job.

Do you honestly believe €1500 is a fair price for the OP's work?

Louis Friend

€1,500 does sound a bit punchy

eggy81

Massive profit there in 1500 quid.

sheff the ref

alan4cult wrote: »

Yes I have the paperwork and certificate, also I'm not an RECI hence why I paid for the job.

Do you honestly believe €1500 is a fair price for the OP's work?

A fair price is what the consumer is willing to pay

If Joe Bloggs is quoted €1500 and is willing to pay it, then it is a fair price. If another electrician would have done it for €1000, it is irrelevant

It is up to Joe Bloggs to seek out more quotes. If Joe Bloggs is happy with €1500 then case is closed

punisher5112

By the way I fully appreciate a genuine business has overheads, tax, vat bills etc but honestly it to me sounds s bit overkill ...

There are loads of ways to justify things.
€1500 knocked off a 20 year 3% mortgage is €2731.

How about getting two 12v LED lights running them off your car battery and seeing if you are happy with the light you have in the shed.
If you are happy with it then get a high amperage battery in a scrap yard.
do it incrementally. battery and led lights first, then solar panel, then inverter to run some power tools.

Louis Friend

sheff the ref wrote: »

A fair price is what the consumer is willing to pay

If Joe Bloggs is quoted €1500 and is willing to pay it, then it is a fair price. If another electrician would have done it for €1000, it is irrelevant

It is up to Joe Bloggs to seek out more quotes. If Joe Bloggs is happy with €1500 then case is closed

Eh, no it’s not

Deagol

JL spark wrote: »

To do it properly and depending on mains run from the house , 1500 give or take

Could you give a breakdown of that figure? i.e. How much you estimate for materials and how much time?

JL spark

alan4cult wrote: »

Yes I have the paperwork and certificate, also I'm not an RECI hence why I paid for the job.

Do you honestly believe €1500 is a fair price for the OP's work?

Over the phone without looking , yes ,
Too many busy clowns about

99nsr125

sheff the ref wrote: »

Always price around

There are many options out there.

Just because someone on a forum tries to justify a price you are not comfortable with, does not mean that you cannot get the job done for significantly less online by a suitably qualified and registered person.

Yep

Some electricians are waaayy better than others

There's two electricians local to us, one will charge
€50
for an hour odd job te other will charge
€250

The €50 electrician is significantly better.

2011

Electricians that work for large industrial electrical contractors are practically guaranteed good wages, good working conditions and constant employment. So in order to entice a descent electrician to wire a garden shed they it needs to pay better than the alternative. Otherwise why take the risk of working for yourself?

For those of you that suggest that €1,500 is way off the mark, what is the basis of your pricing?

Regarding materials, I would estimate €500 to cover the following:
• SWA 3 x 6 mm sq. from main distribution board distribution board to shed 10m (to get outside) + 6m to shed + 2m to board in shed
• Small IP rated distribution board + RCBO + 2 MCBs
• Cable glands, screws, busbar, bits and bobs
• Steel conduit and accessories for same
• Sockets metal clad & surface mounted boxes x 2
• IP rated LED lights x 2
• Cabling within shed
• Consumables (such as diamond tipped grinder blade, drill bits)
• Materials for bonding (lugs, cable etc)
• IP rated light switch x 1

The suggest price of €1,500 would include VAT at 13.5%
This means that it is only worth €1,321 to the REC.
Take away the materials and this is €821
At €50 per hour this equates to 16.5 hours work, so 2 days really.

Now €50 per hour may seem like a lot but out of that the following has to be paid:

• The electrician’s hourly rate
• The electrician’s pension payments
• The electrician’s holiday payment
• The electrician’s sick pay
• Accountant
• Insurance
• Van, and all associated costs
• RECI
• Tools and test equipment including wear and tear and all of the stuff that “goes missing”
• Test certificate / test record sheets
• The costs associated with all bad debts – many simply will not pay all or some of the bill just because they know they can get away with it.
• Time associated with pricing the job and time is money!
• Costs associated with purchasing the materials and time lost

So when all is said and done I would consider €1,500 including VAT a fair price to get this work done properly by a professional.

I know that there are easier ways for a descent electrician to make that kind of money.
Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.

JL spark

2011 wrote: »

Electricians that work for large industrial electrical contractors are practically guaranteed good wages, good working conditions and constant employment. So in order to entice a descent electrician to wire a garden shed they it needs to pay better than the alternative. Otherwise why take the risk of working for yourself?

For those of you that suggest that €1,500 is way off the mark, what is the basis of your pricing?

Regarding materials, I would estimate €500 to cover the following:
• SWA 3 x 6 mm sq. from main distribution board distribution board to shed 10m (to get outside) + 6m to shed + 2m to board in shed
• Small IP rated distribution board + RCBO + 2 MCBs
• Cable glands, screws, busbar, bits and bobs
• Steel conduit and accessories for same
• Sockets metal clad & surface mounted boxes x 2
• IP rated LED lights x 2
• Cabling within shed
• Consumables (such as diamond tipped grinder blade, drill bits)
• Materials for bonding (lugs, cable etc)
• IP rated light switch x 1

The suggest price of €1,500 would include VAT at 13.5%
This means that it is only worth €1,321 to the REC.
Take away the materials and this is €821
At €50 per hour this equates to 16.5 hours work, so 2 days really.

Now €50 per hour may seem like a lot but out of that the following has to be paid:

• The electrician’s hourly rate
• The electrician’s pension payments
• The electrician’s holiday payment
• The electrician’s sick pay
• Accountant
• Insurance
• Van, and all associated costs
• RECI
• Tools and test equipment including wear and tear and all of the stuff that “goes missing”
• Test certificate / test record sheets
• The costs associated with all bad debts – many simply will not pay all or some of the bill just because they know they can get away with it.
• Time associated with pricing the job and time is money!
• Costs associated with purchasing the materials and time lost

So when all is said and done I would consider €1,500 including VAT a fair price to get this work done properly by a professional.

I know that there are easier ways for a descent electrician to make that kind of money.
Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.

Thanks for that ,I didn’t have the patience to write that , a lot of hidden factors ðŸ‘