Running Nearly 1/2 mile of Underground Electric, Costs over $64,000??!?!
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On the next episode, Matt builds a small nuclear reactor instead of dealing with the local power company haha.
or buys used one and some oil change, fast paintjob .. :)
Don't give him Ideas !!!!
Not as hard as you think. Just buy a few thousand old smoke detectors. A Boy Scout did it in the 70s?
The nuclear reactor that he found in the inoperable section at the Ritchie brothers auction.
"you wont believe the deal i scored at the govplanet auction!"
I brought in 3phase power to my place about 6 years ago. It was for a 9600sq.ft shop and a future residence. The electric rep. told me that if it were for a residence rather than a shop, a lot of the costs I would not have to pay for, but for business service, I had to cover 100% of the costs myself. We planned to build a large house out there also about a year after the shop, but by then I would have already paid for everything except the 1 transformer for the house. What I did after talking with the power company rep was to build a 6 car garage with living quarters on top of it. By doing that the power company only charged me for the one extra wire for the 3 phase, and both of the transformers for my shop, everything else after working with the rep, they covered. Still cost me $28,000.00 but would have been almost $70,000.00 had I not built the garage-house first since they considered it to be 100% commercial had I built the shop first.
Also, for the shop they totaled all the electric for the first year of use then for the next 5 years years, at the end of each year they rebated me 30% of the total first year billing for the shop. Unfortunately the first year usage of the shop was not a very big bill because I was moving all the equipment from my old shop and getting the new shop set up for use. In total over a 5 year period I got a rebate of about $1400.00 per year with a total of slightly over $7000.00 for the full 5 years. Had the shop been in full operation that first year I could have easily gotten over 50% of shop installation costs.
Although cramped, by building the garage-apartment , it gave us a convenient place to live, while building our house. The house we sold, sold within 1 month of listing it, so the apartment was a great place to move into.
When dealing with your county for permits, if you were to do the garage-apt. thing, NEVER, EVER say the word apartment when dealing with the building dept. for permits etc. Call it finished storage space or house, ( you can call it an inlaw suite but if you do there is a long list of requirements you will have to meet, and will cost you more money to build.) I stuck with conditioned, finished storage space on drawing and permits and that worked for me with no problems, just don't name rooms , bedrooms, kitchen etc. or there are much more requirements.
If your area allows agricultural buildings, rename your shop as that, taxes will be lower and there can be other rewards depending on where you live. That's what my shop was called on all permits was an Ag. building, like you, I had lots of land so it met all necessary requirements as an Ag.
Sorry to write so much, thought some of this might help you,since I already went through it all, for my state of VA I learned a lot of what and what not to do.
What great advice for Matt !! I'm sure if he is able to follow along, he should be able to enjoy some substantial savings !! It never ceases to amaze me how this "governmental" baloney can sometimes make or break the average citizen !! It was plain to see how all the "hoops" that Matt is/was required to endure from the authorities, had somewhat of an emotional toll on the poor man !! My prayer is that you find a way around this ridiculous fee !!
How about putting a trailer ( mobile home ) ?
Awesome advice!
GOLD.
Hey Matt... did you read this one... you really should
As an electrician this is a hell of a lot work for one person. Hats off to you
Exactly!!. Also i dont see the need for all that conduit for utility cables.. 🤷🏻♂️
@@MrBill3288maybe not immediately, but direct burial hasnt been a thing in my area for ages, and ive replaced plenty of direct burial service lines that have deteriorated over time and caused issues. Its not great long term if you want your stuff to work a decade or more from now. The cost of conduit is mall compared to the cost of redoing it in a decade.
Also most places literally wont let you. Weve known better for a long time.
@@MrBill3288has many purposes
@@goosenotmaverick1156 yep in conduit makes repairs and upgrades easier especially if you used conduit 2 or 3 sizes bigger than you need and big radius bends. we did that at my parents and when we upgraded to 3 phase power they simply used our existing cable to pull the trace wire and then bundled the new line with the existing and dragged it back through. saved labour versus trenching new conduit.
@@chrisforgan731 ive done that before in commercial spaces to convert from single to 3 phase service. 4" conduit, something near 500' run. The cost savings on materials was astronomical, as well as the fact that it would not have been possible for us to dig anything new, as it was under a large building as well as parking lot, landscaping, etc, of a mixed use comercial/residential mixed use building.
Also I live in the Ozarks, our rocks laugh at trenchers. I was digging yesterday and found more than one 100+ pound rocks in my trench. A couple larger than the bucket by a long shot. I wish we could legit use a trencher. 😂
Here in the UK I got a quote for connecting my house to the Power Grid.
It was £84,000 ($105,100)!
The nearest power pole was 250 ft away but apparently the extra 100 Amps for our supply would push the system to breaking point so the whole local connection would have to change from overhead to underground back to the substation 2200 ft away.
10 years on we still use a 6KVA diesel generator!
Matt, between you and the power company, something was lost in translation. Hire an electrical contractor to pull the wire and set the transformer. Power company only has to connect you at the pole. There should be NO charge for that as hooking up to power is part of theirs tariff. And BTW... THAT was one hell of a job. You rock, brother!!
Matt, speaking as an retired electrician I think you should look into this approach.
you should really look into each and every states laws some places you have to pay for every pole to your place you need.
Yep that sounds about right. At least in my country thats how it works. You pay the power company to connect it at the powersource, not on your property. The work on your property you can do yourself or hire certified help for. Love your channel and awesome job laying the conduit. Thumbs up from Sweden
Good advice
52,000 would seem more reasonable if they were doing ALL the work that you already did PLUS installing the wire. I'm glad you're fighting the cost.
After watching this, I realize how much better equipped you are than the small public works I'm employed with...
Damned hard work so far. Now need a power cable pulling thru.. Best of luck
@@gags730.. you know whats worse than that... legally most state equipment has to be offered for free to local municipalities.. but they never go out and get it.. too much effort.. so your local taxes pay for equipment that they probably could have got used.. maybe not in the best condition but you never know maybe in pretty good condition.. also volunteer firehouses can get free state equipment .. its a good deal that they pass up because either they are clueless or don't realize taxes pay for everything they have.
Depending on the amount of property you have and the desire to construct a required number of residential properties to be served by your project "may" have produced a cost benefit even a profit.
@@BRI33NOR He also does more work than most municipalities. And he is just one man.
He's sure got just about any tool and piece of equipment a guy would need to do most any job.
I'm in a similar boat with 1/2 mile between my shop project and utilities. Huge install costs, plus monthly bill is why I opted to go massive with off-grid solar and a back up generator. Will cost about the same to install, maybe a hair less but never have an electric bill that only goes up.
I commend you for the undertaking! Especially since you had to get to a pole on the neighbors property, not on or at a right away.
Definitely a crazy huge project!
Yeah even going with just a large battery bank charged by his generator would be a faction of the install and ongoing costs.
Having grid power is nice but unless the power company can do it for a reasonable price then off grid Solar + battery + generator might be a better option.
This is the right move for more people every day. Especially considering that power bill is going to keep going up.
@@SetitesTechAdventures country needs a big push towards a "personal independence" again. confidence and comfort come in not worrying about where food, power, heat and shelter come from. Not there yet on my own project and life, but getting closer every trip to my project.
I've been offgrid since 2016 totally worth it
$52,000 should have paid for THEM doing the whole job; parts and labour.
Marc you must know what the Urd and splices and transformer cost eh?
@@randyturnquist1254any transformer is pretty much unobtainable right now
While I am very aware of the amount of labor and effort involved in layout, survey, removing trees, prep for a dig, trenching, gluing and placing your conduit, making road crossings, half back filling, placing caution tape, finishing the back fill and dressing the dig, I find it even more amazing and impressive that you are able to additionally and simultaneously set up shots on the run, have the presence of mind and creativity to record and produce a professional and enjoyable video that has enough continuity that your viewing public can enjoy ALL while dealing with the personal frustration of dealing with an unreasonable Electrical Power Distributor. Kudos Matt, our hats, hard, welding and otherwise are off to you!
Hear hear. I could not agree more.
Indeed, well said !
Here here !!! Well said !!
Great work around Matt!!!👌👍
My favorite part of this video is seeing the raw takes the double or triple takes of Matt trying to speak his mind. shows how much extra work goes into youtube on top of all the hard work in building his dreams. Keep going my friend I truly love your content
Glad you enjoyed it! I was falling asleep trying to edit this. Lots of long days and nights trying to catch up after this project so I missed a few things
I like seeing those too it's nice to see someone not afraid to show their slip-ups and being tongue tied we all do it.
I was thinking the same thing. I started my channel this year and do the same pause between takes. It makes me feel better seeing a larger, more experience youtuber go through the same thing.
I agree, I love this about him.. No weird jump cuts and no stupid "uhhh, ummm uh.." He just simply stops talking and starts fresh like a proper live radio and/or TV host does.
I was thinking the same thing...
I was a lineman for years and done hundreds of new line installs, the electric co-op I worked for the first 300 feet was free and anything over that was $1.50 a foot and the co-op supplied the wire and conduit. It was the landowners responsibility to have the right of way cleared and the ditches dug. I retired in 2007 so I'm sure the prices have increased but $52,000 sounds waaaay too high!
from 2007 to 2023 prices have increased so high ....you should know that as a lineman...past 2 years alone it's probably increased 2 fold.
You should add an expansion fitting between the ground and meter base. This will prevent and damage from settling of the foundation and ground swell. Hope you got all the stones out of there. Thats a hell of a pull.
I was thing the same thing .
Matt, I work in the utility sector, and those costs are ridiculous. I am in the midwest, so market rates may be Vastly different, but that seems like they are quoting you to open the trench and lay in the duct as well. If they wont come down on the price, it may be worth seeing if you can have a third party contractor come in and pull the primary.
I'm in the UK and retired a few years back, I'm a Mech Eng and used to supervise capital building projects from bare ground to completion. We would rarely use Utility companies for such works, simple reason, stupid costs. We would almost always use contractors.
Are you kidding ? 1/2 mile conuent 4 strans of 1/2" copper wire thats the $64'000 there .
Matt plum crazy do what the comment section is saying hire a contractor thay need to make a living and won't bind you over like that. It's going to cost but at least you won't feel the pain from a good screwing.
@@charlesyates6687I think you’re right, people don’t realize how copper and other minerals have skyrocketed since the last 10 years with an acceleration caused by armed conflicts in the same area those ore are mined
@@charlesyates6687 he' s getting the transformer installed right next to the workshop, so the main line getting up to that point is high voltage thin wire, as he said, around 10k, probably aluminium instead of copper
Little helpful tip with running pull cord through all that conduit. (I do it all the time where I work.) Cut the top off a coke bottle or a find a cup that fits loosely in the conduit(we usually use a 30oz Gatorade bottle but thats for 4"). Place string through cap of bottle and place in conduit with lid pointed into conduit so open cut off end of bottle will trap air making a seal. Then use a cordless leaf blower to blow string and bottle through conduit. Works way better than a shop vac. Also you might need to use a lighter pull cord for those longer runs. Big box store sell klien brand pull string but honestly we have started using poly baler twine. Its the same stuff. And then use that to pull the mule tape.
Also my boss was able to work a deal when he built a house along way off the road and he bought the wire and pulled it all and saved a lot of money from what they originally quoted but he has contacts since we work with the field guys and he knew the right ppl to talk to but might be worth a offer. Good luck! Hope that helps.
Damn, that's sounds very smart and effective (no sarcasm). Kudos!
I work for a company that builds electrical connections in Windmills.
When we need to pull Kable thru a pipe we use a big compressor to blow a smal Steel winchcable thru the pipe.
We putt lubricant in the pipe and have a foam ball with a ring on it that fits snug in the pipe.
The wirecable goes on the ball and at the end of tehe pipe we put a big rubber seal with a smal opening fore the wire and a conection for the compressorhose.
Putt airpressure to it and away she goes😂
Works a charm😊
I'm very fortunate where I live. The Electric co-op charges $11/ft for overhead and $21/ft for underground. As well as a credit depending on what kind of building you have $2500 for a house. They had to go about 500' for ours. We decided to go overhead so they did everything to the line side of the meter socket for $3000 out of pocket.
You truly are a motivation to watch, Matt. Seeing you just get after everything like its nothing, no matter the size of the job, really makes a guy happy.
49:41 they charge that much because they don't want to do it. If they laid the line they're responsible for it. They just don't care about one house. They care about a giant factory that uses $50k a month in power.
At the end of the day, they're (unfortunately) a business out to make a profit. They don't want the responsibility and they do have to be able to cover their costs - for this installation and untold thousands of other low-margin ones.
@@Monkeh616hotrod is right here, this isn't about turning a profit. They're basically telling Matt to go f--- himself with that price. Like he said, the cable isn't that expensive and, speaking from experience, I can't imagine it taking more than a few days with a few guys to pull in that much cable, especially if they use a machine to do it which they'd be idiots not to do. Unless there's a colossal cost for the wire tap itself, then they're absolutely price gouging because they're not interested unless they can make a ludicrous profit.
I've seen it before with other people in my dad's line of work. He used to refit bathrooms for disabled people, and you'd see other guys quoting 25 to 30 grand Australian to refit one room because they didn't want the job.
yup.. same thing in my industry , hvac .. unfortunately most home owners are not smart enough to get a FREE second estimate.. 🤷♂️
@@SeizureSpecialist In other words, it is about making a profit. They don't want to take on the financial responsibility of maintaining it because it's a low margin installation which won't benefit them. We're not disagreeing, here.
Yep, I call that the "Go Away Number"
Matt, I spent most of my 45 year career working in the utility industry.
I can tell you that nothing is ever done cheaply. I’m sure that 54K includes engineering costs, legal costs, and probably a lot of the work you’ve already done. Also, medium voltage cable has gone sky high in cost in recent years. Plus at each pull box, that cable will have to be spliced and tested. Utilities are very segmented, so the people you deal with probably only have a “per foot” cost number that they use for the estimate. Most likely they cannot give you answers about the details I mention above.
The first thing I would do is request an itemized estimate that breaks down all materials and labor.
The second thing I would do is contact some qualified electrical contractors in your area that are experienced in the installation of medium voltage electrical services. They can tell you who is authorized by your utility company to perform this work.
You might be better off hiring them directly to run the primary service.
Armed with a contractor estimate, I expect you would be in a stronger position to negotiate with the utility.
Not to discourage you, but this could take much more time than you want. I’ve seen these things take years to be settled. Sorry, but that’s the truth in todays world.
For the relatively small of mount of power you will need, I would have seriously considered a combination of solar, battery storage and diesel generator. That might still be a viable alternative.
having such a big roof and not filling it up with panels at todays prices is straight up flushing money down the drain
@@Nebbia_affaraccimiei Not if you want a safe, warm , well lit working space.
And you want the lights and heat to work when the sun is not shining or only a couple of hours a day.
Minimum cost to bring in power to our cabin 1.5 miles from the closest pole was quoted at $37,000 from our utility. In the end, I did 16KW of solar, 90KW of batteries and 16KW of inverters, with a surplus MEP diesel military genset for backup. Came in at around $50K. Been running 5 years with no problems. I’m going to add a bit more solar for EV charging eventually.
battery and backup gen@@dieselaar
Matt ask them for a price if you buy and pull your own wire, and all they have to do is hook it into the main, and hook and set the transfer boxes...
I love watching you do 2 or 3 takes. It feels so much more real. Thanks for not editing them out.
👎
Ya. It really showed how much this was errking him. I get flustered like that when I’m pissed off about what I’m talking about too. Sometimes it’s tough to put a full sentence together lol
@@Mad.Man.Marine thats exactly right. You can see the frustration.
I am sure he doesn't leave them in on purpose. Lol
@@John_Graff 🤣
What I picked up towards the end of the video , was just how tired and frustrated you were at the end of this phase. You have my utmost respect Sir, and good luck in your dealings with the Electric Company shysters.
The cost of pulling that wire and hooking it up is outrageous. I’m glad you’re contesting it, and I hope you receive a favorable decision on a more reasonable cost. You have done all of the hard work.
Pull the line yourself and pay an electrician to connect the meter, check the pull boxes and build out and connect the reducer/transformer pad. The Power Company can just do the connection at the pole which is required for free as a public utility federally mandated tarriff. An electrician will cut that cost estimate by 2/3. Good job!
That little baby Cat Backhoe Is a Very efficient machine wow Matt nice Rental 33:08 @Diesel Creek
I'm unreasonably excited for electrical to be run for a place I'll never go and for a person I'll likely never meet. Congratulations Matt, this should be a game changer for you!
Great post
I have never gotten a reasonable cost from utilities. The other thing I have never seen is one man do all that work!! 👏👏
Lol the caution tape on the shovel nice work using your noodle There Matt 😂 36:56 @Diesel Creek
Matt, my husband and I both enjoy watching your videos. It is too late now, but he was a grounds manager at a resort for 38 years and laid lots of irriigation pipe. Duct tape over the ends when laying it will prevent dirt from entering the pipes. I am always amazed at how much you know about so many things.
Perhaps you have already requested this, but you should ask for an itemized list of the costs from the utility company. They should be able to do this and you would be able to really zero-in on the particular ridiculous figure(s). You are doing a tremendous job and you deserve special kudos for what you have done. The best to you!
Indeed. Looks like they made it buy the transformers... and the truck that delivered it! I could see ~10k$ for cable, conduit, and machine rental.
Sounds like they quoted to do the entire thing, trenching conduits cable etc. Definitely ask for an itemised breakdown then buy the cable yourself and pull it though so they just have the transformers and connections to do.
I wonder, if the correct wire cost 10.000 USD if he bought it, if it would be possible for him to just buy the cable and do the pulls himself.
This way they would have to give him the price, only to wire the transformers and labor.
This way there would be no way they could upmark the cable price.
I work for an electric utility. Last I knew the cost to run wire after you install the pipe was around $14 per foot. The wire itself cost between $2-$3 per foot. Most primary conductor distributors require you to be either a utility or a utility contractor to purchase the wire. If you have to upgrade or install a totally separate pole for your riser pole, that’s additional cost. Most utilities supply the transformer for free…. These are the basic details, it gets complicated after that
When I was your age (about 35 years ago) never in my wildest imagination would I have thought that I would be watching the hardest working guy on TH-cam working his butt off for my entertainment. My hat's off to you, thanks again for taking the time to make these videos. Now I know why you have collected all the various pieces of equipment over the years!
52,000 that's insane!
Impressive to watch one guy getting it done.
A nice side effect of this project is now you have a nice finished ditch on one side of the driveway.
I ran into that. They wanted $48,000. Total solar was going to be about 22,000. Then no electric bill. I then talked to a private contractor and he quoted $5,000 plus labor if I trenched it.
Was that tench for high voltage or house voltage?
@@lawnmowerdude I actually don't know. I think it was 7200 volts. I was going to need 3 transformers for the distance. His price was for conduit and cable. I was sitting by him while he was on the phone with his supplier. I don't remember about the transformer price. I think they had to come from TVA which is our power provider. I trench and help with labor. Would be him and me on that. That price was just a rough estimate to get a ballpark idea. This was 2 years ago too.
@@Anthony_HarperYou don't put more than one transformer in regardless of distance as far as I know.
@@Anthony_Harperdid you end up going solar? That's my plan
@@JunkyardJosh COVID hit and decided to wait. I have plans to start on some of it this fall.
We can sense the frustration as you contemplate dealing with the utility provider. Hang in there, maintain your cool and fight hard. Ask for an itemized quotation. Love watching your channel Matt.
Matt, you have every right to get the actual cost of this project. I know that the power company likes to bleed us every chance they get.
Keep fighting for a proper accounting from them. Each "Public utility" seem to have territorial rights and do not want you to shop a better price from the power company on the other side of the road.
When my Dad bought his farm there were no power lines within 3/4 of a mile. He had several to chose from, REA coop, Northern States Power. NSP was 1 1 mile away and the coop was 1/2 mile to the north. They Had to
@2880: Your dad must be from Minnesota!
“In Canada” we got a quote for $25,000 to run 19 pole lengths and about 100’ on the property. The poles are already up and just needs the wire.
Them Small but mighty And Heavy Vibrating Compactors are So Awesome Matt 41:10 @Diesel Creek
I'm a lineman for a local utility (I also live in PA). That number is nuts but I'm not surprised. That job is a max 3 day job for a 4 man crew. Probably $250 hr (I get 1/5 of that) which includes the truck usage you're looking at 20-30k in just labor. Realistically a good 3 man crew could do it in 2 8 hr days.
The most amazing thing about this job is that Matt didn't buy an old abandoned trencher and fixed it to do this job.
I think he has one for the skid. But didnt want to use it as its not as applicable as one he rented
Ya, that would have been great. But it would be Halloween before he found parts for it. It takes a well supplied rental place to make Matt jealous. Wish he would start inviting viewers to help! I've never been to PA!
If you can control the volume on the music it would make it so much easier on the viewer. Now to the haters out there: I know I have a volume control, but which is more practical, 646, 000 people having to adjust their volume or 646,000 people NOT having to adjust their volume?
Love this channel. Thanks for all your hard work and sharing it with us.
This is not an unusual price at all. I am in Canada, so despite dollars being a bit less it is still one of the most expensive utilities to run. I have an 82acre property we built on in 2016. We put the house 300ft off the road and dug our utility trench from the pole out front, 100ft along the road but on our property to the driveway, straight down the driveway to the transformer box area, then 60 or 70ft to the house. Our electrician put in the wire, and extra communication lines, to the transformer box area and house. We dug the pad 4ft down and put a bed of 3/4" clear stone for the box and waited a month past when the utility was supposed to put it in for them to drop in the box and hook up the lines. They also made us put in a new pole because the existing one was to small to host a new transformer on their end. They also sent crews of up to 15 guys and 5 trucks, for 2 weeks in and around the install dates who sat there for 1-5 hours doing nothing, or accomplishing nothing. The quote for the hook up and transformer box/installation was $28000.00 + $6000.00 for the new post. $34000.00 CAD. That is what they charged us and we did all of the work. This year we asked our electrician to put in the quote process for them to come out and assess the price to hook up the shop to the grid. He did so in March and it's only 50-100ft off the road. We still have not received a firm number although they put a stake in to mark which pole it will go to.
Matt, if you ever want fast internet service at the dream shop, you might want to look into pulling some fiber at same time as the electrical. This add-on might be surprisingly affordable if you're going to have to hire an external contractor anyway to avoid the power company's exorbitant pricing.
Keep in mind that power company is a bit protective of their cable. Nothing else allowed in conduit, and trench sharing has spacing limitations, so cannot just add it to pull.
Not sure what the regs are in his area, but in my area "High power" and "Low Power" need to be separated by no less than 8", and can't go through the same conduit. Even though fiber is non-conductive it would still qualify.
Make sure to tell your neighbour that the footage he allowed was appreciated 👍
Hi Matt. Regarding the cost of the transformer, in my experience working with real estate developers, it is normal for the developer of the lot to pay for the initial utility components. After the developer pays for the initial equipment, it is then up to the utility companies to maintain the equipment and replace as necessary. This is why empty lots in a subdivision cost so much. Great work on your project and thanks for really showing just how much work it was. It will all be worth it in the end:)
Matt, I work for a rural electric in Nebraska, we would charge $9 a ft for primary urd plus 40% of the cost of the pad mount transformer and would also have a five year agreement. Customer is responsible for the trenching as well as secondary wiring. I’ll check tomorrow at work but I think it would be around $20,000.
With the cost of material and labor you might have come out better with solar panels and back up batteries. I don’t know. Looks like you did a great job!
Naah- where he is at you have a lot of cloudy day, rain and snow plus forest cover- he would have to clear 50 acres to put in that many solar panels. Who knows how many backup batteries it would take to run that shop plus a house in the future. Even in the southwest where they have year round sunshine and vast expanses of flat desert ground, all the solar farms have been failures.
@AmbitionStrikes has a sweet solar setup and their all-in cost was in ~$60K range.
64k will buy a lot of diesel. Solar could be an option, but I doubt there's enough clear days up north. ('tho there are people who do off-grid solar further north than PA)
@@timkuehn8888 I've seen some of their videos- first off there is no such thing a "Off grid' Anyone who is truly off grid could not post videos on you tube or even make a phone call and would be wandering through the woods naked. Their little solar system will barely maintain that cabin and the true test of any system is over an extended period of time, surviving heavy rain and snow, landslides, wind storms, falling trees etc.. Their channel is designed to attract the dreamers who think all big corporations are evil and they can somehow live for free.
@@timkuehn8888, yes they do in the summer running all their stuff the batteries are full by 10 AM, but…. they still have to run a diesel generator 2 ish months out of the year because they don’t get enough light. Riley said in one of the videos that based on the charging numbers he has seen they could have 4x the panels and it still wouldn’t be “enough” which is why they use the generator.
I would 100% be asking for an itemized quote to see exactly where that cost is coming from. From there, I would be talking with some local electrical contractors to see what they can do separate from the power company to minimize costs.
The 7kV line from the pole won’t require a large wire gauge, and that’s 90%+ of the run, so wire costs should be as “optimal” as you can get with your setup.
This is why we bought used Ag land. It already had service. Im surprised it was so much. I worked as a carpenter, never heard such high cost for a full installation.
Then again I would have just run service to a small building at edge and handled the rest myself. A D9 with a ripper would trench that in an afternoon.
P.s we had a quote for solar at $48,000 installed. I was able to build a system with far superior premium components and install it all for $28.000.
Its a contractors business to overcharge YOU as much as possible, not help you! Once you get this, your position becomes stronger at the bargaining table.
That smile isnt because were happy for you....
On jobs I wanted $75 hr wage per man , so I bid $125 hr and always got more then what I wanted! You didn't know and payed. TY!
When your broke, If you gave us snacks/ cooked lunch id bid less hrs and pass it on to you savings. 2 way street.
In north-eastern Minnesota, the local utility co-op quoted about $11,500 for 250 feet with 2x 200A service and fiber internet. I needed to provide everything after the transformers. I have 2 services because we are going to run off-peak for an electric boiler for in-floor heat (nearest natural gas is probably about 75 miles away). Second 200A service is for everything else.
We changed gears a little. Transformer will go right under the pole, meters next to the transformer, and we'll trench the feeders along a different, shorter route to the house.
Guy in the electrical department looked at me real funny when I told him I needed 500 feet of conduit.
I feel you have gone above and beyond what should have been done. That is absolute highway robbery that the electrical company is doing to you. Hopefully, it will get resolved. Thank you for sharing! I can hardly wait to see what is next! 🤔🙄😊
Matt - As a suggestion, I would get or draw a property map and draw in ALL the underground wiring, water lines, drain lines and other underground lines you may have so in a year or two you'll know where they are. Also, this would help if another hired contractor comes in you can show what is under ground. Again, just a suggestion. Great video and I agree with you that someone's pockets are being lined with that amount of money.
That is pretty much the code here in Norway ...
A decent generator and fuel for $52k would’ve lasted a while 🤣
Nice digging Mat, hope you don’t have to do too much more in the future like this
Not really....
Matt, I manage the construction of gas upgrading facilities all over the US. We routinely pull in 1,200 to 3,000 Amp (3 phase) services. We supply the materials, permits, and misc. cost for a service entrance (ie. Conduit, Wire, Concrete Pads, Transformer, Switch Gears) to the power company and they provide the labor. We routinely pay $36-$53K for these entrances (All In Cost). The power company usually charges us $12- $15K for their portion which is typically prorated out over the course of 72 months on the monthly service invoice. If I were you, I would be thankful they didn’t require the road and waterway crossings to be encased in dyed concrete, we have ran into a lot of that recently.
Hi Matt, I can't believe what you're able to accomplish working by yourself. If you hired that work out they'd have had probably 5 or 6 guys doing it.
The power company knows they're the only game in town and that they have you by the short hairs so they'll charge as much as they can. Please film their work so we can see how many shovel leaners they assign to the job.
I really admire your work ethic.
Now that sounds like a plan, maybe with a few motion sensitive cameras?
That's why the state is supposed to regulate this. The pwr company has a monopoly.
@@stevem6711yet they advertise. Like you have a choice.
@@stevem6711 Government has gotten so corrupt, and this is a sign of it. High costs for little work. The legislatures are on the take.
With all that work you still managed to take us along for the ride with lots of great camera shots....a ton of extra work just there! And the drone overview at the end was superb! Thanks so much for your quality production and ongoing effort!
Thanks 👍
@@DieselCreek You can buy a nice solar panel + battery setup for $64000 🙂
Or a "diesel" generator? 🤣
The best option , in my opinion - run high voltage line on pols and install transformer
Three cheers for Matt's neighbor, for helping out and for letting Matt grind a ditch across his property!
I’m in Australia and about 300 metres from the nearest pole(it doesn’t have a transformer on it though) and with me doing the trench the local sparky said between him and the power company it would be about $80 thousand dollars! He suggested solar would be quite a bit cheaper , so I spent $20000 on solar instead
Yes, Matt would be better served with solar and batteries if they don’t budge from the $52k estimate.
@@davidskabelund4298 Nope. He explains why in his latest video that solar isn't feasible due to the location his shop is situated in.
Be sure the utility installs a Riser Pole Surge Arrester at the power pole connection AND a deadfront surge arrester at the transformer!!! This will keep lightning out of your building and electrical equipment.
When I was a kid I always wanted a colf cart! and I guess they can be handy!!
Here in Maine you can hire private contractors to do that and they are cheaper than the power supplier.
Matt..First, dont forget to ball and brush the conduit before pulling in the final puling rope or mule tape.
Electric work is always very expensive!! I would love to see and hear more about the install. You chose to run and underground service which is multiple the cost of dropping in a few poles and stringing some bare wire (which also might explain why they want you to pay for the entire wire run. You might have gotten your 300 feet if it was pole to pole).. Tell us wire size and type, Service type, voltage and amperage, size of transformer etc (didn't look like that pole had 3 phase so I am curious as to what is available in your area).. you finally told us that it was 3" sched 40 now tell us the rest...
The utility charges what they charge because they can.. Monopoly, usually controlled by the state power authority.. With that said, there is more to the 54K than you think. First, the men and equipment are expensive. Lineman are very well paid, especially if in IBEW. They will send at least one bucket truck team for the pole and probably 4 guys to do the pulls. Pulling those long runs will require specialized pulling trucks. They will probably come in separately with a little boom tuck to set the transformer then send someone to splice and terminate. between each step they will probably send an inspector. There will be a lot of man and equipment hours for those highly paid elekchickens inspectors and managers.
Yes, you are paying for the transformer, which is very expensive and are very hard to come by (there is still a massive shortage of the high permeability silicon steel needed for the lamination..I am still quoting customers 80 - 90 months on power transformer and other large power equipment that s not already in the pipeline. Smaller transformer are still 3-4 months if you cannot find it on the shelf or on an existing back-order.). You are paying because they would not have to put it where it is going if you didn't want it there. They are also per-assessing you some of the added maintenance and emergency call out service that they would not otherwise need to provide. Remember, you will be paying the same electric usage rates as someone on a developed road with no personal demands on their system other than a power drop off the pole to the house 100 ft away.
Now comes the costs that are harder to put your arms around. You are adding load and complexity to their network. It might not seem like much but it all must be accounted for all they way back to the substations and power generation system. As the calculated loads go up they might need to beef up a transformer or put in larger cables, add capacitors and other load smoothing equipment at their substations ect. They might actually do some work upstream just because you are being added to the load on that particular circuit, you would never know nor should you.
They also are charging you for their engineering and project management.
All things being equal, I think you might be pretty lucky to get away with 54K but In would like to see you beat them back for 10K or so..
Having done much of this type of work as a young man, I fully appreciate just how much physical, back wrenching work is involved. It is a TON! Thanks for bringing us along. BTW I am to the point where I view the utilities, commisioners, political pukes etc as the enemy. Yes, they are trying to bend you over to pull wire through a tube and make a connection. Shameful!
A tube ? WTF
Man I wish I was your son. You have all the cool toys I want but never will afford. I love watching your videos thanks for recording while you’re working!
I was going to tell you my story of 2 years to do 1600 foot down a 45% slope, I would just get flamed. The linemen had to put a brake on the reel, and it took 30 minutes to drop the wire in place 4 more hours to set the transformer and the riser at the bottom pole. The wife asked me nicely for power, and now we have it. So hard to adjust to that after 20 years off grid.
I agree that you can call in an independent certified contractor to pull the wire. Then they may even be able to do the transformer. Utility company to just stamp approval.
Anyway, ton of work you did. Cudos
Man that was a lot of work! Matt keeping it real in between takes, no stupid script in sight and no swearing either. I would bet filming and editing takes ages!
I agree, no swearing, amen brother.
In all the time I have been watching your videos I have not heard you cuss, use profanities or make gestures of any kind !! It's indicative of the man you are, Matt !! Keep it up, brother !!
Electrician friend of mine says the cost sounds about right. Rural electrification law says they must provide power. It does not limit what they charge to get it there. Power company here would cross the road overhead onto your land, then require you to trench from there, not trench across a public street and a neighbors property, that seems weird. (PPL in Allentown PA)
It's called, "greedy bureaucrat's making money from a desk". Taxes ain't enough!
Matt… give yourself a well deserved pat on the back, take a well deserved restful break!
You never cease to amaze me, you’re one studious, meticulous and creative young man, that works his butt off, isn’t afraid to dive in with sleeves rolled up, both hands!
I enjoy following along, admire and respect your drive and work ethic!
Great work on the conduit work!
I ran my 2x2 meter shed on penlites the first winter, this must feel a lot better than digging my 25mm cable 30 cm underground for a distance of only 17 meters. By the way, 'Vermeer' was a huge construction company from the Netherlands now it's called Dura Vermeer.
I'm sat here procrastinating about doing some small tasks on one of the car in the garage and you've done more work than a team would do in two weeks. Great motivation for the rest of us to get up and get busy Matt! Awesome work
The power company will just stop talking to you and leave you up in the air. They have you by the short and curlies. But whatever happens Matt, you are winning.
Remember way back to your videos in the basement garage? The shade tree engine swap? Look at you now! Well done Matt. While I can't speak for others I'm sure many will share my sentiment - I'm proud of you, lad!
Just so you know you need an expansion fitting going into the meter enclosure, you'll probably fail inspection without it.
As every mechanic/engineer knows having the right equipment for the job is critical to completing the job. Matt, you have the right equipment!
Most likely the power company will sub-contract out the job to pull the wires , set the transformer and connect everything up to the meter socket , then send a crew from the electric company to connect up the power at the pole and install the meter , but $52,000 to do all that is outlandish , keep pushing back Matt !!!!
They quote you the same regardless of whether you trench/place conduit in the ground or they do, its just a per foot price. My experience is if you can go a couple rounds with them, they may drop the price, and if they wont play ball get the utility regulator involved, but this can take months or years. Also not yet having a residence under construction likely means they are charging you for the transformer, and they don't have any ability to factor in potential utility revenue. Just wanted to share some of my experience, the power company knows you have no other option, my advice is to find a way to incentive them to work with you, make friends with the person handling your case, and get your future house permitted so they can see that, Good luck!
Couple things to try: Make a complaint direct to the state regulators - skip your local regulators they aren't likely to help. Find the specifics you talked about, screenshot them, and create a BBB complaint if they are not honoring their own documented policies.
If you do that , you are just gaslighting yourself . Good thought though .
The BBB is total crap and don't do anything have used them before.
@@matt2244 So true brother .
@@matt2244it works on private businesses/corporations that want to keep their high score. Many don’t have a score though.
As for the govt, it always sucks, they have a monopoly, so we agree there.
The PUC is the regulator agency, no local ones usually in PA. And most companies are very scared of the PUC in PA. I've seen phone companies bend over backwards to keep them out of the picture. The BBB is useless, especially for the company that I'm pretty sure he has to use.
This comment is a bit late, but I am a retired EE so I am entitled, usually an expansion coupling is used on the secondary to reduce the impact of frost heaving.
Great Job and Job well done on another big project!
We are getting ready to ditch and bury 300ft of Water Line on my property.
How great to have such an accommodating (and helping) neighbour !
First of all Matt, OMG, total respect for your ability to handle such a large project by yourself. I had to take a nap after watching the first video as I was exhausted by the amount of work you did!. LOL! I doubt the power company is factoring in all of the work you have already done. 40k on top of the materials is absurd. They should be 10-15k maximum to pull cable.
Plant plastic posts along the conduit route for location reference markers! 4:12
As a few others have pointed out, think about an off-grid solution to buy time to negotiate with power moguls. The lights and heat source fans and pumps certainly are within reason to create your own power for the coming winter. My suggestion is follow Will Prose for pointers and knowledge, Matt you have friends and you have the skills to set up a temporary power system. Probably don't even need Solar panels , as many options to charge batteries, charge with you many generators,, or get temporary power at that pole, or purchase multiple 48 volt server rack LiFePo batteries load them that cool Jeep. drag them to the house, charge for next cycle. Plus it would make a great video maybe even break even in the end. This would give you time to deal with the electrical contractors and power company including cold weather.
This is why I like watching your show Matt because you are very independent and you don't ask nobody for no help unless you need it that's what I like about you man
Matt, after all the pre work you did, I think you are right in fighting them on their costs. They are really thinking like you said ( they believe you are stupid). $52,000.00 For the whole job I can see. But you did the major work of trenching, and getting all the town permits done. I say kick them in shins when ever you can. Good work, and good vid. Thanks!
My guess was $50 grand, I work for telecom and these construction estimates are pretty normal though totally insane. What’s crazy is you’ve done the bulk of the work
What would they have charged for the whole job?
@@alexhayden2303 i am guessing 52 grand would of been the whole job.
@@ritchardposterior262 wrong.
Matt, with all the iron you have rescued, owned, purchased, I can’t believe you don’t have any equipment besides your skid steer, I almost choked when you talked about the roller , after the amount of compaction equipment you tore through building the site..
That was a massive project, you handled it all like a pro!
I don't understand if you've done all this work that you're allowed to do. Why can't you at this point? Hire a commercial acceptable by the state electrical contractor to pull The Wire for 10 grand that's gonna be acceptable to the state in the town, it seems like at this point you should be sueing. The town for this $52000 price to pull wire.
In other words, what I'm trying to say is that since the town might be overwhelmed with work? Why can't you hire commercial electrical contractor that's acceptable by the state in the town to install The Wire for you? I'm sure it would be 10 grand since you and your kids could do it for the cost of the wit seems unfair.
@@michaellodsin8823that's how it works in maine , i can hire whoever i want to run my power line or i can do it myself just have to have the power company connect the meter and to the pole
It is not the town. It is the electric company. The high tension side belongs to them@@michaellodsin8823
@michaellodsin8823 maybe $52k if they did all of the work
You know with the magic of editing, it makes you seem like that's an easy job there lol. I bet you will be happy to have everything done and have power running to your garage Matt.
Well said mate,, the ole Hyperlapse thing really does makes things look quick and easy.. When most jobs Matt does are anything But!!
@@JAY61ish oh I know man.
You got that right!
@@DieselCreekI agree with you. $52k is ABSOLUTELY HIGHWAY ROBBERY
I'm tired as hell JUST WATCHING YOU!!
Im only a third of the way in but surely your saving so much money, the monstrous amount of time and energy is well worth it! My condolences to your back tho!
Matt, you should have put an expansion fitting out of the bottom of that meter base. Expansion and contraction form freeze and thaw can cause that pipe to rip off the meter base from structure, or other issues.
Just watching this Video I'm exhausted That Is one heck of a Project There Matt Enjoying the video Sir 25:14 @Diesel Creek
Well, 16 hours after this video premiered I think there's at least a majority of the 49,000 people who've watched it, know just how hard you worked to get this job done! I'm amazed you tackled this solo! An extraordinary amount of planning and work! The only experience I've had with the power company and running wire was above ground on poles but they got us for $11,000 for 800' of an installation for a water well we put in for filling duck hunting lakes (not counting the well casing and pump by the well contractor ((who incidentally KNEW that 800' from a bluff, we would hit water at 75 feet deep (79' exactly))). Best of luck with getting that price to a more manageable number. Can't wait to see that boiler fire up and see some STEAMING CONCRETE!
We had a similar situation in middle Georgia 3 years ago and had 1100 feet of wire pulled to run power to our barn. FWIW, you do have to pay for the transformer (we did). Even so, they did everything, even trenching it into the ground with their big trenching machine, set the ground transformer and made the connection to the meter. All of that cost us just over $5K. $52K is highway robbery, as you said.
What would be the cost of a complete solar system (batteries).
Electric company must be thinking they have to trench the 1800 feet and bury the conduit. Good luck escalating them.
In the UK it's a crazy prices roughly the same cost. Basically you have one guy comes out and assess the work needs to be done. And the second guy comes out health and safety and they get together to have a meeting about the job. But basically look on the bright side you will increase the value of your property with electricity on it😊
Yep, 52k is a number they tell you when they don’t want to do and to just go away. Makes a guy think twice about just putting in a solar system and a big backup generator.
😊
That was a Herculean task for one guy Matt, nicely done.👍
Excellent video!! Really an insane amount of work for one guy. Having the right equipment helps for sure but damn! The fly through at the end really shows that which was a great touch. 52 grand is ridiculous. Fight it. This is probably my favorite channel on TH-cam and a like is always well deserved. Great job Matt!!
Did you remember to put the pipes in at a slight decline so gravity will help the electricity flow?☺
Also send the vid to news outlets inviting them for an interview on your story. At the same time take all the comments concerning property loopholes for electrical and resubmit your paper work. Get quotes for the same work from local electricians and include it in the video. If they want a battle, always triple down. Lets go!