help with a price

dcelec · Sep 14, 2011

hi all
just recently qualified and been asked to replace the control panels for some roller shutter doors on an industrial unit ,basically 3 phase 415v reverse starting, like these

Direct On Line Starters without Isolator (415V 3 Phase) | City Electrical Factors

i'm unsure what to charge for the job ,theres 10 on each unit .any advice greatly appreciated

thanks

telectrix · Sep 14, 2011

how long do you reckon it will take to do each one?

netblindpaul · Sep 14, 2011

As Tel,
Plus your overheads, materials a little for "just in case".
Also a few other questions for you to consider below...
Do you need access equipment, is there a site induction to go through?
What are the cables like, if the starters are different will there be enough length?
Are the existing cables correctly terminated?
Would you have to correct any terminations? i.e. would you need more materials to do this?

Oh, and check your insurance covers you, some DI type policies exclude 3ph, and that your insurance covers you for industrial/commercial, again some policies exclude certain types of work.
An AC friend of mine got caught out with his policy renewal!

oxocube · Sep 14, 2011

In my experience door roller shutter electrics are usually very poor quality, totally unacceptable and carried out by labourers.
Unless your able and confident enough, and the client is willing to pay for a full inspection and test, my advise would be to walk away.

telectrix · Sep 14, 2011

oxocube said:
In my experience door roller shutter electrics are usually very poor quality, totally unacceptable and carried out by labourers.
Unless your able and confident enough, and the client is willing to pay for a full inspection and test, my advise would be to walk away.

hmm, not done much with these, but a few weeks ago, had a farmer on the phone. he was having 2 3ph. roller doors fitted, and could i install the supply for them. the guys that installed the doors had them fitted with 3ph. 5 pin plugs as they weren't qualified to hard wire them. all i had to do was install 2 isolators with 16A sockets. the fitted plugs even had a reversible pair of pins in case the phase rotation was incorrect. then all they had to do was plug in. easy job all round.

netblindpaul · Sep 14, 2011

tel,
Be interested to know a bit more about those reversible pin plugs, did they have to dismantle them etc?

telectrix · Sep 14, 2011

netblindpaul said:
tel,
Be interested to know a bit more about those reversible pin plugs, did they have to dismantle them etc?

no. there's a screwdriver slot in the plastic around 2 pins. you just turn 180degrees and it reverses the 2 pins, thus reversing rotation. i''l try and google it.

netblindpaul · Sep 14, 2011

did the google bit and failed dismally, nothing new there though!

telectrix · Sep 14, 2011

me too, but i did find a supplier months ago. a 16A 3p,n,e was about £20. can't remember the supplier though.

Knobhead · Sep 14, 2011

Just a quick tip.

Most have a hand winding mechanism to wind the door. Move the door to a couple of foot from top or bottom before trying direction. Saves a lot of time and expense when the doors wrapped around the top roller.