On Friday, March 4, 2016 at 5:32:36 PM UTC-6, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/4/2016 6:27 PM, Tim wrote:
On Friday, March 4, 2016 at 5:11:49 PM UTC-6, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/4/2016 3:46 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 4 Mar 2016 15:13:06 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 3/4/2016 2:57 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 4 Mar 2016 13:51:52 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 3/4/2016 1:33 PM, Keyser Söze wrote:
On 3/4/16 1:00 PM, Tim wrote:
11:46
On Fri, 4 Mar 2016 02:37:36 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:
- show quoted text -
If you can get the generator for $3500, why would it cost $6500 to
hook it up? I suspect they were charging you quite a bit more for the
gen set. It sounds like you already had most of the infrastructure in
place anyway.
In my case the gas line is roughed in with a valve on a capped pipe
(when they plumbed in the pool heater) and I would need about 50' of
2ga aluminum SER cable ($80 or so). I doubt I would spend more than
$300-400 to install it. This thing comes with the transfer switch. I
thought that was a good price but Harry would not let that stand..
--------
Some people think that if it costs way more then it has to be better.


Some people would prefer to have the job done by properly trained,
experience, and insured licensed contractors and workers.


In some places it's the only way to get a permit to do it
and it can become a problem if major changes or additions
are made to a property by DIY'ers when it comes time to sell it.


Homeowners can pull permits here. I was the "owner builder" for my
driveway, the addition and the pool.
Of course we are not one of those northern mobbed up union states.
The reality is, Maryland isn't either. I was owner builder for my 2
additions there too. Both were fairly extensive. The biggest one
included a structural, plumbing, electrical, roofing, grading,
driveway and HVAC permit along with a DOT permit to cross the right of
way.
I got all of them in one day. Amazing I thought. That was 1977 and I
bet it is harder now.
I hired a mason for the concrete and block/brick but I did the rest
myself. That has been my policy since. I can do concrete and block but
I am slower than I want it to go.
I went from this
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/72house.jpg
to this
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/1977%20house.jpg



1977. Almost 40 years ago. Things have changed a bit.


I suppose I could look it up but I bet homeowners can still pull
permits in Maryland. I know they can here.



As far as I know homeowers can pull permits here also but some projects
require a licensed whatever to actually do or supervise the work.
Depends on what the project is. The average weekend warrior cannot
possibly be current on the ever changing building and electrical codes..
For example, years ago
I ran some heavy duty speaker wire in some walls in a room in the
basement that we were finishing. Perfectly acceptable then but not now.
You have to use a special wire designed for that purpose because it was
discovered that ordinary speaker wire ... even 12 ga ... allowed a fire
to travel along it like a fuse.



That's one advantage of living where I do. We don't have building permits. Maybe for commercial property but for residence and farms, no...


Why is that an advantage?

The way I see it is that you can build it and wire it yourself without having to have 'special' permission to do so, and as most govt agencies, it seems that they're never around to tell you how to do it right, but they're always present to crawl down your throat if you do it wrong (according to their specs)

Take the local cafe's etc. Here's how it works in Illinois or in my county of Illinois. If you outfit a building to be an eating or drinking establishment, you have to have the plumbing done by a licensed contractor, and the state inspector may or may not change the plans in the middle of the stream, like if you run a pipe or drain *here* because he said to, he can come back later and have you rip it out and start over because he/she changed their minds on it . Most of the local contractors won't take on these jobs because thee state is hard to satisfy.

Now lets go to wiring, ok? The state couldn't care less. You can run extension cords all you want and anyway you want. and nobody says a thing.

Go figure.