Opinion on quote for extending mains cables

[recre8]

My complex (12 single title houses plus common property) is bulk supplied by Eskom and submetered by a reseller. We have approached Eskom to move from being bulk supplied to having Eskom prepaid meters rather (much much lower tariffs). As Eskom only supplies from the kerb, we need to get the mains cables for each house from the kiosk inside the complex to the kerb where Eskom proposed to install the new kiosk. So in short, we need to extend 13x single phase 60A cables (16mm2 SWA) by 24 meters. Termination will be done by Eskom on their side, and they only require 2 meter of slack on the bare cable. The other side of the 13 cables need to go the kiosk inside the complex (currently supplied by a large 3 phase cable which will be obsoleted after the change-over) containing 13x 63A breakers with each leading the a respective house. The original cable does not need to be removed, simply cut off short where accessible.

I contacted a reputable company in my area for a quote. Their quote for the electrical work (i.e. not including trenching and paving reinstatement) comes out to about R120k ex vat. Does this seem a bit much? I phoned my Voltex branch just to get a rough idea of material costs. The bulk of the material will be the SWA 2-core 16mm2 cable as per the quote. Voltex's retail price for this is R150/m inclusive. So according to my calculation the materials at retail cost work out to about R47k inclusive (13 cables x 24 m x R150/m)
Can the labour really add up to R73k? Keeping in mind that R73k doesn't include the trenching.

If anyone in the northern suburbs of Cape Town would like to approach me to provide a quote on the above or know someone who might be able to quote, I'd be really happy. Please send me a private message

I'm still awaiting Eskom's quote for moving their kiosk 17m closer to the spot they picked out. No idea what that cost is going to be. Any guesses?

[adrianh]

You must send AndyD a message - He is the Cape Town Electrical Expert!!!!

[AndyD]

Thanks for the consideration Adrian, much appreciated. Unfortunately I'm too busy and not able to get involved at least for this year.

Obviously without seeing the job it's difficult to comment on the price but by first impressions it doesn't sound extortionate. Cable prices are high and unpredictable at the moment and finding stock is another story entirely; I've just waited nearly 3 months for an order of 260 meters of 185 x 4 core . Maybe look at using Airdac cable, which we used to call SNE split concentric cable, in a duct although I doubt it will make a massive saving from memory.