electric service upgrade: 60amp to 100amp

[Todd M.]

Hello,

New owner of a 4plex with 60amp electric service. There are 5 electric panels with fuses: 1 for each unit and 1 for common area electric.

In trying to get property insurance, two very large insurance companies have problems with the current electrical and can't touch it.

They wanted upgraded service to 100amp, so I had to go with an expensive, state based plan (plan of last resort). In addition, I had to take out a separate commercial liability policy as well.

I'm starting to check around and it's looking like approximately $8,000 investment to upgrade to 100amp in order to "save" $1500/ year in insurance. It's not like I have that kind of money laying around.

Anyhow, I'm not experienced enough to know what I'm being told and the direction I'm heading.

Thoughts? Opinions?

[Jon Holdman]

$8000 seems high to me, too. However, this is a fourplex, and in some areas, anything with three or more units falls into a different building code (IBC) than for SFRs or duplex (IRC). That may require different permitting and work than for a SFR. Never, ever let a big job like this without multiple bids. I've found its very common for the low bid to be 30% of the high bid. I had two bids on a recent job (furnace and water heater relocation) where the low bid was 15% of the high bid. I don't mean 15% less, either. I mean $1100 vs. $6700.

Is this really 60amps TOTAL to all four units? If so, that's totally inadequate. Even 60 amps for each unit is low. If you really want to do this right, I'd bring in separately metered 200 amp service for each unit, and a separately metered service for the common areas. 200 amps will be more than adequate for the foreseeable future. Certainly you should get bids for 100 amp services, but I suspect the difference for 200 will be small.