Warning: Newbie here, don't quote Square D panels under $1200 or you'll eat the cost

Just finished my first solo panel upgrade job and I quoted the customer $950 for a Square D QO load center thinking it was a quick swap. Turns out the existing setup needed a full subpanel addition and grounding work that ballooned the time to 12 hours. Now I'm out $250 because I lowballed it bad, lesson learned on not skimping on the estimate.

man that sucks, been there on my first few jobs too.

FML, I hate when clients push for the lowball quote then act surprised at the extras. Last week a guy wanted a simple outlet add but his romex was buried under drywall, turned into a $800 nightmare.

same here, quoted a basic 240V install for $600 and it ended up needing conduit runs that doubled the price.

Square D is solid but always factor in the bus bar upgrades, they add up quick.

we're all screaming about these cheapskate clients who nickel and dime every wire pull.

big corps are buying up all the good jobs leaving us scraps, pisses me off.

add 20% buffer to your material costs upfront, saves headaches like yours.

private equity firms snapping up electrical outfits left and right, driving up competition for crappy low-pay gigs.