Installers: how much would you charge?

syphix

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jun 24, 2004
541
246
Minnesota, USA
I have a slightly different situation and I'm wondering how much it's gonna cost me, or if I'm better off doing some of it myself.

It's an older brick house. I'd prefer to have the dish on a pole (do I have to provide that?) instead of the roof (we're reshingling this fall), but perhaps the side of the roof will work.

The house has never had cable run through it, and only has a wire from the roof antennae into the garage, then into the basement, then up through a hole in the wood floor in the living room. I'd like the 522 installed in the living room, with TV2 ran to the bedroom, some 120 feet down the length of the house.

What would an install like this cost if the wires weren't snaked through the wall, just drilled up through the floor? What if it was snaked through the (plaster) wall? Am I better off just getting the living room set, and then feeding the wire back to the bedroom on my own? Any suggestions? (I'm a newbie to satellite)

I should note that I am setup for a "standard professional install" on August 2nd.
 
Dish tells you that a pole is included and 10ft of trenching if needed... Installers however might charge some... Snaking through walls usually costs a bit more $20+ from waht I here. I used to install for DirecTV and they paid us for 1 wall snake. Going through the floor is not only easy but also cheaper. However Dish only compensates for 250ft of cable and since you have 2 runs to the living room and 1 150ft run you might run into some cost there. However if you knew how easy it was to run cable like that you would do it yourself. I have a dish installer coming tomorrow (Free install and i dont have to aim the sat) I just ran the cable in the crawl space for 3 rooms and it took maybe an hour at most. I also mounted the mast on the roof (I dont need a pole in my case) and ran 4 cables to the crawl space. All of this is incredibly easy if there is no wall fishing/snaking to be done... and plaster walls are a huge pain... trust me.
 
Don't get me started on how much of a bitch plaster walls are...the bathroom has serious water damage behind the gaudy wallpaper. I pray the whole wall doesn't fall on me when I get set to repair that!
 
A Bit off topic but if its plaster and you are gonna repair it... you may want to replace that whole side of the wall with drywall (Sheetrock is the best imo) if it is feasable. my biggest problem with plaster doing an install was that I could cut the whole for a new line and get the line in and start putting the gang plate on and the entire wall would crack.. I refused to snake/fish on plaster again.
 
That's exactly what we're gonna do.

Back on topic...let's say I go through the floor...what's the extra cost for something like this, and is it due upon install?
 
we always gave them a bill with payment instructions... some collect...however if its just drilling through the floor then they will probably charge you something like a buck a foot over the 250 and yo umay not even go over... if you have a home depot or lowes near by i would go buy 200 ft of Coax RG6u (quad shield is best but more expensive) and run it yourself if its cheap enough... i think 500 ft is like 40 dollars. dont bother terminating t the installer will have ends... probably better than you can buy at those places.
 
You can buy coax on ebay cheap sometimes although sometimes it requires you to buy the 500/1000 foot rolls (probably for the same price as 100-200 feet at some of the stores).

The installer may try to use the existing hole that is already in the floor (if big enough to pull another wire up through) because that takes less effort and time while preventing from having additional holes in the floor.
 
payment

hell....if your in SE Michigan you will get all that for free...we dont charge for trenching, wall fishes, anything. sucks for us but good for you.
 
Teletran1 said:
hell....if your in SE Michigan you will get all that for free...we dont charge for trenching, wall fishes, anything. sucks for us but good for you.

Come to my house in Grosse Pointe, all I need to know is how many days it will take for you to give me my FREE Install with all the wall fishes :)

Lots of 2nd floor wall fishes, and a nice finished basement with a plaster ceiling :D

Did I mention I have lots of TREES :D
 
I get $75 per wall per floor ( no outside walls )
Pole Mount can be up to $100 for installation and $1-$2 per foot to bury cable
as far as drilling through floor, if your crawl space or basement is easy to access ( at least 18"-24" high )
that would be free with basic install.
you can read more at http://www.basicinstall.com/charges.htm which is a great site.
 
With some (or shall I say most) customers around here are not willing to pay $100, $50, and sometimes anything for pole mounts, wall fishes, etc. even if it means not waiting to get it installed.
 
I dont install Satalites, but when im doing Electrical and its bold work its by the hour, I hardly ever do side work but when I do its $35.00 an hour plus parts. (15 % mark up on parts)