It's hard to judge. What's really costing you is the Sheetrock repair. I used 6 guage wire which was probably about $2/ft but I think you could use 8 which would be a bit cheaper. Figure another $10 for the breaker. The connection time would be measured in minutes not hours. Would your GC really not do this for you? I'd hate to call in (and pay for) an electrician for such a simple job. Kind of like calling a plumber to install a faucet.

^ +1

Appliances are requiring more and more electricity all the time. I'd upgrade everything to have the wire behind the wall to handle 50 amps, and just put in a 40 amp breaker. Easy enough to change to a 50 amp breaker in 10 years when the "new" oven you're buying now hits the dust or you want the latest in technology. You'll only spend slightly more on materials and the same on labor, but you'll be "future proof".

It's a heck of a lot more involved than 1 hour of labor though!

I've been completely misinterpreted. The piece that "requires" an electrician (put in quotes because I think an argument can be made that you can get away without) is quick. The rest - Sheetrock removal, routing wire, sheetrock replacement, spackle, texture, paint is the greater variable, labor-wise, and that's the part that I think is harder for us to judge.

I don't think $1050 sounds unreasonable based on my "guess" of what the job entails. I do think the price of the electrician could be avoided if the GC is comfortable with that simple aspect.

And I agree about the heavier wire. My contractor put in 6 guage even though I only need 40 amps.

stump - you dug this hole yourself.

toy was merely asking if $1050 was a reasonable cost for an oven rewire and maybe more veiled if he/she should just stick with a 30 amp oven and pay a restock on the 40 sitting in the garage !

Your chiming in that a thousand bucks to just hookup an oven isn't really helpful at all. Any reasonable person can tell a SIMPLE hookup won't cost a grand, and if that is the quote, then it's absurd.

Your second post isn't helping anyone out either.

You should be asking:

" toy - what guage wire is in your wall now, and how far is it to the electrical panel ?"

If it's 8 gauge and less than 100 feet then you might consider just upping the breaker to 40 amps.

If you have 10 gauge or the run is more than 100 feet, and you want a 40 amp oven - then you'll need a sparky to pull a new wire for you.

Xedos - "Toy" seemed concerned about cost so I said it was "hard to judge" because the bulk of the labor had to do with the wire routing and related repairs for which we don't have specifics. I also suggested that perhaps cost could be kept down if be/she could make due without the added expense of an actual electrician.

I'm so sorry that this response didn't meet your standards of helpfulness. More than a little ironic though, that you who are obviously so much better equipped to answer the question than I, has yet to reply to Toy and ask the questions that I am far too dumb to ask, and prefer to pick a fight with me. Helpful indeed!

Hey stup - all I said was your helpfullness was confusing, and holly seemed to agree with me.

Like I said , it's quite clear that you can save $$$ by wanting less. I.E. stick with the lower amp oven, that's obvious to everyone and didn't need pointing out.

Your pointing it out is how you got misrepresented.

for the record - and no irony included from last post :

" toy - what guage wire is in your wall now, and how far is it to the electrical panel ?"

If it's 8 gauge and less than 100 feet then you might consider just upping the breaker to 40 amps.

If you have 10 gauge or the run is more than 100 feet, and you want a 40 amp oven - then you'll need a sparky to pull a new wire for you."

And just to make it easier for some to follow: If your 40 amp oven restocking fee is less than $1050 , and a new 30 amp oven will cost the same or less than the orig. purchase price of the 40 amp oven , THEN returning the 40 amp oven will be CHEAPER than having all the work done.

How's that for a run on sentence and a high school math problem ???

I can see that my first post was confusing, so I came back and clarified.

"The upgrade to 40 amp by my KD/contractor through his electrician will cost $1,050."

It was unclear to me how much of the work was going to be performed by the electrician. My ONLY point was that I felt the cost could be lessened by cutting the electrician out of the equation.

You have a valid point about the existing wire, but I happened to think it was obvious that if it was heavy enough for 40 amps the question would not have been raised.

Thank you all for the great advice. The gauge is 10 and it is more than 100ft. I was really tempted to follow the advice to prepare for the future. My DH decided he preferred to find a 30 amp oven. The GE Profile is 30 amp so I let it be DH call.