Retail Rewire Bid: Labor Unit Takeoff, Unlicensed Help, and a Permit Problem

Labor hours by item (minutes ÷ 60 = hours):

Item	Qty	Min each	Total min	Hours
Duplex receptacles	140	12	1,680	28.0
Recessed LED fixtures	90	18	1,620	27.0
3/4 in. EMT	2,600 ft	6.5	16,900	281.7
12 AWG THHN	2,600 ft	1.8	4,680	78.0
Total				414.7 hr

Direct labor cost: 414.7 × $62 = $25,711

Sell price: base cost $25,711 × 1.15 (overhead) = $29,568 × 1.10 (profit) = $32,525

Duration: 414.7 hr ÷ (4 electricians × 8 hr/day) = 12.96 days → 13 working days, roughly three weeks. Allow 15 days to cover the inspection cycle and material delivery, and state the 15 days in the schedule so a liquidated-damages clause does not catch you at 13.

Bid cautions: these labor units assume open ceiling, no occupied-area work, and no asbestos. Any of those conditions voids the unit rate. Also confirm the conduit and wire quantities are measured lengths, not estimates - a 10% miss on 2,600 ft of EMT is 28 labor hours, more than your entire profit on the fixtures.

Both must be refused, and the refusal must be in writing.

Unlicensed subcontractor. In Arizona, contracting without a license is a criminal violation, and the licensed contractor who knowingly uses an unlicensed subcontractor exposes its own license to disciplinary action in addition to the criminal exposure. The payment is also at risk: an unlicensed person generally cannot recover compensation for the work, and you cannot pass that work through to the owner as a licensed subcontract. Beyond licensing, fire alarm work is typically a separate classification at the Registrar of Contractors, not something an R-11 automatically covers. Verify the classification before you let anyone touch a fire alarm panel, including your own crew.

Starting before the permit. Working without a permit is a violation independent of licensing, and it is the single fastest way to lose a license on a job that is otherwise executed well. It also voids the inspection sequence: the fire alarm and the service rough-in cannot be inspected after the fact without destructive testing you will pay for. If the owner's schedule is real, the answer is to pull the permit and start the work that is legitimately allowed - mobilization, layout, underground - while the permit is processed.

What to send: a short written notice to the GC and owner stating that (a) the fire alarm scope will be subcontracted to a properly licensed firm with the correct classification, and (b) no work requiring a permit will commence until the permit is issued. This protects your license and creates a contemporaneous record that the delay is owner-driven.

At formation: an oral subcontract on a job this size is indefensible. The agreement should have been in writing and should have fixed, at minimum:

• scope, including explicit exclusions (fire alarm, low voltage, patching, painting)
• contract sum, unit prices for change orders, and a written-change-order-only clause
• retainage and payment terms, tied to Arizona's prompt-payment statute
• schedule, milestone dates, and the specific conditions under which delay damages are chargeable
• who pulls permits and who pays for re-inspection
• the required license classification of every subcontractor

Your position now: without a written agreement, the backcharge turns on proof, not on the contract. You need contemporaneous records - daily reports, emails, timestamps, delivery tickets - showing that the delay was caused by the GC's late release of the space or a long-lead item, not by your crew. If your daily reports are thin, your negotiating position is thin.

Practical response: respond to the backcharge in writing within the period the GC's own documents require (silence is often deemed acceptance). Demand the basis of the $9,400 - the GC's cost records, not a lump number. Offer to review schedule records jointly. Then fix the process: no change order, no work, on every remaining job. A $9,400 lesson is cheap; the same lesson on a $900,000 job is not.