We have been in this house since it was built in 1986, 36 years.

Between the kitchen and the two bathrooms, there are a total of five T-12 fluorescent fixtures. The ballasts, older magnetic type, are starting to go bad. Two of them are flaky right now, and I expect that it won't be long before the other three start to die.

It's probably time to convert all of them to LEDs.

Not a complicated job, something that I could have done myself, but now with age and health, my physical limitations indicate that I should just pay somebody to do it.

So, the question, for electricians (are you there, Skins?) or any of you who do handyman type stuff for pay -- can you give me a ballpark figure on what you would charge for a job like this, so I have a baseline when I get somebody local to give me a quote?

Can’t tell you what a tradesman would charge, but can tell you what the parts recently cost me to change a 48” 4-lamp T12 ceiling fixture to use four 48” single-ended AC powered LED tubes in place of the fluorescent bulbs. Each LED tube was $11 and I bought two prewired strings of 4 tombstone sockets for $7.50 each from a local electrical distributor. So just under $60 before tax. Might give you a starting point for at least the materials.

Much brighter than the T12s which really improved seeing in the laundry room where the fixture was on the ceiling. Could probably have used the existing tombstones already in the fixture, but they were looking pretty beat up since they were 25 years old and I didn’t want to have to get the fixture off the ceiling again to replace the lamp holders if I could avoid it with all new parts! Getting it down off the toggle bolts the builder used to fasten it to the ceiling was the most challenging part.

They make conversion kits that can be installed in the existing units. Doesn't really require any wiring, just replacing the ballasts. An option if you did just decide to do it yourself.

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:

They make conversion kits that can be installed in the existing units. Doesn't really require any wiring, just replacing the ballasts. An option if you did just decide to do it yourself.

Ten years ago, I would have done it. Now, at 85, with balance problems, I'm not going to get up on a ladder or step-stool. Better to pay somebody than to wind up in the hospital with another fractured hip.

Vtail, Just had a licensed electrician do some work for me in Kissimmee, he charged me $60 for 90 minutes of work. $40 an hour.

He didn't charge me for a short length of wire and plastic conduit he had on his truck.

He lives down the street from me, I never knew him.

Just tossing this out there. I have no idea if this is typical or not.

He was recommended on the nextdoor website/app.

I get most of my FL tradesmen from there since I have no network there except the forum of course.

quote:

Vtail, Just had a licensed electrician do some work for me in Kissimmee, he charged me $60 for 90 minutes of work. $40 an hour.

Holy cow. Around here hourly guys are $100-200 per hour plus trip charge, the flat rate pricing ones are $200+.

In MA I am paying around $100 Hr. for electricians

Plumbers are more.

quote:

Originally posted by sig2392:

Vtail, Just had a licensed electrician do some work for me in Kissimmee, he charged me $60 for 90 minutes of work. $40 an hour.

Can you give me his contact information? My email address is in my profile.

V, can you snap some pictures. Depending on set up would determine how to handle it.

Easiest and cheapest is to buy direct wire lamps, ditch the ballast and run 120v to the new led lamps, which would be T8 now.

Benefits:

-Cost
-No drywall/paint repairs as long as they aren't smaller fixtures than originals.

Cons:

-With direct wire lamps if you change a bulb or need to clean fixtures, you must turn off lights to avoid shock/short hazards
-Wife doesn't get new lights, so if they are dated looking your stuck with dated looks.

Other option if you want new fixtures, just replace them with a brand new fixture that is larger than the originals or get whatever you like and paint/patch.

For five retrofits I would expect 20 minutes each, for replacement 20-30 minutes each. Often times the older fixtures were directly wired and do not have a box in the ceiling for the fixture. If a box needs to be added (this is determined by fixture you purchase design) probably an hour per fixture total.

I'm not sure of my old companies rates now. I think they are either $125 per hour or $150 now with half hour added for travel.

So retrofit 100 minutes rounded to 2 hrs plus half hour travel at $150 would be $375 in labor. Lamps are typically $15 each or so. Sockets if needed are $3-4 each, that would depend if any are cracked, burnt, or loose. Fixture wire would be about $10. Add markup if contractor supplies materials.

For fixture replacement, best case would be same as retrofits plus fixture cost. Worse case probably five hours and costs for electrical boxes and misc wire nuts and stuff. So at same pricing as above $825 for worse case labor.

This pricing is for an affluent area with high labor costs. I'm sure it would be slightly cheaper where you are.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

V, can you snap some pictures. Depending on set up would determine how to handle it.

Easiest and cheapest is to buy direct wire lamps, ditch the ballast and run 120v to the new led lamps, which would be T8 now.

Photo below. Not sure why the iPhone picked up the yellow color; it's standard "daylight" fluorescent to the naked eye.

These are just standard old plain vanilla builder-grade T-12 fixtures.

I stopped at a local lighting supply place; they recommended LED tubes that will work with either shunt or no-shunt tombstones, $6.95 ea., so the job is really simple, just a re-wire to take the ballast out of the circuit.

I could have done this easily, a few years ago, but age and health have conspired to screw up my balance and I'm not going to stand on a step-stool or low ladder and risk a trip to the hospital with another fractured hip, so I just need an electrician or competent handyman to do the re-wire and get rid of the ballast on each of six identical fixtures, four in the kitchen and two in bathroom vanity areas.

VT you have mail.

Got it, thank you.

here's a slight addon question. I just did a bunch of these. And the GE direct wire tubes I bought instructions want a 1 amp fuse in line in the fixture. Which seems totally weird and another failure point that would be annoying to diagnose. I did it but these fixtures were easy to access.
Is that normal?

Something like that is ripe for direct wire LEDs. Looks don't matter. Keep the existing fixtures to avoid other issues.

Since you're dealing with strip fixtures, looks don't matter, or the other considerations mentioned previously. 20 minutes each to retrofit, under $15 material each if you replace all fixture wiring and sockets at the same time which I recommend since it's cheap and you don't have a ton of fixtures to retrofit.

With those inputs, other variable is labor cost. Either way labor will be within 5 min if you elect to replace tombstones or not. 20 min x 6 = two hours at your local rates plus travel and gas surcharge.

I have never used GE tubes so it may be different.

I used hybrid tubes, which can be used with or without the ballast.

I just cut the ballast out and connected the wires if the ballast was bad, if not just popped in the tubes. If it wasn't broken, I left it alone.

I did not add fuses.

I used a couple of cases of bulbs, a case from Amazon, and another one from Home Depot. Plus a handful before I started buying by the case.