Hi All,

Was wondering if anyone has ballpark figures on what it costs to have a dedicated 20 amp circuit (or 2) run for home theater.

I'm sure a lot of it has to do with distance from breaker box to where the wall plate will go, but just wondering if it's typically a $500 job or $1000 or what.

Thanks,

Alex

It'll depend on several factors - accessibility of pathway being a big one. I added a dedicated 15A circuit at our old house and since it was a single-story slab-on-grade I ended up running exposed conduit on the exterior of the house. At the same time, we added a receptacle outside on a separate circuit in the same pathway. It's not what one would call a "pretty" installation, but I think it was around $250 in 2002. That's the bottom end of the range, since it was a relatively new house service with spaces in the panel (replaced the original 60A service in 1999 shortly after I bought the place with a 200A service), a relatively short run, and entirely exposed surface-mounted conduit. If you will be doing anything through a crawlspace or attic, I'd expect the price to go up. The $500 is probably closer to a reasonable ballpark without knowing more about the specific situation.

Yep it would have to be run through the crawlspace below the house.

Thanks for the info, Gonk.

That's one definite benefit to crawlspaces - easy pathway for stuff like this. New residential construction in my area has been slab-on-grade almost exclusively for several decades now, which makes changes like this a major pain on the first floor of two-story homes.

Depending on surprises this job should be well under $500.

BloggingIT,

You have the right ideas. I am also an IT guy and can't find any work do to the sobs in DC and pig headed corportae America.