After the flooring was finished, Rick finish-coated the walls and started on electrical. Electricians charge $50 to $75 per box, be it a receptacle, switch, fire alarm, or fixture. Do the math: The box, contents, and faceplate cost less than $2, the wire to get there is about 10 cents per foot, the breaker is about $8, and there are 8 boxes on a circuit. I get about $20 of materials on a circuit for which one pays $400 to $600. At an hour per box, the pay goes over $70 per hour. The fixtures are, of course, extra, as lights come in a wide variety of costs. We purchased to-be-discontinued can lights from Lowe's, spending a mere $645 for everything. We took 220 hours for the rough and finish electrical (I had help from cousin Will). It would have cost over $10,000 to install all these boxes, but we paid less than $4000 and have more outlets, cable TV, and phone lines than any reasonable house.

There are three phone lines and a cable TV line to the kitchen, living room, basement exercise area, both offices, and both bedrooms. The workshop has three 20 amp circuits with 20 receptacles and has enough lights on several switches to shoot a movie.

The kitchen has five can lights on a dimmer and the living room has six.

The 30 circuit, 200 amp electrical box is full and has several doubles, increasing the circuits to about 40. The GenTran box is used to connect the emergency generator to the six most important circuits: emergency lights, two for the pump as it is 240v, furnace, master bedroom, and refrigerator. The green sticker says it passed the final inspection!

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