Got a call today from an electrician looking to sell his wire. Made some calls and got dealer pricing from a large yard. Time to sharpen my pencil.
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Got a call today from an electrician looking to sell his wire. Made some calls and got dealer pricing from a large yard. Time to sharpen my pencil.
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If he has it stored like that don't worry about sharpening the guy know it is worth something but too lazy to even keep it in boxes, crates or totes. I would start at 1/2 scrap yard price and go up when he says it is worth "way more" than that price. After all you have to pick it up sort or prepare it for better price if you need to, and take it to the yard! Cool find and I think you can make a few bucks on this!
Well now...
Thats a lot of wire.
Nice score. I forget, but I hope your not stripping it by hand. :k
Sirscrapalot - Wire, wire, electric pole on fire! - Taunts from children of electricians? Not Children of the corn...perhaps we'll just credit anonymous.
The guy already has an idea on price. I gave him ball park prices on Romex, THHN and larger THHN. He made the comment that copper must be down. Prices I gave him would match or beat all yards around here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot
Romex and small THHN will go right to my buyer. I may save the larger THHN and strip it. May also strip the larger aluminum.
Congratulations. Unless you have been involved in wire deals like this in the past it will be hard to estimate its value, the amount of time involved in labor, and what your time is worth. If you have a skid steer with rake and large enough trailer this will be a quick job based on the pictures. The owner has already invested time and effort to centrally locate the wire and should be rewarded.
My projects are never in my comfort zone and always different, therefore I would not try to estimate such a project. I would work a partnership based on percentages. Negotiating the rights for picking up future wire on the job based on the land/lease agreement would be worth the effort. In good faith I would provide the weight sheets and a check after each load.
On the forum we used to guess the weight for projects like this. I am going to try to reinstate that practice, if you will entertain us with the results. My guess - 3,750 pds. of #2 and 4,100 pds. of # 1. This guess proves why I do jobs on a percentage basis and please do not use these figures to make an offer.
This was written as the previous responses were posted.
I'm giving him prices per pound. I need to load by hand. If I get it I'll let you know weights when I'm done.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patriot76
Don't take offense you run yours your way and I run mine my way.........Unsorted mess like that one price and it's not top dollarQuote:
Originally Posted by mthomasdev
Something to think about when I go look at it.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeinreco
i have walked away over a few cents per lb and sometimes even get called back when they can't find a better dealQuote:
Originally Posted by mthomasdev
Something like that, send an aggregate sample of the lot. What that means is say... 12" strands of each kind of wire present then an educated guess (or better pictures) of wire type by percent. After that it's just a matter of getting the wire, once you know it's real value that is.
2600 lbs total copperQuote:
Originally Posted by Patriot76
"Profit begins when you buy not when you sell"Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeinreco
Always be ready to walk away. Be certain that you will make money or you may be disappointed. You are providing a service. 73, Mike
Will you be able to take all wire in one load? It is hard to figure volume in the pics.
wow thats alot of wire wish i could find that stuff in such a mass amount to. not sure if id pay for it. i thought if you pay for you metal you lose money just my thoughts. that would take a long time to strip all that lol.
i supose if you had nothing better to do you could strip it all and at least with wire you can strip it inside unlike a/c's where they are messy.
Haven't been there yet, but I'm thinking at least 2, maybe 3 loads with my 6x10 trailer. I can put 3 40x40 gaylords on, plus still have room on the sides.Quote:
Originally Posted by hobo finds
The chances of getting something like this without paying are zero. As far as making money on it, you need to be able to secure better pricing. When you start moving some volume, you can talk to yard managers and regional scrap buyers and secure dealer pricing.Quote:
Originally Posted by mike1
I won't be stripping much of it. It's better to turn it and move on, unless you have a stripper and alot of time.
Is the bigger pile of black stuff in pic 2 and 3 aluminum? If so I am guessing 1000 lbs of aluminum wire.
When I purchased that Quonset that burnt to the ground and offered yard clean up, my pile of copper in that deal was all heavy number 1 with three very large transformers. I sold the wire with the insulation as is and striped out the transformers.Quote:
Originally Posted by mthomasdev
The insulation comprises of 30% of your gross weight.
Back in the day when you could burn wire me and a buddy did my gravel truck full plus a loaded 3 ton flat deck, at the end of the burn whetted the huge pile down with a fire hose to stop the wire from further oxidation.
All the wire from two loaded trucks fit into the gravel truck, fortunately I had a winch on the truck with a hook so that we could load the wire.
Personally I would not waste my time stripping that wire, just sell it as is, volume is going to net you a good price plus not not stuck getting rid of the waste plastic.
let us know how it goes.
im sure im not the only one thats VERY interested to see how much wire.
and how much u get paid for it
I want to revise my guess to 600 lbs.Quote:
Originally Posted by pjost
Hang in there with your first quote, personally I think the large black is aluminum.Quote:
Originally Posted by pjost
My guess 4444 lbs. total insulated wire! Who knows what else the guy may have when you get there and set your price. Could get a bunch of free stuff added to the mix. And if you are giving him a per pound price are you weighing it there as you load it or going to give him actual scrapyard weight after turning it in?
Not weighing there. It is either going to be based on the scale from my buyer or my own scale, if I finally pull that trigger. Been debating a 4x4 floor scale for a while. It's tough shipping LTL wit out one. You either need to have small boxes, or weigh stuff as you fill a gaylord or pallet. I have a 3 or 4 pallet load that needs to go out shortly.Quote:
Originally Posted by hobo finds
Check in with our shipper member, gorven and see what he says on having to weigh it before shipping. I say because I have been shipping pallets for a while and I give my buyer a good guess on weight and he tells me about what it will cost. When I drop off my pallet at the shipping company, I think its YRC was Yellow Freight. They weigh the pallet and do their paper work for it then and there.Quote:
Originally Posted by mthomasdev
Now as far as being a buyer, as most of us are at least sometimes, having a good scale is a great thing to have.
gorven's page https://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scra...-services.html
Still looking forward to your results. 73, Mike
after this wire load you should be able to get that floor scale. Were you able to go out and see the wire yet? Most of us around here are excited to see what you have and how it ends up!Quote:
Originally Posted by mthomasdev
Tommorrow night I'm looking at it. Been a busy week. Pickup last night, pickup tonight, load of computers in the morning, this tomorrow night. Pickup Saturday morning. Still have to get back to one of the computer shops. Combine that with a full time job and my son playing football (3 practices and a game).Quote:
Originally Posted by hobo finds
Yep football games are rough my daughter was in marching band 3 practices a week at night and the game on Friday and then they had competitions normally out of town on Saturdays! But they were fun times and taught her how to manage her time in order to get homework and projects done and still do well in school. Like sports if you had bad grades you could not play at the game.Quote:
Originally Posted by mthomasdev
OK, update time. Owner was not available last night, but gave me the address and said to go take a look. I had different thoughts on the way down. Why would he give the the address of something worth many thousands of dollars and allow me on the property when he wasn't there, without ever having met me. I went anyways.
Pile looks bigger in person. There is a bunch of aluminum, up to 3/0 from what I saw. A bunch of romex, some heavier stuff. Huge amount if THHN. saw a little bit of 4\0 and a little bit of 300KCM. There is also some aluminum BX. THHN is going to be a little difficult because there is some cat 5 and 6, along with communication wire mixed in.
I'll try to post more photos and a video later.
Is most of the big pile baled up down inside?
I have a feeling there's going to be a big tangle or two,perhaps a few hundred lbs, that may not be worth separating and sold as mixed. I would figure not being able to separate all of it without spending a good bit of time.
4900 lbs, but hope it's more than that!
nothing is baledQuote:
Originally Posted by NHscrapman
Sorry
I meant the loops of wire that are taped or tied off. The back pile seemed to have more of this type while the front pile seemed pretty much loose wire and a big tangled mess.
Another thing to consider, and I don't think anyone mentioned this yet ... does this guy work for himself as a contractor? Or does he work for another outfit?
I wen back and looked at the pics again. Anyone who is working as a contractor, probably would have used a good portion of that on jobs which would make them more money.
Here is the link to my facebook page with a video of the wire. I will also put up more photos.Quote:
Originally Posted by mthomasdev
https://www.facebook.com/MTDewaste/?...homepage_panel
He is the owner / contractor. I also did a double take and questioned why some wire was tossed. Maybe it is more of a hassle to bring all the small (to us) lengths to a job in hopes of using them.Quote:
Originally Posted by HipoGear
That's one big A$$ed pile of wire. Good luck I hope it works out for you. Don't forget you are doing him a service removing it. He won't have to do it himself of pay one of his employees to do it. 73, Mike
You should offer a lump sum payment and then remove it. This method works for me, and is usually the most profitable.
Obviously the owner is looking for some quick cash. I personally would offer 450$ and go to 500$ in a pinch. Make it worth your time.
I would offer a lil less than half of what the scrap yards are giving, the prices here are dropping a bit. He prolly knows what it's worth but you figure he's selling because he's getting cash and your doing all the work not to mention cleaning his mess up for him, I would say that's the main reason he's wanting to sell anyway
So WTF happened on this wire deal.
If your gonna start something, finish it.
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