How much should it cost to mount a TV & rewire cable & electric?

Question

The store where I am getting the TV charges $700 for this and I think that's really high (not including the bracket). I can go to less well-known places or craigslist but I'm not sure if I could trust people via that route...has anyone done this & what should it really cost? The area where the tv is being mounted does not have an outlet or cable jack. The guy has to run electric up about 6' and over about 3'.

Answer 1

$700 is a bit high if all he is doing is mounting the TV and running standard cable and power.  If he is also setting up a home theater system and running component or HDMI to the tv, then not so.  Companies charge anywhere from $55-$95 per hour per man (my company charges $95).  The actual mounting of the TV should take no more than 2 hours.  The running of cables is variable depending on whats in the walls and where the signal is coming from, but I have yet to have a simple TV hang ever take more than 6 hours.  When I do this myself (I am not a full time installer) I just get the client to help me when I need to actually lift the TV, and do the rest as a 1 man job.  So you can do the math on this.