A move or removal is not a discounted installation. Price it as its own job, in stages: assess the existing install, disconnect and make safe, transport, make good, do the new-position work, then test and record. Most of the price is your time and the unknowns inside an installation you did not do.
Key Takeaways
- Price a move or removal in stages — assess, disconnect, transport, make good, new-position work, records — never as a fraction of an install.
- The unknowns live in the previous installation; the survey stage exists to find them before the price does.
- Reuse is a paperwork question: condition on the day, remaining warranty from the documents.
- Name making-good on the quote, or expect to argue about it at the old wall.
Why Small Jobs Carry Full-Size Costs
Every job carries the same frame: travel, a survey, a licensed electrician’s time, paperwork. A new install prices against hardware you chose; a move prices against someone else’s work — fixings you did not set, a circuit whose history you cannot see, a unit whose condition you must judge before touching it. Removal-only work is not half a job: the circuit left behind still needs an agreed, safe end state. The variables that move a new install’s price — run length, panel capacity, access, in our guide to what affects EV charger installation cost — are, on a move, mostly unknowns until you look.
The Anatomy of a Move or Removal Price
| Stage | What varies | What it does to the price |
|---|---|---|
| Assess the existing install | Plug-in or hard-wired; unit condition; whether install records exist | Decides one visit or two. An undocumented install is surveyed, not assumed — the survey is a priced stage |
| Disconnect and make safe | The circuit’s agreed end state; access to the panel; who signs the work off | Licensed-electrician time either way; a circuit left live for reuse is a wider scope than one retired |
| Transport and storage | Distance between positions; whose vehicle carries the unit; a gap of days or weeks between removal and refit | A refit on another day is a second visit with its own price line, not a favour |
| Making good the old position | Wall and floor surfaces, redundant fixings, what remains of the old circuit | The line customers forget exists until they see the wall. Name it on the quote or argue later |
| New-position work | Whether a suitable circuit already exists at the new spot — a survey question, not a hope | Ranges from a straightforward refit to a full new-install scope; the widest swing in the price |
| Test and records | Settings as left, the test record, updated paperwork | Small but never zero — a moved unit closes with the same records as a new one |
Reuse or Replace: Price Both, Let the Paperwork Decide
Before quoting the move, run the reuse question. Condition you can judge on the day: enclosure, cable, connector, a unit that still completes a charge. Remaining life you cannot judge from the wall — that is a document check, and the customer owns the documents: the purchase date, the warranty terms as written, and whether those terms follow the unit to a new address or owner. If the unit is old, or its paperwork is missing, quote the move and the replacement side by side and let the customer choose with two honest totals in front of them. One point does not change with the address: the new circuit is checked like any new install, and charging is a continuous load — under the NEC the breaker is sized at 125% of the charger’s current, so 40 A of charging sits on a 50 A breaker.
When the Next Move Should Be an Unplug
Moves are where portable chargers earn their keep. A plug-in portable such as the EV-ACS4005T, adjustable between 16 and 40 A on a NEMA 14-50 plug, or the EV-ACS3210T, which sets its 10–32 A range in six steps, turns the customer’s next move into an unplug rather than a booking. If the quote conversation reveals a pattern — rentals, a sale coming, a second home — price the portable option alongside the move. Installers building a small-jobs price list can source units through the distributor program.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I quote a move from photos alone?
Photos scope the conversation; they cannot carry the price. The old install’s unknowns — circuit state, fixings, condition — are exactly what photos hide. Quote the survey, then the job.
Is removal-only work half the price of an install?
No. Disconnecting, making safe and settling the circuit’s end state are most of the skilled content. Only the new hardware is missing.
Who pays for making good the old wall?
Whoever the quote says. Give making-good its own line and scope; unpriced making-good is the most common small-job dispute there is.
Related Reading
- What Affects EV Charger Installation Cost? 8 Factors to Check
- What Is a Standard EV Charger Installation?
- How Much Does It Cost to Install a Commercial EV Charging Station?
