We buy copper and aluminum building wire

Building wire is the conductor that carries power inside a structure: branch circuits to receptacles and lights, feeders from a panel to a subpanel, and service entrance conductors from the meter to the main disconnect. It is the largest category of surplus wire in Alabama because every commercial job orders more than it installs.

We buy it in copper and aluminum, solid and stranded, in original boxes, full reels, partial reels and coiled cut lengths. Typical constructions include THHN, THWN, THWN-2, XHHW, XHHW-2, RHW-2, RHH, USE-2, SER and SEU, plus the bare and green grounding conductors that travel with them.

What we need is identity: the wire type, the conductor material, the gauge or MCM, and the approximate length. Without a tag, the print on the jacket usually provides all of it.

Most building wire we see is unused. It was ordered for a job, partly installed, and the balance went back into the connex or onto a shelf. Original-wrap reels with tags are the simplest to quote.

Opened boxes are fine too. A 1,000-foot box with 600 feet left is still worth buying; we just need the remaining length, which is often written on the box flap. Coiled cut lengths need the conductor size and an approximate measurement — a tape measure against the coil diameter helps.

Wire that was installed and removed is considered case by case. Photograph the jacket and the ends so the insulation condition is visible; brittle or deeply gouged insulation changes what the lot is worth.