I am about to build a garage in my backyard and would lilke to run undergroung electrical service from my house to the new garage. I would like to have 60 amps. And 220v available in the garage. The distance between the two buildings is 145' I believe the whole run will be 175' from the house service panel to the service entrance of the garage.

Can you tell me what type and gauge of wire or cable will be most economical for this project. Will it need to be encased in conduit? I am trying to estimate what the material cost will be to determine if it will be worth my time to do the trenching and some of the grunt work myself to save money. The job will have to be inspected, and connections will be made by a licensed electrician.

Use #2 aluminum 4 wire URD cable. This can be direct bury, must be a minimum of 18" deep, for residential only. Sleeve the cable with a short run of conduit if the path crosses a driveway.

If the soil is rocky, you may want to consider using 2" PVC conduit to sleeve the entire length of the run. This will help protect the cable, and allow for easy replacement and upgrade in the future.