Million dollar hack job

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jwjrw

Senior Member
Ok so the whole house isnt a hack job but.........
Its a new house(brand new)
Owner has "someone" build and wire a basement studio apartment.
Needed someone to make what the guy did work.......he moved uo to ny
Found no breakers in panel outside(owner told me he used panel in garage)

Asked if it was done on original permit...... Oh no we dont need no permit.
I found numerous violations, showed him what they were.....
I hooked up circuits found things mostly right but couldnt find why bathroom gfi came from(in basement wire went down wall)Finally found it on a gfi in 3rd floor(all had gfi receps stupid me took 20 min to figure out its on 3rd floor)

So I hand him a bill for 155 for 2 hours and a BR20 twin breaker. Was there two hours checking all outlets, fixing a 3way, hooking circuits blah blah.
He was surprized I was charging that much I guess because he said he needed a few days and would mail it to me. Friend of a customer/GC so I say ok. How could you not have a few hundred set aside before you called someone? It was like he expected to pay 50 dollars but he did not complain
just asked for a few days......
 

jwjrw

Senior Member
thats why HE has the million dollar house:)

And to top it off he was a hispanic gentelman, said he does commercial lending. He somehow subcontracts and is his own boss works from home.
Who says America is not the greatest country on earth. :D
 

jwjrw

Senior Member
Hope you know your not likely to ever get paid. Having a million dollar house does not mean much if it is mortgaged to the max.

I dont get that feeling from this guy and could be wrong. I do agree people with money only have bigger bills but I called my customer who recommended me and he said he is good for it. Has known him for years good guy blah blah. You can usally tell if someone is shady or I can. Ill keep you posted.
 

btharmy

Senior Member
Location
Indiana
How many empty rooms did you see void of furniture, artwork etc... I see it all the time. Nice car, huge house, no money. Can't even furnish their own home past the bedroom and living room. Makes me want $ up front. Last time I turned around at the front door of a house because when I asked up front how they plan to pay he says " I've got about $25 cash. That should cover it, right?" He couldn't have been more wrong. :D
 

jwjrw

Senior Member
How many empty rooms did you see void of furniture, artwork etc... I see it all the time. Nice car, huge house, no money. Can't even furnish their own home past the bedroom and living room. Makes me want $ up front. Last time I turned around at the front door of a house because when I asked up front how they plan to pay he says " I've got about $25 cash. That should cover it, right?" He couldn't have been more wrong. :D

No very nicely furnished and very nice guy. Simple toyota truck a camper in the driveway.Wife works also. If Im going to get stiffed at least it wont be by an a**.:D
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
Asked if it was done on original permit...... Oh no we dont need no permit.
I found numerous violations, showed him what they were.....


I hooked up circuits.:confused:

So I hand him a bill for 155 for 2 hours and a BR20 twin breaker. Was there two hours checking all outlets, fixing a 3way, hooking circuits blah blah.
He was surprized I was charging that much I guess because he said he needed a few days and would mail it to me.


He really doesn't need a permit, not if he can find someoone dumb enough to hook up the circuits without one and best of all he got someone for free (*maybe).

I hate to tell you this but this is the oldest trick in the electrical contracting world. Homeowner gets anyone to wire a job and then finds someone dumb enough to take responsibility for it by making the terminations.
 

jwjrw

Senior Member
He really doesn't need a permit, not if he can find someoone dumb enough to hook up the circuits without one and best of all he got someone for free (*maybe).

I hate to tell you this but this is the oldest trick in the electrical contracting world. Homeowner gets anyone to wire a job and then finds someone dumb enough to take responsibility for it by making the terminations.

Actually I dont feel I was tricked. If I found anything that couldnt be corrected or unsafe I wouldnt of touched it. Never heard of paying 2 people to get a job done. Here they pay the hack AFTER he does ALL the work not before, so he always finishes.
The homeowner only has an invoice for a service call that needed a breaker
 

marti smith

Senior Member
One can simply say on the phone, "payment must be rendered at the time of service; if you are not able to render payment, you may want to consider rescheduling" and that takes care of a lot of those who want service but don't plan on paying. I find that the mindset of paying for a service call varies from customer to customer to customer.
 

Jim W in Tampa

Senior Member
Location
Tampa Florida
Way i see it is you completed a non permited job. How much liability is yours is hard to say. You are the one that applied power to this job by installing the breakers. How do you know if all the wiring is #12 ? We have a thread going right now where the EC mixed #14 and #12 and intended to use a 15 amp breaker. Had you replaced a defective breaker then it would be a service call and repair.

As to the pay, why did you not receive anything ? He had to know it would cost something and i would hope you told him the price of service call upfront.

If he does not willing pay you then there is a problem as you might not want to risk taking him to court because you did unpermited work.

Hopefully your right and get paid. Something very wrong here. He has the money to build a high end home but no money in checking account or a credit card. If it walks like a duck ------
 

jwjrw

Senior Member
Do you only accept payment in cash? he could've just wrote you a check...

Again it was a friend of a customer/gc. I didnt go there to do work.....
I as in ME didnt do what I should of to guarentee I left with some sort of payment ie post dated check etc.

After I saw it I should of quoted a price or something I did not.
I felt it was a safe and other than the few things I fixed was code compliant
or I would not of touched it.

I know what I should of done but it played out how it did.:D
Again never would of happened without him being reccomended by that gc
 

AV ELECTRIC

Senior Member
Ive been down that road a few times friends and family but in most cases i was paid you may want to call him to see how everything is going and when you can expect a check and let him know you appreciate the work and look forward to working with him in the future sometimes these wealthier people treat there residence like there business and prefer to be billed and send a check in the mail. It may lead to a lot more work in the future no big deal.
 

Jim W in Tampa

Senior Member
Location
Tampa Florida
Back in the late 60's i was the service manager of a TV repair department. Policy was we call before delivering your repaired TV. I would put it in nice words of "will you be paying in cash, check or credit card" "We will be sure our driver has change if your paying cash " Worked great and stoped the bull of send us a bill or the kids will be home. After customers get what they want and you leave without the money you might as well forget it.
 

jaylectricity

Senior Member
Location
Massachusetts
Occupation
licensed journeyman electrician
If you have a problem spit it out, if not let it go.

My problem was that jwjrw's post sounded passive aggressive. As if he wasn't actually pleased that a hispanic was enjoying success. Then he was disingenuous in his reply, trying to convince me that he was only commending America for being a place that a hispanic could enjoy success.

For all I know, that hispanic is a natural born citizen. Therefore, him being hispanic has nothing to do with what a great country we live in.

It just seemed like a thinly veiled attack...disguised as praise.

Don't get me wrong, jwjrw...I have no problem with you, I would just appreciate knowing where you were coming from when you made your initial statement.
 
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