How long is to long with electrician?

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On Jan 5 I had an electrician come in and do some work.
http://www.mikeholt.com/codeForum/viewtopic.php?t=4887&highlight=

According to the contract he had 30 days to complete his work according to the speck sheet. He never finished. So far I have paid him 1/3 of what I owe him. He is now tacking me to court for the rest of the money I own him.

After talking to my lawyer he told me to have a different electrician to come out and document what was done compared to the speck sheet. He did this under camcorder and is willing to go to court with me; I did have my building inspector there for this. I do trust my new electrician.

Do you think I should have the changes made to my wiring or should I let it go until it?s out of court? There is not anything that?s a code violation or anything that is dangers. When I asked my lawyer this he just gave me a blank face and thought about this for a few minutes and said you can get anything done that you want to get done now.
 

tshea

Senior Member
Location
Wisconsin
I read your OP and looked at your diagram. Are you using Trace Engineering invertors?
It's just a question. I will not offer any advise because you are in a legal battle.
Thanks.
 

charlie tuna

Senior Member
Location
Florida
we are electricians --- you have told me your side of the story --- what is the electrical contractor's side? unlike the other trades, we (electricians) are fully dependent on the other trades to complete their work before we can proceed or finish ours! unfortionatly, we do not control the other trades and their progress and remember there are other customers we are committed to besides you. there is no way you could hire me to determine by looking at (or video taping) another contractor's installed work that his progress was correct with your schedule. to prove your point this "other contractor" would have had to been on the job with his video camera every day!!
 
Yes you are right they are old Trace Engineering invertors. I got them off the military a few years back. Trace Engineering invertors have changed a lot from what I have.

As far as the time line the house was built 15 years ago. The heat pump and AC compressor was installed before he bid on the job.
A quick overview of what he had to do was;
Install a 400 amp meter can
Run 4/0 SER though a PVC pipe (pipe was already there).
Put in 2 200 amp panels (one in the shed, one in the house).
Drive one ground rod.
Wire the heat pump and compressor.
Put in a 100 amp generator transfer panel that would switch the 2 hot?s and the neutral. (Did not install one that would switch the neutral).
Move the well and water heater from off grid panel to transfer panel.

Charlie I do see what you are saying. The problem of what he did was installing the wrong transfer panel. It dose met cod but will not let me move my well and water heater between my off grid system and utility power with out causing voltage problems.

Should I just weight for this to go to court? With the legal system this could be years. I am willing for him to come in and tack out the transfer panel and install the right one, but he thinks that he has done the job to the speck sheet.
 

Minuteman

Senior Member
I think I understand the problem. The way I see it. You hired a guy to do an electrical job with some unusual requirements. He thinks that he has followed your instructions and you are not satisfied. Or something like that.

My opinion. Renegotiate. Show him what you meant by what you want and offer him a fair amount for the extra work.

Is it fair to you to pay him more? Maybe not. But, it would be way cheaper than a trial or hiring a new electrician.

Just my opinion.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
Seems to me that you you area bit too casual or matter of course about going to court for my taste. My experience has been that customers who "have a law firm on retainer" are often the ones who are unreasonable. I also think your lawyer is giving you bad advice.

This is not a run-of-the mill job and we have not heard the other side of the story. We also do not advise homeowners or give legal advice. I would close this thread.

-Hal
 
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