No permit and no payment

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Twoskinsoneman

Twoskinsoneman

Senior Member
Location
West Virginia, USA NEC: 2020
Occupation
Facility Senior Electrician
strictly theoretical here.
I KNOW there are folks here that have done small jobs with no permit.

What would/have you done if the client is slow to... or just won't pay?
It's seems one might be hesitant to make too much fuss when the job was done illegally..

Just curious.
 
LEO2854

LEO2854

Esteemed Member
Location
Ma
Twoskinsoneman said:
strictly theoretical here.
I KNOW there are folks here that have done small jobs with no permit.

What would/have you done if the client is slow to... or just won't pay?
It's seems one might be hesitant to make too much fuss when the job was done illegally..

Just curious.
Click to expand...

Allways pull a permit that covers you..:)
 
Twoskinsoneman

Twoskinsoneman

Senior Member
Location
West Virginia, USA NEC: 2020
Occupation
Facility Senior Electrician
LEO2854 said:
The point is if you can pull permits you can cover your self and take them to court to force payment otherwise you will be totaly dependant on them alone to pay you if they want...:(
Click to expand...

I do understand your point and agree with it. Okay?

Having said that if anyone has an answer to the actual OP I would appreciate it.
 
GUNNING

GUNNING

Senior Member
Location
Gainesville, Florida
COLLECT

COLLECT

If the job needs a permit pull one & add that to your costs, around here repairs don't need a permit. Add reasonable interest and collection fees too.

We had a guy that owned a ford dealer that wouldn't pay any invoice under $500 and boasted about it.. Needless to say his invoices were $501 and above.:eek:

Maybe your invoice isn't enough.
 
brian john

brian john

Senior Member
Location
Leesburg, VA
We would treat it no differently, what does a permit have to do with the customers obligation to pay. We have many jobs that do not require permits. We bill and EXPECT to be paid, we follow up and as I said treat it no differently.
 
ptonsparky

ptonsparky

Tom
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
Most of my work is permitted as most of it is not required to be. Pulling a permit for device replacement is just a pia for everyone.

Do you permit that open junction box you found in an attic under 12 inches of insulation? the poor connection at a device?

I had a permit on a job and was not getting paid for it. The owners were occupying the building before job completion and final inspection. My suggestion that maybe the building inspectors would not find this acceptable brought a very short and to the point message from the owners lawyers to basically STFU unless I wanted additonal problems.
 
S

satcom

Senior Member
If you are having a problem collecting small service call fees, make sure you have the costomer sign a work order approval to do the repair before you start any job, then when the job is finished present an invoice, if the customer refuses to pay , at this point, on the spot call the police and file a theft of service complaint, then when the case comes to court, bring your copy of customer approval work order. My carpet cleaning guy said customers try to stiff him on a regular basis so he files a complaint
 
R

rt66electric

Senior Member
Location
Oklahoma
reverse "angies list needed ???

reverse "angies list needed ???

I think there is a angie's list for contractors.
Maybe someone could make a DEADBEAT cutomers website???

My local is small enough that the supply houses know the deadbeat customers, and warn their buddy contractors to "GET YOUR MONEY UP FRONT".
The 1st local gets shafted then the customer usually has to pay more for a out of town contractor.
 
P

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
I am alwasy amazed that this kind of thing even comes up. Tell the guy upfront it is COD - cash, check, or CC. That will get rid of most of the problem children that don't want to pay.

And don't try to save a few bucks on check guarantee or CC fees. Just pay them and let someone else be the guy that worries about collecting from deadbeats.
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
LEO2854 said:
The point is if you can pull permits you can cover your self and take them to court to force payment otherwise you will be totaly dependant on them alone to pay you if they want...:(
Click to expand...

brian john said:
We would treat it no differently, what does a permit have to do with the customers obligation to pay. We have many jobs that do not require permits. We bill and EXPECT to be paid, we follow up and as I said treat it no differently.
Click to expand...

My thoughts also - how does pulling a permit make customer obligated to pay?

New construction they may not be able to occupy the place until approved but to come into some existing place and add something? Around here Electrical inspectors as well as their employer want nothing to do with anything of that nature. Their job is to ensure installations meet the code they are enforcing, make sure any laws related to the electrical industry are being followed. About the only monetary figures they get involved with contractors with are making sure the permit fee collected matches the required fee for the work they inspected. Anything money problems between the contractor and owner are none of their business and they want to keep it that way.
 
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