Last time I do work for "little old ladies"

[cowboyjwc]

Not to get too off topic.........maybe the person that sent me this is a little ole' lady?

A out of state relocation company.... sent this to me for a few electrical things that need to be done in a house a couple of towns away.......

How do you "bid" on something so stupid?



We are in need of the following repairs to the home. Please submit your bid to me with the following information:
1) Please provide a bid ($ amount) for each item listed below. Please reference number of each repair under each category.

2) Please include your company?s full name, address, contact information and license numbers on the bid form.

3) Please include your estimated available start times for the repairs.

4) Please indicate your payment terms (50% down, etc).


Electrician Repairs:
1) There are double tapped neutral wires at the main panel buss bar and one double tapped circuit breaker in the sub-panel. There are two basement wall outlets which had no power when tested. One garage switch/junction box is not secured to the wall.


SOLUTION: ELECTRICIAN: Have an electrician make all repairs.



:blink:


INSANE!

I get an email like that every couple of days asking for the same information, except it's usually from a Nigerian banker or the Bank of London, or some boby who just won the lottery and want's to help other people and once they get the info they will send me my $10M USD.:roll:

 

[ritelec]

I get an email like that every couple of days asking for the same information, except it's usually from a Nigerian banker or the Bank of London, or some boby who just won the lottery and want's to help other people and once they get the info they will send me my $10M USD.:roll:

Very Very funny !!!!!!!!!!

 

[ritelec]

had one tell me to go easy on her cause she was on a "fixed income" .... I told her she was lucky, I wasn't guaranteed a dime

Just caught this................nice.

I have a relative who made an investment (23k) and was bought out in under 3 years ...............buy out amount was 4.2 million. This relative has retired and now complains about having to live on a "fixed income". GEEZ............

 

[kwired]

Just caught this................nice.

I have a relative who made an investment (23k) and was bought out in under 3 years ...............buy out amount was 4.2 million. This relative has retired and now complains about having to live on a "fixed income". GEEZ............

I would like to have a fixed income in some ways. Takes a lot of guess work out of planning things, whether the fixed income is low or high - at least you know what it will be. As Gac said - I'm not guaranteed a dime.

 

[ramsy]

It looks like the ones that really need help are the young couples with a home and children, a large number of the retired seniors have incomes that go off the scale..

My largest loss did come from a young couple this year. And, on Friday there was another wedding reception having a $7.00 brunch, next table from me. No party-room rental, no tuxedos, just one bottle of sparkly. Waiter said the ceremony was held across the street at city hall. And, I thought the city was closed on a Fridays.

 

[ramsy]

..So you can never tell if someone is in truly in need or faking, ..in many cities you can hook them up with an agency that will help, the agency will shake out the fakes and help those in need.

You mean "hook them up" with permits, leveraging the Building Department's Red-Tag special.

The same agency available in most cities, which:
(1) consistently deals with fakes by providing revocation of occupancy, or
(2) provides the needed incentive for miraculous-angel money that pays for everything, or
(3) springs inspectors upon unlicensed contractors, resulting in free labor & material for those in need. CA B&P 7028 (et all)

we do a lot of small jobs and charge them a few dollars to make them feel they are not getting a free ride.

You mean small jobs without permits can't be forced to pay more than a few dollars, or is it a different agency you are referring?

 

[satcom]

You mean "hook them up" with permits, leveraging the Building Department's Red-Tag special.

The same agency available in most cities, which:
(1) consistently deals with fakes by providing revocation of occupancy, or
(2) provides the needed incentive for miraculous-angel money that pays for everything, or
(3) springs inspectors upon unlicensed contractors, resulting in free labor & material for those in need. CA B&P 7028 (et all)



You mean small jobs without permits can't be forced to pay more than a few dollars, or is it a different agency you are referring?

I have no idea what you are talking about, in my state every community has funds for assisting anyone in need to make emergency housing repairs to their home.
the funds pay for the permit and the work, but they must be in need.

 

[ramsy]

..in my state every community has funds for assisting anyone in need to make emergency housing repairs to their home. the funds pay for the permit and the work, but they must be in need.

Do we have any agency names?

Perhaps they might direct me to something similar near Placentia, CA for a 90 yr. old lady living in the dark for over a year.

Its an early 1900's bungalow, 1-leg service drop, 120v 30A fused neutral. Service looks like an AC disconnect. Found surface mount j-box 10 feet up exterior wood siding, with cloth wire. Perhaps from knob & tube feeding ceiling lamps. Lady showed me cords strung from lamp-socket adapters all over the house.

Problem is terminations came undone. Also with little insulation on #10 feeders in J-box. Stripped back cloth, Megger tested OK. Would be an easy fix if legal or insurable, which I doubted. So I capped off with wire nuts, and put cover back on box.

An amazing person from a time beyond my comprehension. Of course the POCO & I told her the same story: "30A fused neutral is unserviceable, illegal, and hazardous." "Upgrade is required to modern building codes." "My insurance would not cover this." Insurance may deny a claim resulting from repair, and prevail for willful incompetence of the contractor.

She doesn't see it that way. Her property is not modified nor remodeled, it should be repairable to original inspected condition. 100A is not needed, never has been. Every time I drive by, no one has touched it, and she persists in living in the dark for over a year now.

Her neighborhood is not a declared disaster area, nor eligible for Federal grants. Doesn't Habitat for Humanity work like a lottery, choosing one recipient out of eligible thousands. If there is any agency willing to help this lady.

If so, I will point her there? Her land-line phone works fine.

 

[kwired]

Her land-line phone works fine.

Of course it does - it is probably at least 50 years newer than all other wiring:happyyes:


Even if you find some help for her she needs to accept their offer to help, if she thinks everything is fine ...

 

[Rampage_Rick]

Of course it does - it is probably at least 50 years newer than all other wiring

Who knows, she could have the third phone ever, right behind Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson...

 

[jmellc]

I am not fond of mc lights either. They are inconsistent from brand to brand, are often hard to aim properly and/or the sensor cannot be aimed where needed if one of the bulbs is too low or high, etc. Waving tree limbs can activate them, or deer, as someone mentioned. Add to the mix the ones with half & full bright settings for an even bigger mess. Does anyone remember a brand of floods called Swivelier? They were not mc but basic floods. They had a ball bearing socket mount and were easy to aim. The sockets now are all nipple & locknut type. Have to roll this way or that to go high or low, etc. Ball bearing mount just moved with you. That would be a welcome improvement with most floods now.

The only one I ever saw that was reliable was a wall light by a neighbor's front door. Hit the 2nd section of walkway, it came on every time. Some mc switches, as in restrooms, seem to work well too.

I have talked some customers out of them. A few have been satisfied with them but probably were not too picky. I wonder if a remote sensor closer to ground would be better in some cases, but would be expensive & tedious to wire.

 

[ramsy]

Even if you find some help for her she needs to accept their offer to help...

Sometimes it takes a villiage, and community support may be the right approach.

 

[satcom]

Do we have any agency names?

Perhaps they might direct me to something similar near Placentia, CA for a 90 yr. old lady living in the dark for over a year.

Its an early 1900's bungalow, 1-leg service drop, 120v 30A fused neutral. Service looks like an AC disconnect. Found surface mount j-box 10 feet up exterior wood siding, with cloth wire. Perhaps from knob & tube feeding ceiling lamps. Lady showed me cords strung from lamp-socket adapters all over the house.

Problem is terminations came undone. Also with little insulation on #10 feeders in J-box. Stripped back cloth, Megger tested OK. Would be an easy fix if legal or insurable, which I doubted. So I capped off with wire nuts, and put cover back on box.

An amazing person from a time beyond my comprehension. Of course the POCO & I told her the same story: "30A fused neutral is unserviceable, illegal, and hazardous." "Upgrade is required to modern building codes." "My insurance would not cover this." Insurance may deny a claim resulting from repair, and prevail for willful incompetence of the contractor.

She doesn't see it that way. Her property is not modified nor remodeled, it should be repairable to original inspected condition. 100A is not needed, never has been. Every time I drive by, no one has touched it, and she persists in living in the dark for over a year now.

Her neighborhood is not a declared disaster area, nor eligible for Federal grants. Doesn't Habitat for Humanity work like a lottery, choosing one recipient out of eligible thousands. If there is any agency willing to help this lady.

If so, I will point her there? Her land-line phone works fine.

The AJH told me the town had funds and they should apply soon because the emergency repair funds are limited, and with the recent pressure to cut costs, they may be harder to get, the city clerk should know if your city has a fund.

 

[ramsy]

..the city clerk should know if your city has a fund.

Many Thanks.

 

[kwired]

Who knows, she could have the third phone ever, right behind Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson...

I suppose she could still have some very old phone wiring. Most phone wiring I run into that is still in use is at least less than 50 yrs old, but I can not always say that for power and lighting.

 

[Agapeelectric]

Workmanlike manor

Workmanlike manor

Well, this is part venting, part question.
Last week I installed 3 security lights for a "little old lady" (literally). Where was my brain? I don't know, but I give her a break(read just enough to cover my gas and materials). That was the original idea.
Next day she calls me that one of the lights stay on all night. I go there the following day, play an hr with the light, decide to change it. I go pick another one, install the new one, tape the photocell, spend another hr playing with it (range, sensitivity, etc). I put the range at half and the timer at one minute. I test it 4 times, goes off in one minute. I put the sensor down 30 degrees from the ground(so range should be even less)
Guess what? Today she called me again claiming the light stays on all night.
Before I go there at night and spend 2-3 hrs watching that light, does anyone have any insight into this? I have a feeling 90% is her perception, but maybe some of you have more experience with this?

Its an honorable thing to help the less fortunate not everyone can afford to pay 75-110$ an hr for electrical work, yet they still have the same needs and problems as our good paying clients so along as your heart is in the right place and you know you probably gonna make a lot of trips ( murphyslaw) cause whenever you do something nice for some reason it always takes a lot more time and the person doesn't know how much money your losing cause your comparing with other jobs ,so be ready for the sacrifice get your mind ready and you won't stress out to much and feel a lot better afterwards , it's a great thing to do and part of our job as tradesman.

 

[Strife]

I don't mind spending my time to help the less fortunate, heck I don't even mind using some of the materials I already have in the van (SIC, even though I paid for that roll of #12, it doesn't hurt that much using 50' off of it, being that is paid already).
But can I LEAST get my gas money back? I spent more in gas in that job than the whole thing. With the price of the damn thing, it gets personal when I can not even cover the gas.

Its an honorable thing to help the less fortunate not everyone can afford to pay 75-110$ an hr for electrical work, yet they still have the same needs and problems as our good paying clients so along as your heart is in the right place and you know you probably gonna make a lot of trips ( murphyslaw) cause whenever you do something nice for some reason it always takes a lot more time and the person doesn't know how much money your losing cause your comparing with other jobs ,so be ready for the sacrifice get your mind ready and you won't stress out to much and feel a lot better afterwards , it's a great thing to do and part of our job as tradesman.

 

[kwired]

Its an honorable thing to help the less fortunate not everyone can afford to pay 75-110$ an hr for electrical work, yet they still have the same needs and problems as our good paying clients so along as your heart is in the right place and you know you probably gonna make a lot of trips ( murphyslaw) cause whenever you do something nice for some reason it always takes a lot more time and the person doesn't know how much money your losing cause your comparing with other jobs ,so be ready for the sacrifice get your mind ready and you won't stress out to much and feel a lot better afterwards , it's a great thing to do and part of our job as tradesman.

Less fortunate are not always easy to determine just how less fortunate they really are. I know of people that financially are very comfortable, yet live like they have very little and do get things done for cheap, or even free by those that feel sorry for them. I also know of others that seem very average but maybe are going through a temporary hard time.

I find the best thing to do is treat everyone the same - that is most fair to everyone. If I do indeed know someone is going through a hard time and I want to help them - that is a case by case situation, and whatever break they are given is from my own kindness and any decisions made at the time.

 

[readydave8]

I don't mind spending my time to help the less fortunate, heck I don't even mind using some of the materials I already have in the van (SIC, even though I paid for that roll of #12, it doesn't hurt that much using 50' off of it, being that is paid already).
But can I LEAST get my gas money back? I spent more in gas in that job than the whole thing. With the price of the damn thing, it gets personal when I can not even cover the gas.

Look at it as the cost of learning to try to avoid situation in the future.

What I like to do is charge everyone the same (but sometimes I give a break although it's against my policy) and donate to organizations, let them determine the need. One tenant was an abused wife, I charged her full rent but made a cash donation to the organization that was helping her with her rent. In the past have donated labor and materials to Habitat but haven't gotten around to it lately.

And sometimes I give a little old lady a break and spend more on gas for return trips than I charged for the job, at least you're not alone.