A beautiful MC job. . . .not really. .

[brantmacga]

Here's the short version:

This is a church, about 20k sq. ft.
EC does strictly residential, but GC on this job was a church member who does only residential as well, and this EC does all his work. I actually got to see this job during the rough-in, and not a single run of the MC was supported, just hung across beams here and there. I walked out on the attic platforms to get pics of the really good stuff but it was too dark for my camera phone to take any pics, but here's some from the mechanical room. The entire job was done in MC except for two runs of 1 1/2 EMT feeding condenser's outside. You can see one in a pic below, looks like they made the bend by running over it with a truck.

 

[quogueelectric]

I wouldnt want to be that guy when he is standing outside the gates of heaven. These pictures will be shown again there. I simply would not believe he did not know any better.

 

[Minuteman]

Wonder if it will pass final inspection?

 

[brantmacga]

Wonder if it will pass final inspection?

It already did, three months ago. Its in a town of about 2k people; the inspector is a nice guy, but bless his heart this was over his head. The last job I did in this town was residential sub-contracted to me by another EC. I showed up on the last day of my rough (a friday) and the insulation was already installed and the electrical had already been passed; the GC called for all the inspections because he wanted drywall hung that weekend. Just thought that'd give you an idea of what kind of inspections they have there.

Another interesting fact; this EC is the electrical instructor @ the tech school. They work at night because his helpers are students from the class. Its unfortunate that these kids are being taught this is the "right" way to do electrical work.

Every job i've bid on that this guy did too went to him. He kills everybody on price. For some odd reason i've been called by HO's to do repair work on many of his installations.

 

[Minuteman]

Do y'all have a State inspection department?

 

[brantmacga]

Do y'all have a State inspection department?

The fire alarm was the only thing inspected by the state. i know it failed one or two inspections, but i'm guessing it eventually passed.

 

[e57]

Tisk - tisk... Tie wire is SOOO CHeap. Makes you wonder why they bothered with MC, or those BO panels for that matter.

This "Inspector" needs an inspecting from the sound of it. The EC, and GC would not survive without him....

The look and feel of it won't kill anyone - but it makes you really wonder about about the care taken in the things that will.....

 

[brantmacga]

no i don't think anyone's in danger, its just piss poor work. i'll have to get a camera with a flash so i can show you whats above the ceiling. when i walked out onto the platform, i walked into (literally) a spiderweb of MC hanging from all different directions.

 

[ultramegabob]

It already did, three months ago. Its in a town of about 2k people; the inspector is a nice guy, but bless his heart this was over his head. The last job I did in this town was residential sub-contracted to me by another EC. I showed up on the last day of my rough (a friday) and the insulation was already installed and the electrical had already been passed; the GC called for all the inspections because he wanted drywall hung that weekend. Just thought that'd give you an idea of what kind of inspections they have there.

I was wiring a trucking terminal in a little one horse town a few years back, when the electrical inspector came for rough in inspection, he just stood in the doorway and said "Huh... yer doing this one in pipe, huh?" then he walked out buy the meter base and made sure there was a ground rod, and said "looks good!".... that was the entire inpection, I dont think he even came back for a final.....

 

[emahler]

population ..2k....church size in sq ft...20k....living in the south..priceless

 

[LawnGuyLandSparky]

population ..2k....church size in sq ft...20k....living in the south..priceless

 

[Jim W in Tampa]

It already did, three months ago. Its in a town of about 2k people; the inspector is a nice guy, but bless his heart this was over his head. The last job I did in this town was residential sub-contracted to me by another EC. I showed up on the last day of my rough (a friday) and the insulation was already installed and the electrical had already been passed; the GC called for all the inspections because he wanted drywall hung that weekend. Just thought that'd give you an idea of what kind of inspections they have there.

Another interesting fact; this EC is the electrical instructor @ the tech school. They work at night because his helpers are students from the class. Its unfortunate that these kids are being taught this is the "right" way to do electrical work.

Every job i've bid on that this guy did too went to him. He kills everybody on price. For some odd reason i've been called by HO's to do repair work on many of his installations.

You could change things in that town.Go after the inspector for not doing his job.Perhaps you could get his job LOL.Seriously i would see who in the state might take action.This work goes beyond garbage work.Hate to even think what his houses look like.If it was costing me bids i would do something.

 

[480sparky]

You could change things in that town.Go after the inspector for not doing his job.Perhaps you could get his job LOL.Seriously i would see who in the state might take action.This work goes beyond garbage work.Hate to even think what his houses look like.If it was costing me bids i would do something.

His houses may be a picture of perfection. House Ropers don't generally do good pipe work, so that's why they probably used MC.... it's as close to Romex as they could (legally) get for the job.

On the flip side, someone who's spent their entire career bending conduit most likely couldn't wire a house properly to save their life.


Ever see a lineman try to be an electrician?

 

[Jim W in Tampa]

His houses may be a picture of perfection. House Ropers don't generally do good pipe work, so that's why they probably used MC.... it's as close to Romex as they could (legally) get for the job.

On the flip side, someone who's spent their entire career bending conduit most likely couldn't wire a house properly to save their life.


Ever see a lineman try to be an electrician?

Luckily for me i can do both but will admit if i had to do a house monday morning i would be slow and asking lots of questions on new codes.In last 4 years i have only done 1 house and that was for friend of by boss.Surely this guy could have tried to be neater.He could have read his code book on mc.
As many of you know Fl residential has come to almost a stop.Our shop gets called every day with residential guys looking for jobs.

 

[peter d]

Ever see a lineman try to be an electrician?

Yes, once, and it was scary. In my very short career working at a supply house, some linemen came in and wanted some material to hook up an outdoor GFI to plug in a diesel engine heater. They had absolutely no clue how to wire it, and they didn't know what material (bell box, cover, UF cable, etc) they needed either.

 

[frizbeedog]

Here's the short version:

That's a waste of a perfectly good set of tools. :-?

 

[acrwc10]

That looks awful. I would expect to see phone lines in an old building to look like that, not new electrical. A couple of pipe runs out of those panels would have done wonders for this job.
They say those that can do, and those that can't teach. I think this guy can't do either one.

 

[growler]

On the flip side, someone who's spent their entire career bending conduit most likely couldn't wire a house properly to save their life.

I resemble that remark. :grin: Actually I do very neat Romex work it just takes a lot longer than the average residential guy. Wiring a house is very simple work, trying to get fast at it is the hard part. That's why I try to stick to jobs where quality is more important than speed. I have never had a single complaint about quality workmanship.

If that guy were even a good residential electrician he should own and read the code book. After 20 years in the field I had to read up on the codes just to do a mobile home hook up. I didn't feel bad about it because I had never did that type of install other than a temp. office trailer.

I still have to open the code book every time I do a job that's unfamiliar to me.

A friend of mine once put it this way. How can you expect people to do a good job when they probably never even seen one. He was refering to electricians in a certain area of the country that I won't mention.

 

[peter d]

Look on the bright side - at least they used Square D gear.

 

[BackInTheHabit]

...Another interesting fact; this EC is the electrical instructor @ the tech school. They work at night because his helpers are students from the class. Its unfortunate that these kids are being taught this is the "right" way to do electrical work. ....

Isn't that considered a conflict of interests?