Buried Box......Again

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I don't find buried boxes....not my job.

1st - I have prints telling me what is where.
2nd - Photo's are taken of job.
3rd - I simply count up how many boxes are buried and tell the GC....thats it.... I don't say where they are buried. HE has to find them!!! If they are not found before I leave....and that's all that's left....extra trip charge!!

Yes...$10 is too cheap!!! If....I mean IF, I have to find them....$75-$125 an opening (depending on my mood), period!:cool:

People have to responsible for their work, as do I.
 
I'm on the side of those that bash and cut the heck out of the drywall.

I had job where a carpenter who was contracted to play drywaller. He accused me of being on drugs :mad: because I was certain that I had roughed a wall sconce box in a stairway landing. He kept telling me; in front of the home owner, that I had forgotten to rough the box and it was my fault and I should have to pay for the drywall repair if any probe holes were made. He got pretty bitchy about the whole thing.

I told him to put his money where his mouth was. I told him the deal was: I'd pay him cash to repair the drywall and paint if there was no box and wiring where I thought it was. If there was a box and wiring, I'd charge him for my time to locate it, and all repair and associated cost was on his end. I made sure to start searching for the box at the end of the day to log some overtime on the smart ass carpenter's dime. Needless to say the box was there, but what the guy didn't tell me was he used plywood as a leveler for the drywall to match the old lathe. The home owner was happy I found the box, but gave the carpenter an earfull the next day about her new wall needing patching.
The part that really pissed him off was the home owner ended up changing the texture of the entire hall way to hide the patchwork.
 
fondini said:
try marking the floor with spray paint,short line recept,long line for switch boxes,works for me!
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LOL!

The houses I work on have stained concrete floors. Spraypaint marks on them and someone is going to be doing a lot of very impossible cleaning.
 
One of my pet peeves is drywallers.

Even when they don't bury boxes they damage them.

From the onset I let the owner or GC know that I have no tolerance for anyone that messes with my work. Some rockers will put a sheet up against the boxes and use a hammer to force the boxes to make marks in the drywall so they know where to make the cut without having to measure. Of course this pushes the boxes back into the wall.

I make it known that I will bust out any drywall I need to in order to locate or repair boxes but will NOT fix the busted drywall. I also make it known that since I am not charging for the work I will do it the fastest, dirtiest way possible.

Sometimes this will force the owner or GC to use skilled drywallers instead of hacks. The really good guys work with us, not against us and in the long run using them is a better deal overall.
 
quogueelectric said:
Book is .2 hrs which is 12 minutes.
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He didn't say he charged for 3 minutes he simply said that's all it took. I agree more than 5 minutes, it must be getting towards the end of the day.:grin:

SiddMartin said:
start takin a hammer and puttin holes in the wall till u find it. they will stop.
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Remember many the job where my boss started at the door and started punching holes all the time saying "I know there's one around here somewhere".:grin:
 
tallgirl said:
LOL!

The houses I work on have stained concrete floors. Spraypaint marks on them and someone is going to be doing a lot of very impossible cleaning.
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I too would only be showing back up after paint and the floor were done - so the paint may have well never been there.... It may as well be under italian marble - sometimes it is....

JFletcher said:
Something like this helps with wires staying rotozip-free.



480sparky - great ideas - I've done the floor marking. How does one keep track of pictures on a larger project?
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There is someone out there who sells 1G plates with a nail on them - I made my own once just to try it - everyone hated them and I found them on the floor. I tried it with out the nail on it, and they all almost got buried...

Name the pictures... 'MBEDN = M.bed North...

romba_one said:
I'm on the side of those that bash and cut the heck out of the drywall.

I had job where a carpenter who was contracted to play drywaller. He accused me of being on drugs :mad: because I was certain that I had roughed a wall sconce box in a stairway landing. He kept telling me; in front of the home owner, that I had forgotten to rough the box and it was my fault and I should have to pay for the drywall repair if any probe holes were made. He got pretty bitchy about the whole thing.

I told him to put his money where his mouth was. I told him the deal was: I'd pay him cash to repair the drywall and paint if there was no box and wiring where I thought it was. If there was a box and wiring, I'd charge him for my time to locate it, and all repair and associated cost was on his end. I made sure to start searching for the box at the end of the day to log some overtime on the smart ass carpenter's dime. Needless to say the box was there, but what the guy didn't tell me was he used plywood as a leveler for the drywall to match the old lathe. The home owner was happy I found the box, but gave the carpenter an earfull the next day about her new wall needing patching.
The part that really pissed him off was the home owner ended up changing the texture of the entire hall way to hide the patchwork.
Click to expand...
I have been here too.... "Oh you forgot it - and now you have to cut one into the level 5 egg-shell finish wall....." Called me a "LIAR" in front of the customer..... Rather than punch the guy - I turned and jambed my flat head in the wall - "It's right there!" - missed it by ~3/8" :D That was back in my younger less composed days - it ended up on him anyway...

But in the last say 8 years or so - almost all on my work has been precise placement and drawn on the elevations often - I can just use a measuring tape and stick a piece of tape there - and often on my plans I'll note measurements to them if not shown. Hieghts are all the same - and a simple number on the plans for distance to rough walls... If someone thinks I forgot it - show a picture.
 
e57 said:
"I too would only be showing back up after paint and I have been here too.... "Oh you forgot it - and now you have to cut one into the level 5 egg-shell finish wall....." Called me a "LIAR" in front of the customer..... Rather than punch the guy - I turned and jambed my flat head in the wall - "It's right there!" - missed it by ~3/8" :D That was back in my younger less composed days - it ended up on him anyway...

But in the last say 8 years or so - almost all on my work has been precise placement and drawn on the elevations often - I can just use a measuring tape and stick a piece of tape there - and often on my plans I'll note measurements to them if not shown. Hieghts are all the same - and a simple number on the plans for distance to rough walls... If someone thinks I forgot it - show a picture."

I've found a good number of burried boxes just going off memory. My memory serves me good in that respect. As far as looking at the blue prints for where the boxes go durring "rough in".......I think I've only had detailed mesurement specific distances for wall device boxes on a handful of jobs. When it comes to recessed cans; I worked with one builder who almost always had specific "set in stone" placement for his cans. On almost every job I can remember, the plans managed to lay out the recessed cans right on the joists. Then the guy would get bent out of shape when we told him the trouble, come out to the job and ask us to do his lighting design which he seemed keen to forget when we'd bill the extra time.

My story from above in this thread: I never got a set of plans. It was 3 floors of hell, 7000sq ft, seven bedroom home remodel, with garage and gazebo in the rear yard, 8 post lights in the front yard. All on a lot less than a 1/4th acre. I kept my cool through out the job mainly because my father (boss) had been friends with the husband of woman who owned the home (the newly widowed home owner). A son and daughter were friends of mine in high school, so I had to roll with the changes and not complain too much. Everything was verbal from the home owner nothing writen down. I tell people I wired the house.......3 times, because of the constant changes the owner made. I started in September 2001 and finished May 2008. Crazy people, crazy jobs.
 
retrieving digital photos

retrieving digital photos

480Sparky - I take digitals of the rough-ins, and they are very helpful; the problem is not filing the pictures in my computer files, but in retrieving them quickly so I can use them. I can't figure out how to re-load them onto the camera (don't laugh, I'm serious). Do you make prints of each job before you return? Or make a separate trip back to the office to download/print the pictures of the rooms where you think they missed a box. What about charging for the time this takes? Thanks,
 
Howard Burger said:
480Sparky - I take digitals of the rough-ins, and they are very helpful; the problem is not filing the pictures in my computer files, but in retrieving them quickly so I can use them. I can't figure out how to re-load them onto the camera (don't laugh, I'm serious). Do you make prints of each job before you return? Or make a separate trip back to the office to download/print the pictures of the rooms where you think they missed a box. What about charging for the time this takes? Thanks,
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It's pretty easy to file them in your computer. Just save them to the job name and file them in the same file for that job. My problem is taking the camera out on each job.
 
Howard Burger said:
480Sparky - I take digitals of the rough-ins, and they are very helpful; the problem is not filing the pictures in my computer files, but in retrieving them quickly so I can use them. I can't figure out how to re-load them onto the camera (don't laugh, I'm serious). Do you make prints of each job before you return? Or make a separate trip back to the office to download/print the pictures of the rooms where you think they missed a box. What about charging for the time this takes? Thanks,
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Two words: Lap Top. :roll:

Not sure what camera you have, but every digital I've ever owned you could just copy the images back on to the memory card and view them in the camera.

Some (like my old Sony) required the original filename and image size in order to view them.

But I copy them to my laptop to begin with, then if I have a problem, I just view them on the nice BIG screen (compared to the camera).
 
reloading digital pics

reloading digital pics

Isn't the motto of the American male "Instructions? I don't need no stinkin' instructions!". I need to dig out the owner's manual of my old digital to find out how to reaload pics. Then I guess I'll go and join the Possum Lodge ('I'm a man, but I can change if I have to, I guess').
 
Howard Burger said:
480Sparky - I take digitals of the rough-ins, and they are very helpful; the problem is not filing the pictures in my computer files, but in retrieving them quickly so I can use them. I can't figure out how to re-load them onto the camera (don't laugh, I'm serious). Do you make prints of each job before you return? Or make a separate trip back to the office to download/print the pictures of the rooms where you think they missed a box. What about charging for the time this takes? Thanks,
Click to expand...

I would assume that your digital camera uses a card (SD, Memory Stick, etc), correct? You should be able to just transfer your photos back and forth between PC and card, just like the old floppy disc.
Also..see my post above...make them work for it, or make some $$$$...
 
Howard Burger said:
480Sparky - I take digitals of the rough-ins, and they are very helpful; the problem is not filing the pictures in my computer files, but in retrieving them quickly so I can use them. I can't figure out how to re-load them onto the camera (don't laugh, I'm serious). Do you make prints of each job before you return? Or make a separate trip back to the office to download/print the pictures of the rooms where you think they missed a box. What about charging for the time this takes? Thanks,
Click to expand...

It's not that you can't 're-load' the pictures into the camera, that is easy. All you have to do is use a computer to copy them to the memory chip. The problem is that you won't be able to see them. The reason is that digital cameras create a thumbnail for view in a special format and without that thumbnail you won't be able to see the picture on the camera.

I bought a cheap mp3 player to put digital pictures on. The screen is a bit larger than a digital camera and the overall size is smaller.

I also have a laptop in my van.
 
K8MHZ said:
.........The reason is that digital cameras create a thumbnail for view in a special format and without that thumbnail you won't be able to see the picture on the camera..............
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Maybe cheap p&s cameras, yes. But if it's a .jpg, my Nikon can show it.
 
thanks

thanks

Thank you all for your suggestions. FWIW my digital is a Nikon Coolpix 4100 bought in 04 (which makes it ancient, but it still works). I can reload a .jpg onto the SD card, but I just can't see it on the camera. No suprises, the owner's manual doesn't cover this. I'll figure it out, or use one of your suggestions to make an end-run around the problem. The MP3 idea sounds good, I'll maybe try borrowing one and seeing how it works. Or (!) maybe one of the teenagers across the street will show me how; that is, if they can speak OldPerson so that I can understand what they mean. Thanks again for taking the time to help. Great forum!
 
Howard Burger said:
Thank you all for your suggestions. FWIW my digital is a Nikon Coolpix 4100 bought in 04 (which makes it ancient, but it still works). I can reload a .jpg onto the SD card, but I just can't see it on the camera. No suprises, the owner's manual doesn't cover this. I'll figure it out, or use one of your suggestions to make an end-run around the problem. The MP3 idea sounds good, I'll maybe try borrowing one and seeing how it works. Or (!) maybe one of the teenagers across the street will show me how; that is, if they can speak OldPerson so that I can understand what they mean. Thanks again for taking the time to help. Great forum!
Click to expand...

Make sure it is in the right FOLDER on the SD card. Nikon uses a folder structure, so the pics have to be in the right folder in order to PLAY on the camera.
 
Here's a trick that works well on remodels.

Once I'm done with the rough, I'll put wire nuts on all of the ungrounded conductors. I'll tell the homeowner to make a big point of emphasizing to the sheetrockers that they should be VERY CAREFUL because the electrician told him that some of these old circuits are still live, and he's not sure which ones.

*That* usually slows those douchebags down a little.
 
ArcNSpark said:
Here's a trick that works well on remodels.

Once I'm done with the rough, I'll put wire nuts on all of the ungrounded conductors. I'll tell the homeowner to make a big point of emphasizing to the sheetrockers that they should be VERY CAREFUL because the electrician told him that some of these old circuits are still live, and he's not sure which ones.

*That* usually slows those * down a little.
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It can also mean they swing wide with the router, and mud - leaving a gapping hole/gap. Or if fearfull - burying even more boxes. And if one or more is still live - it could be some letigious SBO who looks to jamb a tape knife in there and roll around on the floor laughing all the way to the bank.... FYI - I used to do the same.... ;)
 
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