design

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dab

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Gasquet, CA
how do you guys figure into a t and m job to design the electrical for a building. the job ended up being 78 hours and the owner ran out of money or so he implies. he doesn't think he should have to pay me to engineer his job. he did not get the building plans with an electrical plan. i wonder how that got through the bldg. dept.
 
dab said:
how do you guys figure into a t and m job to design the electrical for a building.
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T and M is T and M. I bill for research and design I do at home as well as travel time and supply house time. Its never been an issue.

Sounds like this may be a customer you want to avoid in the future.
 
People run out of money all the time on longer term T&M work. It's not your fault. Hopefully, you've structured things in such a way that you've been paid so far. When people run out of money on an open ended contract (T&M), you're just done working for them. Simple as that. You'll get used to it. Move on to the next job.
 
dab said:
how do you guys figure into a t and m job to design the electrical for a building. the job ended up being 78 hours and the owner ran out of money or so he implies. he doesn't think he should have to pay me to engineer his job. he did not get the building plans with an electrical plan. i wonder how that got through the bldg. dept.
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In my state, you need a licensed engineer to seal the prints, the building department, will reject the plan without the seal.

We do not work on any project T&M, all project work over $500 is a wrtten contract, with all the terms agreeded to, before any work begins.

You may be a well qualified electrician, but are you qualified to do design work in your state, and does your insurance cover design work, contracting companies that do design build work usually have a PE on staff, or they hire a PE to do the design work.
 
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Ever hire a lawyer? They bill for every minute they spend on the phone, computer, etc. They may never set foot in a courtroom, but they can rack up the billable hours.
 
Every hour worked on the job should be billed to the job, it makes no difference whether the hour was spent designing or actually putting the work in.

If this were a hard bid proposal, you still bill the hours to the job only you cant bill for more money if it goes over your contracted amount, unless there was a change in scope.

However this is a T&M job and you can bill for every hour spent on the project. If he does not pay, do the lien procedure for your area and don't do any more work for him.

I can guaranty when he calls his lawyer to discuss his options with you he will get billed from the second his lawyer picks up the phone until he hangs it up including any small talk they had in between and your client will pay for that too.
 
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