Electric vandalism

[mike johnson]

We have roughed a house in up north deleware and the sheetrock is up. problem is before the sheetrock went up someone clean cut some of the wires to some of the circuits. We find out once temporary power is not working. We open up some of the walls and the wires are clean cut with 2 ft missing in between. Problem now is as i am writing a estimate of bill the h/o says it's not his fault and that we have to eat the cost to repair. I told him after we rough and are inspected our job is done. Repairing your vandalism because you probably pissed someone off or didn't pay them and running new wires on our time is not our fault. The next step now is confusing me because it needs to be repaired before i can get paid for my final. Anyone ever experience this and what do you suggest if your in this situation. thanks.

 

[sparkchaser1961]

I don't see how the homeowner can hold you responsible for activities that take place after normal business hours. He should secure his site. His responsibility. What does he expect, for you to stay until the rockers are finished and then go to your next job?

 

[iwire]

Not your problem, it was installed and inspected.

If vandals burned the home to the ground would the homeowner expect a free 're-do' from each trade?

 

[LLSolutions]

His H/O insurance should cover it anyway, take his picture to the local scrap yard maybe it was an inside job

 

[480sparky]

Copied from my contract:

10. JOB SITE SECURITY:
Owner and/or assigns of the owner are responsible for job site security. Any material and/or equipment permanently installed become the responsibility of the owner in regards to fire, theft, vandalism, or any similar loss.

 

[nakulak]

I agree with everything said except one thing. - are you sure it wasn't you that po'd someone ?

 

[zbang]

I agree with everything said except one thing. - are you sure it wasn't you that po'd someone ?

Doesn't really matter, does it? It's still the HO's responsibility to secure the premise. Why can always file a lien on the property.

 

[charlie b]

. . . what do you suggest if you're in this situation.

• Step one: This is a crime. The HO should file a police report
• Step two: The HO should file a claim against their insurance policy. Tht claim should include a copy of the police report.
• Step three: Give the HO a cost estimate for the repair. The HO should send a copy of that estimate to their insurance company.
• Step four: Continue with any remaining work that you can do, with the house in its present (i.e., not yet repaired) condition. Then stop until you get a contract to perform the repairs.

 

[satcom]

With your signed contract, you should be just fine, the only way you could take a loss, is if there was no signed contract, with all the protection clauses in it.

 

[shockin]

With your signed contract, you should be just fine.

Depends on the contract. Consensus Docs would leave the liability with you until you submit a bill. I know this because it just cost me a few thousand dollars.

 

[shockin]

His H/O insurance should cover it anyway

Depends on a lot of things. If this is a new home a HO policy would not cover it unless they have a buildiers risk policy attached to it I believe. That's the way it works when I build.

 

[charlietuna]

I had a friend who went into the mechanical business about the same time i did and we used to recommend each other on jobs. One day we were talking and he mentioned that one of his trucks was broken into while parked in the loading dock of one of our common customers. When i asked how he handled it he stated the building was responsible!! AND PAYED HIS ENTIRE LOSS ! He then explained that on his standard proposal form he had a list of customer requirements above where they sign. Every year he would have new proposal forms printed and add to his list from his past year's experience. He sent me one and as i read it, my memory reminded me of many of these same problems my company faced in the past. An example of his claim stated: "It is the buildings responsibility to provide a SECURE parking space for our companies service vehicles". It worked for him !

 

[zappy]

I agree with everything said except one thing. - are you sure it wasn't you that po'd someone ?

Yeah like a former employee?

 

[ceb58]

Depends on a lot of things. If this is a new home a HO policy would not cover it unless they have a buildiers risk policy attached to it I believe. That's the way it works when I build.

Yes, it would be a builders risk policy. The banks usually require it to be in place before any monies are released to start construction. The wireing was installed and in place it is the owners responsibility for security not yours. One of the first things in my contracts is " not responsible for theft, damage or destruction of material installed due to vandalism or acts of God".

 

[ITO]

You really should read your contract, if you are working through a GC you may find that its your problem, or that the deductible on builders risk may be so high it is not worth your time to fight it.

I had something like this happen when some fleas put jumping jacks in my lateral feeders before I pulled the wire. When I read my contract, it became clear it was my responsibility to protect my own work, so I ate a bunch of 500mcm and the labor to re-pull it.

If you don't have it covered in the contract, consider just fixing the electrical and making the HO fix his own sheet rock.

 

[satcom]

Depends on the contract. Consensus Docs would leave the liability with you until you submit a bill. I know this because it just cost me a few thousand dollars.

We are in a title state, the contract only needs a down payment to make it binding, every state has their own laws when it comes to contract law. If he has a good lawyer draw up the contract, he should be ok. When we work for a GC, we have them sign our contract, and agree to out terms.

 

[sully155]

cut wires

cut wires

This Happened to me on a job where we took over the job from another contractor because he was too slow. We eventually caught the guy, for some reason people like to talk- and they talked to the wrong person. Keep your ears open. We did repare the wires but at a reduced rate because we had 100 more houses to wire for this company.

 

[markabbottjr]

Submit an estimate for repairs,if he refuses then walk away and dont sign lein waiver until you have any money still owed. just my thought.

 

[SeanKelly]

Once it is installed they own it and are responsible for it. We had houses get cut 4 separate times when copper was going nuts and the meth heads were coming out of the wood work. Not your responsibility. Slap a lien on it and get paid for what you have already done.

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

Lien laws are different from state to state. What he has written in his contract is critical for a variety of issues in regards to payment and protection. My advice for anyone in business today is to contact a "Construction attorney" and/or contact the state/county for further information so you can write up a contract that protects your company as much as is possible. And, if you get a contract from a GC, it will be important for your new relationship with the Construction attorney to review it. You could be signing yourself into trouble without even knowing it.