field modifications

[dab]

i had a situation occur a couple of months ago. the problem all started whan the owner of a cottage complex decided to do almost all the rehabilitation to the dilapidated site. he hired me to instlall power which ended up being a 400 amp service with one 200 amp subpanel that was approx. 100 feet away. my job was complete, inspected and paid in full. the owner was installing the leach field and dug up(literally from underneath) the feeders to the sub. this pulled the breakers off their mountings and bent the neutral bus and destroyed the branch circuit breaker board in the 400 amp panel. i gave him my price and said it would require that the 5 foot section of conduit be replaced by u.l. listed patch kit, replace the conductorsbecause i wouldn't want the liability for the fixing of the damaged conductors(it rained 123" last year) and replace the 400 amp panel because the white book addresses field modifications and i saw how much damage had occurred and wasn't willing to just switch it with another. now my question is how would you word a letter to him that says he now has no warranty from me but has it with whoever fixed his problem.

 

[JohnJ0906]

Wouldn't your original contract with him have a clause in it addressing this? I know the company I work for has a clause voiding the warranty if anyone else repairs or modifies our work.

 

[dab]

not all contractors are as experienced as one might expect. i am still learning all the fine nuances of contracts. i will research my contract with him. thank you for your time.

 

[iwire]

dab, I work in commercial electrical construction and having other ECs work on the installation is almost a certainty before a year is up.

We are required to provide a 1 year warranty, the fact that some other EC may work on one part of the installation does not release us from the 1 year warranty obligation. Unless the problem is directly related to the other ECs work.

Heck, I recently installed a 1,600 amp panel and before I had the feeder to it complete another EC ran a 200 amp feeder from it.

 

[petersonra]

You are not responsible for the damage to the work you did. You already sent him a quote to fix it. Sending him another letter telling him you are voiding the warranty might well make him think you are up to something. I serious doubt he expects you to repair what he damaged w/o being paid for it.

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

not all contractors are as experienced as one might expect. i am still learning all the fine nuances of contracts. i will research my contract with him. thank you for your time.

I am glad you have the courage to say you are still learning...we are all learning something new each day.

From this what you may learn is it can be very beneficial to pay a construction attorney some bucks to help you develop a contract. Since the contract will not be a one time deal, it will help offset some of the cost of the attorney. The attorney will be money well spent.

Good Luck with future contracts.

 

[dab]

the person who fixed the conduit used a section of pvc conduit. i know that atleast 2 of the u/g conductors were replaced because i saw them rolled up. the panel guts were changed, but the can was the original one. i talked to my supply house and they said that the manufacturer wouldn't send those parts because that would void their ul listing. another ec tried to get the parts and they told him the same thing. with the neutral bus bent the only way to fix it would be to have the meter pulled. the power co. did not pull the meter and there wasn't a new county inspection on any part of the repair work. all said i still believe that whoever fixed all these things just inherited the warranty.