Finishing Others' Work

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Desert Spark

Member
Location
New Mexico
Looking for advice on coming into a job after another contractor has been fired. It is a new home and the walls are already finished. If it was still open I wouldn't be so hesitant but not being able to see how everything was run in the walls worries me.

The owner is taking the contractor to court and it sounds like its quite a mess. I'm only considering it because a friend of mine has asked me, and I figure someone has to do it.

It sounds like there were missed circuits, and the main panel itself is not big enough, no AFCI breakers.

Just wanted to hear peoples experience on work like this. Any advice helps.

Thanks
 
Desert Spark said:
Looking for advice on coming into a job after another contractor has been fired. It is a new home and the walls are already finished. If it was still open I wouldn't be so hesitant but not being able to see how everything was run in the walls worries me.

The owner is taking the contractor to court and it sounds like its quite a mess. I'm only considering it because a friend of mine has asked me, and I figure someone has to do it.

It sounds like there were missed circuits, and the main panel itself is not big enough, no AFCI breakers.

Just wanted to hear peoples experience on work like this. Any advice helps.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Make sure you negotiate up front on payment. The last thing the owner wants to do now is put out more money.
You may be the cavalry coming in to save the day, but I still would be cautious. I would give an estimate of what I see and then triple it. And still, I would have a ton of disclaimers at the bottom of the bid for things yet to be uncovered.
 
Take into account that you will spend the first few hours continuity testing (ringing out) all the cables so you can draw a wiring diagram and make yourself comfortable with the present installation.
 
Agree that you cannot give a flat price for this. You must include the contingency of adding costs of correcting issues as they make themselves known, along with the cost of discovering such issues.
 
Desert Spark said:
Looking for advice on coming into a job after another contractor has been fired. It is a new home and the walls are already finished. If it was still open I wouldn't be so hesitant but not being able to see how everything was run in the walls worries me.

The owner is taking the contractor to court and it sounds like its quite a mess. I'm only considering it because a friend of mine has asked me, and I figure someone has to do it.

It sounds like there were missed circuits, and the main panel itself is not big enough, no AFCI breakers.

Just wanted to hear peoples experience on work like this. Any advice helps.

Thanks
Click to expand...

With the walls closed in, even with a rough inspection, I wouldn't touch it. The "too small" panel is just icing on the cake. Anything you find that requires the walls be opened up, and with "missed circuits" that's a certainty, is going to mean a big bill for the homeowner, or someone. Was there a GC on this job? His butt should be on the line too. Unless there were no drawings, then it's just a total cluster. You can not come out a hero in this movie.
 
Desert Spark said:
It is a new home and the walls are already finished.
Click to expand...

hbiss said:
Was there a rough inspection? -Hal
Click to expand...

Was there a rough inspection ? Who's name was the electrical permit in ? How long have they been in business?

If they have wired lots of other houses the odd are good that they know what they are doing. If it's just some guys the owner picked up and got a homeowner permit then things could be really bad. I made more money troubleshooting a house like that than the guys that wired it did and they already had a final on the house ( it really was that bad ).
 
Never a good sign,
Do you need the work? If so take a long look, crawl space, attic space, new service, fishing. Wires too short, box fill wrong, wired wrong,etc..
Talk with the GC about Sheetrock repair, you need just as much damage as the plumber so 4'x8' not tiny little holes taking extra time to fish/drill, you till need to get in and get out.
 
growler said:
And that is a real problem. Owners often think the price negotiated with the original contractor is about what the job will cost. Big surprise coming.
Click to expand...

I use to get this a lot with generals. Wanting me to save the day. Yes, I am the hero as long as I get paid for fixing somebodies else's mess.

Then there's the general that wants you to be the hero and he will make it up to you on the next one! I fell for that one the first time but learned real quick when it costed me to fix someone else's mess...

So, you triple the price and hope he gives it to your competitor. If you get it, you make a lot of money (maybe) for your expertise.
 
gadfly56 said:
With the walls closed in, even with a rough inspection, I wouldn't touch it. The "too small" panel is just icing on the cake. Anything you find that requires the walls be opened up, and with "missed circuits" that's a certainty, is going to mean a big bill for the homeowner, or someone. Was there a GC on this job? His butt should be on the line too. Unless there were no drawings, then it's just a total cluster. You can not come out a hero in this movie.
Click to expand...
That all depends. If another EC is who got fired, kind of depends on why they got fired. Total incompetence, never being there and putting other trades behind or things like that could make you a hero if you don't do the same things.

If they hired a bottom feeder because they were cheap, and then end up paying more to you then they had planned for electrical then they had originally budgeted for - you may never be a hero no matter how good of work you do or how reasonable your price may be.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top