Finishing someone else's work

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sameguy said:
You sound like you are hungry, don't let the need for work cloud your judgement. I would rather lose money on bidding and not getting jobs than winning and getting hosed, tread lightly, do your homework. GC personal work will be a pita.
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I don't know. GC personal work can be great. All depends on the GC. The GC's I did work for were top notch. Cheap wasn't the name of the game with them. I didn't work with cheapskates.
 
shputnik said:
The general contractor is the home owner.... actually has a license as a contractor

I'm not familiar with how liability insurance works....I'm going to call my insurance provider later


Things happen....it's the price of running a business....i just want to make sure I'm covered by liability.
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There is one thing people forget to check, and in this case it may not hold true, dose he own the house? I had a situation where the renters took it on them selves to do a remodel and called me to do the electrical. For what ever reason the stars were aligned and I knew the guy that owned the house. He was not happy about the demo with out his permission.
 
growler said:
How many jobs have you ever walked away from in the middle ? If you do there will probably be a good reason.

Did they get an inspection on the job? Who holds the permit?

There may not even have been another electrician the homeowner may have gotten in over his/her head.
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Or someone had trouble getting paid.
 
cdslotz said:
I don't understand how hard it would be to find out the contractor of record on the permit.
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I agree that it shouldn't be hard but sometimes it just is.

Example. Here on small jobs the posted permit only has the permit number and the GC listed.If you take that permit number to the permit office and ask for any information about the permit they will not give it out. I guess they assume that if you are dealing with the GC on the job you can find out all the information you need from them.

If I get a call about taking over a job I'm going to ask who started the job and if they refuse to give out this information that's enough of a red flag for me.
 
growler said:
I agree that it shouldn't be hard but sometimes it just is.

Example. Here on small jobs the posted permit only has the permit number and the GC listed.If you take that permit number to the permit office and ask for any information about the permit they will not give it out. I guess they assume that if you are dealing with the GC on the job you can find out all the information you need from them.

If I get a call about taking over a job I'm going to ask who started the job and if they refuse to give out this information that's enough of a red flag for me.
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Here once the job is finished, the permit becomes public record, but prior to that, it's non of your business what someone is doing. We have people file complaints and then call back to find out the status, I tell them its confidential, they usually claim that they filed the complaint, I tell them I know and now I'm taking care of it and now it's NOYB.
 
GoldDigger said:
Not only loose ends, but potentially hidden flaws inside walls. A lot of folks are not comfortable taking over with the walls closed unless they know the original contractor's work.
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Personally I would find out who the previous electrician was and contact him. Just to find out his reasoning as to why he walked away. There are always two sides to a story and the truth is in the middle. If it was due to a nonpayment you dont want to screw yourself over.

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growler said:
I agree that it shouldn't be hard but sometimes it just is.

Example. Here on small jobs the posted permit only has the permit number and the GC listed.If you take that permit number to the permit office and ask for any information about the permit they will not give it out. I guess they assume that if you are dealing with the GC on the job you can find out all the information you need from them.

.
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cowboyjwc said:
Here once the job is finished, the permit becomes public record, but prior to that, it's non of your business what someone is doing. We have people file complaints and then call back to find out the status, I tell them its confidential, they usually claim that they filed the complaint, I tell them I know and now I'm taking care of it and now it's NOYB.
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Wow, things are different here in MA. All permits, applications, construction docs are public record as soon as they are submitted. (possibly with some exceptions, as was the case on a few rare projects that I dealt with)
 
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