How long is the warranty

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Ponchik

Ponchik

Senior Member
Location
CA
Occupation
Electronologist
I offer a 10year workmanship warranty. But was thinking about it today that why can't i offer a longer warranty? If no one touches my installation i don't see why it wouldn't last longer than 10years. IMO, longer warranty is a good selling point.

I guess my 2 part question is:

1. How long of a warranty do you offer for your installation?
2. What could go wrong with an installation as it ages?
 
You are nuts to offer a 10 year warrenty. Yes the wire and the boxes last. However Recepts, GFCI, luminaires are all made in china and the stuff sucks.
 
Sierrasparky said:
You are nuts to offer a 10 year warrenty. Yes the wire and the boxes last. However Recepts, GFCI, luminaires are all made in china and the stuff sucks.
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I offer workmanship warranty not material warranty. The material warranty is 90 days, if it fails within 90 days, I will change it for free if it fails after 90 days then they pay for the replacement part plus my labor.
SQUARE-D offers a 10 year warranty on the load centers, but if the panel fails then i charge for the labor of the replacement. It was the product that failed not may workmanship.
 
I knew before I clicked the submit button you were gonna say that. Good luck in convicing the customer that it was a material failure and not your lack of good workmanship.
 
Wow, talk about long lining (fishing)...

People will not understand, nor even remember what exactly was the limits you stated in #4 post!

All they will remember is 10 years warranty, not 90 days... It's human nature to remember the biggest or the best or worst of things stated or said.

IMO, there are other parts of your business that you could work on... :ashamed1:
 
Then there is the "Life time warranty." The words "Life time" is ambiguous in itself at best.
And then there is the "as long as you own the house" which goes to the point of how long do people really stay in the same house. I think that if you offer a warranty for labor for? as long as you own the house" how risky would your exposure be?
I think perceptually it would appeal to the homeowner.

I would not warranty a rental property for more than a year though.
 
edward said:
I offer workmanship warranty not material warranty. The material warranty is 90 days, if it fails within 90 days, I will change it for free if it fails after 90 days then they pay for the replacement part plus my labor.
SQUARE-D offers a 10 year warranty on the load centers, but if the panel fails then i charge for the labor of the replacement. It was the product that failed not may workmanship.
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So what exactly do you cover in this "workmanship" warranty?

Better workmanship in one install may be a neater appearance, better selection of routing cables to protect from physical damage, selecting higher grade products. Doing all those things means in general things are better designed, selected, installed, etc. Give us an example of a workmanship failure that you would actually cover.

If certain workmanship failures are uncovered it is likely that your liability insurance is what is covering them as well as whatever else burned in the fire.
 
kwired said:
So what exactly do you cover in this "workmanship" warranty?

Better workmanship in one install may be a neater appearance, better selection of routing cables to protect from physical damage, selecting higher grade products. Doing all those things means in general things are better designed, selected, installed, etc. Give us an example of a workmanship failure that you would actually cover.

If certain workmanship failures are uncovered it is likely that your liability insurance is what is covering them as well as whatever else burned in the fire.
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By workmanship i mean anything i did.

1. Any connections that i make, if they fail i will cover the repair and the damage that it caused. If a loose connection burns up and damages the switch then it is covered, if my connections in the panel burn up because they were not torqued then it is covered.
2. If i run wiring without care and it is damaged and the AFCI trips because of that damage, then it is covered.
3. Usually every stud or joist that a NM cable goes through i protect it with nail plate. If i do an installation that the NM cable was damaged because of missing a nail plate then i cover the installation.


so what is the standard warranty that you guys cover?
 
I offer a no hassle one year warranty so if a customer has any problem within that first year we fix it . We also offer a home protection plan that will extend the warranty on any work we do for the life of the home protection plan.
 
You could offer a 100 year warranty on workmanship but I don't think that means much. Pretty hard to show that bad workmanship caused a problem unless you penetrated a wall that was sealed and it leaked-- one could argue that as well.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
You could offer a 100 year warranty on workmanship but I don't think that means much. Pretty hard to show that bad workmanship caused a problem unless you penetrated a wall that was sealed and it leaked-- one could argue that as well.
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I think a 100 year warranty would be fraud. Because you know that you could not honor it!:D

What if he said he unconditionally warranties 'his' work?
 
edward said:
By workmanship i mean anything i did.

1. Any connections that i make, if they fail i will cover the repair and the damage that it caused. If a loose connection burns up and damages the switch then it is covered, if my connections in the panel burn up because they were not torqued then it is covered.
2. If i run wiring without care and it is damaged and the AFCI trips because of that damage, then it is covered.
3. Usually every stud or joist that a NM cable goes through i protect it with nail plate. If i do an installation that the NM cable was damaged because of missing a nail plate then i cover the installation.


so what is the standard warranty that you guys cover?
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How do you possibly document every installation you did in the last 10 years? As your business ages, you have to document even more information to keep up with what was done the years previous. Connections come loose, weekenders get into the work you did 8 years earlier, animals and people pull on the NM and damage the cable years later. How would you document that every NM cable staple was installed correctly? or that a nail plate was missing or simply removed after you left?
 
kwired said:
So what exactly do you cover in this "workmanship" warranty?

Better workmanship in one install may be a neater appearance, better selection of routing cables to protect from physical damage, selecting higher grade products. Doing all those things means in general things are better designed, selected, installed, etc. Give us an example of a workmanship failure that you would actually cover.

If certain workmanship failures are uncovered it is likely that your liability insurance is what is covering them as well as whatever else burned in the fire.
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None... because their isn't many cases of workmanship being the problem it's the materials. I offer a 10 year workmanship warranty that is basically a marketing tool. Just like when a car salesman says they will pay your first two payments on a new car we all know the total price of the car is higher to cover it.
 
KVA said:
None... because their isn't many cases of workmanship being the problem it's the materials. I offer a 10 year workmanship warranty that is basically a marketing tool. Just like when a car salesman says they will pay your first two payments on a new car we all know the total price of the car is higher to cover it.
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But my point is how do you know what is your workmanship and what is materials? And how do you document this?
You have a 10 year warranty on workmanship. My house burns down after 3years. The inspectors find that a staple has rubbed into the NM cable, setting the joists on fire. Me and my lawyer are coming after you because you set the staples too tight, right?
 
Wire burns at termination of a switch, breaker, receptacle, was it loose connection that was installers fault? - most likely, it could also be equipment failure. 10 years down the road someone may have replaced a receptacle, if it was same type you originally installed you may never know.

Offer your 10 year warranty if you wish, beware there are some people out there that will have you there all the time looking for a freebie and will be disappointed everytime you tell them it is not something that is covered, and there are others that will get downright ugly about it if you want to charge them for something they feel should be warrantied.
 
Hv&Lv said:
But my point is how do you know what is your workmanship and what is materials? And how do you document this?
You have a 10 year warranty on workmanship. My house burns down after 3years. The inspectors find that a staple has rubbed into the NM cable, setting the joists on fire. Me and my lawyer are coming after you because you set the staples too tight, right?
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I am sure my lawyer and the insurance company's lawyer will be defending the case as well. And how does the inspector find the fault with that staple, if the fire started with that staple i am sure by the time the house burns down that staple will be long gone.

I know my work signature and if they call me for warranty repair and i see that someone has tinkered with my installation then the warranty is void.

When was last time that your installation has failed because of poor workmanship? I bet you don't get call backs for poor workmanship, so why not use that to your advantage and market it.

When I am bidding on a job and customer sees that i have a 10 year warranty and the competition has 1 year, i am sure there is a good chance that the customer will see the benefit of the extended warranty.
 
edward said:
I am sure my lawyer and the insurance company's lawyer will be defending the case as well. And how does the inspector find the fault with that staple, if the fire started with that staple i am sure by the time the house burns down that staple will be long gone.

I know my work signature and if they call me for warranty repair and i see that someone has tinkered with my installation then the warranty is void.

When was last time that your installation has failed because of poor workmanship? I bet you don't get call backs for poor workmanship, so why not use that to your advantage and market it.

When I am bidding on a job and customer sees that i have a 10 year warranty and the competition has 1 year, i am sure there is a good chance that the customer will see the benefit of the extended warranty.
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Have you heard the saying if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. Sometimes offering a very long warranty can have a negative affect as the customer may think your blowing smoke up their backside.
 
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