Rob DiVita
Member
- Location
- Florida
This may be opening a can of worms , but I am about at my wits end with some of the sloppy work we find as inspectors on new homes.
I read this forum frquently because I can't always understand the level of sloppiness we find on new construction. This is not limited to electrical work by any means. Though I have been a resale ( as well as FHA / HUD subsidized housing ) inspector for more than 2 decades, it is only recently that I really have had to pause when taking a look in some service panels ( in planned unit development homes especially ) where it is apparent that the faster the work can be done , the happier the contractor is with his employees.
We regularly see the service panel as one large splice box , hot and neutral wires hanging loosely in the box , doubled up breaker screws ( I know, it can be done safely , but why when there are plenty of available circuits ? )
I hate looking into a box that looks like a snake pit. Wires helter skelter. Extra wire nuts left, along with cut wiring, sitting in the bottom of the service box. Wires run thru knock-outs with no protection at all. Loose breakers with large gaps between them and the cover. GFCI's where AFCI's should be.
Frankly, when I read the forum here, it makes me even more confused. One respondent will think a certain less than perfect installation is OK, another says he would never do it that way. Reading the code itself can be more confusing than leaving it out of the picture entirely would be.
I've had employees of certain contractors plainly state that a certain issue has been poorly compromised right after his superior told me it was completely safe and to code. I have written up a condition of defect only to be rebuffed by the installor as " much ado about nothing " and dropped it at the insistence of all parties, only to have the home buyer call me 6 months later because "a different electrician told me you should have made a bigger stink about it". Recently, we found a service feed was too small for the 200 amp breaker, but the electrician installing the service accused us of not knowing what we were talking about. . . only to have a separately hired electrician tell the buyer that we knew exactly what we were talking about and that the wire needed replacing with a larger capacity for the 200 amp main.
Home inspectors, especially in a state like Florida which does not have legislation governing our business, are often derided by electricians, plumbers, roofers, etc, as , like I once read in this forum , a jack of all and master of none ( sometimes true, but the same can be said about anyone ). Frequently people just don't understand that our job is simply to make all parties aware of anything we feel is defective , unsafe or lacking in professional installation. We don't want to make enemies of anyone, and we know full and well that no contractor likes to have his work critqued by an outsider. Neither would we! My simple solution is always the same. If the contractor doing the work is absolutely sure that his work meets all codes and is safe and secure , put it in writing ( go ahead and contradict me, I don't mind because it takes the responsibility off my shoulders and makes the contractor the one who must answer to the owner if an issue comes up later on ).
When I hear that everything is to code or safe because the local building inspector approved of the installation , I laugh. Some of the most obvious defects are OK'd by municipal inspectors. Last week, I had a guest bath in a new house that had no pipe line connections made to the hot water ! The week before we had a drain line that had to be pulled ( out of a concrete slab ) because the slope was wrong, and the toilet in the master bath would not drain. The builder told the home buyer that " the inspector doesn't know what he is talking about, everything is fine" Now, the flooring has been ripped up and the slab opened from the bedroom diagonally across the entire home. Recently an HVAC guy refused to put in writing exactly what he did to fix a system that was completely inoperative despite no defects found physically. 2 months after moving in, no heat or cooling. The buyer called me and asked what could have caused it, and I couldn't give any answer because I had no idea what was done the first time the system went south.
Thanks for listening. I hope you, like me, looks at every job you do as an important one, and that you do your best to make it a neat and safe job. I'm sure the greates percentage do. Best to you all !
I read this forum frquently because I can't always understand the level of sloppiness we find on new construction. This is not limited to electrical work by any means. Though I have been a resale ( as well as FHA / HUD subsidized housing ) inspector for more than 2 decades, it is only recently that I really have had to pause when taking a look in some service panels ( in planned unit development homes especially ) where it is apparent that the faster the work can be done , the happier the contractor is with his employees.
We regularly see the service panel as one large splice box , hot and neutral wires hanging loosely in the box , doubled up breaker screws ( I know, it can be done safely , but why when there are plenty of available circuits ? )
I hate looking into a box that looks like a snake pit. Wires helter skelter. Extra wire nuts left, along with cut wiring, sitting in the bottom of the service box. Wires run thru knock-outs with no protection at all. Loose breakers with large gaps between them and the cover. GFCI's where AFCI's should be.
Frankly, when I read the forum here, it makes me even more confused. One respondent will think a certain less than perfect installation is OK, another says he would never do it that way. Reading the code itself can be more confusing than leaving it out of the picture entirely would be.
I've had employees of certain contractors plainly state that a certain issue has been poorly compromised right after his superior told me it was completely safe and to code. I have written up a condition of defect only to be rebuffed by the installor as " much ado about nothing " and dropped it at the insistence of all parties, only to have the home buyer call me 6 months later because "a different electrician told me you should have made a bigger stink about it". Recently, we found a service feed was too small for the 200 amp breaker, but the electrician installing the service accused us of not knowing what we were talking about. . . only to have a separately hired electrician tell the buyer that we knew exactly what we were talking about and that the wire needed replacing with a larger capacity for the 200 amp main.
Home inspectors, especially in a state like Florida which does not have legislation governing our business, are often derided by electricians, plumbers, roofers, etc, as , like I once read in this forum , a jack of all and master of none ( sometimes true, but the same can be said about anyone ). Frequently people just don't understand that our job is simply to make all parties aware of anything we feel is defective , unsafe or lacking in professional installation. We don't want to make enemies of anyone, and we know full and well that no contractor likes to have his work critqued by an outsider. Neither would we! My simple solution is always the same. If the contractor doing the work is absolutely sure that his work meets all codes and is safe and secure , put it in writing ( go ahead and contradict me, I don't mind because it takes the responsibility off my shoulders and makes the contractor the one who must answer to the owner if an issue comes up later on ).
When I hear that everything is to code or safe because the local building inspector approved of the installation , I laugh. Some of the most obvious defects are OK'd by municipal inspectors. Last week, I had a guest bath in a new house that had no pipe line connections made to the hot water ! The week before we had a drain line that had to be pulled ( out of a concrete slab ) because the slope was wrong, and the toilet in the master bath would not drain. The builder told the home buyer that " the inspector doesn't know what he is talking about, everything is fine" Now, the flooring has been ripped up and the slab opened from the bedroom diagonally across the entire home. Recently an HVAC guy refused to put in writing exactly what he did to fix a system that was completely inoperative despite no defects found physically. 2 months after moving in, no heat or cooling. The buyer called me and asked what could have caused it, and I couldn't give any answer because I had no idea what was done the first time the system went south.
Thanks for listening. I hope you, like me, looks at every job you do as an important one, and that you do your best to make it a neat and safe job. I'm sure the greates percentage do. Best to you all !
So much for an inspection.
