Licensing enforcement

[tshea]

Re: Licensing enforcement

I used to work as an Electrical Inspector (1986)in an area that allowed homeowners to do their own work. I remember one house where the owner wired the entire place with UF, #10AWG. Why #10? Because bigger is better! Why UF? Because he got it free!!
I rejected it because you can not terminate #10 on receptacles and switches. He also had the ends of the UF all scarred up in the boxes. Metal btw!
The chief inspector went out after the homeowner raised a huge fuss. The Chief passed it! My hands are clean!
This "jackleg" obviosly didn't know what he was doing! His work was inspected but the AHJ caved under pressure.
BTW I quit for similar other reasons. I could not consciously sign off on some of the cr@p that I saw by both homeowners and contractors!!

 

[iwire]

Re: Licensing enforcement

Originally posted by tshea:
I rejected it because you can not terminate #10 on receptacles and switches. He also had the ends of the UF all scarred up in the boxes. Metal btw!
The chief inspector went out after the homeowner raised a huge fuss. The Chief passed it!

The Chief had to pass it, there is nothing wrong with using 10 AWG on device terminals.

110.14(A) Terminals. Connection of conductors to terminal parts shall ensure a thoroughly good connection without damaging the conductors and shall be made by means of pressure connectors (including set-screw type), solder lugs, or splices to flexible leads. Connection by means of wire-binding screws or studs and nuts that have upturned lugs or the equivalent shall be permitted for 10 AWG or smaller conductors.

 

[bigjohn67]

Re: Licensing enforcement

Again the bottom line is money. Some homeowners simply can not afford a contractor to do the work and lives by the theory that "if it works, what's wrong with it" well..... until a fire starts.

The successful business will make it afforable for the homeowner while achieving the expected profit. Usually the only place to cut cost is to keep the your overhead down. Invest in your service techs, they are the ones who bring in the money.

 

[copper123]

Re: Licensing enforcement

Ok, here we go, hope I don't open a can of worms.
#1. In my area, A homeowner can build and wire his own house. If he he?pays somebody, it has to a be a electrical administrator. A lot of the folks get away with this by paying a non licensed individual under the table and claiming that they do it themselves. #2 The banks don't make a person that has gotten a home loan use a licensed contractor. They use a two tier system. First, they require all work that has been done be inspected by one of these all encompassing solution inspectors. These guys must be pretty sharp to know the ends and outs of every system in a home. IMO, in my area they understand where a GFCI needs to go, and the basics but that is about it. Please understand I am not stereotyping, just placing a opinion from my area. But anyhow, i think the inspections are a little lacking when done by this type of inspector. The other line of defense the banks use is, and this is a direct quote, "we make the home owners purchase insurance that gets purchased, and paid for directly in the loan. So, for the life of the loan, the banks are covered with a insurance policy. My area is rather unique, we have city inpectors, but outside of the city limits, its the wild, wild west. State inspectors don't inspect dwelling units. And, if it is legal to build and wire your house yourself if you are the owner, its a free ticket. But, here is the downside. A lot of the home owners that I see are really black market home builders. They build, live in the house for two years, get the capital gains tax to be void, and then sell the home to some other person. As long as you are not super man, you will really never know how well that thing was wired or built. And, its completely legal cus the bank inspector signed off on it at the time of construction. So for me, the residential market can be really tough. Lots of vampire electricians running around that work a day job and then wire into the night.