Skill versus production

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readydave8 said:
Do you mean you're making $400 per week, $20,00.per year? Or does some direct (not fixed) overhead come out of the $10?
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As I said he is a member of the LLC so there is no workers comp, disability, payroll taxes or other direct cost that I have to pay in addition to his wage. Of course there is time getting him set up on stuff, Fielding is questions, auditing his productivity, etc. And of course, being the boss, I am doing all the paperwork and billing with no compensation. He makes more paperwork and more time at the desk. I am sure we all agree we are not providing employees on charity and should make some money off of them, but for me it gets into this ethical dilemma when I feel he is overpaid for his abilities, even without my markup.

Edit: I should also add that despite being a member of the LLC, he does not contribute to any of the business costs and expenses. I pay all that.. He just gets paid.
 
James L said:
I've had several talks with my guy.

Day before yesterday, we started a nearly whole house remodel - kitchen moves and doubles in size, great room gets new architectural ceiling and new, larger fireplace, master bath gutted and reconfigured, laundry moving across the house, bonus room and bath added above the 3-car garage, dual head mini split for bonus and garage, hot tub, 100 amp subpanel in bonus room, 100 amp subpanel between hot tub and mini split.

We didn't do the demo, so there are some unknown wires hanging throughout - like 25 of them

He's been wiring since 1984 and seemed overwhelmed with the scope 🤔🙄
So I figured bite-sized chunks are best.

Fireplace was first on the list.
The entire area is gutted down to studs.
90s-era house which already had previous remodel.

There was a 14/2 coming through the floor, not long enough to reach anything.

In the fireplace "nook" were 2 receptacle boxes in a 14/2 circuit running from a 2-gang switch box on the left side of fp, to a receptacle on the right side of fp. So that whole cable needs to come out and get replaced without receps in the fp opening.

The cable coming through the floor needs to be extended with an "in wall" splice kit and feed a switch for fp, then 14/3 from sw to fp.

I thought 1-1/2 to 2 hrs.
t took him 7 hours.
I like the guy, but this seems to mark his day, every day. I'm paying him $30 per hour, which is fair around these parts. But most days I'm paying him more than I'm charging because he's so slow
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Please enlighten me on this “in wall” splice kit you use

never seen a legal one
 
I remember being in "Do-It" center and seeing this device and bought it. Thinking it might be useful sometime in the future. On a service call that opportunity came up. Went to the service truck to pick it up. On my way back to the attic ... I was thinking this might be a hazard (plastic melting) and cause a fire. I threw it in the trash and installed a metal junction box instead.
 
mtnelect said:
I remember being in "Do-It" center and seeing this device and bought it. Thinking it might be useful sometime in the future. On a service call that opportunity came up. Went to the service truck to pick it up. On my way back to the attic ... I was thinking this might be a hazard (plastic melting) and cause a fire. I threw it in the trash and installed a metal junction box instead.
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OK. And then what?
 
mtnelect said:
I remember being in "Do-It" center and seeing this device and bought it. Thinking it might be useful sometime in the future. On a service call that opportunity came up. Went to the service truck to pick it up. On my way back to the attic ... I was thinking this might be a hazard (plastic melting) and cause a fire. I threw it in the trash and installed a metal junction box instead.
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It would help if you quoted the post you are replying/inferring to. Then we would know (for sure) what you're talking about.
 
mtnelect said:
I remember being in "Do-It" center and seeing this device and bought it. Thinking it might be useful sometime in the future. On a service call that opportunity came up. Went to the service truck to pick it up. On my way back to the attic ... I was thinking this might be a hazard (plastic melting) and cause a fire. I threw it in the trash and installed a metal junction box instead.
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I remembe being in a basement remodel, where they were moving a bathroom door from one wall to another. There were 4 cables in there - feed in, feed out, switch leg to lights, switch leg to fan.

I used 4 of those splice kits in the wall, went home and slept well that night 😉
 
Would they not be a pain in the %$# to find when then eventually come apart. Around my area at least 1-2 times a year I have to replace these in Manufactured home. Those are at least under the house not in a sheetrock wall. I suppose I could throw my tracer on and fined it.
 
AC\DC said:
Would they not be a pain in the %$# to find when then eventually come apart. Around my area at least 1-2 times a year I have to replace these in Manufactured home. Those are at least under the house not in a sheetrock wall. I suppose I could throw my tracer on and fined it.
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I would say they'd be impossible to find later, like a buried j-box.

But one is approved and the more reliable method is not

🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️
 
AC\DC said:
I understand they are approved. I Just hope I never have to try and fine one in the wall.
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I was wrong ! ... Did some research and found the section that permits their use, but I still don't feel comfortable using them.
 

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  • NEC 2017 - Section 334.10(B).pdf
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So that states “ when cable is concealed” so if you were in an attic and you had a short wire and wanted to splice with,let’s say the t- splice they have, then you could not use this?
 
AC\DC said:
So that states “ when cable is concealed” so if you were in an attic and you had a short wire and wanted to splice with,let’s say the t- splice they have, then you could not use this?
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What is your opinion, since you have worked with these devices in manufactured homes ? I have never seen one installed.

I just don't feel comfortable using these "Labor Saving" devices. Like receptacles that have an option in the back to push the wire termination in instead of under a screw terminal.
 
AC\DC said:
So that states “ when cable is concealed” so if you were in an attic and you had a short wire and wanted to splice with,let’s say the t- splice they have, then you could not use this?
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Read the whole sentence again. It seems good in general for exposed work, and "repair" in concealed work.
 
mtnelect said:
What is your opinion, since you have worked with these devices in manufactured homes ? I have never seen one installed.

I just don't feel comfortable using these "Labor Saving" devices. Like receptacles that have an option in the back to push the wire termination in instead of under a screw terminal.
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They work similar to ScotchLoks or a data punch down block, except the two units click together
 
mtnelect said:
Like receptacles that have an option in the back to push the wire termination in instead of under a screw terminal.
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A big difference, though, is these devices use positive insulation displacement and four points of contact with each conductor, whereas device push-ins use only spring pressure and two contact points.
 
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