z?electric
Member
- Location
- Owensboro, KY
*Disclaimer*
For those who take the time to read this, there is a question at the end. Sorry for the length, just venting.
I take a service call the other evening and when I arrive at the door the elderly homeowner looks at me like I invented sliced bread. I am standing in darkness. He is hard of hearing so I introduce myself several times and ask him where the problem is. He guides me through the house with a flashlight to his fuse panel. He states that he has replaced all the fuses. He tells me that the furnace, the stove, and receptacles and lights in three rooms stopped working. He then tells me that the house was built in 1959 and as I can see by the flashlight quivering in his hand, the house still has the original 60 Amp service. The wires in the fuse panel are somewhat rats nested so I pulled and pushed and wiggled to find suitable test points to check for voltage. Ding' Fries are done. For anyone who has ever spent anytime within ten feet of a deep fryer when an ice covered frozen chicken was dumped in, you have heard it too. I realized that the problem was not inside the panel so I proceeded outside to the meter base and cut the tag. I explained the severity of the situation to the gentleman and explained that this needed fixing right then. I phoned the POCO and they sent a guy from just two blocks away. Now thats service! Anywho, he pulled the meter, I replaced the service entrance conductors, and the burned meter lug and he plugged the meter back in. All was well with the world. I convinced the gentleman that $2000 was a great deal for a service upgrade and we scheduled it for early May. Home. Shower. Bed. Voicemail. Local zoning (AHJ) office received call from POCO. I received call from
zoning office. They wanted me to know that they have my permit for the emergency work I performed the night before and the inspector would be by to check it today. They have my account on file so I pull permits over the phone. I was just fine with this. My 1 hour for $90 just got cut to 1 hour for $55. *So What* I have this guy slated for future work and I'll write it off. I go by the zoning office today and they inform me that I was charged double the permit fee because the work had already began. Also I will need to pay the fee again when I perform the service upgrade. That service call cost me about $15 for wire, at least $5 for gas and $70 in permit fees. Anyone else do pro bono work. or just me?
For those who take the time to read this, there is a question at the end. Sorry for the length, just venting.
I take a service call the other evening and when I arrive at the door the elderly homeowner looks at me like I invented sliced bread. I am standing in darkness. He is hard of hearing so I introduce myself several times and ask him where the problem is. He guides me through the house with a flashlight to his fuse panel. He states that he has replaced all the fuses. He tells me that the furnace, the stove, and receptacles and lights in three rooms stopped working. He then tells me that the house was built in 1959 and as I can see by the flashlight quivering in his hand, the house still has the original 60 Amp service. The wires in the fuse panel are somewhat rats nested so I pulled and pushed and wiggled to find suitable test points to check for voltage. Ding' Fries are done. For anyone who has ever spent anytime within ten feet of a deep fryer when an ice covered frozen chicken was dumped in, you have heard it too. I realized that the problem was not inside the panel so I proceeded outside to the meter base and cut the tag. I explained the severity of the situation to the gentleman and explained that this needed fixing right then. I phoned the POCO and they sent a guy from just two blocks away. Now thats service! Anywho, he pulled the meter, I replaced the service entrance conductors, and the burned meter lug and he plugged the meter back in. All was well with the world. I convinced the gentleman that $2000 was a great deal for a service upgrade and we scheduled it for early May. Home. Shower. Bed. Voicemail. Local zoning (AHJ) office received call from POCO. I received call from
zoning office. They wanted me to know that they have my permit for the emergency work I performed the night before and the inspector would be by to check it today. They have my account on file so I pull permits over the phone. I was just fine with this. My 1 hour for $90 just got cut to 1 hour for $55. *So What* I have this guy slated for future work and I'll write it off. I go by the zoning office today and they inform me that I was charged double the permit fee because the work had already began. Also I will need to pay the fee again when I perform the service upgrade. That service call cost me about $15 for wire, at least $5 for gas and $70 in permit fees. Anyone else do pro bono work. or just me?
