Tim The Tool Man
Well-known member
I am a general contractor by trade and have been working with a client on and off for several years now. The homeowner lives out of State and bought a house for his two children to live in while they both attend Lehigh University. One of his daughters has earned a full ride scholarship for softball. Anyhow I needed some work done in an outdoor batting cage/shed that I built for them. Part of this includes installing a 50 amp subpanel to this shed. I had contacted 12 electrical contractors in my area last Fall and met 7 of them for an estimate. I think because it was soon to be winter none of them wanted the job and just one took the work. I always pay cash, a percent up front and the balance upon a passed inspection. Well this electrician ran into the home owner last fall and had him pay him directly instead of going through me. This doesn't really bother me because I don't make any profit on my subcontractors labor but he had the home owner pay him in full.
Once he gets paid he tells me he doesn't work in the snow and he can't start until Spring. Grrr! That means I cannot do my work until Spring either and as of now the Softball season started over a month ago! He already got himself paid and now has no incentive to do his job.
Well fast forward to last week, after numerous phone calls from myself and the homeowner the electrician finally started his work. Just to make matters worse he treats this as a side job and needs me to come by a couple week night evenings and both Saturday and Sunday (Easter!).
Now here in Pennsylvania there is no special licencing for electricians. Generally most townships require that various fees are paid and that each electrician to pass the ICS exam. I am going to be taking this exam sometime this fall myself because finding electricians willing to work as subcontractors is near impossible in my area.
Well here is what this electrician did; First he installed a small five breaker subpanel without a cutout main breaker. He then ran #2 service entrance cable from the house panel, along the side of the house, up the corner of the house 9' then across a 15' span then down the side of the shed and into the box. This is all one long piece of wire tied to the side of the building with pipe clamps and drywall screws. The subpanel still has the neutral and grounds bonded. there is no ground rod or anything. In fact he cut, flush to the ground, and scrapped the Ufer ground wire I installed when I poured the concrete pad for the shed! He ran 14NMB wire from the subpanel to a 30amp 220 outlet for a Ptac unit I installed to the back of the shed. He ran all his wires 3/4 of an inch back on the studs and didn't install nail plates. None of the exterior penetrations had any duct seal or anything. There is tons more I could list as well.
So he tells me he is done and it is ready for inspection. I show him everything I am concerned about and his reply is well you are not an electrician.
I said screw it I need this job done so I fixed everything myself this morning. I put a weatherhead on each building 15' up and ran proper overhead wire between the buildings, changed out the subpanel and unbonded the neutral and ground, dug out some concrete and re-installed my Ufer and drove a ground rod and ran my ground wires, and fixed everything else. My almost complete rework of his job took 2 1/2 hours. He took 15 hours total over 5 evenings and weekends.
I called for an inspection for tomorrow morning. I just hope I fixed everything correctly!
Once he gets paid he tells me he doesn't work in the snow and he can't start until Spring. Grrr! That means I cannot do my work until Spring either and as of now the Softball season started over a month ago! He already got himself paid and now has no incentive to do his job.
Well fast forward to last week, after numerous phone calls from myself and the homeowner the electrician finally started his work. Just to make matters worse he treats this as a side job and needs me to come by a couple week night evenings and both Saturday and Sunday (Easter!).
Now here in Pennsylvania there is no special licencing for electricians. Generally most townships require that various fees are paid and that each electrician to pass the ICS exam. I am going to be taking this exam sometime this fall myself because finding electricians willing to work as subcontractors is near impossible in my area.
Well here is what this electrician did; First he installed a small five breaker subpanel without a cutout main breaker. He then ran #2 service entrance cable from the house panel, along the side of the house, up the corner of the house 9' then across a 15' span then down the side of the shed and into the box. This is all one long piece of wire tied to the side of the building with pipe clamps and drywall screws. The subpanel still has the neutral and grounds bonded. there is no ground rod or anything. In fact he cut, flush to the ground, and scrapped the Ufer ground wire I installed when I poured the concrete pad for the shed! He ran 14NMB wire from the subpanel to a 30amp 220 outlet for a Ptac unit I installed to the back of the shed. He ran all his wires 3/4 of an inch back on the studs and didn't install nail plates. None of the exterior penetrations had any duct seal or anything. There is tons more I could list as well.
So he tells me he is done and it is ready for inspection. I show him everything I am concerned about and his reply is well you are not an electrician.
I said screw it I need this job done so I fixed everything myself this morning. I put a weatherhead on each building 15' up and ran proper overhead wire between the buildings, changed out the subpanel and unbonded the neutral and ground, dug out some concrete and re-installed my Ufer and drove a ground rod and ran my ground wires, and fixed everything else. My almost complete rework of his job took 2 1/2 hours. He took 15 hours total over 5 evenings and weekends.
I called for an inspection for tomorrow morning. I just hope I fixed everything correctly!
Attachments
Last edited:
