We are in the process of renovating our house and are currently having more or less trouble with the electrician.
We got a quote from one of the largest electrical contractors in the area for a complete rewiring of the electrical system and were quite impressed at first. However, a week after the work started, the situation looks very different...
- An electrician came who has just recently completed his apprenticeship
- He prefers chatting with the other tradesmen instead of actually getting work done
- He laughs at the 3-week schedule and says he needs to see when and what he can accomplish
- Every single socket outlet still needs to be discussed with us again, even though we marked everything with marker paint
- He doesn’t mark the chases, but just cuts straight into the wall (and it looks exactly like that!)
- Cable conduits apparently cannot be installed inside the wall due to the structural stability (11.5cm (4.5 inches) bricks), which was previously agreed differently
...
After 3 days, we had enough and called in the manager.
He inspected the work and said everything was within tolerance.
Marking the chases beforehand would take more time and was not part of the scope of work. (Is this a joke or???)
After that, things improved slightly and the electrician managed to get a bit more done each day.
Today, I noticed that the light switches in the rooms are not all at the same height and the sockets (those black inner trims) have all been installed crooked.
Sockets were originally agreed to be below the light switches but are now located near the floor.
Also, the preparation for the ceiling lamp is not centered in the room.
And it goes on...
Is this really all still within the tolerance range??
We got a quote from one of the largest electrical contractors in the area for a complete rewiring of the electrical system and were quite impressed at first. However, a week after the work started, the situation looks very different...
- An electrician came who has just recently completed his apprenticeship
- He prefers chatting with the other tradesmen instead of actually getting work done
- He laughs at the 3-week schedule and says he needs to see when and what he can accomplish
- Every single socket outlet still needs to be discussed with us again, even though we marked everything with marker paint
- He doesn’t mark the chases, but just cuts straight into the wall (and it looks exactly like that!)
- Cable conduits apparently cannot be installed inside the wall due to the structural stability (11.5cm (4.5 inches) bricks), which was previously agreed differently
...
After 3 days, we had enough and called in the manager.
He inspected the work and said everything was within tolerance.
Marking the chases beforehand would take more time and was not part of the scope of work. (Is this a joke or???)
After that, things improved slightly and the electrician managed to get a bit more done each day.
Today, I noticed that the light switches in the rooms are not all at the same height and the sockets (those black inner trims) have all been installed crooked.
Sockets were originally agreed to be below the light switches but are now located near the floor.
Also, the preparation for the ceiling lamp is not centered in the room.
And it goes on...
Is this really all still within the tolerance range??
Winniefred22 Jan 2019 17:31I would tend to end the collaboration. We also had terrible luck with our electricians. Initial statement: 2 people, 1 week. In the end, they worked in small steps over several months (5), with most of the work done by the trainee alone. The journeyman showed up only occasionally and came by at the very end once.
I think chase cuts should be straight. In my opinion, marking them isn’t necessary, because with a router you can get them reasonably straight, as long as you’re not drunk. However, I do find it important that they are at least roughly straight, because this allows you to estimate the route of the cables later on (these should always be perfectly vertical or horizontal so that you don’t accidentally damage the wiring during later drilling or plastering work). Incidentally, after the work was completed, we found quite a few errors in labeling and wiring. We are currently working on sorting this out with the company. When high-voltage wiring is incorrectly labeled (cookers swapped), the situation is no longer acceptable and becomes dangerous.
That’s why I would rather find another company. Who knows what else they might mess up. We probably should have done that back then; it would have saved us a lot of trouble. And this is supposed to be a master contractor... ours was even certified by the local utility company.
I think chase cuts should be straight. In my opinion, marking them isn’t necessary, because with a router you can get them reasonably straight, as long as you’re not drunk. However, I do find it important that they are at least roughly straight, because this allows you to estimate the route of the cables later on (these should always be perfectly vertical or horizontal so that you don’t accidentally damage the wiring during later drilling or plastering work). Incidentally, after the work was completed, we found quite a few errors in labeling and wiring. We are currently working on sorting this out with the company. When high-voltage wiring is incorrectly labeled (cookers swapped), the situation is no longer acceptable and becomes dangerous.
That’s why I would rather find another company. Who knows what else they might mess up. We probably should have done that back then; it would have saved us a lot of trouble. And this is supposed to be a master contractor... ours was even certified by the local utility company.
Today we spoke with the boss (the other person back then was apparently just a coordinator) and shared our dissatisfaction with him.
He will come to the construction site early tomorrow morning, take a look, and discuss the next steps.
The electrician assigned to us is supposedly an experienced employee... *eye roll*
He will come to the construction site early tomorrow morning, take a look, and discuss the next steps.
The electrician assigned to us is supposedly an experienced employee... *eye roll*
Winniefred schrieb:
(these should always be exactly vertical or horizontal so that later drilling or plastering work does not damage the electrical wiringI’m not going to throw any standards at you here, but in my opinion, it should be sufficient if the channels stay within the installation zones, since that is what they are designed for.
I think you are all overreacting a bit right now.
I don’t see anything in the pictures that would prevent a proper final condition later on.
Whether the groove was made perfectly level with a spirit level or not doesn’t really matter.
What needs to be respected are the installation zones, and I see those are met here.
So what exactly is the problem?
How big are the deviations in the height of the light switches, for example? A difference of one or two centimeters (about 1 inch) is quite negligible; you would only notice it if you measure.
If electrical boxes are installed in the wrong place, just let them know — that can be fixed very quickly.
I also don’t see any flush-mounted boxes installed so crookedly that it would be noticeable during later installation.
A complete rewiring for an entire house in just three weeks is quite ambitious, so he has a point there.
Especially considering that you want to be finished by the end of March, I would take another look at this with a bit more distance and calm.
I don’t see anything in the pictures that would prevent a proper final condition later on.
Whether the groove was made perfectly level with a spirit level or not doesn’t really matter.
What needs to be respected are the installation zones, and I see those are met here.
So what exactly is the problem?
How big are the deviations in the height of the light switches, for example? A difference of one or two centimeters (about 1 inch) is quite negligible; you would only notice it if you measure.
If electrical boxes are installed in the wrong place, just let them know — that can be fixed very quickly.
I also don’t see any flush-mounted boxes installed so crookedly that it would be noticeable during later installation.
A complete rewiring for an entire house in just three weeks is quite ambitious, so he has a point there.
Especially considering that you want to be finished by the end of March, I would take another look at this with a bit more distance and calm.
If cables are installed in crooked slots, you’ll become a laughing stock among all the tradespeople who come after you.
As a homeowner, I shouldn’t have to check that boxes are installed at different heights and then point this out to an incompetent worker.
What about the bathroom tiles and measuring ceiling lights because they’re not centered?
Building an entire house in three weeks is ridiculous. I can finish a bungalow with 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) of floor area alone in 10 hours, and then the plasterers can come the next day.
As a homeowner, I shouldn’t have to check that boxes are installed at different heights and then point this out to an incompetent worker.
What about the bathroom tiles and measuring ceiling lights because they’re not centered?
Building an entire house in three weeks is ridiculous. I can finish a bungalow with 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) of floor area alone in 10 hours, and then the plasterers can come the next day.
Similar topics