ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Costly Mistakes

When I was in business, I drilled a hold from a basement to snake a wire into the first floor wall. I went outside instead! I saw daylight through my hole and knew I screwed up. Top it off, it was my brothers house. Then years later, I had 4 people working for me, I figured I would be smart this time, all of my people were lic. elec. contractors and 1 helper. Wouldn't you know that of my LIC.guys drilled a 4" hole through the roof on the first floor which happened to BE the floor of the second floor. Ruined the wood floor and the carpet on the floor too. So much for skilled labor.

ah....drillin' into the wild blue yonder!

I hit a plastic water service pipe when driving a ground rod. When the plumber had the water turned on a unplanned for fountain appeared. Painter got wet and had half of a wall washed off.
Case of bud and 2 hours digging, then back filling and moving ground rod, All of us were laughing about it.

Nesparky,

Have you ever worked with Overland construction of Omaha? If so, what was your experience?

GJ

I was adding a recep.and cable outlet on a wing wall(which was finished with 1/4" wood paneling) using a jigsaw to cut the box openings.The wall studs were turned on the flat side so I cut matching holes on the other side of wall Fortunately,the other side was drywall so I was able to have the holes patched.Had to use shallow boxes for outlets though

I was trenching for some pole lights when I heard a whistling sound like an air hose.
Trenched through a gas line. Fire dept came shut down a 4 lane road each way. Got a $1,500 fine for not calling for a mark out. The gas line was only 3" below the earth. Who woulda thunk it?

in my experience those cable guys do waaaay more damage with drills....

Golf Junkie
send me your email address please.
Yes i have done work with overland.

A customer just re-modeled his kitchen. Everything was imaculate. He wanted a recepticle inside of the cabinet over his range for a microwave. I thought I played it smart. I wanted to move the range out of the way so as not to damage it while working obove. While pulling it out I felt resistance half way. I looked to see if I caught the plug but it was loose. The I looked down and saw that the leg on the range had dug into his brand new flooring riping a 6" gap. Needless to say, it it was a freebie.
Mark

I can't work yet, but, once when I was helping my dad run a cable line along a black iron drain line, he was driling through the wall to the garage (the target room was right next to a bathroom and the pipes came in through the bedroom's closet), half way through drilling, his drill stops, then the upstairs toilet flushes, then, we realize that he drilled into the bathroom's drain line. Yuck! Thankfully, we had to leave the next day, next time we go though, there's a new piece of pipe welded in, and new furniture where the pipe went through the wall.
Ian A