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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 131
T
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I will preface this thread with a breif explaination of my senario.
Did a large house, 10,000 sq feet, gave price on chandelier lift, customer thought I was out of my mind, they brought in their freind to do it, they told me he was licensed. No problem I said. Sent a letter to customer stating that I will not be responsible for the wiring of the lift. They blew up. My inspector came in for the rough inspection and failed the install of the lift. I told the inspector that I did not wire the lift. He said he would write a letter to the customer telling them just this and was putting it on the certificate.
Today I had a conversation with my contractor. Went like this...
Joe, my inspector came to look at the job today and said that the wiring that was done by the homeowners electrician is in violation. Needs to be fixed.
Joe says.. tell the homeowner taht you tried to get the job inspected by your inspector, as a favor, but he failed it. Tell them that it made you look like an ass and now he must get this inspected himself, or I can charge you $1000.00 to do the repair and get it inspected.
...What I am doing here is cracking them over the head with an extra...
Joe said... this will make you look like you are on their side and are trying to help them.
He said to me... if you don't play the game you will go out of business... I said I refuse to play games. I just want to run an honest business.
Question is........................
Am I a jerk, isn't honesty the best policy?(to coin a phrase) We can be honest and be good business men (or should I say business people) I beleive I am making the right move.
Right guys... Help!!!

Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 324
A
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If they didn't go with your price on the light lift then I would charge them extra for it or refuse to work on it at all. Be honest and fair but don't let their choice be your problem. I never try to teach anyone a lesson by over charging. But I wouldn't do'em any favors either.

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 545
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Never sacrafice your integrity, do the right thing always.


The Golden Rule - "The man with the gold makes the rule"
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,392
S
Member
Q~ why is GC 'Joe' allowing the homeowner to solicit outside of his subs???

Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,381
Likes: 7
Member
Tsolanto:
Did the guy who put the lift in have a permit???
Or was it "under your permit"???

There's a basic "rule", an AHJ cannot fail a "permitted" job for something that is "done by others". A "red sticker" can be placed/issued for a violation, but if the item is not on your permit, your work cannot be "failed".

The other issue, the suggestion of $1000 to "repair & inspect"; how much is the repair & your time worth?? $500; $750??

You could put an honest value on it, and make the customer happy.

BTW, if you "failed" rough due to the lift, did "Joe" give you the rough payment, since it was not your "fail". GC's use any excuse.

John


John
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,457
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Member
I would not be part of a job like this due to the now obvious inevitable headaches.However my thoughts would be to simply tell the people to get the guy to do it right, or I would redo it at X cost, any reinspection fees are their responsibility. The job will not be inspected untill this is resolved. No need to be a jerk about it.

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 300
M
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I don't see any moral conflict and I'm real big on doing the right thing always.

The other guy's work didn't pass. If they want to hire you to fix it, it will cost them. And it should. If it's a fair $1K to rework the chandelier, you've got to charge them the $1K or consider it charity. I'm all for charitable work but rarely do customers with chandeliers in 10K sq ft homes need a hand out.

You're not "cracking them over the head" with an extra. You're charging them extra for extra work. If it wasn't in your original agreement, they're scamming you if they expect you to fix someone else's screw up and not charge them.

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,392
S
Member
right...there's a $$$ for aggravation....

Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 131
T
Member
Thanks for all the replies.
arseegee-$1000 is a crack over the head...
What Joe does, is ask me to include his markup in my proposals. Basically he lies to the customer, telling them that they can deal with me directly therefore saving them money. The customer is to beleive that the construction contractor is not getting a markup. Often times Joe asks me to double my price and present it to the customer. Joe builds high end homes, 7,000 to 10,000 sq/ft. Big dollars $700,000 to 1.5mil. The owners of these houses are usally buisness owners themselves and are to stupid people. Most times when I present these proposals they go through the roof. I loose any trust they may have had in the beginning and they then think of me as a theif.
Sparky-now you see why Joe allows his customer to deal with me directly.
Hotline-No the guy did not have a permit. I was told he was licensed later I found out that isn't true.
Electricmanscott-Headaches... buy stock in Tylanol. He owes me $24,000. So I can't completly quit.

Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,381
Likes: 7
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Tsolanto:
24K is a big nut. If I got your drift, you are doing his mark-up. Does it work?? It's tough to "walk away" from a guy that gets/gives you work; but it's tougher to have 24k sitting in receivables from 1 guy. Does he pay promptly??, or "here's a few bucks now, and I'll get you the rest soon" & "by the way, here's another job, start it asap", while not paying the balance(s) on completed work.
Some GC's/Builders try to "roll" balances, ie: using the final/finish or part of it for "front" or rough on the next job. Watch out, it eventually catches up with them
John


John
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