ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Re: Tricks of trade

I lay out and mount all my boxes, cans, and drill my holes, etc day one. I have found that a lot of details are not thought of until the electrician starts to ask questions. "Where do you want to switch this from? How high? etc. There seems to be a lot of "Yea, I didn't thind of that." It takes a little bit to do it because there are usually a lot of questions for the gc or ho. When I am done though, I can run wire notstop and not have to wait for answers to where and how.

I have seen guys lay out, mount boxes, drill in a room or a circuit, then on to the next room. Constantly retooling.

I know it isn't old school, but I also like my romex stapler. The operational costs is higher than hand staples, but man is it fast.

I used to use my hammer to set the receptacle box heights. The only problem with that is only 1 man can set the boxes unless all the hammers are the same height.

We did 48" to top of box for switches unless you are in the bathroom. You would be in the bull nose and screw up the tile.

When my wife was building houses she walked the customer through the house before the roughs and marked all of the optional things on the floor with marking paint (phone, cable, paddle fans, floor outlets, extra receptacles for entertainment centers etc). She also marked door swings so you don't end up with the switches on the wrong side. It was good for the trades but it was great for the customer to be able to walk through the house and "try" the switch locations before everything was buried behind drywall.
She still tried to get another walk out of them before the rock went up.

Greg,
Your wife sounds like a dream to work for, I usually have to beg for info like that, especially door swings, if I get them they are normally drawn on the floor in pencil so if you dont drive the boxes fast it will be gone. i have just gone to using fan rated boxes in all the rooms so I dont get bit later when someone changes their mind and wants a fan where there was previously just a fixture. I would love to get out of the residential game and just do commercial/industrial, but I gotta eat!

She always said, the easier she makes it for her trades, the better the house comes out.
It also goes faster and time was money in those days. Her bonus was based on "on time", "on budget" and "customer satisfaction". Early and under budget was an extra bonus. She liked to get the extra bonus.

Greg,

That was something that I did. Before I started to wire up a house, I would walk the customer through the house and give them all those options. I also told them that before we get to an area, they can change their mind, BUT once the area is wired, and changes would cost them. I would ask them questions like,, which side of the bed do you sleep on and who wants the Telco jack on their night stand. Plus did they use electric blankets and do you need extra recept. by the night stand.

In my house I put two 3 ways next to the bed, telco on both sides and quads where the night stands will go. You always end up with more than two things to plug in and you certainly do not want the plug behind the bed. One duplex in each quad is half hot with the other one on a 3 way. The other 3 way controls the ceiling light.

That has worked out great

Cut to size 2x wood used to set "BOB" (Bottom of box); lighting layout along with HVAC, sprinkler, audio, etc done on floor w/spray paint. We did comm work primarily.

Made arrangements with ceiling contractor for 'electricians drop wires' as it was more economical to have him do it. Found large diameter hole saws for recess cans in ceiling tiles. Mechanics creeper stool for installing receptacles. Mid-range metal detector was really useful to locate Walkerduct plugs & crossover covers.

Greg,

Above and behind my bed I installed a 2 circuit track & 2 lights. There is a switch by each side of the bed and I used low voltage track cans in the track. I also used very narrow spot beams in each can so that the beam of light shines on each person and doesn't spread too far into his/hers partners side of the bed.