ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Pride in Workmanship

My father was called meticulous,and a craftsman. I hear people call me rightbrained and anal.

Pierre

I've been guilty of the occasional FUBB when feeling rushed, but generally I try to think, not of what they say today, but what some spark will say in ten or twenty years when the next owner calls for a remodel.

Will he ([pc]or she [/pc] say:

"Man, was this guy thinking!"
or
"Man, what was this guy thinking?"

I remember a hell of lot that i was taugh,
but one thing always sticks in my mind my chargehand (master electrician, told me something that i have never forgotten and always work to,

Do it right, or dont do it at all.

that to me spells it all out for me.

as we all know there are plenty of `sparks` who just want to rough in, get out and get as much $ as they can, this is not the way to do it, working fast is not always working safe and tidy.

just my 2 cents worth on this one.

John

We are using a program called "kaizen" where I work right now. It amounts to an unplanned, do it right now, then change it later, mess. Quality does not come into play with this system. Some of the guy's are using Liquid-Tite rather than conduit because it is quicker. It really bothers me to see the pride in work go out the window!

I know what you mean spkjpr i work industrial maint and I have been asked whats taking so long. Well do you want it done right or half ass then they say ok hurry up. I take alot of pride in my work when people see it i want them to say man look at that, that guy is doing it right and cares.

I wired up my dads new unfinished poll barn today then him and the guy back filling came in and said you don't have them recp wired yet. I said look closer all the wire was sucred and they didn't even notice that it was ran yet. Then started on the lights and dads like you don't need to put those staples so close but when i was finished he said it looked great could hardly see any wires in the building just the box and fixtures. Have to go back finish some lights and outside light and recps and ckt for garage door opener.

I learned the same sort of lessons from my father. He firmly believed in the principles of take your time, "measure twice, cut once" etc.

If he put up a shelf, you could guarantee it would be dead level in all planes. If it was to hold 50 lb. of things, you could pretty much guarantee that a full-grown adult could hang from it without it budging it from the wall.

I endeavor to maintain those high standards that I learned about at an early age.

I hear the term "Can't see it from my house" all the time. I can't stand it!
The only thing that I think is like the first post, I know it's there!

I used to hear it all the time. "Yeah, it looks good, but how long did it take you?" Here, it's "quick and dirty" that takes the day. Its a big reason why I turn down most house builders any more. I refuse to do the kind of work it takes to compete with the wiring I see these days.

The bad thing is, there's what, a dozen of us talking about this on this site? It sure seems there are fewer and fewer of us in the field willing to do quality work. So, what can the few of us do about the lack of workmanship there is?

The last big job I was on the electricians ran the conduit for the telephone service (2" rigid conduit w/grounding bushing & a lug). When the phone person terminated their wiring, instead of using the ground lug for the ground wire, she drilled a selfdrilling screw through the side of the conduit and attached the ground wire there!!

craftsmanship is something of a premium in today's superfical and materialistic society.

i know it when i see it, and i like when i'm let to go the extra mile, yet the brutal truth is, few wish to pay for it