Do you guys see alot of inspectors checking licenses? I have been doing this for 8yrs and I have never been asked for a card.

I didn't have reason to care before, but now with me wanting to go farther in my career and knowing how hard I have worked to get here, I'm more bothered by it.

I have worked for quite a few companies, that have had $13 hr. appentices running crews.

With the economy and how cut throat electrical is already... its gotta hurt when the competition is using apprentices to run crews. They can (and do) have 2 guys crews and have less than $25 per hr. out there wiring houses.

So just curious.. and to any inspectors reading this.... CHECK CARDS!!! ... please

... I'll add this too... We have been underbid in residential by a company using mainly apprentices (1 J-men, out of 5 crews) This is residential and he bid $1.77 per sq. ft. Thats a rediculas price... I know how hes doing it, its one part business volume, one part cheap labor. The volume part is fair, the cheap labor part is not.

I have always wondered how an entire crew of "non-English" speaking "electricians" could have electrical licenses. Is the NEC printed in Spanish?

"I know how hes doing it, its one part business volume, one part cheap labor. The volume part is fair, the cheap labor part is not."

If he is doing 1.77 a sq in volume, it just means he is going to get in trouble faster then the guy charging $2.00 a sq. The biggest complaint from production builders, is the electrical guys bid low, then come back looking for more money, or they don't come back to finish.

Some of these guys think if they get their foot in the door they will make up the money later, later never comes.

A good number of these guys have unpaid bills at the supply house, un paid insurances, and nothing more then a guess that they are making money.

The sad part is, when they drop out, another brain child comes along and tries it, sort of like watching someone jump off a building and splashing on the ground, then thinking maby he just din't do it right.

"Is the NEC printed in Spanish? "

Yes, it is.

In NH you have to have a licence for every non-licence on the job

I thought it was the same everywhere. In MI its one j-man, for 2 apprentices.

A little off the main subject, but I guess I don't pay enough attention to my own license cards. I was checking all of my licenses at the first of the year to see what needs renewed. Some are automatically expired in January and some are 12 months from date of issue. I noticed one that expired 4/01 that said "Licensed Journeyman Plumber" on it. It was my Master Electrician License for Muncie, Indiana. I went to the municipal building to renew it this week and asked if I could be an electrician this year. The lady was a little red-faced and said they must have loaded the wrong card blank in the printer last year. I told he from what I'd seen, there must be a lot of plumbers out there with licenses issued by mistake!

in maryland all you need is the boss to be a master electrician. as far as checking for juridictional licenses forget it, i know people who have over 25 yrs. in the trade and don't hold a license, some of them used to have them but got tired of paying the fees to carry all of them. as for bidding low- nobody mentioned better trained or highly specialized. some of these resi crews kick it in the @ss and put other crews to shame. not only do they come in with a complete game plan/materials/tools etc. they also know the ins and outs of the local codes and know exactly how the g.c.'s and other subs operate. also oftenly the workers operate at piece rate

The only times in my entire career that I have been required to show my card is when pulling permits (and that's my contractor's license). I have never had an inspector request to see it.

In Maine, we have a one to one ratio but very few inspectors. The rural parts of the state are flooded with hacks wiring houses for 25$ per hour, and getting away with it all day long.

I am an Electrical Inspector.
I to a degree don't care who does the work as long as the person in charge on the work site can demonstrate to me that the work has been done in a compliant manner and that that is backed up by test results and/or photo's of the installed work.
If they want to employ clowns, that is on their head, not mine, after all they are certifying their work.
All I do is make sure that no-one will get injured or killed by any dodgy work and that that work is of a certain minimum standard.
Just my 2c worth.

I should post pics or what our local clowns get away with that the inspector never seems to catch.

Be my guest, there is a whole area for that.
You can send your pics to me if you like.
Send them to: mtrump@orcon.net.nz
They will need to be posted in the Violations Area.

Yeah I saw the area, but I am sure we have all seen the stuff people do.

I just get frustrated competing with some shops that run whole crews of unlicensed labor, that seem to get away with murder while I feel like I am held to a higher standard.

Thats what I'm saying. We have electrical companies dying over here in MI. The guys following the rules are taking huge hits. I'm sure everyone is... but level the playing field, enforce the rules, make sure these guys are regustered and have someone licensed.

The inspectors might not care about the legit companies... but good legit comanies are going under or barley getting by. I wish inspectors would re evaluate thier position on this.. they have no problem enforcing other rules.

Last summer I made a deal to do the finish-out about 40,000 sf of shell spaces at a new retail shopping center. The shell contractor was more or less a joke, the lights in the soffit were run with romex, he used N-1 load centers for the outside house panels, the transformers for the space had floating grounds, the list goes on, but I took the job knowing all of it had to be fixed and was part of the deal.

When we get our final inspection the inspector red tags me because I have one 4-square box with (4) MCs terminated in it, which is against our local ordinances to have more than (3) terminating in a box. The GC was mad at me, threats of liquidated damages were flying, and I was a bit peeved too. So I called my inspector and asked him why he was being so picky with me when he finaled the shell contract with such blatant code violations. He said you have been in business long enough to know better and we expect you to do it right. He basically told me I am being held to higher standard.