Here is the situation: A plumber calls you. Over the weekend, some poor soul has had an electrician look at his water heater (nearly new), and the sparky finds $450 worth of stuff to fix, before saying the problem is a bad element, and the guy needs a plumber.
The plumber has called you, as he can find nothing wrong with the water heater.
You get there, and - after a modest amount of checking- that the splices in the LB near the panel have completely degraded. Easy wire pull, wires replaced. All is well.
Now, the customer shows you the bill from the other sparky. A large firm, with many trucks, and a pretty decent reputation. On the invoice, the guy had diagnosed "bad element." He has charged for changing four breakers - for the life of you, you can only see two that MIGHT have been changed. And your bill for actually fixing it is a lot less than what the first guy charged. (Especially when the other guy charged $80 for a $5 breaker!)
So- what do you do?
