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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 172
W
Member
Have a customer that called about lightning striking their house. The story goes that it really only affected one lignt and the corresponding switch. Switch was frozen in on position. It did knock holes in the sheet rock with no proximity to any wiring. Customer now says insurance company wants electrician to check it out. My question is about how much should I charge to megger the residence, and any other tips as to what or where to check for damage. I am not really as over my head here as it may sound, but don't want to leave any money on the table with the insurance company, as I don't think most jacklegs have the equipment in their trunk to handle this one. All input will be appreciated. smile

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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 172
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anyone.

Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 172
W
Member
(thump) (thump) (thump) is this thing on?

Joined: Jan 2005
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Cat Servant
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Oh, the thread works fine .... I just have not the knowledge to say anything that could help you.

Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 172
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What about anyone from Florida, I thought their state tree was a lightning bolt.

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,429
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LK Offline
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99% of our work is contract, but when we get a home that had a strike, and it is an insurance job, we have actual prices that were recorded from other strike jobs, a lot will depend how you go about your testing, we do a breakdown test, which requires some serious, time consuming disconnect work, after were done with the megger testing and have all the readings recorded, we do the visual, we have a fiber scope, that we do wall inspections with, this allows you to inspect for physcial cable damage, you would be supprised what is found with this method, some cables, that checked out with breakdown testing, look like a spent fire cracker.

For a 3 bedroom 2 story 2,100 sq ft home, with both megger, and scope inspections you may be looking at 30 to 40 hours min. depending on the job conditions, one home i recall took a lot longer, they had piles of junk. and boxes in every room, number of fixtures, and fixed appliances will have to be considered.

Remember,your name will be on the report.


Last edited by LK; 07/26/07 02:19 PM.
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 138
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We get called out to look at lighting hit homes. Our focus is obvious damage, with a disclaimer on what is not covered. I don't believe it is possible to look at every wire in every wall and give a home a clean bill of health with or without a meggar. They don't meggar new homes...

What you can do is focus on the area hit by the strike and repair obvious damage. Generally, we see it hitting the satelite dish (or antenna) jumping across to the security systems, and then to the electrical wiring. Usually the GFCI's pop or go bad and need replaced. We'll never say it's all fixed, rather say 'this is what we saw, and this is waht we fixed'. We can't say that EVERYTHING is fine. To make that claim, you'd have to rewire the house.

Imagine a car in a wreck. All the steel and components you can find get replaced but that doesn't make the car like new.


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