ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area How to tell someone that they are not qualified...

... Just be frank with him,..he should understand,..that putting peoples lives and property at risk is no laughing matter.. Be firm, but not condescending.. Ask him to take on less technical jobs until he grasps the concepts related to the tasks at hand.."You gotta crawl before ya can walk"..If he's enthusiastic enough about the trade,he'll take the neccessary training courses to do so..If not...then he really shouldn't be messin' with it..There are many other ways to make an honest buck..
...Just my 3 cents worth here,...I'm done..

I knew a guy that had done some residential work for about a year and thought he was qualified to become an electrical contractor/journeyman. I went into my house and brought out my "American Electricians Handbook" and my codebook and suggested he invest in both of these. After browsing for about 15 minutes he said,"wow" I didn't realize there was so much stuff to know and decided to become a handyman instead.

Or a certified correspondence class.

Hi, master.
A picture paints a thousand words. You should show him some of Joe T's grapic photographs of electrocutions and burns, and then give him a quick lesson on grounding and overcurrent protection.
I'm outside of Philly, and other than the city, only one local town requires a test for an EC license.
The state legislature has repeatedly voted down statewide licensing similar to New Jersey's, and I can't imagine why.
Some (most) of the stuff I come across ranges from marginal workmanship to seriously dangerous.
I believe licensing would help things, but some philosophies disagree.

[This message has been edited by Redsy (edited 06-11-2004).]

If all out confrontation isn't your style, then maybe don't go so easy on him when he needs advice. When I work with guys that do stuff that they should know better, I can usually find a comrade(ish??-word?) way to say "come on, you don't know this stuff? you better get on the ball"

I'd be very careful about offering any advice whatsoever. If there are no legislated inspection requirements to fall back on, you, as the only qualified person within 100 feet of that job, could be hung out to dry if something goes wrong. I'd stay as far away from it as possible.