ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area I'd hate to be this guy

John,

I understand, that is why i ask if they have someone in their family, that can review the work, before i do anything.

But not all contractors will, risk loosing a job, by doing what i consider the right thing.

You may be the only person that can help someone that has been abused, and it is proper, for you, to at least, investigate any of these issues.

Les:
I left out one thing, in the interest of trying to condense a bad situation into a breif synopsis.

The 'lady of the house' in that instance was residing in the living room in a full blown hospital bed, oxygen, etc.

BTW, I had my conversation on a 'man-to-man' basis, & on my own time, on my own phone.

Have a great weekend.

John

To pick up the ball and run with it.
The general public sees us (caused by the media) as a bunch of under-educated, under-worked and overpaid bums that weren't good enough to pass any Diploma or Doctorate course.
The training of an Electrician these days is sometimes overlooked in favour of people that work in our field but never bother to get any qualifications.
These are the people that the media like to focus on and it gives us all a bad name.
If you see a report that puts us in a bad light, complain to the source of that report, don't just sit back and hope that someone else will for you.
It's our Industry, we should be standing up for it.
Us Electricians are well trained and are generally nice, free thinking people.
Getting into our trade is not a 5 minute thing.
That should be stated across the world and that is what seperates us from any DIY'er, we do this every day of the week, every week of the year, we aren't a "oncer" trade.

Trumpy:
Well said, my friend.
A few days back, a comment was made regarding the 24 hour cable news channels here. They manufacture stories, create hype, and supposedly generate a mountain from a grain of sand.

As to our trade, yes the "hacks" create a problem, but that's what life deals out. Unfortunatly, the "hacks" usually don't get caught in the act. (Note 'usually')

Overall, I'm proud to be a electrician, AHJ, etc., it's what I worked hard for.

John

If an inspector is looking at pricing for any reason other than pricing the permit fees themselves, then the inspector should also look at the guy who is low balling work and have a "man to man" talk with him telling him that he is killing the industry for the legitimate contractor who cannot compete against the low ball bid.

OK, I guess what I consider a blatant rip, is upsetting a few people.

PCBelarge:
1st, permit fees (electrical) are based on 'items' and sizes, not costs here in NJ. (Unless it is a "special circumstance" job, that is not listed on the fee schedule)
Fee schedules are by municipal ord.

2nd, what I said was one isolated case, out of a few.

3rd, I stand by what I said above regarding my comments. In lieu of what I refered to as a 'man-to-man', my other option would have been a letter/call to the BOEOEC, which is not something I want to do, except as a last resort.

John

The topic is "Can you trust your repairman"

You may need to consider, that the inspector could be the only one left to help, after the repairman leaves, the main reason for licensing, was to afford the consumer some protection, from shoddy work, and price gouging, the purpose of licensing, is not to protect the contractor and his business, but to qualify them by examine.

So when an inspector suspects, that gouging may have taken place, here in New Jersey, it would be his duty, to at least investigate, i would prefer a call from my AHJ, rather then a letter from the board.

LK:

You have to get a really big AMEN!!!

You made my point, hit the nail on the head & drove it home.

Thank You

John

Good job Les..........

Dnk..

When my wife was in the HVAC biz she got one of these calls. She found the planted bug pretty quick (a jammed float switch in the condensate pan that shuts off the compressor), she didn't try to sell anything or even charge for the call and the whole clip ended on the cutting room floor.
It was really a pretty raw deal because they made the call sound like they wanted to see a salesman. Most HVAC "techs" are on commission. Whether someone should replace a 10SEER or older machine with something newer and more efficient is certainly more of a judgement call than simply what is wrong with it when the tech shows up. Throwing away a perfectly good 20 year old machine for a new one paid for itself in about 4 years, just in electric bills and I got an FPL rebate that pushed that payback period up a year. It is rude not to fix the easy problem simply to make a sale tho.