How To Keep Your Sparky Happy:
Some Tips for Customers.

1. When asking for a quote, never be too specific about what you want done. Electricians like guessing games.

2. If you're having trouble with existing wiring, never volunteer information. Any halfway decent electrician should just know that the light in the hallway has been flickering for ages and that the trip thingy turns off when you switch on the washer.

3. No matter how low the quote for a job, always query the price. Your electrician will appreciate your concern at asking why he won't work for next to nothing -- Like you do!

4. Always paint and decorate a room before calling in an electrician to carry out work. He will appreciate working in a nice shiny new environment. Careful placement of lots of fragile expensive items in the work zone will be appeciated even more.

5. Remember that electricians are mountain-climbers and pot-holers at heart. If your main panel is mounted high up, pile as much junk up across the wall in front of it as possible. If it's located low-down in a dark cupboard, fill the cupboard to capacity with assorted debris. Old sneakers and tatty overalls and rags soaked in every chemical known to mankind are a good choice.

6. If you decide to change your plans part way through the job, never tell your electrician until he's finished the original work. He will appreciate your thoughtfulness in not interrupting him.

7. Always remind your electrician that your brother's wife's second cousin once removed worked as a janitor for an electrical company, so you know a fair bit about electricity. Demonstrate your knowledge by asking highly technical questions, such as "How many volts make an amp?"

8. Point out, frequently, that you would have done the work yourself if you had the time. Then follow your electrician around every second of the day, looking concerned and occasionally making "tut-tut" noises.

9. Electricians are like camels and don't drink while on the job. Never insult him by offering him a cup of coffee.

10. When the bill arrives, hold on to it for at least 3 months before paying. As your electrician doesn't really like to concern himself with money, he will appreciate your postponing the fateful day when he has to sully himself with such mundane matters and deposit your check.

Hee hee! That's great...

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?

LOL

ROFLMAO !

may we add ?.......

~If you've a toddler, lend him a screwdriver & let him follow the electrician as he/she works....

Why certainly! All additions welcome....

same here in NZ

And nothing better than having a dog up your ass all day. "Oh he likes you"! And dont let the cat out. And also "while youre here....."

Good question.....how many volts DO make an amp?
When your electrician asks "Have you been having trouble with the little 'trip thingy' on your washer" always reply with "Well, it worked before YOU got here" It will give him a sense of accomplishment.

Paul,

What can I say?
I've often thought of compiling a similar list and it seems that things are pretty much the same all over!

Here's an addition;

Always tell him how much you've already spent on the new Cabinets and Imported tile so that he understands why his prices have to help you come within the original budget.


Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill Addiss (edited 06-01-2002).]

Hey, I like the additions! I should've included this one:

For at least 5 years before calling in your electrician, stash every piece of useless junk you can lay your hands on in the attic.

Old Appy,
I didn't realize we had a Kiwi in here. If you have the time, how about posting some notes on NZ systems in the non-U.S. area? I know you use the 10A Australian recepts. etc, but an outline of typical circuit arrangements, earthing methods, etc. would be appreciated I'm sure.

Paul:
While we're on the subject of attics, how about...
Since Sparkys alway like to work in the heat, wait until the hottest part of the summer before calling him (or her) to add a new circuit. Of course, if you have vents in the attic, be certain they are still closed from the previous winter.

I like those technical terms, like "Trip Thingy"...

Mike (mamills)

[This message has been edited by mamills (edited 06-01-2002).]

how about waiting until just before the inspections to make your changes. so you wont bother him while he works

ROTFLMAO!!!

Don't forget, when your electrician asks you if you had any other work done recently, say no because you know the GFCI outlet in the guest bath you wired yourself 2 days ago could have nothing to do with the outlet in the garage not working.

Yup, yup, yup...

Customer: "Why would I think of adding ceiling fans before it got hot outside? That's when I need them, when it's hot outside! Not when the weather is cool. The attic? I never go up there in the summer. It's too hot!"

When you call because your 3-way switch isn't working (because you connected it wrong)and NOOOO you never touched it. Don't leave the old one you removed laying around for the electrician to find.

Said in the manner of Al from Happy Days?

3-way switch ("2-way" over here):
Funnily enough I just had a similar incident. I'm in the process of re-wiring a neighbor's house and installed two 3-ways and a 4-way at the three entrances to the living room.

He has someone else helping with the plastering, woodwork, etc. and he decided that he needed to remove one of my 3-ways from the boarded but yet-to-be-plastered wall. Sure enough, he reconnected it the wrong way, and then tried to convince the owner that it was normal for one of the three switches to have to be in one position before the other two would work.

There weren't even any other wires feeding through this switch box to confuse him, just a 3-conductor (plus ground) cable with different color wires going to the switch terminals. It's not rocket science.....

(For anyone who remembers, this is the same guy who a few months ago put a screw right into the middle of a main service cable!)


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 06-12-2002).]

My doctor called me and he selling his house, needs a few things fixed so it shows well. Yep he's got a three way, he said it was a three way.
He told me the dimmer had quit and the guy he had repainting the entry hall swapped it out for him.
Three way down stairs at front door, four way at living room and three way dimmer to of stairs controlling a giant chandelier 8 grand worth of chandelier. He needed to dim the chandelier really bad to sell the place.
All was well but the dimmer was wired wrong, changed two wires and presto, doc thinks I'm a god. I let doc know that it was a four way switch by switch by dimmer by chandelier= four ways, I told him that must of throwed the painter off a bit. I told the doc that after all my years of electrical experience that I was still a lousy painter. He said stick to what you know. He'll never let another painter touch a switch again.

Pauluk, kudos, at least I'm not alone!

LOL,
Thought I'd throw this one back up to the top again!.
It's a hoot.

When you know your electrician is comming over to service your panel, make sure you do the laundry first and hang all your underwear and bikinis from the clothes line in front of the panel so he has to duck......Oh wait a minute....never mind.

Blessings, Mark

Always "try to put milk back in the cow" so to speak by trying to re-negotiate the price after the work is done.

Be insulting, by asking if the electrician can enter through the "service entrance", then lead him to the work to be done at the front door.

Speak only through the maid, who barely speaks english and has no idea what it is that you want.

Step out for coffee, for several hours, 2 minutes before the scheduled appointment with the electrician. When he tracks you down via your cell phone, act surprised, and say, "Well you trades people are notorious for being late, I thought I had plenty of time."

If you're a GC, call several weeks ahead of schedule, say you're ready for rough wiring, while you're only half way done with framing.

Never over-lay your plans, and have everything in the center of each room. Let the HVAC, sprinkler guy, and electrician battle it out for placement, and do all you can to "stay uninvolved".

When decisions or clarifications need to be made, sit on the list until it is at least 5 pages long, or 2 months, which ever comes last, act "over-welmed" and only attempt to solve a few of them at a time.

And......

Try to get the Electrical Contractors employees to do work "on the side" for you!