What's the general feeling on back charging...I swear on every house we wire the drywallers bury 5 to ten boxes and in addition to that that chew the hell out of my wires with that damned router...

I hate to be a jackass about this stuff - I mean, I realize it happens but geez...is there no such thing as being careful?

Dont worry man;

It happens everywere, most of the contractors who put up drywall and plastering dont care a s**t about us sparkies.

All they want to do is `get on the wall`, the sparks cables are in the way, whatb the hell, out with the linesmans and off it comes.

They either, chop it, cut it, beat it or bury it.

On most of these jobs we, as a company put on 5% on the top for this reason.

And it is written in our contract. !!
John H

I like to use the extra deep boxes, like the 22 cube for single gang. I fold the wires accordian style and lay them way to the back of the box. After I'm done wiring, I go around with a large crayon and mark on the floor just under the box, one strike for single gang and 2 for 2-gang and so on. Then if they bury it I can show the GC that they burried it, have the dry waller cut it out. Hope this helps.

~Ange

Start using a hammer to find the burried boxes. This will send a message. As far as the router goes I find this particularly annoying. The worst part is the holes are still cut to big for the device to sit properly.

2nd that Ange...

'backcharging'or creating an extra at the expense of 'others' is a predetermined contractual concern or simply a yelling match.

Talk to your general contractor and explain the problem...NICELY!!!! He will go back to the sheetrock contractor who really does not want to pey additional charges because his guys are not paying attention to the electrical boxes.
I'm afraid that using a hammer to find them just might get you back charged for the damage you do when finding the boxes.
Guys, a simple rule I have learned is to treat everyone the way you want to be treated. You would not want someone to remove an electrical panel with a hammer that you, by accident, put too close to a door jamb. You're always going to have problems come up on your jobs. How you resolve your problems today will decide how well others will work with you tomorrow.

Well said GEC-1.

I always felt the same way, as long as you don't feel that your being taken advantage of because you are too nice.

My new boss is more like the hammer guy. He has got he attitude "Horay for us...Screw them!" In fact he even mentioned using a hammer to find burried boxes.

The carpenter said to me a couple of weeks ago that our company is VERY hard to work with. We don't seem to care about the other trades only ourselves.

He mentioned something about billing us for tearing down some studs that were in our way. I mentioned this to my boss and he went off saying that we were going to backcharge for something or other.

So my advice to you is yes, work it out politely and fairly. Be firm but fair and don't make any threats that you aren't willing to carry out. If the problem persists make promises as to what you will do if it happens again, then do it.

You will be respected.

Treating people the way you want to be treated does not work in many cases. I have found over the years being nice get's you in trouble (screwed) more than often than you would think. There are too many people that do not give a shit about anybody but themselves! This is very unfortunate because being prick can get you the same. Somebody mentioned putting charges in initialy. That is whAT you need to do! Unless it is a builder you always work with and you know for sure he will take care of it, put it in the contract. Drywallers often hire cheap labor.
In my opinion it doesn't take much skill do hang sheet rock. That is why the workmanship is so poor. I could hire labor for low rates, but I would loose my customer's in the end.

GEC-1 - that's exactly why I asked the question. We go out of our way for people on many occasions. We fix things that other contractors screw up and we often say very little. I have never to this day, back charged anyone becuase I sorta think its cheap - and yes - ppl make mistakes...but I have to uncover on average 10 boxes with these guys and now the whole thing with the router chewing up my wires...that's new so I know its not impossible to cut out a box without destroying the wires...

its just frustrating and I know I have to deal with it, keep a smile on my face and continue to make ppl happy...that's the way business goes...

and (I don't mean this in a rude way) but you'd have to be intellectually challenged or stoned (and nobody in this business does that) to screw up a panel hang that bad! LOL!