ECN Forum
Posted By: electure Good/Bad - 11/04/05 12:28 AM
From renosteinke

So, which is it? Good? or Bad?


[Linked Image]
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Good/Bad - 11/04/05 12:43 AM
Hmm,
Is it good or is it bad,that's the question.
I'd have to go with the latter, after all, how much can a "Real Estate Executive" know about good wiring practice?.
Posted By: trollog Re: Good/Bad - 11/04/05 01:04 AM
Hope the power was off.. This really does make me wonder about the soundness of the idea behind H for H and other charity groups that go to 3rd world countries and do this sort of thing... but then again you are not as likely to be sued for defects in a house you build in Mexico, either... My vote is for "bad". Most real estate types are mechanincally over-challenged when you pass the point of changing a lightbulb anyway...
Posted By: livetoride Re: Good/Bad - 11/04/05 02:18 AM
From what I have heard there are real electricians to supervise and the volunteers are taught how to do the task at hand; drill holes here, pull wire like this to here, get this tool for me, make the switches like this etc.,like a green helper. Rod
Posted By: Electricmanscott Re: Good/Bad - 11/04/05 02:32 AM
Based on the description, bad.
Posted By: Steve Miller Re: Good/Bad - 11/04/05 11:28 AM
It's both. Good for the "system" because the house gets built cheaper but bad for the poor licensed electrician who has to supervise the job, repair all the mess ups and take liability for the whole thing. The newspaper never sees the guy who spends 40 hrs correcting what the execs did in 10.
Posted By: Dnkldorf Re: Good/Bad - 11/04/05 12:27 PM
I am on the "Depends" side.

If this is bad, because of the potential lack of knoweledge of the agents doing the wiring, then this poses the question about Jimmy Carter doing framing for these houses?

And Jon Bon Jovi was recently featured building Habitat homes for Hurricane victims.

What do they know about this, probably nothing.

So, my conclusion would be, with the appropriate supervision and oversite, practicly anyone could do anything.

When you factor in that this is for a good cause, in the end, this could be a really good thing.

Dnk...
Posted By: IanR Re: Good/Bad - 11/04/05 01:20 PM
It is not really as bad as some think.
I worked a habitat for humanity house with my church a few years back. The laymen weren't allowed to do major electrical work. No service entrance orlarge loads like A/C and the like. They were allowed to wire light fittings, switches and outlets, nothing major. They were all showed how to do it and the work WAS thoroughly inspected after wards. In my experience they didn't do too bad. You did have to look at them a little more closely. But, it was no big deal.
Posted By: renosteinke Re: Good/Bad - 11/04/05 08:34 PM
We had a thread not so long ago about "qualified help." The Three Stooges were used to illustrate the principle.

No matter how you slice it, "real estate executives" are not "qualified help." No matter how good their intentions, they have no business even as "the dumb end of the shovel."

Do you think, that for even one minute, they considered letting a well-intentioned electrician handle the sale of the house? Well, their objections apply to their own doing electrical work.

Ours is a trade that takes time, brains, and expereince to master. There are lives, and property, at stake. Nor is it the job of the inspector to check every detail- which is why many places restrict who may do "electrical work."

You can be sure that "Habitat" uses real archetects and structural engineers in their plans. There is no excuse for not using real electricians. The poor deserve better.
Posted By: LoneWolf Re: Good/Bad - 11/04/05 09:04 PM
Dont bash H for H Scouts Can makes me do 48h of volenteer work I do mine with H for H .... but Real Estate Executives i do have a problem with
Posted By: Alan Belson Re: Good/Bad - 11/04/05 11:39 PM
Real Estate Exec 'electricians'? All their wiring would have potential, ( even when it's switched off ), and their Ohms are in the best neighborhoods.
And as for Back-stabbing- No contest!!

Alan
Posted By: DougW Re: Good/Bad - 11/06/05 03:02 PM
Bad for terminology, good for the thought & effort.

The way I've heard in several towns, the "qualified persons" rule is used to nail non licensees who charge for doing non-permit work, but can exempt homeowners who aren't doing it "for pay".

I would suspect that that interpretation, along with close supervision by a knowledgable EC would let this slide.

In addition, I thought that H4H was the insuree (? on term), and that their GC insurance would be used, instead of the individual EC's.
Posted By: e57 Re: Good/Bad - 11/06/05 07:50 PM
I did some work for Habitat' before... Had some eager "Helpers"... Ironically, I got hooked up in it through some Real Estate company employees that I did work for. It was all in existing buildings and was mostly just correction work, broken devices etc.
Posted By: macmikeman Re: Good/Bad - 11/08/05 07:57 AM
If they were all real estate executives and they all got themselves electrocuted , then it wouldn't be too bad.
Posted By: IanR Re: Good/Bad - 11/08/05 12:33 PM
[quote] If they were all real estate executives and they all got themselves electrocuted , then it wouldn't be too bad. [/qoute]

Come on now, thats not nice. Lawyers, maybe, just kidding [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by IanR (edited 11-08-2005).]
Posted By: Tesla Re: Good/Bad - 11/08/05 10:26 PM
John, the EC is going to broker that house....

It's a new TV theme: swapping licenses instead of swapping homes.

On deck: doctors and attorneys swap....
judges and legislators swap....

A trend is born....
© ECN Electrical Forums