Termyn8or
Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
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I disagree with permits, but I disagree more with a job not done right. I'mt really in the business, I have only done maybe $150,000 worth of this type of work in my life. Most of it was for family and friends. But I do know what I am doing. In fact I have a saying "No, I do not want to do it right, howener I especially do not want to do it again" kind of a joke, because I strive to do everything right and if I, or customer orders disagree with code, well I'll do anything that is safe. I think if you do for example a faulty wiring job and someone gets hurt you belong in jail.
You can get away with what's called a homeowner's permit around here. This was a friend of mine but it was a paying job. It was a rental and a small war boke out with some tenants who called the city, and they found lots and lots of wiring violations. It was bad, I don't think anyone in my family would move in with wiring like that, but that is one of the first things we look at after the roof and foundation. Well this place had the usual mishmosh of electrical boxes which had to go, two sets because it is a double. It was indeed a mess.
Well we got this inspector in Cleveland here who is known as Ivan the Terrible. He knew that I was not the owner, yet we talked on several occasions. Toward the end it was almost done and told me of some new grounding requirements I did not know about, but in the end it passed inspection with flying colors. Other than grounding, everything was fine. It seems that now even if you pound the ground rod in and put in a new ground., if any class one grounds are connected to any water pipe you must get the clamps and jump out the water meter.
LEt me tell you what a licensed bonded contractor did at one of my Mother's houses. He did the bathroom and she wanted a new outlet near the new vanity. Near a sink of course it must be a GFI or be on a GFI circuit. The breaker for that is expensive, so most just go with the outlets.
Well this licensed, bonded profeshunul decided to use a piece of extension cord in the wall to get power to the new outlet. That's bad enough but he also failed to identify neutral and hot and wired the outlet backwards. Now folks when someone does this it is more unsafe then a regular outlet. If someone were to get a shock, like from an appliance or whatever, a GFI would trip and it works fast. but when it is wired backwards instead of tripping the hot, it trips the neutral. This means the current you might have been sharing with the device is now all going through you !
And I don't know who all else had worked on that house, but when I did the kitchen I found out about this wunderful wiring through the other side of the wall. I also found cracked up leveling compound under the floor under the stove which had been applied to rotten wood. Then I pulled out the kitchen cabinets and found a gaping hole in the floor where water had obviously been leaking for years.
Nobody works on my Mother's houses anymore except for me, or I at least run the job. The other things we have found in houses make this a logical decision. More than once I told people "No, we are not doing that".
Last time around my crew and I save a garage, some idiot had left it with a gaping hole in the roof and it was bad, the back wall lilting to the right about six inches in the back. There was enough of the roof gone that it was no longer doing it's part to hold it up.
One guy, who I have worked with and for before said we don't have to straighten that out, I said maybe not, but we are. I did explain why though, for one the roof is supposed to be square, the boards are square, so you would have to cut it down at an angle to make it look semi right. But inside the garage is was so far off you could see it. Once the ne roof is on you cannot straighten it, so now is the time. You also have to keep in mind resale value. A straight garage is worth more than a crooked one.
I do structrural and finish carpentry, electrical, plumbing, flooring. and some cement work. I don't go on the roof and I do not do driveways or sidewalks, I have people for that who have the right tools. But I will tell you this, if I work on your house you will not have these problems. And if I send someone to do the things I do not, if you are not satisfied they will get sent nowhere anymore.
A word about electrical, I got two local 38 electricians in the family. Local 38 is like a more elite union and it is a bit harder to get into. I could get their stickers which is an automatic pass. However, they are not just going to hand out a stack of them, they will have to come look it over first, and they might be toughter than Ivan the Terrible. They value what those stickers mean. They would do it for me, I am not competition, they don't do residental. They hate it. But my Uncle did teach me how to bend conduit. And now I have done enough of it I do not even need a measuring tape.
Residential can be rough, but I have done what has been called impossible.
And your licensed plumbers ? Mom had a pipe freeze, she called a plumber, he fixed it, it went again. When I got there the pipe had indeed frozen and pushed the elbow off the end of the pipe, the solder was still on the pipe. I did not have to replace any parts. Apparently this is one of those who think you don't have to clean and score the inside of a joint, only the pipe. When I solder a pipe, if it freezes it bursts. I know how to sweat a joint. I can do them for AC without silver solder. In fact I did, that's another thing I do residential HVAC.
We did ALOT to that house. Rewired a good part of it, new kitchen and laundry room, and that kitchen included all new drain plumbing to the kitchen. All that time I charged her for the time I took off work, but not what the house was worth, but she would up making money on it. Right after it sold she calls and asks if I am alone and if I could remain alone for about a half hour. I said sure, whatever, somthing private like that I will throw everybody out. She came over and gave me a couple grand, that I had never asked for.
If I start a company doing this stuff, you know how some want you to leave ? Not me, I want you there if possible. Not standing over us every minute, but around.
T
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RE: Why I Hate Construction People - A Rant - 
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