# Bad Friday. Has this happened to you?



## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

That's the best way out. This way it's not on you to match texture & color which could be argued until the cows come home.
Don't let it get you down. That's a pretty cheap error. Lesson learned. Next job.

Curious: what was the original amount of their bill?


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## CoreyOnTheBrink (Apr 9, 2021)

The original bill for the project was going to be $850.


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## J F Go (Mar 1, 2014)

That is a cheap out for you for a boat load of reasons. When I was working for my dad, during the summer months, he had a employee fall through a ceiling. The ceiling was over a kitchen. Dad was not happy. Luck for him it was an apartment that was being readied for a new tenant.


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## joe-nwt (Mar 28, 2019)

I myself have not fallen through a ceiling (yet) but have had my share of oops. Consider yourself lucky there was nothing of value below that hole.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off,  and carry on. If that's your last oops,you will look back and laugh with the rest of us.


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## CoreyOnTheBrink (Apr 9, 2021)

Thanks. I know I got out of it cheap and I was surprised he only said $350; I was ready to give the whole job away if that’s what they asked for.


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## oldsparky52 (Feb 25, 2020)

You were fortunate. Count your blessings. Not a bad oops. Better luck in the future  

Thanks for sharing.


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## gpop (May 14, 2018)

Respect is earn't. You made a opp's you apologized, helped and payed for repairs. Why would they go with someone else in the future.


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## Superman (Mar 19, 2019)

Not so bad.over the years we all have oops especially in occupied spaces.lucky no one was hurt .cold have been much worse and turned into an insurance claim.
keep on trucking.


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## tedanderson (Jan 31, 2021)

It's not so much about the mistakes that you make but it's about how you handle it and what you learn from it. I've rarely seen anyone lose a customer over their mistakes alone. That usually happens if you show yourself as being incompetent and you can't solve the problem that you created. And what I found is that most times we as the contractor will be more upset than the customer. 

One time I was drilling out a row of floor joists and I drilled right through the well water main. It was nearly impossible to stop it because there was no shutoff valve between the well pump and the water treatment equipment. Also the well pump had one of those pressure bladders that's designed to keep the water flowing without the pump continuously running. By the time we got the water to stop running, half of the guy's basement was flooded with a 1/2" of water. 

But job #1 at this point (aside of cleaning up the water) was to figure out how to repair a polyethylene pipe and where to get the supplies on a Sunday afternoon. 

Thankfully I got the guy's water running again within a couple of hours and I got a 30 gallon shop vac to suck up all of the water. It made for a very long exhausting day and I felt TERRIBLE about what had happened until the drywall guy came in a week later and broke one of the sprinkler heads. But in spite of all that transpired, neither he nor I got kicked out the house and we ended up getting repeat business and referrals from this customer.


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

CoreyOnTheBrink said:


> Thanks. I know I got out of it cheap and I was surprised he only said $350; I was ready to give the whole job away if that’s what they asked for.


You walked away $500 ahead.


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## CoreyOnTheBrink (Apr 9, 2021)

tedanderson said:


> It's not so much about the mistakes that you make but it's about how you handle it and what you learn from it. I've rarely seen anyone lose a customer over their mistakes alone. That usually happens if you show yourself as being incompetent and you can't solve the problem that you created. And what I found is that most times we as the contractor will be more upset than the customer.
> 
> One time I was drilling out a row of floor joists and I drilled right through the well water main. It was nearly impossible to stop it because there was no shutoff valve between the well pump and the water treatment equipment. Also the well pump had one of those pressure bladders that's designed to keep the water flowing without the pump continuously running. By the time we got the water to stop running, half of the guy's basement was flooded with a 1/2" of water.
> 
> ...


Bad day, eh? You’re right, I think we end up more mad at ourselves and hard on ourselves than the offended party.


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## blueheels2 (Apr 22, 2009)

A couple of weeks ago I stepped into a huge floor return in a customers house. 6 stitches I’m my shin and I was good to go.


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## SWDweller (Dec 9, 2020)

I fell through a ceiling in the final test area where they were making disk drives for mini main frame computers. I was smart enough to pull all of the plugs on the machines being tested before I cleaned the mess up. I used to carry a piece of plywood after that. Took longer never went through another ceiling.
Glad to know you are ok.


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## Southeast Power (Jan 18, 2009)

My brother was doing an interior panel change and needed to cut some studs.
The customer had a bunch of nic knacks on a shelf on the opposite side of the wall.
My brother told him they all needed to go.
The customer claimed he was a helicopter engineer and knew the vibration of a saws all could not travel more than 4’ and that’s all he was willing to move.
Ok sir.
Cut, cut, cut...crash.
The 100 year old clock his aunt gave him.
He demanded $800 for it.
I found one on eBay for $125 and offered to replace it.
He said no, he wanted the money.
I told him that if I gave him the money, the clock was mine. :>)
We settled on taking $100 off of the bill and he kept his clock.
My brother was pissed we cut a deal with him after the guy was such a p rick about his engineering expertise.


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## gpop (May 14, 2018)

Dropped a light bulb in a food grade area. Hit the emergency stop button and explained what happened.
2 thousand gallons of orange juice had to be sent to waste and over 6 hours of down time for cleaning. I expected a write-up and instead got a thank you note for my fast response in shutting the plant down. Still felt really bad about it.


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## VELOCI3 (Aug 15, 2019)

I remember doing a service upgrade on the side with my brother (his job). Had to remove the old ground clamp on the water meter to fit the 2 new ones. As soon as I touched the clamp the compression fitting the water company used on the meter started dripping. I cranked down a 1/4 of a turn on it with my channels and it really started to leak. Went to turn the water off with the street side gate valve next to the meter and it spun freely as if the stem was broken. 

Being a Sunday nobody was available from the city to turn it off from the street. That valve could not be found. 2 hours and a lot of water later our buddy who is a plumber shows up to save the day. 

Luckily it was an unfinished basement. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## J. Temple (Dec 30, 2011)

One of my guys was climbing in up into an attic access located in an master closet. As he goes to climb in, he bumps a sprinkler head and it snaps off!
Water is spraying all over the homeowners very expensive clothes, purses, suits, shoes, etc.! The worst was yet to come.. when we finally found the sprinkler riser in the garage, some one had removed the shut off valve handle to install a cabinet. We finally got the water to the house turned off. We spent the rest of the day wet vacuuming and removing everything from the closet.

I thought for sure this was going to cost me and my insurance company some money. I ended up doing the job for free and paying for a dehumidifier rental, and some dry cleaning.

Things happen, make sure you have insurance!


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## wcord (Jan 23, 2011)

One of my guys nicked a water line when he drove the ground rods. 
Leak wasnt discovered until the ground under the building started to slough away.(6 months later)
the $5000 deductible was hard to swallow but easier than the $75000 the insurance paid out

worst part, if my guy had asked, the GC knew exactly where the water line was !


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## VELOCI3 (Aug 15, 2019)

wcord said:


> One of my guys nicked a water line when he drove the ground rods.
> Leak wasnt discovered until the ground under the building started to slough away.(6 months later)
> the $5000 deductible was hard to swallow but easier than the $75000 the insurance paid out
> 
> worst part, if my guy had asked, the GC knew exactly where the water line was !


5K and then higher rates?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## blueheels2 (Apr 22, 2009)

VELOCI3 said:


> 5K and then higher rates?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I hate driving ground rods mainly because I’m scared I’m going to hit something important below grade. And most of the time people don’t know what’s in their yard.


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## CoreyOnTheBrink (Apr 9, 2021)

Yeah I’m going to feel a little uneasy about my next ground rod after hearing that one.


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## A Little Short (Nov 11, 2010)

I was working for my niece and she had just moved in to this house. I had to be in the attic and had already made several trips up/down. This was a tall attic with part of it floored. There was about 5 or 6 2x4 boards laid side by side and nailed down where you enter the unfloored part. That had been my route that I had taken all day. I went up again and took the same route as before. This time one of the boards flipped when I stepped on it. It was the only one of the 5 or 6 that wasn't nailed down. It just went down then fell right back in place and I didn't fall so I didn't think anymore about it.
My niece's husband came up and ask if I was alright. I said yes, why? He said "well there is a hole in the kitchen ceiling!"

The end of the board that was loose went down far enough to punch a hole. I tried to explain that I had been on that board a dozen times and it didn't do that before. I just happened to hit it wrong that last time. Lucky I know a good drywall guy. He fixed it and all I had to do in return was install a receptacle for his wall mount large screen TV!😅


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## Slay301 (Apr 23, 2018)

blueheels2 said:


> I hate driving ground rods mainly because I’m scared I’m going to hit something important below grade. And most of the time people don’t know what’s in their yard.


Then bury it flat 30” deep


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## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

I was on a reno job and the GC offered to open up a wall for me. I said okay so he took a Sawzall to it without checking the other side. There was a niche built into the wall on the other side about twelve feet up in an open stairwell so it was only single drywall. Somehow he went around the vase in the niche. 🤣

The HO just said, “Chit happens” and the job kept going.

In attics, it’s best the try to spread your weight around. If you need to put all your weight on something, make sure it’s solid like a joist. You can always take a couple of short pieces of wood up there to stretch across the joists to kneel on.

Lesson learned. Carry on.


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## wcord (Jan 23, 2011)

99cents said:


> I was on a reno job and the GC offered to open up a wall for me. I said okay so he took a Sawzall to it without checking the other side. There was a niche built into the wall on the other side about twelve feet up in an open stairwell so it was only single drywall. Somehow he went around the vase in the niche. 🤣
> 
> The HO just said, “Chit happens” and the job kept going.
> 
> ...


That reminds of the carpenter apprentice who cut open the wall.
Didn't realize it was framed with 2x2s. 
Sawzall blade made a very straight cut into the side of the refrigerator on the other side.
Wall had been re-framed to accommodate the wider than usual fridge


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## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

wcord said:


> That reminds of the carpenter apprentice who cut open the wall.
> Didn't realize it was framed with 2x2s.
> Sawzall blade made a very straight cut into the side of the refrigerator on the other side.
> Wall had been re-framed to accommodate the wider than usual fridge


Yeah, it’s a good idea to just cut the drywall. You never know. There could be wire or water lines in the wall.


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## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

CoreyOnTheBrink said:


> Yeah I’m going to feel a little uneasy about my next ground rod after hearing that one.


Best to get a utility locate done I guess. We often do ground plates so they’re hand dug.


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## manchestersparky (Mar 25, 2007)

Slay301 said:


> Then bury it flat 30” deep


Only if he can prove it is on "rock bottom" .


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## canbug (Dec 31, 2015)

I was on top of a 12 ft ladder changing 8 ft shop lights in a car dealership shop, I pushed the bulb to remove it and the whole fixture came apart. I held all the pieces for a few seconds before they fell onto the roof of a brand new car, ended up with a small dent in the roof. I went back to my Boss and sheepishly asked if we had insurance? All worked out, they were a long time customer before and after.

Tim


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## 1600sensible (Jul 16, 2011)

I had insurance for things like that ,fairly cheaper 800 a year. and was in biz 30 years and only used once. Broke a window. In a commericial strip mall. Insurance paid and everyone happy.


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## garisilver (Mar 10, 2009)

I was going to reply with a couple of my own stories, but I'll just say that I can to relate to many of these posts, and I have to say: after 47 years in the trade, I'm glad I never had an oops that killed me.


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## Logios (Apr 6, 2021)

I had a client who insisted on helping. I tried to talk him out of it but he insisted. He crawled into the attic above the garage and promptly fell through the ceiling onto a table below finally winding up on the floor. Major damage to the ceiling. He was not happy but it was his error. He paid for the electrical job which he should have anyways. Clients wanting to help and those that use the internet to check your work. That's gotta be the worst!


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## Johnzo (Aug 8, 2018)

We were installing solar panel racking on the roof. Initial peeks through the window showed an attic. Most of the array though was over a bedroom that did not have an attic. The wife came out just before lunch and asked about all the screws coming through the T&G on her bedroom ceiling. We ended up redoing the footings and paying a painter a couple grand to repair and repaint the ceiling and we threw in new paint on the other bedroom to minimize the customer's anger. Lesson learned. We alway go inside to inspect ceiling before drilling holes in the roof.


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## Johnzo (Aug 8, 2018)

Logios said:


> I had a client who insisted on helping. I tried to talk him out of it but he insisted. He crawled into the attic above the garage and promptly fell through the ceiling onto a table below finally winding up on the floor. Major damage to the ceiling. He was not happy but it was his error. He paid for the electrical job which he should have anyways. Clients wanting to help and those that use the internet to check your work. That's gotta be the worst!


I tell customers it will cost 10% extra if they watch or 20% extra if they help. 😂


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## just the cowboy (Sep 4, 2013)

Southeast Power said:


> My brother was doing an interior panel change and needed to cut some studs.
> The customer had a bunch of nic knacks on a shelf on the opposite side of the wall.


At least you check the other side of the wall. A friend asked the HO to remove stuff from the shelf, which they did. BUT he never checked the other side of the wall, Bang Bang Bang CRASH, family heirloom on other side beyond repair.

Cowboy


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## SPINA ELECTRIC (Dec 1, 2009)

CoreyOnTheBrink said:


> View attachment 156229
> 
> I just started my biz not long ago and haven’t spent a ton of time crawling around attics doing residential work. I leaned a little to heavy on a small piece of wood spanning the joists and it snapped. This pic is after I cleaned up the hole. I’m feeling a little discouraged and would love to hear that similar things have happened even to the more experienced. How did you handle it? What was the cost? I apologized and explained how it happened. Her son does a lot of painting work and he said to just knock $350 off the price and he would take care of it, which seemed like a good deal for me. They were really gracious, but I don’t think they’ll be calling me back...





gpop said:


> Dropped a light bulb in a food grade area. Hit the emergency stop button and explained what happened.
> 2 thousand gallons of orange juice had to be sent to waste and over 6 hours of down time for cleaning. I expected a write-up and instead got a thank you note for my fast response in shutting the plant down. Still felt really bad about it.





blueheels2 said:


> I hate driving ground rods mainly because I’m scared I’m going to hit something important below grade. And most of the time people don’t know what’s in their yard.


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## SteveBayshore (Apr 7, 2013)

Sometime back in the '70s, while still green, I was running conduits in a huge pole barn type of building for a marina. The ground floor had two layers of corrugated sheet metal with insulation in between the layers for the office area for the outside walls. Ran all conduits on the surface of the inside wall, no problem. Went up on the mezzanine over the office and installed all of the conduits the same way. My boss came by at the end of the day and wanted to know what all of the tek screws were for that were sticking outside of the front wall of the brand new building. Only one layer of corrugated for second level. I 'm not sure what the resolution for that job was. It's the company that I own now.


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## gpop (May 14, 2018)

SteveBayshore said:


> Sometime back in the '70s, while still green, I was running conduits in a huge pole barn type of building for a marina. The ground floor had two layers of corrugated sheet metal with insulation in between the layers for the office area for the outside walls. Ran all conduits on the surface of the inside wall, no problem. Went up on the mezzanine over the office and installed all of the conduits the same way. My boss came by at the end of the day and wanted to know what all of the tek screws were for that were sticking outside of the front wall of the brand new building. Only one layer of corrugated for second level. I 'm not sure what the resolution for that job was. It's the company that I own now.


"Oh you mean the markers for the blind rivets we will be installing from the outside later"


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## Spencerp3 (Apr 22, 2021)

CoreyOnTheBrink said:


> View attachment 156229
> 
> I just started my biz not long ago and haven’t spent a ton of time crawling around attics doing residential work. I leaned a little to heavy on a small piece of wood spanning the joists and it snapped. This pic is after I cleaned up the hole. I’m feeling a little discouraged and would love to hear that similar things have happened even to the more experienced. How did you handle it? What was the cost? I apologized and explained how it happened. Her son does a lot of painting work and he said to just knock $350 off the price and he would take care of it, which seemed like a good deal for me. They were really gracious, but I don’t think they’ll be calling me back...


Don’t sweat it. You’d be surprised on the call back. If you do quality work you don’t have to worry. 
I was running 12volt light strip in hall pot shelves of a custom home I wired. The home owners had moved some stuff into the home. I moved a Chinese Statue snd found out it was a jug. The head of the warrior fell and broke. They had brought it back from China. 
They were very gracious. I offered to have my insurance restore it. They never asked for a credit, never sued me. 
After ten years I still go back and change lightbulbs, batteries in smokies. 
Like I said good work reasonable rates.


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## Jim Alt (Apr 20, 2010)

CoreyOnTheBrink said:


> View attachment 156229
> 
> I just started my biz not long ago and haven’t spent a ton of time crawling around attics doing residential work. I leaned a little to heavy on a small piece of wood spanning the joists and it snapped. This pic is after I cleaned up the hole. I’m feeling a little discouraged and would love to hear that similar things have happened even to the more experienced. How did you handle it? What was the cost? I apologized and explained how it happened. Her son does a lot of painting work and he said to just knock $350 off the price and he would take care of it, which seemed like a good deal for me. They were really gracious, but I don’t think they’ll be calling me back...





CoreyOnTheBrink said:


> View attachment 156229
> 
> I just started my biz not long ago and haven’t spent a ton of time crawling around attics doing residential work. I leaned a little to heavy on a small piece of wood spanning the joists and it snapped. This pic is after I cleaned up the hole. I’m feeling a little discouraged and would love to hear that similar things have happened even to the more experienced. How did you handle it? What was the cost? I apologized and explained how it happened. Her son does a lot of painting work and he said to just knock $350 off the price and he would take care of it, which seemed like a good deal for me. They were really gracious, but I don’t think they’ll be calling me back...


we are in our 42 year Of electrical contracting. 
so we’ve had a boatload of errors. 
Way back when we trenched in an underground service to a private property pole and hooked it up. 
there was nobody home and the lights went on. we figured everything was good except the electric range was on and all the packing paper was on it we wound up burning the house almost to the ground. 
it was in a pretty rural area in Illinois so there wasn’t a real lot left. And no they did not call us back ever.


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## Djea3 (Mar 8, 2019)

Having been in several trades:
Roofing a house with extra jumbo shake (custom) probably 70-85 lbs a bundle. Walking up the roof with one bundle under each arm. The roof deck gave out and my feet were in the living room, and I was stuck with the bundles at my armpits for 45 minutes. We made up the loss with replacing most of the roof deck as it was rotted. After that we added into our contracts that damage due to existing structural weakness, broken structural members or weakened structure due to wood destroying organisms, dry rot, etc. are the responsibility of the customer.
Commercial electrical with steel joists: Someone didn't screw off the strap bracing in a bathroom. I walked the joists on a plank and they all twisted at once. Wound up hanging upside down by my knees from a joist. That one scared the crap out of me, but the framers laughed their heads off. No cost to us.
Bottom line: all of us have our tales because it winds up being part of the job some day no matter how careful we think we are. As long as no one is injured all the rest can be fixed!


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## Norcal (Mar 22, 2007)

There was a signature line, "Good judgement comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgement." I think it's appropriate for this thread.


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## Bluenose for rent (Nov 6, 2020)

When I first started, I think I was 19, my boss and I went to a swanky golf club for something, I can’t remember what. We went up into the attic with the maintenance man, and he went on and on about me watching my step and was being a **** about it. Well, you guessed it, down he goes, straight through the drwall, breaks the wood strapping and twelve or so feet onto the dining room floor while people were eating their lunch.


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## JBrzoz00 (Nov 17, 2013)

Everyone will do that once.......I haven’t yet in 20 years........not looking forward to it 🙄


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## Dan the electricman (Jan 2, 2011)

Bluenose for rent said:


> When I first started, I think I was 19, my boss and I went to a swanky golf club for something, I can’t remember what. We went up into the attic with the maintenance man, and he went on and on about me watching my step and was being a **** about it. Well, you guessed it, down he goes, straight through the drwall, breaks the wood strapping and twelve or so feet onto the dining room floor while people were eating their lunch.


Made me laugh out loud!!


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

Why do you think they invented recessed lighting?


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## WannabeTesla (Feb 24, 2020)

Yeah... We've all met the guy who's "never" messed up. That translates to he's never done work. The other thing is when you meet a person who legit never messes up- they've already made their mistakes and learned from them or, alternatively, they've learned from their "buddy's, j-man's, coworker's..." mistakes. My take on this is that the lesson is to always fess up/do the right thing. In this case you had no choice but to, but other times it will be optional. Glad nobody was hurt. You probably made a good drywall connection.


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## blueheels2 (Apr 22, 2009)

Years ago I was a laborer for a GC. We were renovating a grocery store and we were framing a soffit in the future pharmacy. Existing drop ceiling was pulled and sprinkler heads were everywhere. Foreman pointed me out and said don’t you hit these with the lift. Later that day he was going up in the lift with studs in it and sheared a head right off. Water going everywhere and he’s hollering at me to kill the main. Lol like my dumbass knew how to kill the sprinkler main.


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## Norcal (Mar 22, 2007)

blueheels2 said:


> Years ago I was a laborer for a GC. We were renovating a grocery store and we were framing a soffit in the future pharmacy. Existing drop ceiling was pulled and sprinkler heads were everywhere. Foreman pointed me out and said don’t you hit these with the lift. Later that day he was going up in the lift with studs in it and sheared a head right off. Water going everywhere and he’s hollering at me to kill the main. Lol like my dumbass knew how to kill the sprinkler main.


And the valve is usually locked, plus as soon as it is turned off, fire watch procedures need to be implemented, a real PITA by the way. If my memory is correct, each sprinkler head is capable of delivering 54 gallons a min. by the time the water is shut off it will be a mell of a hess.


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## GrayHair (Jan 14, 2013)

Norcal said:


> If my memory is correct, each sprinkler head is capable of delivering 54 gallons a min. by the time the water is shut off it will be a mell of a hess.


Syncs with my memory of "will fill a 55-gallon drum in a minute".


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