# Rural HO's and DIY's, WOW



## mr_g (Feb 8, 2011)

Living where I do when I was contracting my own work I got a lot of rural customers. Talk about frustration sometimes. "We're not in the city so code doesn't apply out here." - Yes it does, I won't put you in danger and do shoddy work. "Mr. X said all you need to do is this..." - Sorry, Mr. X is WRONG. "I just need a bigger breaker." - Wouldn't bigger wire make sense too? Oh yeah and FPE panels with the spaghetti mess is fairly common.

My favorite was this middle aged woman who lived alone. She was wiring what looked like a big shed as a home while living in it. She had screwed up the wiring for some 3-ways in her kitchen. She was so proud and showed me all around. I started pointing out problems I saw and her response... "I did it like the book said to."

One more... Guy and his dad were building a house in a small coul-d-sac behind my house to turn around and sell for a profit (still not sold and the guy is living in it now). Nice house. I stop by and introduce myself to see if I can bid on wiring it for them. They say they have a family member that works as a lineman who's going to do it. Ok, no prob. I drive by once in a while and see progress. Couple months later I stop in and they are there working. He's proud to show me around and the wiring looked pretty good til I saw where they put the panel. Yep, in a bedroom closet. I explained the violation to him and said there's no city inspector out here that will stop you, but when you go to sell this place a good home inspector might catch it. Few weeks later the panel is on the outside of the house next to the meter. WOW, someone actually listened.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

Fortunately he didn't use the same indoor panel on the outside.  or did he...:laughing:


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## doubleoh7 (Dec 5, 2009)

mr_g said:


> Living where I do when I was contracting my own work I got a lot of rural customers. Talk about frustration sometimes. "We're not in the city so code doesn't apply out here." - Yes it does, I won't put you in danger and do shoddy work. "Mr. X said all you need to do is this..." - Sorry, Mr. X is WRONG. "I just need a bigger breaker." - Wouldn't bigger wire make sense too? Oh yeah and FPE panels with the spaghetti mess is fairly common.
> 
> My favorite was this middle aged woman who lived alone. She was wiring what looked like a big shed as a home while living in it. She had screwed up the wiring for some 3-ways in her kitchen. She was so proud and showed me all around. I started pointing out problems I saw and her response... "I did it like the book said to."
> 
> One more... Guy and his dad were building a house in a small coul-d-sac behind my house to turn around and sell for a profit (still not sold and the guy is living in it now). Nice house. I stop by and introduce myself to see if I can bid on wiring it for them. They say they have a family member that works as a lineman who's going to do it. Ok, no prob. I drive by once in a while and see progress. Couple months later I stop in and they are there working. He's proud to show me around and the wiring looked pretty good til I saw where they put the panel. Yep, in a bedroom closet. I explained the violation to him and said there's no city inspector out here that will stop you, but when you go to sell this place a good home inspector might catch it. Few weeks later the panel is on the outside of the house next to the meter. WOW, someone actually listened.


 

I deal with that crap all the time. I just have to walk away. Many customers here will argue with me to get me to do dangerous things. I just tell them to call someone else. You can't win with stupid people. Eff them.


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## backstay (Feb 3, 2011)

I was having issues with water coming into a service panel thru the neutral on an underground feed. I went to the meter (older small box with no disconnect). Cut the seal removed the cover and found water running down the mast and over the neutral splice in the middle of the base. But what really caught my eye were the load connections. Someone had tapped into the meter on the load side which had single lugs by removing the cable, stripping it back about 1-1/2 inches, installing a ground rod clamp, then re-landing the cable. They then slid the new wire into the clamp and tightened the bolt down. I would never have thought of misusing a ground rod clamp like that. Best part was, some months later I was called to a house about 6 miles from there and in his panel was the same setup only it was on the main breaker, and this one fed a "sub panel" .


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## mr_g (Feb 8, 2011)

The time and energy people will spend to do something not only the hard way but also WRONG never ceases to amaze. I come across people all the time who seem perfectly happy to fix their own problems with an extension cord. BUT, if the A/C quits they are quick to shell out the service call $$$. :laughing:


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## jwjrw (Jan 14, 2010)

Lucky for us we are in a good market with lots of higher income folk. They pay us to change light bulbs so you know they aren't doing any DIY projects.


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## doubleoh7 (Dec 5, 2009)

I'd say about half the jobs I go to look at, I have to walk away from. If they are getting prices from 3 or 4 people I ask them if the lowest price will be the deciding factor. If they say yes, I tell them I am not going to price it for them. Notice, I said people, not electricians. They may know someone's cousin who works at a factory and is "pretty handy", he wired his own garage and the lights come on.


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## doubleoh7 (Dec 5, 2009)

jwjrw said:


> Lucky for us we are in a good market with lots of higher income folk. They pay us to change light bulbs so you know they aren't doing any DIY projects.


 
Farmers can be the worst to deal with. I don't like dealing with preachers either. I can't trust them.


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## mr_g (Feb 8, 2011)

doubleoh7 said:


> I'd say about half the jobs I go to look at, I have to walk away from. If they are getting prices from 3 or 4 people I ask them if the lowest price will be the deciding factor. If they say yes, I tell them I am not going to price it for them. Notice, I said people, not electricians. They may know someone's cousin who works at a factory and is "pretty handy", he wired his own garage and the lights come on.


Oh yeah, been there done that. I learned pretty quick which jobs were a waste of time working up a quote. Others looked so pitiful I'd tell them up front T&M. They never like T&M. They must have a clue how bad it is!


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## doubleoh7 (Dec 5, 2009)

mr_g said:


> Oh yeah, been there done that. I learned pretty quick which jobs were a waste of time working up a quote. Others looked so pitiful I'd tell them up front T&M. They never like T&M. They must have a clue how bad it is!


 

I usually take a rip it all out and start over aproach to real messes. When I do that I can generally quote a price. I must admit that I have screwed myself before.


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