Selectricity

We were initially contacted before the house was purchased by Mr. Lunden to do an inspection only on the electrical deficiencies listed in the home inspection report and was provided an itemized list of issues that the home inspector found and we were asked to provide a estimate for repairing these issues only. We were never requested to inspect the entire house as this is a 6000+ Square foot house and this would easily take 3-4 hours or more for a dwelling this size. We were also told that the south side of the house has already been previously rewired and that all that wiring is new and up to code so there is no reason for us to look at any of that. Over 50% of the wires in the sub-panels were newer style romex cables to further confirm that all that wiring was replaced. After inspecting the items requested from the home inspection report that was provided to us we presented a written, itemized estimate of repairs to correct these items as follows: 1: Inside sub panel replacement Replace overloaded panel in pantry with new 200 amp 40 circuit breaker panel and install all new circuit breakers. Replace overloaded panel in hall closet with 200 amp 40 circuit breaker panel and install all new circuit breakers. Excludes any wall repairs, nor any painting 2: GFCI circuit breaker installation Supply and install GFCI circuit breakers on all 2-wire ungrounded circuits so that 3-wire grounded outlets may remain safely and legally installed. Note: In the rare event new GFCI breakers trip due to existing conditions of wiring there will be a charge of $125 hour to troubleshoot and repair any issues. 3:Cloth range circuit replacement Replace cloth single strand range circuit with new 50 amp 240 volt 4-wire copper circuit. Install new 4 wire outlet and cord on range. Commercial style range to be pulled out by others before we do work and re-installed by others. 4: Pantry sub-panel feeder replacement Replace cloth feeders to pantry sub panel in existing conduit under slab with #3 copper. Install four wire feed and separate neutral and ground wires per code requirements. Reconnect to existing 100 amp breaker in garage panel. Note: If wire will not pull through existing conduit there may be additional charges to run wiring overhead through attic space. This applies to all line items with this task 5: Hallway sub-panel feeder replacement Replace cloth feeders to both house sub panels in existing conduit under slab with #3 copper. Install four wire feed and separate neutral and ground wires per code requirements. Reconnect to existing 100 amp breaker in garage panel. 6: Garage air handler feeder replacement Replace 60 amp 3-Phase cloth covered feeder to garage air handler in existing conduit with #6 copper wire. Utilize existing conduit running under concrete slab from garage panel to air handler location. Replace over sized 70 amp breaker with 3-Pole 60 amp Seimans plug-in breaker per name plate rating on unit. 7: Attic air handler feeder replacement Replace 30 amp 3-phase cloth feeder to attic air handler in existing conduit. Reconnect to existing circuit breaker in panel. 8: Properly labeled both inside breaker panels. We started the project with replacing the circuit breaker panels and main feeders. The old existing feeders would not budge in the conduit so we had to run new cables through the attic and informed Mr. Lunden it would be an additional charge just as it states in the contract. He agreed and told us he understood. At some point the house must have had a power surge and it damaged the washing machine control board and alarm transformer. We were not contracted to perform any work on the branch circuit wiring in the house, only to replace the breaker panels and feeders. We had several lightning storms during the week we were completing the job, even one while I was at the house myself. The owner immediately started accusing my employees of damaging his items. If we did some how damage them I would absolutely pay for those items. However, I will say these are both standard items we see quite often that get damaged by lightning or even a little power surge. Moving forward we installed all the GFCI/AFCI combination breakers and turned everything back on. We quoted GFCI breakers but installed combo GFCI/AFCI breakers to make things safer. Everything seemed to be fine until the weekend following the panel replacement. The owner called stating he was having breakers trip and needed someone out there ASAP. I went out myself to see what was going on. Keep in mind our contract states that if any GFCI breakers trip due to existing wiring issues there will be a $125 hour charge to troubleshoot and repair any problems. I started pulling out light switches and outlets on the South side of the house where all the newer wiring was present. What I found next was absolutely shocking to say the least. There was not one single wall box present on any of the 20 devices I pulled out and just free flying wire splices inside the walls right up against the wood studs creating a potential fire hazard. I immediately started taking pictures and showing one of the home owners the issues I found on all the newer wiring. He stated that he is not surprised as the realtor they had was crooked and they hid all kinds of stuff before the sale. I know why the breakers are tripping now because the wiring that was previously installed by a non-competent person was just flying all over the place behind the walls. The GFCI /AFCI breakers are much more sensitive than a standard breaker and this is a fine example of why we install them is to find issues which may be hidden behind the sheetrock and pose a hazard. I have plenty of pictures to show whomever wants to see them. So being it was the weekend and they did not have many lights I bypassed the GFCI portion of the breakers so they could have lights until Monday. At this point I showed the owner all the issues and informed him the only way I would at all feel comfortable putting my company name on any of that wiring is if we replaced it. There is no telling what else is hid behind the sheetrock. It was apparent that when the wiring was done the walls were open to the studs, meaning there could be anything going on with the wires hidden behind the sheetrock. The owner then asked me to send him an estimate to rewire the entire house. I NEVER said they HAD to rewire the house by any means. I said that I would not put my company name on any of that wiring unless I know 100% for sure all of it is safe and correct. I also told him there was no point labeling the new panels if he decided he wanted to do the rewire it would put wrong info all over the panel schedules only to be marked over later and look like a mistake. The customer is aware that I have no problem going back and labeling the breakers or taking that line item off the invoice. I informed him we would be back the first of the week to troubleshoot at the standard $125 hourly rate and he said that is fine. I sent a quote for the rewire per his request so they would know what they were looking at to bring the home up to code, and fully expected them to get additional quotes as they are the ones paying for the job. I tried to contact him several times to see how he wanted to proceed before getting a text message telling me how terrible we are and that I am a crook. I told him we still had a few things to do before the City inspection. Also informed owner that if the City inspector saw any of that faulty wiring it could get ugly and that he may want to wait just a bit. This made him think i might be trying to hide stuff from the inspector because of something we did wrong. I have always stood behind every bit of our work 100% and if we do anything wrong I always make it right with the customer, no matter what it cost me to do so. We have over 800+ five star reviews online to confirm that statement. Our business grows due to our work ethic and attention to detail. Mr. Lunden made sure to go on every site he could find to bad mouth the company and try to hurt our reputation. He then filed this complaint after the fact. So far none of my calls or text messages have been returned since the last text message when he incorrectly accused me of ripping him off. The contract is straight forward and clearly excludes any wall/ceiling repair or painting as a result of pulling panel from plaster walls that crumble. I have also offered to come myself to get this job completed and inspected. We are unable to schedule the inspection of our work with the City until he confirms a time he will be available to give us access to meet the inspector. This is the only way the permit can be closed allowing him to move forward with his decision for the future repairs. Bottom line is they bought a very large house with many hidden issues arising by the day and they want recourse any way possible. Currently we are owed over $7,000 for not labeling the breaker panels