Thoughts on getting another spark in...

[europa]

Thought it best to start a new thread for this question.

Most of you know the history, so i won't bother repeating it.

If contractor digs her heals in and refuses to do the additional work for a fair price, what are the thoughts on here of getting my own spark in to do it?

Any of you done sth similar before for others?

 

[Sharpend]

What dies your contract with said builder state regarding electrical work? 

There must be times when the builders are not in site so arrange to meet a few other sparks for pricing/viewing. 

Providing you do not leave yourself open with the contract with current builder then do what your gut tells you. 

If there is no set contract then you may change at your will. 

If you can prove that the builders have breached the contract then ditch and start a fresh. 

 

[Lurch]

I think the problem is that you should have had a different main contractor from the start. The electrician is probably not completely blameless here as you said he was a bit green but he might be fine if he was working direct.

If you get rid of the main contractor now, the job is probably completely courgetteed (seen it done many times, it is salvageable but it ends up being a complete nightmare getting it finished properly and signed off).

If you switch electricians now your main contractor will probably not be too happy, which isn't an issue, but it will probably affect the rest of the job as she sounds a right moody cow!

So you're stuck between a rock and a hard place, there is no easy/simple way out of this it seems. No matter what happens it is is either going to be expensive, painful or both.

From a purely electrical PoV, yes you could switch electricians but it opens a whole raft of potential problems, like who signs the test cert for the design? Who takes responsibility for what has been done already?

 

[NozSpark]

Just remember that you are the boss,,,,, not the builder

 

[binky]

All contracts should have a get-out clause, weeks' notice etc etc, but I would ask if the main job is being done well? If it is, don't ask for extra work to be done where you are being overcharged. If you aren't happy with the overall job, you need to discuss directly with contractor.

Be careful about paying for works before they are done. But also see another view of this, the guys working are probably working hard and do expect to get paid, which is fair. As for prices, I suspect you are thinking that as the extras are a rip-off, the main job maybe as well. I can't comment on that, but will point out that what ever was agreed was agreed, albeit this contractor seems to be trying to withdraw from little parts of it. Go stick your nose in daily, ideally with a second pair of eyes. If they refuse access, stop paying,

 

[europa]

Switching contractor now is not viable. Contract says nothing about electrics or other specific parts of the overall project. Apart from the contractor not being able to measure headheight on the first floor correctly, the main job is being done well.

I have already refused some additonal work, namely oak stairs and woodgrain windows, due to inflated prices. But, if i refuse the electrics - back boxes and neutral at switch, i will not be able to do the automation, and will have to live without some other stuff such as outdoor lighting.

Builders are now telling me i cannot bring in another electrician as the work would then not be compliant. I guess they have a point there, but what about CAT6 work? Couldn't i sub that out myself without it affecting the main electrical work? The only problem there is that they are doing cabling as they go. That is, now that they have the loft structure up, they want to cable there first before moving on. So getting someone else to do the CAT6 would be tricky as well i think.

 

[Doc Hudson]

Anything is possible, but may not be economically viable. I personally think the cause of this problem is not all on the contractors side. There is an element of not getting enough detail formally agreed before works started and money swapped hands. However you are now where you are, so I think the next best step is for you to start taking more hands-on project management of the job. Speak face to face with the front line guys/girls to find out what potential difficulties and solutions they can suggests.  A conversation passing between three or more persons will be like a Chinese whispers game at a children's party. The more links there are in the chain, the greater the risk of error. Reduce the links down, get more first hand facts.  As Steptoe mentioned earlier, what type of 'electrician' have you got working on site. Some are just what would be described as labourers who are given instructions to pull 4 cables from A to B, 3 from C to D, 1 from A to D, etc. without understanding anything of the design or functionality of the wiring they are installing. Then a.n.other just comes along at the end to join all the bits up and test it. The problems you have may be that they have no one on site who can think as they work about exactly how the finished product has to be connected and working. As such they cannot do off-the-cuff changes to the design without getting someone else to draw up a new set of plans / instructions for them to follow. Bringing in a new electrician would involve a lot of time assessing what you actually what, what is already there, then putting some new costing together for you to agree before getting the ball rolling again. Which may or may not be feasible in relation to other trades working on site.

Doc H.

 

[Andy™]

data is different to the main electrics, so getting someone else in will not be a problem for either side (apart from the contractor probably wanting their spark to do it at a much higher price) and will not affect any installation certificates from the current sparky

 

[europa]

data is different to the main electrics, so getting someone else in will not be a problem for either side (apart from the contractor probably wanting their spark to do it at a much higher price) and will not affect any installation certificates from the current sparky

Thought about that, but it may only save me 500 or so. And the contractors will just add it somewhere else no doubt. Unfortunately, as someone else pointed out, they really do have me by the short and curlies! I will just try to limit their extras henceforth.