Electricians messed up my house!

chucknorris10

Greetings!

We just built a new house. We had a licensed electrician who wired our house back in February. We just got our final inspection and permanent power. To our surprise, our kitchen, living room, and entry lights that are operated by multiple switches don't work unless you go through a tiresome routine of flipping the switches first this way, then that way. When the kitchen light is finally on, if you try to turn it off with one of the other switches, the light has stutters. Our doorbell doesn't work at all and won't light up. In one bedroom, if you try to turn on the light, the breaker trips.

What are my options? I really don't want to call the electrician to come fix his mistakes because I don't have any faith that he knows what he's doing. But it also makes me very angry that I will probably have to pay another electrician to fix this.

The bedroom that trips the breaker is my biggest worry. My brother came over to see the house, and he said that hopefully it was just a bad breaker, but I saw a look pass between him and my husband. Could it be something worse, like something that involves tearing out drywall?

I had a sneaking suspicion that things were not well when I flipped the main breaker after our permanent power was turned on. The labeling that the electrician did was full of misspellings. My poor husband tried to test the light switch in the bedroom that doesn't work with some gadget a guy he works with loaned him. He turned off the breaker to Bedroom 2; the bedroom that doesn't work is Bedroom 1. He had the wrong breaker turned off! I was the one manning the breaker box the night we got our power; I told him it was the second breaker that was tripping. He thought I meant the breaker for Bedroom 2. Fortunately, nothing happened when he used the gadget.

Advice, please?

Thank you so much.

jmans8666

If I were you I would call the electrician and make him come back and also make sure he really is certified and union. Plus if he can't fix it possibly try to get your money back

chucknorris10

Yes, he really is licensed. I looked it up on our state website. He has the Limited Licensed Electrician endorsement. The man he had helping him also has that license. You would think that between the two of them they would have been able to handle the job. Our house is a three bedroom, two bath, 1800 square feet.

I also had a recommendation. He wired my sister's new house ten years ago and did a great job. She's never had any problems. She feels really bad now because she suggested him. That makes me even angrier about the whole situation.

electures

Don't know what state you are from, but here in NJ the contractor is required to make all corrections at no additional charge to the consumer. Make him fix the problems. Good luck!

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jmans8666

Well make him fix it or you might be able to take him to court to get the money you paid

chucknorris10

Thanks for all the responses. We are in Tennessee, by the way. I guess I'll just have to call him, even though I worry that it still won't be fixed correctly. Ideally, I would like to have another electrician fix it and make the first electrician pay for it. But I guess that legally I'm supposed to give him the opportunity to fix it.

I wonder if that same principle holds true for other professions. Suppose you had some kind of plastic surgery, and the doctor messed up. Would you be required to give him another go at it? Ha ha.

Bud Cline

THAT is just plain goofy.

CALL HIM and get him back out there.

mpoulton

If the contractor doesn't fix it promptly, contact your state contractor licensing agency. They usually have a complaint process to handle things like this, and will revoke the contractor's license if they do not correct the problems.

frenchelectrican

First thing get that electrician back and have him repair what he goof up if he don't then you can report to the state license centre they will find a way to deal with that person if they don't follow the rules or get too many complants.

Merci,
Marc

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The answer will be based on NEC ( National Electrical code ) or CEC ( Cananda Electrical code ) or ECF ( Electrique Code France )

Speedy Petey

Make sure he is union??? Seriously?
What does that have to do with it?

99% of guys who do mostly resi work are not union contractors, and 99% of union guys I know have very little clue about doing resi work.

COLDIRON

Certified and Licensed yes Union not necessary.

Wildie

Sometimes a slight mistake can cause weird effects in wiring and can be resolved quite simply.

Call the electrician back and I'd be willing to bet it will all be resolved in short order and at no cost to you.

Saturday Cowboy

seconded!

it is easy to make small goofs that appear monstrous to the consumer. A few minutes and he'll be done.

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Ragged Trousered Philanthropist


Please follow the code - its there for your safety no matter how inconvenient.

darren

Call him back, no one is perfect. I am kinda of suprised he didn't test it out himself.

Did he just do the rough in and you did the plugs and switches or did he do everything?

oh'mike

Call him back---The house was not under power. He was not able to test his work.

I'll bet he'll make it good in very short order.

Please let us know how it goes----He doesn't know that you have problems yet---give him a chance.

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