Who pays?

NickfromWI

NickfromWI

Participating member
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Ok, let's say "someone" is sent out to a job- remove 5 cedars, maximum forty feet tall...nothing special, and in the process of removing those trees, the neighbors power-drop (electicity access line) gets torn down, and their cable, too. Public service is called, and when the guys come to fix it, they see that the power line was torn from the power-pole as well as the house. They are only responsible for repairing the connection at the power pole. I private electrician must reconnect at the house. They also say that a disconnect from a house must be inspected by a state-qualified inspector prior to reconnect. The inspector comes quickly, and notes that the electricity meter is too close to the gas-main going in to the house. There must be a distance of like 3 or 6 feet, I can't remember. However, if the house is older than 1980, when the law was put in to affect, the house is exempt. Being it was a late friday afternoon, the inspector approves the reconnect, with the stipulation that over the weekend he will find out when the house was built. Okay, Monday comes and the boss is told that the house was built in 1984 and is therefore not exempt from the 3 foot rule. It will be aproximately 2,000.00 to move the electric meter.

The boss has informed me that he has to foot the bill for that. I say, It's not your fault the builders did not comply with the law in 1984. You went there to do a job, you did the job, took down the power line, you replaced the power line. When you left, things were as you found them.

So who should foot the $2,000 to move the meter? The boss, the owners of the house, the previous owners of the house, the builders of the house, or someone else?

love
nick
 
If I'm the boss, I ain't gonna pay! If the inspector approved the reconnect on Friday, then he gets to call the shot on the re-disconnect and in my opinion, he should also decide who pays. Someone in his office screwed up in '84. If he won't decide, let the court decide. If the inspectors office is not liable, then the original contractor should be. In any case, not the boss. Another thing to look into is is there an exemption that may be made for a small fee. (I ran into this several yrs ago remodeling my house.) If it's been like this for 20 yrs, the builder may be gone. And too, if the house has ever been sold since its building, something like that should have been found on an inspection made by the mortgage company (bank). Its almost looking like a homeowner expense.

I dont know now. Ive changed my mind 3 times. Keep pressing the issue that the inspectors office screwed up and get them to drop the order through the shredder. Have the boss, homeowner, and anyone else involved put the heat on the 'spector.

In the mean time, sounds like you might email one of those guys looking for crane ops.
 
The inspector rules here.
The inspection must meet present standards for safety reasons period and if you want service you will comply.
If the tree service caused the inspection they should pay because it was their negligence that caused the outage and the inspection, but that's just my opinion.
 
Don't like it but that sounds true to me,
if a room had been hit, now had to remodel/buildt;
it would have to be to present code, not olde!

Them stretched lines pull hard at anchor when loaded,
just as speed line, as to tightening bowstring;
only these anchoring supports are made to shear, or line itself;
kinda mechanical safety fuse to isolate mechanilcal shock from rest of system to me.

Plus the leveraged pull on top of weatherhead,
being so far from it's anchor below,
compounds with strong leverage the hard pull on line;
to fail weather head mast, even though steel and not soft aluminum;
even though in circular pipe shape; strong against creasing.
Will give before well anchored box at base.

i likes dropping'em lines away,
like surface prep for other fine wood werk that way
Ain't know teld ya so's;
we've all had a bad day!

Like telling guy this mourn to throw truck cleanly thru mud hole like he meant it commanding clear to dry side;
lest they be dragging stuff across almost 3 yards wide.

Just to have'em blast up good, slow down some, then pull through and stop without follow thru barely past bottom, so no forcing forcing him clear;
let alone anything hitched behind now sinking in deeper......

Eventually got it out to otherside to the high and dry;
worked around, then freaking went lowwwwwww again!!!!!!
but he learnt finally; threw it clean thru coming back out-
90 min. later.......with 2 other mud sprayed lines and faces to name!
Cuz boss said, sleeping in woulda been cheaper!

What was the name of this thread?
 
Ken- I understood the first 3 lines of your post. Then you wandered off into some acid-induced fairytale land.

As far as the original post, I'd feel obligated to fix the damage I caused. But I'm not a remodeling expert and I do not feel like I should be held liable for rewiring the guy's house or moving a gas line that I never touched. If the house wasn't built to code then it ain't my problem, I'm just the tree guy. I'll fix anything I damage to it's original state or better but this guy is looking for a free ride.
 
o yeah guess i'm like that, sometimes, i just forgot, thanx!!
But 3 sounds like i'm doing better just the same.
So, of course saw i maid no Freudian slips with your Lady in Red???

just trying to say that a man that knows not to pop load on well anchored, high strength speed line; might take less strong, less supported, higher impaactable lines down to clear...... Kinda refering to a previous story. And reaching for a sense of recognizing patterns we always see. As to not waste what we already know.

And i saw if by pattern a boss pay this morn,
as some continuously seemed doing the opposite as told,
listen, do wrong, get werse, listen more, undo, redo work it all out. Instead of hitting target sure in 1 stroke, causing over an hour wasted, aggravation etc. Nothing done as rain loomed, slightly ahead of lunch.

All on the clock, to answer the thread's question.
 
"...If the tree service caused the inspection they should pay because it was their negligence that caused the outage and the inspection, but that's just my opinion."

I gotta disagree here. Let's say you were following a guy in a car, and you bumped his bumper at the red light, and just to be safe, the two of you reported it to the cops so insurance would pay for the minor damages. A cop comes out to file a report. While there, he notices that the guy you hit didn't have functioning headlights.

You caused the need for the "inspection," should you have to pay for the replacement of the headlights?

If I was my boss, I sure as heck would not be paying for this.

love
nick
 
i do kinda agree with ya about payment deal of wires etc.

i think boss should kinda take it on though,
law prolly sticks close to that.
like if one person falls in your store and is frail,
u can't claim they were old and almost done etc.
Noone else would have hurt themselves quite as bad generally don't werk,
them not wearing a seatbelt in wreck might though.

Laws cchange in year and location.

But kinda think boss would be expected to make toll;
said that way, should cross fingers and appear unphased and honorable.

Check off to the side, about variances etc. Then polightly go to customer 'man to man' as some fair dissolution of problem, perhaps extra free werk whatever to pull it all out to some balance; eyeing at least to spliting the raised and unfair!

Kinda a magic act expected maybe there him walking in alone, best not involing neighbors lines and being nice from way before it happened, pretty well established.
 
Get this, a couple of years ago I had a service line come down as we were felling a fifteen foot stick. It did not rip the line off the pole, but it did break the mast on the house. It never knocked the power out completely, but the house keeper that was in the house said everything flickered and she began smelling something funny. It turned out that all most all of the the homeowners appliances in the house fried. The computer, washer, dryer, stove, etc... My company ended up having to fit the bill, but I thought that the house should have had a surge protector to protect against accidents involving electricity. My boss never fought it and they got all new stuff. I think we could have went back to who wired the house and found them to be at fault. Who knows?
 
Here's another idea. Know any good friends that just happen to be 'certified electricians?' Maybe trading out the work to the lectrician might make things cheaper. Its good to always have certain occupations in the 'friends' file.
 
That's why we need Judges.
What's the difference between a tick and a lawyer?
The tick falls off when you die.
grin.gif
 
I would say it depends. Do you want to keep the client??

If not, you have a leg to stand on and could fight it. I have some clients that I feel aren't worth it.

I have others that are raving fans and keep lots of good work coming in - $2000 to keep a client that sends many good references, - small price to pay.

It is not your fault that prior inspections missed this detail plus one thing being overlooked is safety. I am sure this rule is there for a reason. When an electrical spark doesn't ignite their gas lines, resulting in them instantly being turned into gas fired BBQ, maybe they will thank you.

Sucks about the stuff in the house getting fried. Reminds me that my insurance doesn't cover electrical..........

Hopefully "someone" learned and will not make this mistake again.
 
L-l-l-l-ladder?

Drawing in a 3rd party accidentally is rough; they didn't even get to decide to take the risk of tree service, and finding a broken sprinkler head no one honestly saw before settlemeant, small dent in yard etc..

What would be right, on your house and someone your not even sure was qualified, werking for your stingiest neighbor, who's dog craps in your yard has such a mishap you come home to after 3 days on the road in the rain, with spoil't steaks in the box you wuz gonna char broil after a good hot shower before dying for 17, to have to do it all again; while not enough money already for braces for lil'girl, pregnant wife who needs car fixed before ya leave again, to help her aging parents lest they move in?

So you crashed what on my south and i pay what, doing what for whom? Did ya ask me if i wanted all that sun now everyday on my patio soon after noon? i'm jest a lil'guy with problems too, now magnified, put to extreme forefront by you.

Who Pays? One that didn't even choose to play? That if everything went right you might have woke up, raised heat of house 20degrees every non winter day forever, without asking, saying fair is fair; that's the way it is. Where making our food for plate, and he has to eat that. Then ya cross a line, less harder to de-fine.

Tough deal for everyone. Who pays for tow truck if you are teld no septic, underground anything, as ya check, also brag you have insurance, but it doesn't cover underground as standard; then fall to full chip box axle over septic they fergot was there; as have been on city sewer for 20 year! Been there, done that!
 
Yeah...

O.K. not sure what 'ya just said exactly, but I know what 'ya mean.

Nick I don't know how it is in big W, but here in NC building inspectors have just become liable for mistakes such as that, in the last year (check me on this but I think I'm right.)

This would mean that the original inspector is most likely not legally responsible. Even if he was, to whom is the homeowner going to demand payment? The municipality? Good luck. Stuff like this gets told around town. If you pay for a problem like that before a lawsuit forces you to, the talk will be good if even told. If you go through through a messy lawsuit or settlement the issue will drag on for some time, and there will be nothing but negative talk coming from it throughout the duration, and who knows for how long afterword.
Positive stuff goes into your marketing package. Negative stuff is the things you waste marketing budget and sales time trying to spin. Tell your boss to come off the hip, and ask both homeowners for future referals for being such a good guy, even in these bad circumstances.
 
I had a similar situation a few years ago. I knocked off the mast at a neighbor's. A fellow I've known since fourth grade is my electrician of choice so I called him. He told me that the neighbor had built a deck which put the sire closer than spec for overhead clearance. He had to raise the service. I told the neighbor that I would pay for the repair but not the raising which would put him in compliance. The neighbor turned into a #@$%@#@ head and stuck me with the whole bill. I could have fought it but it wasn't worth the aggravation. Fortunately, it only cost me $150 for my lesson.

I got a call to do some work for another neighbor of the @#$W#%#-head. It would have involved lowering limbs into his yard. I didn't even bid on the job and told the customer why. He understood. Told me that his experience with the neighbor was the same as mine.

For $2,000 though, I would fight it. Customer good will be jigged. Decent people would look at this and be happy that the mistake was discovered and, at a minimum, be willing to share the bill for bringing the service into compliance. This is another example of how little things become big wars. No different in our personal lives than in the world arena.
 
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