electrician bodged my lighting?

tan8856 · 18 Mar 2010

im having a new bathroom fitted and today the electrician put in 6 spotlights. he didnt ask me where i wanted them and as the room is 2m wide with 2 x 1m mirrored wall cabinets at the end i assumed he would line them up so they are central with the cabinets ie 50cm in from the side walls.

ive come home to find that bizarrely they are 35cm in from the side walls. this looks wrong and means there is a gap running down the middle of the room (between the lights) that is too large.

ive been in the attic and the spots are not restricted by joists. what he has done is fitted the spots so they are dead in the middle of 2 joists, so hes lined them up based on what the attic looks like rather than what they will look like in the bathroom!

tomorrow i am going to tell him that he has to move them all so they are 50cm from the side walls. he is not going to be happy.

1) am i being unreasonable?
2) im told that he will need to put in a new ceiling as it will obviously have 6 unused holes in it. should he do that or will filling the holes and skimming suffice?
3) hes going to moan about extra time & cost but surely he is at fault so he should foot the bill for time and materials? im paying him good money to do this job. should i offer to pay half of materials cost to settle things amicably or should i stand by my guns? this bathroom is costing us an arm and a leg already.

thanks

electronicsuk · 18 Mar 2010

tan8856 said:
tomorrow i am going to tell him that he has to move them all so they are 50cm from the side walls. he is not going to be happy.

1) am i being unreasonable?

In my opinion, yes, if you expect him to do this work for free. He would have been best to ask where you wanted the lights, but as you didn't specifically tell him where they should be, it doesn't seem fair to expect him to rectify this 'fault'.

tan8856 said:
2) im told that he will need to put in a new ceiling as it will obviously have 6 unused holes in it. should he do that or will filling the holes and skimming suffice?

I don't know who told you that, but it's not true. A spare piece of plasterboard cut with the same holesaw as used to make the holes for the fittings will give a suitable filling piece. Equally, he could use the plasterboard fillets left over after drilling the holes in your proposed new locations. These can be secured in the loft via batten or another, larger, piece of plasterboard. Finishing plaster or polyfilla can then be used to fill any gaps and then sanded back.

tan8856 said:
3) hes going to moan about extra time & cost but surely he is at fault so he should foot the bill for time and materials? im paying him good money to do this job. should i offer to pay half of materials cost to settle things amicably or should i stand by my guns? this bathroom is costing us an arm and a leg already.

I really can't see how you think it's his fault. In the same vein, if you'd asked him to install new sockets in the living room but not told him where to put them, would you be disappointed if they were not all where you wanted/needed them?

I know it's not what you want to hear, but my personal opinion is that you should be footing the full bill for the remedial works.

wingcoax · 18 Mar 2010

1 Probably.
2 Definately
3 You should have discussed the location with him.

mikhailfaradayski · 18 Mar 2010

Sorry, but i think all this should have been discussed prior to the spark cutting holes.

As mentioned before, if you didn't specify the position, then its not really a bodge by the spark (assuming they are installed OK otherwise)

Sometimes i get i want a socket/light etc over there (accompanied by a wave of the arm) When people are a bit woolly about where they want stuff, i say thats fine, but i can't wire up a guess and if i have to do everything twice, then i just charge twice. no probs

Its a conversation i like to have with my more aloof customers and usually illicilts some measurements from them.

Do they really look that bad, once the job is done as a whole would you really notice?

sparkwright · 18 Mar 2010

Why wasn't the location of the lights discussed?

Either you should have told him where they had to go
or
he should have asked you.

If you didn't tell him where to put them then he couldn't really be expected to know where to put them.

Did you leave him with a contact number?

Unfortunately different people have different ideas about such things.

Something as important as this should have been mentioned before. The electrician isn't exactly a designer, and won't necessarily be as artistic about such things as yourself.

There may have been a good reason for him putting them where he did.
Perhaps some obstruction prevented him from making a symmetrical pattern.

On the other hand he may be a complete idiot and just bunged them anywhere.

Was this his final day?
If not he could have prepared the wiring in the loft, and cut the holes in the ceiling another day.

You have learnt a lesson on the importance of communication and good planning.

Assume nothing.

As for the holes, these can be repaired by fixing plasterboard circles to the ceiling,
by screwing wood to the ceiling, and screwing the patch to this.
or
using dry-line adhesive, a larger piece of plasterboard stuck to the loft side of the ceiling, then patched on the bathroom side.

If the electrician is a reasonable type of bloke he may put right the work without even charging, so it will pay to be polite to him.

sparkwright · 18 Mar 2010

Can somone put that picture up of the bloke with the crystal ball...?

electronicsuk · 18 Mar 2010

sparkwright said:
Can somone put that picture up of the bloke with the crystal ball...?

I thought this old lady had become the de-facto now:

sparkwright · 18 Mar 2010

Just looked at my bathroom which is also 2 m wide, and think if it had spots 35 cm from the sides it would look acceptable. There is the danger of having the lights too close together, which can look terrible.

Of course, I can't see your bathroom so I can't really judge it.
Could this have been an attempt to centralise the lights with the bath, toilet, door etc?

It's unfortunate the ceiling has to be patched, though if it is done well then it's not a problem.

One option could be to fit two extra spots in the middle, set alternately from the other six. Assuming a joist isn't in the way. And fit 20 w lamps.

But I think eight spots in a bathroom would be more than overkill.

ColJack · 18 Mar 2010

sparkwright said:
But I think eight spots in a bathroom would be more than overkill.

6 is overkill..
you only need 3 at most..
one over the crapper so you can read the paper, one over the sink so you can see to shave, and one over the middle of the bath so you can see to shower..

ban-all-sheds · 18 Mar 2010

electronicsuk said:
I thought this old lady had become the de-facto now:

Her granddaughter is much more comely.

But the mods don't approve of her.

1john · 18 Mar 2010

I dont think it would be unreasonable to receive a bill like this -

install 6 spots £xxxx
remove 6 spots £xxxx
re install 6 spots £xxxx
mince about filling holes £xxxx

If you didnt tell him where they were to go and you booked him there then what the heck was he supposed to do?

hypothetically if this hadn't happened, would you be moaning that he didnt do anything because you left no notes and that he cant book you in again for a month?

Incidentally, have you read the manufacturers litrature from the lights as to the distance that the fittings must be away from joists??

Richard C · 19 Mar 2010

Your at fault for not saying where you wanted them, he’s at fault for not asking. In an ideal compromise, he should move the lights for free, give you the cut outs & you should agree to fit & fill the old holes as described; you don’t need to re-board the ceiling.

mikhailfaradayski · 19 Mar 2010

1john said:
....mince about filling holes £xxxx....

Ooo-err matron.
I've heard there are parks and heathland around London where you can get that for free

ban-all-sheds · 19 Mar 2010

And Derby too, I expect.

mikhailfaradayski · 19 Mar 2010

ooh, don't be so bashful, Tiger.
You say 'i expect' like your not sure

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electrician bodged my lighting?

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