landing light

[gpg1967]

hi everyone,just had a call of the electrician who was due to come and finish the job today to say he has gone away to work for the rest of the week and wont be able to come and finish putting the light switches back on til the weekend we now have no lights in the hall or stairs,i am thinking about putting the switch on myself but looking for some advise first, up stairs switch has a cable with 2 red wires in and a seperate red wire in sleeving already in a switch,downstairs there are 2 sets of red wires and the single wire but there is no switch,the switch that is going there is a 3 way, 1 for outside lights,1 for the hall and 1 for the landing light,there are also 2 pieces of red wire that he said are required to pair up the commons in the switch,any help would be great thanks.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

hi everyone,just had a call of the electrician who was due to come and finish the job today to say he has gone away to work for the rest of the week and wont be able to come and finish putting the light switches back on til the weekend

Phone him back and make it crystal clear that unless he gets his *rse over to your place today there will be no point him coming at the weekend because you won't be paying him a single penny, and if he wants to take you to court having gone off to do another job leaving you with no lights and live cables sticking out of the walls then he's welcome to bring it on.

we now have no lights in the hall or stairs,i am thinking about putting the switch on myself but looking for some advise first, up stairs switch has a cable with 2 red wires in and a seperate red wire in sleeving already in a switch,downstairs there are 2 sets of red wires and the single wire but there is no switch,the switch that is going there is a 3 way, 1 for outside lights,1 for the hall and 1 for the landing light,there are also 2 pieces of red wire that he said are required to pair up the commons in the switch,any help would be great thanks.

You're going to need to learn how lighting circuits work.

//www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:lighting

A multimeter to identify cables would be very useful.

 

[ericmark]

As an electrician faced with what you have I would still have to do some testing. To take over a job like this would not be easy.

I do understand the problems where Electricians are employed by the hour or on the side where they have other commitments.

I did once find myself on a job where errors had resulted in a run over to the expected time of completion, and the firm was unwilling to reimburse me if I continued to work and missed my plane to next job. I was therefore forced to leave without completing.

However had I been paid to do the job, rather than paid by the hour with a fixed end of contract time, then I would have been forced to miss my plane.

I would assume the work has been left safe. Which means either the MCB locked off or not connected? To take over an isolated job is really a problem. And normally would only be done in extreme circumstances normally where the electrician is hospitalised or similar.

I would assume the house is not occupied, or there is alternative lighting? In which case the work involved in tracing cables is hardly worth doing for a week waiting. I would guess he was doing the work on the side and one has to expect things like this when getting work done on the cheap.

If of course he is a sole trader who has just found more lucrative work for a week then I would agree with BAS you need to call him back or refuse to pay. however I would guess not that simple.

I have needed to do work for my son where a first fix has been completed but the second fix was not ready to be done as secluded and had as a result coincided with other work. The fault was builder who had not completed on time. I was however able to phone my son with any queries. If you ask it is possible your electrician also has some one he can call on to help him! It may involve extra payment but worth asking.

Non of us can be in two places at one time. We see again and again where tradesmen try to split themselves between two jobs where there has been an over run. Some excuse like I need to get some extras see you tomorrow and he travels to other job to finish off.

But how he shares out his will depend on who makes most fuss. Calling in a sub contractor where one has over stretched is expensive and unless like my son he has a dad who is retired and also an electrician likely he will not want to call on some one else.