Advice on additional work

[gazdkw82]

i helped a friend out by sorting out the mess of wiring in his loft. Took me 3 hours and charged him £40, that included all the wagos and wago boxes I used.

Anyway like an idiot I didn’t take into account that 2 of the cables were switch live cables (it didn’t help that none of the neutrals were sleeved, and alof of the cables dissapeared under the loft boarding). So what I did was tidy everything up and jb the lot, obviously now switch live is now into neutral.

Anyway, I powered up and soon realised what had happened, however now 2 of the switches are broken, welded in closed position.

so I’m getting 2 new switches and have to go back to work it what’s what and redo it.

In this instance would you charge again? I did say to him at the start before I told him that is was hard to truly know what every cable is doing because I could trace them all. So I copied what connections where already in place (or so I thought)

What your thoughts on theses situations? Do it for free?

 

[Pete999]

i helped a friend out by sorting out the mess of wiring in his loft. Took me 3 hours and charged him £40, that included all the wagos and wago boxes I used.

Anyway like an idiot I didn’t take into account that 2 of the cables were switch live cables (it didn’t help that none of the neutrals were sleeved, and alof of the cables dissapeared under the loft boarding). So what I did was tidy everything up and jb the lot, obviously now switch live is now into neutral.

Anyway, I powered up and soon realised what had happened, however now 2 of the switches are broken, welded in closed position.

so I’m getting 2 new switches and have to go back to work it what’s what and redo it.

In this instance would you charge again? I did say to him at the start before I told him that is was hard to truly know what every cable is doing because I could trace them all. So I copied what connections where already in place (or so I thought)

What your thoughts on theses situations? Do it for free?

Well Mate, not beating about the bush, you screwed up so it's down to you imo.

 

[gazdkw82]

Thought that would be the reply

 

[D Skelton]

This is why initial verification exists and why there's a process to it.

Had you carried out IV on your new work, you'd have spotted this fault before the circuit became live.

Always remember the importance of IV. As a trainee I'd advise avoiding getting in to bad habits now. Your later career will benefit so much.

 

[The Ghost]

It is not good as an electrician to say to customers "to be fair-I don't really know what cables are what here so if it goes bang...hey" It's a simple job to bell out the wires for the switch(es) I carry a set of reels of stick on numbers for identifying more complex circuits by numbers.

 

[gazdkw82]

Your all right. I went into it the wrong way from the start. I just seen a load of terrible jb boxes with earth sticking out the side and thought I’d tidy it up.

Worst mistake I did was not look about and work out what was happening first.

So it’s lesson learnt. I’m going back tomorrow to work it out.

 

[Pete999]

Your all right. I went into it the wrong way from the start. I just seen a load of terrible jb boxes with earth sticking out the side and thought I’d tidy it up.

Worst mistake I did was not look about and work out what was happening first.

So it’s lesson learnt. I’m going back tomorrow to work it out.

Be careful take your time and learn well Grasshopper.

 

[gazdkw82]

Thanks for the advice guys. I feel abit of a prat tbh but ones things for sure, I won’t do it again.

 

[Pete999]

Thanks for the advice guys. I feel abit of a prat tbh but ones things for sure, I won’t do it again.

Better to feel like prat than feeling 230 Volts up yer jacksy, my Old Man said to me once, don't be afraid of making a mistake it's the best way of learning.

 

[gazdkw82]

Yeh I agree with that. Wise words

 

[DavidSpark]

Look at it from a positive perspective, at least you got paid for a learning experience! Might be £5/10/15 after you pay for everything but you've learned some very valuable lessons from it and I'm sure you won't ever make that same mistake again.

Could have been much worse! Best of luck correcting it tomorrow!

 

[telectrix]

next time charge double.

 

[gazdkw82]

Well everything’s turned out good. I stripped it al back and traced every cable. Glad I did because I found one cable which I assumed was a light was powering a twin socket outlet from the light circuit.

He was over the moon with the work and paid me to cover the replacement switches.

I did a Zs and rcd test and left him a happy man.

I won’t do that again.

 

[gazdkw82]

Thought I’d share some of the mess :-0

 

[Pete999]

Nice