Dont you just love plasterers !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lloyd1980]

Just thought Id share with you my lovely 1st day of a second fix renovation im doing

at the end of the 1st fix plasterers came in to wiegh up, old guy and I think his son, old guy was ok but the lad ( about 25 ) came in swinging his **** saying those cables had better be in the boxes otherwise ill be snipping them
told him hed better not cut any of them as they were marked and i needed all the length to make off ( about 4 inches )
told the builder 3 times before i left to make sure all cables were brought through and none were cut

returned this morning and discovered every cable at every box had been snipped leaving me the grand total of 2.5 inches sticking out the wall to make off, including all the switches which now have no markings on them, these are not just live and switchwire, there are some switches with 3 mains and 3 switch wires ( 3 gang dimmer. ) a 2 gang, both switches are 2 ways and various others now with no markings on

various cables damaged down to the copper where they have stuffed them in the metal boxes and ripping inner and outer insulation and are unusable

most of cables in bathrooms havnt been brought through so tiler has tiled complete walls where sunk in shaver points and fans are meant to be

I went bazerk at the builder this morning , the plasterers then rang me accusing me saying it was my fault and i should have put the cables in the boxes

told him ( or shouted ) that they werent his cables to touch let alone snip too short, this ended in me hanging up on him

we have a guns at dawn meeting tomorrow, and after the builders go ahead today Ive smashed the **** out of his nicely skimmed kitchen walls whilst having to rewire the cables that were too short as tiled floors above,

the builder has accepted it is their fault and is charging them for my time

what a bunch of absolute *****

I hate plasterers

 

[CP Electrics]

I had the same a few years ago, went into the house on a second fix and there wasnt a cable in sight, the plasterer had covered all the cables including the consumer unit cables, he stuffed them back into the hole and plastered over everything, we made him dig them all out at his own expense, muppets. He did this just because one of my boys commented on him plastering a few boxes in on the last job, builder was not impressed.

I feel for you as ive been there.
Good luck mate

 

[lloyd1980]

honest to god, I have never come accross the like

what the hell do you expect me to do with 2 and a half inches?? .......and dont state the obvious!!!!

the kitchen is now a mess and the chases were knocked out with a lump hammer, i may **** in his mix when he tries to skim it

no respect whatsoever

 

[Guest123]

I dont care how annoyed you are.....STOP SWEARING!!!!!!

Anyone can view the public forums, if you want a rant post it in the "arms".

 

[lloyd1980]

ok fair enough

 

[Echo]

A nice trick somebody else said on the forums, came in handy with a ********* neighbour where i was working the other day.

Petroleum jelly all over windscreen!

 

[ncarron1979]

sounds like u have been having fun lloyd. they didnt look like they gave a monkeys. plasterers what are they like lol

 

[chris gray]

a lesson learnt by the sounds of it, weve been there many times. except theyve gone to the extent of swapping cables round .
i always build up a good rapport with all tradesmen (+ women)

 

[nickblake]

ok guys who's tried the yoozy boxes then , well if not ,us em ive just done a referb with the customers living in the house sparks night mare eh so i tried the youzze boxes , first and 2 nd fix at the same time plasterers came in plasterd and all i did was remove the yoozy box didnt even have to disconnect the socket ofr switch just slipped over the top and refix job done and no winging plasterers
check it out YouTube - yoozybox and the fitting of oh and just love the guys well used screw driver

 

[rocker]

I genuinely don't know what I would have done in your position. Especially with a lump hammer in my hand.
Next time, leave the cables really long, then liven them up before you knock off. No, don't. But do something like, I dunno expando-foam his tools or something. Or just throw a chisel at him when he's not looking. OR wait until he's skimming a really difficult bit and jump out and go 'BOO!'.

 

[lloyd1980]

a lesson learnt by the sounds of it, weve been there many times. except theyve gone to the extent of swapping cables round .
i always build up a good rapport with all tradesmen (+ women)

so do I - this is the first ive seen of them and hopefully the last

 

[nickblake]

come on were sparks zap him stick your meter on 1000 volts and stick it in the wet plaster , had a plumber who was an --- a few years ago he was connecting some pipes up so i connected my tester to the other end of the pipe and gave him a few blasts never spoke to me again dont know why

 

[lloyd1980]

I genuinely don't know what I would have done in your position. Especially with a lump hammer in my hand.
Next time, leave the cables really long, then liven them up before you knock off. No, don't. But do something like, I dunno expando-foam his tools or something. Or just throw a chisel at him when he's not looking. OR wait until he's skimming a really difficult bit and jump out and go 'BOO!'.

Im still fuming now, all it will take is him to come in with the same attitude he showed me on the phone today and i will ....................

keep an eye on the news headlines tomorrow............

news just in, we are getting unconfirmed reports of a man in the north west, eye witnesses report a man with a crazed look in his eyes chasing another man around a house with a hammer in his hand

 

[chris gray]

i like the urine in mix
gna remember that.

 

[Mr. Mohammed]

Man, masons and plumbers are an Electricians nightmare, no offence. You should make the plasterer buy over materials and back-charge for your labour costs. Variations on a job should mean variation in price.

 

[lloyd1980]

there is an extra time charge beleive me!!!!
plumber was as bad, caught him drilling waste pipe through joists about to go through last one where on back were all our cables neatly clipped, so auger bit about to go right thru them, 'oh sorry mate' he says as i enlighten him, then an hour later i walk in and hes blow torching pipe work right next to our cable run

I despair!!!!

 

[mogga]

U wanna beer lloydy?? sounds like u nee done one

 

[robsparky1975]

unfortunatley a lot of people do not respect the electrician anymore,bloke i work for(heating company)just says its a few cables hurry up,i have had similar with plasterers.although most trades do repect your cables after you have a little chat with them,but in general the respect for this trade is wilting,im getting fed up and feel a career change after only 8 years maybe computer programming or something,money here is just about paying bills

 

[lloyd1980]

an update for you all
plasterers were meant to show first thing then never did
builder came to see me all sheepish 1st thing this morning and I showed him all the problems
he then dissapeared all day
plasterewrs turned up at half 2 didnt say a word to me and then sloped off without doing any work
no appology for the cut cables
but as agreed with the builder yesterdays cock up has cost them money + the time they spend re-skimming the kitchen
plus the plumbers time for rectifying the stuff theyd wrecked of his

expensive lesson

 

[mogga]

One well unhappy builder then

 

[lloyd1980]

think hes deducting it from their as of yet unpaid invoice
think the cowboy plasterers will be eating 'no frills' food this week
Ive made a ( 2 people 8 hours + materials ) day on their cock up so im happy

stuff them

 

[pennywise]

That would have driven me mad, on my old company we never had any problems with plasterers though that may have been due to having an apprentice called shrek 6 ft 7 and 23 stone, no one really messed with any of our cables . Good you even got money out of the builder they can be less than understanding when extra and cock up are mentioned in the same sentence.

 

[Patrick_g46]

Let me get this right? When you first fix a socket you just leave the cables hanging out the front? In the way of everyone else?

This is the reason I wrap my cables inside the backbox as soon as iv ran them, never had any problems when done like this!

 

[spandmac]

I am one of the old school of sparks so you'll probably cut me short OOPS! Sorry about the pun. When I served my time my chargehand instructed me to always tape-up the ends of the cables,these being singles by the way, then coil them up into the back boxes, I then had to cover them with old newspaper The SUN, MIRROR ? ect; to ensure the plaster did not come into contact with cables. This also helped to protect the threads of the fixings; Sockets switches ect. Times have probably changed and maybe there's no time allocated for this procedure. Oh Happy Days!!

 

[deebz]

mm i always tuck them up into the boxes too, been on a site where the labourer went round and taped up all the boxes after we were done and before plasterers went in, was quite nice, still it doesnt give anyone the right to cut them if they are out.
i respect other peoples work and i expect that back

 

[lloyd1980]

they didnt just cut my cables, they cut the plumbers plastic pipes,
TONS of cables were not brought through, the last one i discovered when doing the board was 'where is the water earth???) knew it was in as remembered capping it, bit of pad sawing later and there it was bent up and wrapped over a nail, presumably because it was in their way when throwing the board it
we found the same on some of the spot light cables that they had tucked over nails, so when you cut the hole ( slightly too small to get your shovel hand in !! ) hey presto no cable
lots more pad sawing later, there it is bent and rammed out the way
they were a bunch of absolute *******
I really hope I never come accross them again, totaly disgusting

 

[rocker]

Again man, I admire your reserve. I would have gone completely flywheel-loose, fallen apart and started with the scutch hammer. What a bunch of utter bensons.

 

[lloyd1980]

if I loose the plot, who looks like the idiot??? mate it took EVERY sinue of my being to stop me grabbing the turd by the neck but i sucked it in and remained calm,

 

[jase]

ok guys who's tried the yoozy boxes then , well if not ,us em ive just done a referb with the customers living in the house sparks night mare eh so i tried the youzze boxes , first and 2 nd fix at the same time plasterers came in plasterd and all i did was remove the yoozy box didnt even have to disconnect the socket ofr switch just slipped over the top and refix job done and no winging plasterers
check it out YouTube - yoozybox and the fitting of oh and just love the guys well used screw driver

they wouldnt work if the plasterer was dot and dabbing board tho would they?

 

[eskimo39]

I used to have problems with plasterers all the time when sub contracting. Now however I just have a polite word with them before they commence work explaining how I need the wires accessable when plastered. If they don't seem to be too accepting of this I also explain that if I can't get to the wires, I have no problems whatsoever removing chuncks of their plaster to find them.

I bought a 12v inspection camera recently which will come in great for finding lost wires although after speaking to most plastering contractors (even the numpties) I haven't had to use it.

It is an awful situation to be in and I am unsure why the majority of them feel they are the alpha contractor on any job and have the right to do what they like.

Last year my current boss had to be dragged off a plasterer who had cut all his wires short, it was funny as anything although it did look very bad & unprofessional for the customer to see 2 fifty year olds, schoolboy fighting on their drive.

 

[Spudnik]

Same here.

I try to build a relationship with all the other trades on site, even if for selfish reasons.

In some instances it has paid off if you need a favour.

 

[lloyd1980]

I always build good relationships
its hard to build on 2 and a half inches of cable sticking out of every box with no markings on switches

It really is about respect,
They had none

 

[eskimo39]

I always build good relationships
its hard to build on 2 and a half inches of cable sticking out of every box with no markings on switches

It really is about respect,
They had none

I don't envy you one bit mate. What was the final outcome, did you manage to fit the switches etc or have you had to rewire some of it?

 

[lloyd1980]

part of the kitchen had to be rewired
I had to bell out all switches, and rewired what they damaged
total nightmare - the builder has now gone AWOL, I think hes started another job, loads left unfinished, i still need to get in and test and fot last bits
rubbish

 

[ncarron1979]

Should of got me to do the plastering an i would of cut the wires so there was none left lol ( only pulling your chain ). sounds like he has had enough aswell lloyd