Short Circuits
Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By EC&M Staff
Everyone makes mistakes.
Some are just funnier than others...
A Change of Plans 
I had to do a punch list at a school in Concord, Mass. It wasn't my
job, so I wasn't familiar with the correspondence methods that the
various trades were using on the project. After going through the whole
building — 30,000 square feet over 8 hours — and making all
of my comments, I couldn't believe how badly the contractor had messed
up. I had four pages of notes and a bunch of comments on the drawings.
I walked into the trailer feeling a little uncomfortable because I
didn't want to make the contractor look bad. After I showed him my
list, he asked me the date on my drawings. I said, “August 2002,
of course.” He handed me a set of drawings dated December 2002.
Needless to say, a lot can happen in four months. I walked into the
trailer embarrassed for the contractor and walked out with my tail
between my legs.
Ken DiCrescenzo
Boston
Heads Up
While completing the electrical work in a remodeling project at a
small office building several years ago, I was working with another
electrician in the attic. There was an access hole to the attic space
that we were using by means of an 8-foot ladder. The fellow I was
working with was a nervous-energy type of person. He went down out of
the attic to get a drill motor and cord, and while he was gone a
carpenter moved the ladder because it was in the way. Not noticing it
had been moved, the nervous electrician came tearing down the hallway,
up the ladder, and right through the ceiling up to his armpits. Of
course, we asked for an RFI to have the electrician-sized hole fixed. I
can't say for certain if the incident had any bearing on his decision,
but he went on to be an electrical inspector.
Gerald Dollarhide
Everett, Wash.
Got a story about a jobsite blunder? Send it to electrical_group@primediabusiness.com. If we publish it, we'll send you a check for $25.
Illustrations by Clint Metcalf.
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