All Forum Posts by: Brian Mathews

@Cal C.

If you read my posts previously you will see that I agree that there is something fishy. My issue was with your assumption that everything could have been done in 3 hrs without knowing the scope of the work. I also agree that the PM should have notified the owner before proceeding with $2000 worth of repairs. If it is legitimate, which WE have no way of knowing, the electrician is obligated to inform the powers that be that the place is unsafe. I think there are ways around it by disconnecting power to the areas in issue. I do not think that an inspector is going to take apart every plug in the house to verify the wiring is the correct gauge, I also do not expect the inspector to crawl through the attic to every fixture to verify it is correct. I do thing they should spot check areas in the attic, of which maybe he did, maybe he didn't . I would call the inspector that did the inspection and ask him a few questions regarding this, he might have pictures that could help the owner out.

@Anthony Gayden

I'm not taking it personally, I just don't like people making assumptions without facts. As I mentioned above and in previous posts, it was wrong to spend the man's money without him knowing about it. There is something fishy to the story. I would call the inspector and the electrician and get all the facts to the story before making any judgments. I would make a judgment on the PM however. And not because it was supposedly an electrical disaster, but because they didn't notify the owner.

Obviously you have no experience in this area of home inspections, electrical or other maintenance issues and how long things take to get fixed if done properly. Sure you can hire $15/hr craigslist electrical guy and he can whiz through it in no time so he can rush to the beer and cigarette store after you pay him in cash. This after he begs you for $5 so he an put gas in his truck so he can get to the job. None of the issues he mentioned were "glaring" unless the inspector got up in the attic and crawled through every square inch of it looking for these issues. He should have looked around a little, but not checked every electrical connection the attic. I've never known an inspector to check electrical outlets unless they were GFCI. As far as the 240 volts to lights that run on 110 volts. That's a red flag to me, because anybody who knows anything about electricity knows that if you apply double the voltage to something, it won't last long.

You, myself nor anybody on this forum has any idea what the scope of the work was. So to make an accusation that he really only needed 3 hrs for the 20 he charged for is a ridiculous.

@Timothy Sparrow

I would first thing call the property manager and talk to them. Explain your issues and ask them nicely to pay for a portion of it. I will imagine there is a certain amount of legitimacy to the issues the electrician fixed. If the house wasn't new when you purchased it, I would imagine there is a very good chance the wiring wasn't up to code in different places. I've seen many places where the DIY'er took it upon themselves to wire things up not being aware of the potential for disaster or code violation. So your issue with the PM is that they authorized the repair without your consent. I can understand the electrician threatening to report the issues. I'm an hvac contractor and the state of Texas doesn't care if I find something unsafe and let somebody know, they expect me to disable it. That is on me and there is a huge amount of liability and the risk to my license of which I feed my family with. The electrician could have turned the breakers off to the areas in question to prevent risk of fire and documented it to the PM. Or pulled the wires out of the breakers or the breakers themselves to prevent power being re-applied. There were other ways this could have been handled. I think you either have an inexperienced PM or one getting a percentage back from the electrician, which is very common, I have 2 PM's that charge a maintenance fee for the work I do.

240 volts at a 110 volt light and the light wouldn't work for very long. Who knows about the other stuff. $100/hr isn't out of line for a licensed electrician. I don't think there is much you can do in regards to paying the electrician at this point, somebody has too or you risk the possibility of a lien being filed on the property. It's up to you to work it out to resolve it with the PM in regards to getting re-imbursed. The electrician acted in good faith with a person you hired to represent you, it's not his problem to get approval and call you or even know who you are. I work with PM's all the time, I don't contact the owners directly, if the PM tells me to proceed, I need to get paid by somebody. A few times I will contact the owner if the PM wants me too or the owner wants to talk to me. Pay the electrician and pound the PM.

Look at it this way. Texas is one of the few states that took a smaller hit during the great recession. We have people moving here like crazy everyday. We're doing something right I think. Our way of thinking goes against the grain of most of the rest of the US and we get the chuckles and eye rolls from others. But people keep moving here. So that must say something. As far getting a loan from a bank, you might be able to from a smaller bank that you have established some sort of relationship with. It's too much risk for me. I need some money to handle my issues that arise. I don't like putting things on credit cards or making a tenant wait because I don't have the money. Maybe it's a Texas thing. It doesn't matter much. You'll do what you want and I'll do what I want. I've already been there done that with the crazy amount of credit and lost. It's like a house of cards, all it takes is one semi major unplanned thing to happen and it all comes crashing down with no money in reserves. Not going through it again, I've learned my lesson. I'd honestly be curious to see who on here has been truly successful at what they do has gotten that way. Not somebody with an opinion of how to do things or in a book they read. I've already been unsuccessful that way and am on my way back to success God willing.

So do you have any money or are you broke? Not sure of what your goal is. If it's rentals, how will you pay for a leaking roof or a busted furnace? Other people's money? What if you're doing a flip and the foundation needs repair? Borrow more money? I look at it this way. If I were lending you money for whatever it may be. What is your skin in the game? What will keep you from saying screw it and walking away from a project and leaving me holding the bag? Pretty much what has happened the last few years. People have lost equity and said screw it and walked away, now we are taxpayers are footing the bill for others.

I know a builder that got stuck holding a spec when the market went down last time. He ended up renting it out to pay the mortgage. He rented it to a couple that similar thing was going on. Except the male got locked out. His solution was to set the house on fire to get her out and I think kill her. It did about $100K worth of damage.

Just because you're a contractor does not exempt you from pulling a permit if the area you're working in requires it. It doesn't matter where he's licensed at. So the answer is yes you must pull a permit.

Real estate is the most safe business startup in the world? Where did you hear that? Remember about 6 years ago and the problem our economy is now coming out of, mostly real estate driven. It has the potential for the highest returns, but far from safe. As far as borrowing money for a down payment. BIG mistake. You can't afford the real estate if you can't afford a down payment. What will you do when your first disaster/crisis happens? How will you pay for it?