Alec Caldwell
Don't wire up your clients to 'Old Sparky'! Thoughts on renovators doing their own 'minor' electrical work
Canadian Contractor Business Fire Insurance Professional riskEvery time you do electrical work without a license, as a professional renovator, you are leaving a liability in place that could come back to haunt you, even many years after you retire, if there is a fire at the property.
As we all know, many professional renovators will do their own electrical work when it comes to “minor” jobs like moving electrical outlets and installing light switches. This, even though the law requires, in almost all Canadian jurisdictions, that a licensed electrician perform such tasks.
I know it’s very tempting to do basic electric work yourself. But I highly recommend against it. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous from many points of view, not least of which is the risk of a fire that could cause fatalities to your client and their families. It’s hard to even think about that, isn’t it?
Sometimes it’s hard to get an electrician out to your job right when you need them. Then you have to factor in their cost. But that’s business! Don’t take short cuts.
The huge liabilities you are leaving at every electrical job you do yourself, from now until you retire, can come back to haunt you even after you’re enjoying your retirement. Insurance companies will make sure, if there’s a fire, that an inspection fingers you the contractor, so they are off the hook.
Here’s a chilling news item from May 29, 2013:
An unlicensed contractor has been convicted in a Sudbury, Ont., court of charges related to performing electrical work illegally and failing to apply for an inspection.
George St. Louis, a sub-contractor working in Chelmsford, was found guilty on one count of performing electrical work without an electrical contractor’s license and one count of failing to apply for an inspection. St. Louis was sub-contracted by a siding company to replace siding and windows. In the course of the installation, he moved some light fixtures and an electrical outlet.
The total fine was $4000 for the violations, plus a $1000 victim impact surcharge. Under Ontario Regulation 570/05, Licensing of Electrical Contractors and Master Electricians, only licensed electrical contractors are permitted to contract to perform electrical work in Ontario.
“Unfortunately, there are individuals that are prepared to do electrical work when they don’t hold the appropriate license, and they don’t follow the rules and regulations,” said Doug Crawford, chief public safety officer with the Electrical Safety Authority.
I wish everyone a safe and prosperous fall renovating season – with the names of some good electricians saved on your cellphone.
CARAHS is a non profit association for renovators and home services providers. We offer Education, Information and Benefits!
We have over 70 Health and Safety e-courses online HERE.
Toll free 1-866-366-2930
www.carahs.org
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I do have 3 million viewers on my free “do it yourself” site on plumbing advice, but I agree with this article. DIY or do others trade, “DOT” is is for hooking up a dishwasher to a pig tail at best/most. That is for contractors, not home owners.. I have seen plumbers tie into circuits and connect different common legs. Or worse cause an elect. fire from just not knowing the correct way to open & close up a duplex box! Just putting in a switch requires opening and closing a receptacle and I promise you guys think they know how, but would fail a simple test doing so. Too many Plumbers will fail even the basic trade issues of even Plumbing! due to lack of formal training. Or lack of willingness to be professional when they are short parts and “Make do” w/o.them. Continued education in California for Plumbing contractors by the CSLB is non existent. I am working on that as a pet project.
Here is a simple litmus test for you to ponder the next time you change a light fixture at home. What is the temperature rating of your wires and the fixture? I don’t expect to stump every “Wannabe Sparky” with this simple question, yet I usually do. So what this tells me is that when he flicks the switch and the light comes on he assumes that the installation has been done correctly. WOW!! An electrical apprenticeship has 10,000 hours plus 3 sessions at school. There are more ways to do it wrong than right. There are only 2 consequences….fire or shock.
I foresee a day when insurance companies will decline coverage to home renovators doing their own electrical work, but until then we are all stuck with competing against this sort of person as government will never provide the policing resources need to change their culture, but as a licensed Electrical Contractor, it sure does warm my heart to read about that heavy fine.
I just came across your article on renovators doing ‘minor’ electrical work. I appreciate the advice as far as the possible legal precautions. However I disagree with the underlying theme that we DIY and Renovators don’t know what we are doing, especially as voiced in Mr. Sloan’s comments. A number of years ago I completed a 1,200 sq.ft. addition on my home that included raising the original 1 1/2 storey home to 2 full storeys. I hired 1 of the premier electrical contractors in my area to upgrade my panel to 200 amps. All he did was install the panel itself with the main breaker and install the main supply lines from the pole. I wired the addition myself, upgraded some wiring in the original house and completed all connections at the panel itself. I had it all appropriately inspected – the inspector found 1 fault in my work (where there were multiple ground wires in a box I had twisted them together rather than using a marette) but the inspector found 8 things wrong with the panel installation! So who’s workmanship put who at risk – the professional electricians workmanship, If it takes somebody 10,000 hours of training to learn to wire a home properly he needs to change careers! If the real issue is about safety why aren’t we making it easier for anybody who wants to to learn correct procedures and make the inspection process more accessible and user friendly. Personally I respect the need for a properly trained electrian to work on heavy commerical applications. I also find it a bit ridiculus to suggest any reasonably competent person can’t change a light fixture or a wall switch, especially if supplied with clearly explained installation instructions. I firmly believe there is greater risks created by somebody changing their own brake pads on their car more so than that same person replacing his light switch. Sorry for the rant but a for or five months of actual schooling and lots of hours being used as a gopher isn’t justification to give them a total monopoly on the trade. Whatever happened to good old common sense?
What makes no sense, is like you as a home owner could do your electrical work, with minor experience, but certified electricians can’t do theirs without the Ecra bullshit license, after a apprenticeship program and the C&Q.
Only a few electrical associations and companies set up the ecra on this province
another Liberal cash caw, its ridiculous and stupid, certified people can’t do their work without these ass’s collection fees. To many people want to collect and not working. That’s why we are in a messy debt and not much progress, with a uncertain future.
Give a good look what is happen in Europe now, everything became to expensive to a point people don’t spend, and the banks lower the interest at .015% even at this rate the market prices may decline and deflation will set in. With a lot of business may will go into closure and many people losing their jobs.
This may happen here soon, the good old sense like you said its gone.
Does a certified mechanic have any cash caws after him/her?
At this point I don’t know any.
I was wondering if you were putting a new dishwasher or someone wants a new light put in, Am i aloud to do that as a contractor or do I have to get a contractor to do that ? I have turned jobs down because I believed that I am not aloud but I was wondering if I am aloud to do so.
Thank you,
Micheal Smith