We should have stopped at his estimate!
First, I have all of the text messages and emails between us. We had hired this company from another site. He had good reviews and sounded like he was on his "A" game. Mark looked at the project and gave us a verbal estimate on a new electric panel and wiring to our pool pad. We were aware that a couple of factors would influence pricing before receiving the formal estimate. When we received it, he charged us 25% more than quoted for the new panel. But what really concerned us was his $500 charge for a permit affidavit! The other trades working on the project only charged $125. When I questioned him (via email), he stated he had overhead and expenses. I let him know our permit was only $297! So how can he justify $500? He then dropped his price to $200.
Once work began on the electric panel replacement, he had a helper who did basically all of the work installing the new panel. The new panel installation was supposed to be a separate permit and not as an affidavit to our pool permit. I believe he knew this and had me call for the inspection to try and get over. The county would not inspect it so he ended up having to go and get a separate permit for that job. All of the new GFIs he installed with it kept tripping so he came back and replaced them with the old GFIs he pulled out.
There were several parts to this job: the electric panel, running the wire to the backyard for the pool equipment, hooking up the equipment, bonding and grounding the metal for the pool. Everything seemed to be going fine until he got the wiring to the back corner of the house. He sent me a text on July 25th stating: "I will need to get the balance for the original contract as we can include the connection of the power for pool equipment along with the grounding and bonding of the pool. That amount is $898.75". Why he thought we'd pay him for the entire first contract (there were two contracts) and push the rest of the work to the second contract is beyond me! The wiring still needed to go from the corner of the house, across the yard to the pool pad, which was part of the first contract. Due to a previous unscrupulous contractor, we did not agree to pay Mark for the entire contract while the work wasn't finished! When he started on running the wires to the equipment pad, he twice said he was bringing help. Nobody was with him the two times he worked on the trench. Now, we do have rock and roots in the ground. He rented a piece of equipment to make the trench but, watching him, it looked as if he had never used it before. He struggled with it like it got the best of him! He also asked the gas plumbers and the pool installer to dig his trench while they were here working. Both refused. The installer then decided to start the trench (really to help us out) for Mark. When I texted him about that, he wanted to know if the equipment the installer used was still at the property - he wanted to use it! We did not allow it as we did not want to take responsibility if any damage occurred to the machine. He also mounted the breaker panel for the pool equipment on the wrong sized boards: it should have been mounted on a 6x6 post, and not 2x4's! I have pix of this below. As the electrician, it was his responsibility to make sure of what was required in this county and do the work to county code!
The last straw came on August 29. We received a text from him asking for $1200, payable on that day. He stated he spoke with an inspector for the city of Atlanta (we don't live there!) and that this is a change order due to the rocks/roots in our yard. He wanted to run metal conduit, which would not require the depth of bare wire, and again stated he was bringing help for the trench. Had he spoken with a Gwinnett County inspector (like we ended up doing!), he would have found out that he could have used PVC or metal for the trench depth that he already had - 12". So he could have used the cheaper material, PVC, versus metal and laid it in the trench he already had. We refused the new request and countered with asking him to do the job to the originally agreed price or we would find someone else. We were not agreeing to a second increase in pricing from the first estimate. He was to give us a decision by COB. We didn't hear back from him for a week, which we didn't bother to respond to because, by then, we already had hired another company to finish and correct his work!
I would not recommend this company's services. For a Master Electrician, he seems to be an amateur. Maybe he's only good for simple projects, like light switches / fixtures...
