State of walls after electrician

girl_withno_name

Hi,

Just wanted to double check in case I'm being unreasonable - what state should I expect walls to be left in after an electrician has been to do work and install some new sockets, which have been chased into the walls?

I was expecting to still have a flat(ish) walls, maybe with obvious lines where cuts were made in walls to chase, but no wires visible. Maybe like this: http://www.arddevelopmentsltd.co.uk/pics/Electrical%20Page/Resized/w187/2011-12-09%2014.57.09.jpg
Instead they seem to have done no patching up of the walls and instead we can see the wires!

We had mentioned that we have a plasterer doing our ceilings soon (and hence the electricians could cut holes in the ceilings for ease if necessary, these have been filled back in with the bits of the ceiling which were removed)... so I think the electrician has assumed that we'll get the plasterer to do the tidying up after the electric work. This would obviously involve paying the plasterer more, for something I thought the electrician would be doing.

ey_up

This depends on what you agreed with the electrician. I've recently had three electricians to quote and each on the basis that they put things right where they had chased. One had his own plasterer he used while the other two admitted that they were pretty ok at plastering but wouldnt be as good as a pro job. In each case the point was raised specifically.

I presume from your post that this wasnt really discussed fully and there could be possibility of some misinterpretation if you mentioned you had a plasterer coming. I dont think it is reasonable to assume anything.

Your best bet is being honest with the electrician and get his opinion. If it differs to yours I think there isnt a great deal you can do unfortunately.

girl_withno_name

They were here for two days and on the second morning I mentioned that I'd spotted the holes when I got home on the first day and had thought "I hope they're not going to be left like that" and he led me to believe they wouldn't... I suppose there could've been some misinterpretation ?

The quote just says "Supply & install 2 double sockets outlets, chased"

ey_up

Difficult. No mentioning of making right if going down to the words of the quote.

You need to discuss it with the electrician really, especially if he led you to believe they wouldnt leave the holes.

muckybutt

girl_withno_name wrote: »

The quote just says "Supply & install 2 double sockets outlets, chased"

Say's it all doesnt it ?

If it was to have been plastered after it would have said something like "Supply & install 2 double sockets outlets, chased and make good surround"

girl_withno_name

muckybutt wrote: »

Say's it all doesnt it ?

If it was to have been plastered after it would have said something like "Supply & install 2 double sockets outlets, chased and make good surround"

It might say it all to you, but we've never had any electric work previously and since the point of "chased" was that the wires would be hidden in the wall I assumed that "chased" meant they'd be hidden in the walls (rather than fully on display within the walls)!

Ruski

You say you can "see the wires" - do you mean you can see the sheathing that has covered the wires or that you can see the wires all the way up the wall?

Russ

Buellguy

muckybutt wrote: »

Say's it all doesnt it ?

If it was to have been plastered after it would have said something like "Supply & install 2 double sockets outlets, chased and make good surround"

Sounds horrible, but muckybutt is right 'chased' refers to cutting out the plaster to fit the wires. If it's any consolation, we've recently had a full rewire (about 8 days work) with no making good. Price for that was 3 grand (big old house), if we'd have wanted making good afterwards you could VERY easily put andther grand to 1500 quid on that quote. SO depends on how much you paid for the job to be done really.

Buellguy

Ruski wrote: »

You say you can "see the wires" - do you mean you can see the sheathing that has covered the wires or that you can see the wires all the way up the wall?

Russ

Good point, especially if the walls are to be plastered, wires should (maybe even must I can't remember) be covered with sheathing to stop the plaster attacking the wiring.

BertieUK

Hi

We had a 45A Isolation switch relocated for our electric shower recently and the electricians that did the work did exactly as their quote stated

'relocate isolation swith for shower/chased'

They did a very neat job but I needed to make good afterwards, and plaster/paint the surrounding area.

so really you wrongly 'assumed' that they would make good afterwards, but this is not the case unless you make it quite clear when asking for a quote that they make good afterwards. Then the price goes up accordingly.

Regards
Bob

girl_withno_name

I assume this type of white plastic casing is sheating?
http://mybuilder-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/2_thumb/402749_74908e2a3d.jpg

That's not what we can see, but the grey cables running up the wall