Construction Company Issues

[kurobaxkaito]

State: California

Background:
Our house burned down a while back due to a fire caused by a private worker. Insurance covered everything and we hired a construction company to build us a new home.

What's happening
The construction company has nearly finish their work and we have moved into our newly built house. The problem is that there is a loud noise that can be heard throughout the house when we shut off the water from anywhere. This was caused by a plumbing problem and is currently being worked on still.

Also, the power outlet throughout the house will go out once in a while and come back at random times. We have called the construction company who has brought in the same electrician to take a look at the problem.

The electrician has come to our house over 5 times now and each time, he will say that the problem is fixed but it really is not. The problem will keep coming back every few days and get fixed by itself sometimes before the electrician can come out.

When we addressed this issue, the construction company refuses to fix the problem because we still have about $10,000 left to pay off. The house is still being worked on and the job is not fully completed yet so we do not feel obligated to pay them off just yet.

Is there something we can do about the electrician not being able to fix this problem after so many attempts? It looks like the electrician has no intent to fix the problem what-so-ever. I say this because each visit is roughly 20 mins long and all he does is recheck that all the wires are making contact. There is obviously something wrong within the wiring itself because the electricity will turn on and off randomly.

Thank you in advance and please notify me if there are any additional information required.

 

[justalayman]

for the plumbing you need water hammer arrestors installed as needed. It could require them in several places or it may be taken care of with a single installation. It all depends on the design of the system.


as to the power; if all the power is going out, it sounds more like a power company problem or at least the connection between the power company supply and the building system. If the electrician is simply fumbling through with this, either he needs to install a recording voltmeter on the main panel or somebody needs to speak with the power company about installing a recording voltmeter on the service. If you do both, it will help determine where the power is being lost. If only one is installed, it will help remove possibilities and help but using both would be better.

yes, you should definitely hold back the final payment until not only those 2 problems are remedied but any other problem, including anything on your punch list (you did make a punch list, right?) repaired.

 

[kurobaxkaito]

Thank you for your reply. I believe that the water hammer is in fact the cause of the noise. It seems to fit the description very well.

As for the electrical problem, it only happens in 1 room majority of the times. The entire room's electrical outlet will stop working and may resume working after a few hours or minutes (very random). During this time, the light switch is still working so I assume that is on a different circuit.

Once in a while, the electrical outlet will go out in other places as well but moving the power cable up/down a bit sometimes fixes the problem.

The problem does not seem to be stemming from the electrical company since the entire house has electricity except for one room on occasion. If there is any other possibility of this electrical issue, please comment because we have had the electrician come so many times already.

 

[Hole9yard]

as to the electrical problem, if you take out an outlet out look how the wires are attach to the plug, are the wires are stabbed in the back or are the wires are curved around the screw. Now if the wires are back stab then that could be the problem and have the electrician change this (all the plugs in the house) . You also can have the house inspected by the local inspector

 

[justalayman]

The problem does not seem to be stemming from the electrical company since the entire house has electricity except for one room on occasion. If there is any other possibility of this electrical issue, please comment because we have had the electrician come so many times already.

hole9yard may have hit it. What is termed a "backstab" connection, while legal, is the source of so many problems such as you are experiencing.

If it's not that, there is likely a bad connection in the circuit. It is the responsibility of the electrician to ensure the system is installed properly. He has not earned all of his pay if there are problems.

to taking a recep out and looking; unless you understand a bit about electricity, I suggest not doing that. You can make it safe by turning off the breaker but for those that don't understand what electricity is all about and realize that that 120v power can kill you, I suggest leaving it to somebody that has some basic knowledge of electricity to check anything.

 

[John_DFW]

You also can have the house inspected by the local inspector

I would add that any electrician incapable of resolving this kind of issue despite repeated visits probably has several other issues wrong with their work, and I would absolutely have the inspector out and have the issues clearly explained to them. I would expect the inspector to take a very close look at the work performed for code violations.

Many contracts are written for final payment after the inspector issues a green tag, if yours does and the inspector places a red tag on the work, withhold final payment until it is resolved.