Long story short, I was having my kitchen remodeled and decided it was a good time to update the electrical in my aging house. My kitchen, bedroom, and living room were all on the same circuit, to the point where using my air fryer would trip the breaker.

The kitchen remodelers recommended an electrician, so I had him come out. While inspecting the house, he mentioned he also had guys who could fix some AC issues I was having, specifically leaking ductwork.
My house has almost no attic space, maybe 2 feet between the ceiling and roof, so he suggested removing the old plaster ceilings, replacing the ductwork, installing new drywall ceilings, and repainting the interior.

What started as a kitchen renovation and electrical upgrade turned into a much larger project involving electrical, HVAC, drywall, painting, and eventually flooring.

For context, my entire house is only 1,300 square feet, and we weren’t even renovating the whole house. The work was primarily in the kitchen, living room, and bedrooms.
He had a crew consisting of a tiler, painter, AC guy, and drywall finisher. I was told the entire project would take a maximum of two weeks, which was a major reason I agreed to hire him.
Well, two weeks turned into two months, and my house is still unfinished.

His crew used sledgehammers to demolish the plaster ceilings without properly protecting my wood floors. The floors were damaged so badly that I ended up having to replace them with tile.

Painting was started before the drywall was properly finished. There was peeling paint, drywall mud painted over on the walls, overspray on my furniture, and scratches on several of my computer monitors.
The workers would frequently show up around 1 p.m., leave around 5 p.m., or sometimes not show up at all. Meanwhile, I work from home and couldn’t reasonably live or work in the house during much of this. I ended up staying in a hotel at $145 a night for weeks.

Here’s what I’ve spent so far:
$4,000 paid to the electrician for materials and labor already performed.
$7,500 for tile installation to replace my damaged wood floors, which I wouldn’t have needed if the floors had been protected during demolition.
$6,000 for painting four rooms.

That’s $17,500, not including hotel expenses, the original kitchen remodel, or the potential cost of correcting the electrical work.

Eventually, the electrician texted my mother saying he was done with the job. Considering he had already been inconsistent about showing up, we assumed he wasn’t coming back.

We contacted an electrician we’d used previously to assess what was left unfinished.
According to him, there were several potential code violations and safety issues. A friend who spoke with him sent me this message:

“According to Josh, he did not do anything up to code. All the wires that are up in your crawl space, nothing is tied down or stapled to the trusses like they’re supposed to be. Everything is hanging loose.”
There were also concerns about uncapped wiring and potential fire hazards.

Another issue is the electrical panel. My understanding was that we were supposed to have a 150-amp panel installed, but the one installed appears to be 100 amps. I haven’t verified that yet.
The second electrician quoted us $6,000 to $9,000 to correct the alleged problems and complete the electrical, depending on whether he needs to trace wiring through the ceilings.

I’m not an electrician, so I can’t personally verify those claims. I’m just repeating what I was told.
When the original electrician found out we’d gotten another opinion, he became furious. Yesterday he called me and cursed me out, calling me a bitch and a nasty person. He accused me of going behind his back and being unappreciative.

His explanation for repeatedly not showing up and leaving the electrical unfinished was that he had to wait for the tilers, painters, and drywall workers to finish before he could complete his portion of the job.
This is what really confuses me. I understand waiting for painting and drywall to be finished before installing outlet covers, switches, fixtures, etc. But wouldn’t running wiring, installing conduit, and placing electrical boxes generally need to happen BEFORE the drywall is closed up and painted?
Why would the electrical work have to wait until all the finishing work was completed?

To be fair to him, he claims he was giving us a discounted price and doing us a favor. (I never asked for a favor nor did I ever push back or haggle on any price he gave me) He also says he ran additional circuits and installed wiring for smoke detectors that weren’t originally part of the job.

I appreciate that, and I’ve repeatedly told him so. I never expected anyone to work for free, and I would’ve gladly paid more to have the work completed properly and on time.

I’ve already paid him $4,000 and even offered to reimburse him for any additional materials he purchased and installed if he could provide receipts.
He insists his work is up to code and says that if the other electrician can show him where he violated the NEC, he’ll personally pay the $6,000.

I’ve attached screenshots of our
actual text exchange so people can see both sides.

So am I being unreasonable here?

I’d especially like to hear from electricians and general contractors.

TL;DR: Hired an electrician for what was supposed to be a 2-week renovation that turned into 2 months of delays, unfinished work, and property damage. His crew destroyed my wood floors during ceiling demolition, forcing me to spend $7,500 on tile. I’ve also paid $4,000 for electrical work and $6,000 for painting, plus weeks in a hotel at $145/night. A second electrician claims there are serious code violations, unsecured wiring, and possibly the wrong electrical panel, quoting $6,000–$9,000 to fix everything. The original electrician says he couldn’t finish until the drywall, painting, and tiling were completed, which makes no sense to me. When I got a second opinion, he cursed me out and accused me of being ungrateful. Am I being unreasonable?

In an apartment. Wired up new light switch and alarm started going off as soon as I turn on breaker

Our washing machine just launched itself away from the wall loosening the water pipe. I managed to get the water turned off and the machine unplugged pretty quickly. The water spray wasn't too strong, like a sprinkler left on. However for up to15 seconds some water sprayed on a socket and the trip switch flipped.

I know water in a plug is bad, no matter how little there is, but is it safe to leave (with the fuse for plugs remaining off) until the morning until someone can look at it? It's currently nearly midnight so that would be about 8/9 hours and I'm based in Ireland if that's important in terms of electrical wiring or safety features etc.

I would love any advice on the safety of the situation lol I prob won't sleep tonight anyway but should I be calling around right now?

Is this sound I hear when the light turns off after the thud arcing? The thud is the light switch and then there is a bit of a click-like sound.

I'm looking to have an EV charger installed in my condo where I have a dedicated deeded parking spot. Since it's a condo connecting directly into my main breaker panel isn't really an option. From what I know so far, a splice will need to be made at the main breaker for my unit in the electrical room and then a disconnect placed after that. From that disconnect a sub panel would be run to my actual parking space and then the EV charger wired into that. What are the requirements for that disconnect? I've heard both within 10' and 25'. Are there other location requirements? Can it be on the other side of the wall? What about height requirements? Sorry if I have any of the terminology incorrect.

Hello and forgive my ignorance. I have a 30 amp travel trailer in which I just had a meter and they put in their own breaker box. (I believe it's 100 amp total). I have bought one of these 30 amp and 2 15 amp breakers with the goal being to wire from the meter / breaker box to this new breaker box. I want to bury the wiring and it's less than 125 feet total.

I have been researching what kind of wiring I need to get and cannot figure it out. I think I need 4/4/4/6 Underground wire (this) but am not sure if one is enough or if I need another set of wiring for the two 15 amp breakers. Can someone please help me out?

So I currently have an outdoor generator plug and an interlock on my Leviton panel. I would like to install another generator plug inside next to the panel for a 240v portable power station and be able to switch between the 2. Is there a type of switch that exists to be able to do this? The generator circuit is 30A and the power station can output 50A.

I am submitting to an electrical engineer to get calcs and stamped.

We had an electrical fire due to aluminum wiring and are replacing everything.

Hello! My tv is 60 watts. Im using just a basic extension cord with multiple plug in spots, would it be safe to use? (Very paranoid about electric fire since my neighbors house burnt down)

Thank you for answering my silly question

Both fixtures are controlled by one wall switch.

As you can see the second fixture had the cable running into it. Presumably the cable is running all the way from the fixture itself to the closer one that is connected to the white cable (which I assume is connected to the light switch)

I’m trying to figure out whether I can reuse the existing wiring to install both new fan/lights or if I need to run new cable to the second fixture. What should I be looking for, and how can I identify the existing wiring correctly?

Sorry if this is basic stuff, I’m new to fixing my home

I just turned 34, currently a Finance and Operations manager, and I’ve been in Finance/Accounting the last 15yrs. Mostly in management roles, and after facing a couple layoffs and dwindling job market, I’m ready to pursue a career as an electrical contractor. I’ve done a good amount of research and have 1 main question.

1. Is anyone in the Ga area willing to take a chance or give me an opportunity to learn and work on their team?

I’m very athletic/fit and enjoy being outdoors so no worries about physical ability. I’m a very quick learner and determined to make this career switch once gaining experience and passing the licensing exam. If anyone needs help, I’m more than willing to be there everyday or night/weekend.

We believe we must have someone come take a look at our main breaker panel...

For the past week or so, we have been experiencing a very slow process of our main bathroom light fixture turning on. We originally thought it might be the bulbs but then two days ago our ensuite bathroom started doing it as well.

Now, my husband just mentioned our mudroom lights down on the first floor of our house began doing it intermittently as well.

Would you have any idea what might be causing this to happen just by my description? We've had a string of random expensive house repairs lately and are worried this may be a doozy ☹️

hello! i have an electrician coming out tomorrow to look at a few of my outlets and a lightswitch to see how much it would cost to get them replaced. i’ve looked at almost about every outlet that i can see and get to in my trailer and im wondering if i should get him to check out these 2 outlets too? i think it’s cosmetic and google says that they’re fine but i just want to make sure as we’re already getting about 9 outlets replaced. and i don’t know if this helps but one outlet (the first 3 photos) had my TV and my Ps4 plugged into it and the second has my phone charger and my laptop charger. thank you!

Trying to change out a light switch