OK, I need to get my final electrical inspection soon. Some electrical contractors that I've talked to, tell you their total price for the job. Other tell you a price, plus a separate amount for inspection fees.
So wanting to know everything, I got real curious about these electrical fees. Can someone tell me what the fee is? Or fees? Not really.
One contractor said "a couple hundred dollars". Another one said "I don't know, 0.30 cents per outlet, 10 cents a switch, something like that." No one woud give me a straight answer. So I called the electrical inspection agency. I guess there are a bunch of companies that conduct electrical inspections in New York, and New York Electrical Inspection Services seems to be the most well known or most used around my area. So I called them directly and asked them what their fees are. Point blank, they would not tell me. They said they did not want to be rude, but they deal only with electrical contractors, and do NOT deal directly with homeowners at all. They charge a fee to the contractor, then the contractor bills the homeowner. What a great ploy that is!
What is going on here? Talk about transparency, this organization never heard of it. Maybe I am stupid, but I thought that the whole point of an inspection, is to protect homeowners from substandard work by contractors. But yet these same inspection agencies will NOT even talk to a homeowner, but have a great buddy-buddy relationship with contractors.
As a homeowner, that scares me. Like they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
1 comment:
I have the same problem. Have electrical background want to do my own exteensive work on an old house. electric inspectors do not want to give any info what they do. Ask questions and they do not want to talk to you. There may be some connection to local government offices condoning this action so restrict which inspectors can work there.
Post a Comment