Carpenters solution to LX problem

[paulears]

Went in today to install a new PA and rewire the front truss before our season starts.

 

During our closed season, up in the roof space, we have nice new timber walkways with steel handrail systems, and the asbestos ceiling panels in the auditorium have been replaced with ply where the steel cable drops to the truss.

 

The carpenter saw us on the way to the theatre and said "I thought I'd better tell you I couldn't get some of your 'wires' out of the way, so I had to cut one".

 

 

 

He had - he had sawn through a socapex cable, hacking off the end, just leaving it coiled up in the roof space. I hate putting speakon plugs on! He'd also removed a speakon from a loudspeaker flown from the truss. Never having seen a speakon before, he couldn't work out how to get it out. Have you ever seen the inside of a speakon plug? Well it appears to be 4 bits of long straight prongs hanging on the end of a cable.

 

Anybody beat this?

[Tomo]

I hope you're charging the idiot.

It doesn't take much doing to ask someone to move the cable for you, not to mention the fact that if the wire had been live...

 

And re-wiring a soca is not a job for the faint of heart!

[gareth]

The carpenter saw us on the way to the theatre and said "I thought I'd better tell you I couldn't get some of your 'wires' out of the way, so I had to cut one". He had - he had sawn through a socapex cable

What a pity the dimmers weren't on at the time. Bl00dy wood butchers - sounds like 240v up his arm would've taught him a lesson that he badly needs.

[paulears]

The same bloke cut perfectly oval openings where the drops go through, trouble is they are smaller than a 15A socket, so I'll have to drop a line, and pull the plug up, rather than drop a socket! He has also fitted break glass to open locks on the doors into the roofspace - I took my new key put it in the lock to open in, the lock went ping, the glass tibe sailed through the air and vanished down through the slatted timber floor into a void that is sealed!

[mikienorth]

Is he due back? Methinks perhaps he should be.....

6 month defects/guaranteed work anyone?

Sounds like the jobs he did were well needed, but not quite what you wanted...

[Dmills]

I had a plumber try to re route a steel wire armoured 'Plastic mains water pipe' once!

That was apparently spectacular (315A 3 Phase feeder), took a BIG chunk out of his hacksaw, I only saw the aftermath.

 

Thing was this was not a one man band, but a guy working for a major contractor - I invoiced them for having to turn away 2 nights of full houses (very few concessions those nights) and insisted that they send their head of the electrical department with a gang to replace the damaged cable, and they paid without even a raised eyebrow.

 

We won't even touch the subject of the smoke aspirator pipe on a current job being clipped along the underside of the #1 electrics bar (because it was convenient), or the sore subject of the difference is usefulness between 42 and 48mm pipe on a catwalk handrail!

 

Contractors are universally a wonderful experience.

 

Regards, Dan.

[svincent]

sounds like someone never to hire again!!

 

I think the lock thing is a bit of bad luck opposed to bad workmanship is it not?

 

did he cut through the socca next to the plug instead of right in the middle?

 

I'd charge him for a new length of socca some of the nice socca then fix the old socca and you have a nice new length

 

bit mean but hey he ruined a length of socca and a specon connector!!

[PeterT]

not contractor led but still impressive

 

I used to work in a secondary school and had made up a HI-Fi trolley within a pretty solid wooden box. Out the back was 1 mains plug and a 4 core speakon socket for the 2 speakers. Pretty robust I thought...

 

I go in one morning to find the head of music saying 'um some students tried to move the trolley yesterday and this happened...'

 

It seems they hadn't bothered to see if the unit went through the doorway properly and had taken it a pretty much full speed

They had somehow managed to shear the speakon plug neatly where the plug protrudes from the socket. I had previously thought speakons were indestructible sadly I had not reckoned on the powers of a 14 year old child...

[Ekij]

... sadly I had not reckoned on the powers of a 14 year old child...

There's a specification knocking around somewhere that we thought was probably a joke. It read something along the lines of:

 

Must withstand:

1] 10G Vibration

2] -40C to +70C

3] 200 pounds per square inch pressure

4] Ingress protected to IP56

or

5 minutes with a seven year old

[mikienorth]

sounds like someone never to hire again!!

 

Not neccesarily....

 

It depends on how quickly and effectivley the problems are rectified, not just the cut multi, but the holes that aren't quite what are needed - safer and quicker to lower through a small hole than pull up; and the suicidal bolt glass - in a void I bet that wasn't funny.

 

It is also at whose cost some of this work is rectified at. It should be theirs, but if you didn't ask for holes of a min size, then oops.

 

It is also how good a relationship you have, or want to have with the contractor. Is he a one man band, that sorting some of this out for free will send bust? Do you want to do that? Can an 'agreement' be reached, whereby you pay for an extra (fixing the holes?) and he fixes the multi? Is it someone who can afford to fix it, or will want to fix it to preserve his arrangements with your venue?

 

Was the overall standard of the work good? If so why should this stop you using a good carpenter again? As long as it is fixed in a mutually agreeable manner then all is good.

 

At least he had the nerve, or good manners to tell you he had cut a cable, chances are after cutting it and seeing how many cores were in there he had an attack of guilt anyway. He could have not told you, forcing a quick dull fault find, and a really angry paulears, instead of a mildly peeved one calling him up to shout.

 

This sort of thing goes on all the time, it is just the examples I use are relevant. I have been both client and contractor in this sort of incident, and it is never as clear cut as just not using that person again. Likewise awarding tender is not as clear cut as taking the cheapest quote.

 

It is all about service.

 

But kid factors chang everything, next time make it heavier/harder to move/shoot music teacher for letting kids move it...

[lightsource]

Not neccesarily....

It depends on how quickly and effectivley the problems are rectified, not just the cut multi, but the holes that aren't quite what are needed

 

Don't agree there, the carpenter could have telephoned Paul, and said there was a cable in the way, giving Paul the opportunity to either move it himself, or explain a workaround to the carpenter.

 

Did the carpenter have any idea whatsoever as to weather the cable was live, before he cut it?

 

The carpenter saw us on the way to the theatre

 

Probably only telling you because he knows you're going to find out anyway. And only doing so, long after the event.

[Grum]

He has also fitted break glass to open locks on the doors into the roofspace - I took my new key put it in the lock to open in, the lock went ping, the glass tibe sailed through the air and vanished down through the slatted timber floor into a void that is sealed!

 

 

Well at least that solves the problem of the doors being kept locked all season, I was wondering how workable that was going to be.

[johnhuson]

Don't agree there, the carpenter could have telephoned Paul, and said there was a cable in the way, giving Paul the opportunity to either move it himself, or explain a workaround to the carpenter.

 

[devils advocate]

How do you know the carpenter was made aware of who to contact should a situation like this exist?

[/devils advocate]

[bruce]

I was involved in a (very tenuously) similar situation a while ago. Weekend work - I had a team of 5 people onsite - all on overtime - pulling a 600m cable through various ducts, manholes, plant rooms, corridors, roof voids etc. I was at home.

 

I got a phone call - half way along the route, they had come across a locked door. Big new shiny padlock. Security didn't have a key.

 

So... we could abort the job and reschedule - which would have cost at least an additional thousand pounds in overtime. Or we could kick the door down.

 

So the "fireman's key" was applied, cable installed, door nailed shut afterwards. I had a very angry chap on the phone on monday morning complaining, until I pointed out that locking a door and not telling security was a bit daft. The installers were adamant that thyey could smell gas :) . It cost a hundred pounds or so to get the door fixed, but would have cost 10 times that to reschedule the job.

 

Sometime you just have to take the pragmatic approach ;)

[paulears]

For what it is worth, he could have, but didn't phone - he also screwed the door into the orchestra pit shut with the biggest screws he could find! We have an extension so the pit's never open nowadays - and the door to backstage from the pit is also sealed (thank you local council safety officer). The pit is full of stored items and screwed shut. Oddly, the screws seem to have fallen out?