Knob & Tube Removal - Entire Home Re-wire
I hired AC Electrical to remove the knob & tube from a 100 year old home. Jim was team lead for my project undertaken approx. 5 years ago. They spent weeks at the house and invoiced us a small fortune. Admittedly, the home is large (approx. 3,500 sq. feet) but the cost was extraordinary. Initially, I thought the service was expensive but good. Now, years later, as my wife and I undertake further renovations to the home the poor quality of the work is slowly being revealed:
a) an upgrade to the master bathroom revealed knob and tube wiring behind the walls;
b) a replacement to a light fixture in the same room revealed 60 year old electrical boxes still in place;
c) the installation of pot lights in the main living room were the work of total hacks, unfamiliar with plaster ceilings and unaware of the need to install ceiling boxes. The net result: broken plaster peeling out from under the holes punched in the plaster. The pot lights themselves were a bright white and entirely out of sync with the warm light generated by the main light fixture and surrounding lamps.
I would also note that after spending more than $50,000 with AC Electrical, they failed the initial inspection! I should have known then that I had hired the wrong company.
Even the administration at AC Electrical was poorly run. They completely neglected to invoice me more than $10,000 only to realize their oversight a month later and demand payment "immediately".
Now as more recent renovations get underway, the true extent of the shortcuts Jim and his team took stands revealed. Each new contractor that attends at my home is baffled by the poor quality of the work.
CAUTION: AC Electrical is NOT as good as HomeStars might have you think.
EDIT: I just read the company response. So disingenuous. I am not sure why my post shows me as living in Scarborough. I live in Toronto and log into this website using google. I'm not going to volunteer my address in a public forum, but add Jim to the timeline above as well as the price and you should know the project. In any event, I stand by every word in my review and I warn prospective clients that AC Electrical is NOT all it's cracked up to be.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $50,000.00
- Company Response
David,
AC Electrical Contractors Ltd. was founded to provide residential electrical installations while serving the community, each client and our employees with integrity, always!
Since records of every client, dating back to 2009 is kept electronically in our software, and since I have looked for a client named David, who lives in Scarborough and have filtered the search for an invoice for the amount of $50 000.00, or close to that amount from your area, and cannot find you. You may have the wrong company; But, I will assume that you don’t, and will be happy to respond to your review.
Furthermore, we warranty and stand behind our team for a minimum of three years and for five years for panel installations. This covers both material, workmanship and your experience with our company as a whole. If we had received a call regarding any issues that you or any client felt that they had, within the warranty period, we could have discussed them and/or solved them in a timely manner.
Knob and Tube Removal:
Though the service is confusingly named “removal of knob and tube”, the process for removing knob and tube wiring, counter-intuitively, does not actually mandate removing every single piece of knob and tube wire from the entire house, especially, form behind closed walls. Instead, it means to de-energize the ungrounded wire, and to rewire the circuits using new, approved type of wire. This way, every wall in a person’s house does not have to be removed and new wires can be fished in behind walls, to install the new circuits. The old, dead wire, can be safely removed once a wall is opened during a future renovation without danger.
Re-using old junction boxes:
As long as a device box is in excellent condition, and is installed properly, it meets all safety code requirements, and would be a complete waste if not re-used.
Retrofit pot lights:
Retrofit pot lights are installed sitting on the ceiling because they have been designed to be supported by the ceiling using clips and do not come with ceiling boxes. These retrofit type pot lights are CSA approved and when installed meet the requirements of the Ontario Electrical Safety Code as well and fall under our warranty as well. They are not like the new construction pot lights that are supported to the joists because of open access. As for the light being too bright, and since we warranty every installation and carry large amounts of stock in our large Sprinters. If you were one of our clients, we would have been happy to address that issue after installing the first bulb.
Failing inspections:
As for failing inspections; we are and have been on the ACP list of authorized contractors since the programs inception. Our record of performing code compliant work speaks for itself.
These are the requirements that we meet to be on the program:
Contractors must meet a number of criteria to be eligible for ACP membership
hold a valid ECRA/ESA Electrical Contractor’s License; HVAC installers must hold valid trade licenses or certificates for the scope of work done and the company must have $2M in business liability insurance
have filed a minimum of 20 applications in the previous 12 months; inspections must be completed on at least 20 sites to provide sufficient performance information
have a defect ratio of ≤ 4%
have a current account balance
have filed applications for all electrical work
have obtained connection authorizations from ESA as applicable
have completed Code training for the OESC in effect
submit an ACP application form and signed declarationAdministration:
Waiting one month before the final invoice is issued and then “demanding payment”, is unusual. Although our office is quite busy, we work hard to offer good service; invoicing in a timely manor is good service. Although, periodically, there is a small delay in invoicing, because we have to wait till the final inspection from the Electrical Safety Authority is done and then wait to receive a copy of their Certificate of Inspection, to then finally invoice the client with the final invoice. This delay is usually days and not weeks. In fact, to facilitate quick invoicing, our technicians often invoice clients using a mobile app, right from each job site. And, like all invoices, the payment is due upon receipt as per the payment terms which is discussed during the quoting process and given to the client in writing, before the work starts, eliminating surprises or the need for demands. As with all of our services, we also stand behind the customer service that you will receive when you or any client calls the company. I am and was available to clients always, and if you felt that a customer service representative had spoken to you in the most professional manner, I would have been happy to discuss any aspect of your call to our company then.
Please give me a call. As a Certified 309A Electrician and as the General Manager of this company, I am able to and would be happy to discuss in detail, the aforementioned installation methods, our company and/or your particular situation.
Hellen Alafogiannis
General Manager | Electrician 309A
(416) 698-8100