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	Subject - Vandalized home wiring 4doorsuper My new construction home is (was) completely wired and the builder just finished the brick work (after six frustrating months ). Apparently over the weekend someone came into the home and completely cut all the wiring -just before it exits the interior wall to the exterior of the home for the fuse panel. Nothing else was damaged or disturbed.. Previously there was about six feet of wirng on the outside of the house for the fuse box connections. It's really strange for whoever did this also took the six foot of wire they cut off with them -or at least i can't find it. My questions is, how can this be repaired to TN single family residential code? I cannot imagine it is legal to splice all these connections (there are about individual 30 wire runs including two 220vac's). There doesn't appear to be enough wire to make the connection to the fuse panel now. Do the individual runs need to be repulled? David Hyatt Did your electrician get paid for his work? I almost did the same only worse because a builder wouldn't pay me. Any way I would say replace the pulls instead of splicing. lctrc789 I would get with the builder to see if they had any type of insurance for this unoccupied home. second find out what any one seen or heard. Chances are real good all these home runs will have to be re pulled I wouldn't want to set a square duct and splice them in a new job like this... Please keep us posted and let us know what and how you come out? This is not unheard of some one may have not been happy with the builder for some apparent reasons. 4doorsuper Thanks for the comments, I have my suspicions and your comments tend to confirm them. I believe my builder has not paid the electrical contractor for work completed. I’m not sure if there was any other damage to the electricals –such as cutting the wires in other places besides the service lines, but I will check thoroughly. There have been several (too many) construction delays due to builder incompetence and I think bills for work completed months ago are becoming delinquent -since I have not closed yet. He asked me for a check to cover some of my upgrades –you can imagine what I said. I think he is in the “rob Peter to pay Paul” mode right now. He must be over extended. I really dont want to see splices/junction boxes and would rather see new pulls to the first power points. But i'll probbly see it done the cheap way since my bulder is...., cheap. Electricman Yea, I agree with BASE, Make sure the builder doesnt try to (HIDE) the cost for this vandelism repair somewhere, like say "well we ran a little over in the excavation..................." BASE I hate to see the "sub" be so beligerant, however, I can understand the frustration. I just hate to see the home owner having to take the worst end of the deal. The bad thing is, it will cost the builder more in the end, where if he would have just paid his bills on time, it would have saved all this embarrassment. Just be sure that the builder does not try to place the expense on you!!!!! David Hyatt Thats one of the biggest reasons I didn't do what I planned to do on a job last Jan. The contractor cheated me out of my money and I wanted revenge. I prayed about it and decided aghast this: I was going to cut all the wires where they entered the device box. I was even going to take it a step further, I was going to fold the wires back in so it appeared there was nothing wrong. After the sheet rock was installed and all the painting was done the new electrician would pull out the wires and they would fall out in his hands. But I decided that still would not get me paid so I didn't do it. By the way it would have been legal to do so in SC. I called the sheriff's office and inquired on just this. Since the home was vacant at the time i was legally able to do it. Romex Racer I heard a story, it's probably an urban legend, about a brick mason who would build fireplaces and chimineys. If the contractor didn't pay he would just relax, he knew that the homeowner would eventually complain that the chiminey didn't work, smoke would not flow upward and out. The GC would call the brick guy, the brick guy would say "pay me and the chiminey will work"... He'd get paid, then he'd drop a rock down the chiminey, shattering a pane of glass he'd laid in the chiminey... This is probably a BS story but it got me thinking about hiding a 1 Amp inline fuse in a branch circuit as insurance. I never did it though. I have removed panels and things when I wasn't paid. Yeah, I know that once it's installed it's not my property anymore, but I get around that by saying "I recognized a safety hazard" and removed the panel. These days I don't have trouble getting paid, but years ago it was an ongoing part of the business. JimmyDee In Michigan, a contractor has 90 days in which to process a mechanics lien on the house. It is not a guarantee to get the money, but my Son-in-law says its the best $50 he can spend on the job. If he has no money at 60 days after completion, a lien goes on no matter what. He has one GC call him mad as could be because a year later when the home owner wanted to refinance his house, he couldn't because of the lien. The GC had forged the lien release and the home owner was going to bring criminal charges against the GC. S-I-L got his money. Jim John A. Peters Maybe some one wanted the copper to resell. 4doorsuper Thanks for all the comments, i am finding out how ingorant i am.. I followed up on the issue, managed to discover who the electrical GC was, thay stated they are getting paid on time and that it was indeed theft -someone stole 6 foot of wiring for salvage (GOOD GRIEF). The electrical GC was actually notified by the inspector that the wiring was missing, yet after 3 weeks my builder was unaware of it. I had to tell them myself about it. I HAVE A WONDERFUL BUILDER...., dont i? The electrical GC came back in and installed junction boxes over the MBR for all connections. Not totally comfortable with it, but it suits code. Yet another delay. Thanks all. John A. Peters Ah I am building a reputation! In Hawaii circa 1962, on the Reef Tower addition someone rolled some big rolls of wire off of the 10th floor down to the ground, and then could not carry it off (to sell) What a mess. WELLSEROUSKI These things happen boys/girls..I try to wait for the last day when the service is energized to install the branch circuit panel and put all the breakers in. Sometimes breakers are gone if the line is not hot to the house. To be honest, I figure in this kind of thing in the bid as a percentage for unexpected problems. My thing is to bid high with my builder and he will cover it in the price of the sale. Of course he has a price for electric ( usually 3% of the total price ) that way if something minor is added there is no squabling I just do it. Do quality work and the rest will come.And you will get extra work by refferals when you can name your price. wilkie Years ago, while I was still employed as an electrician, the contractor I was workig for contracted to finish a house that had been abandoned by the EC. We found out later that the original EC had abandoned the 6000 sq. ft. custom house because he hadn't gotten paid. We took over right as it was ready for trim. To make a long story short, they had snipped random conductors directly beneath the boxes all throughout the house. They didn't cut the entire romex, just one leg. When you tried to install a switch or outlet, one of the individual conductors could be pulled all the way out of the sheathing.They did their best work at this in the impossible to reach switch legs and wires that ran all they way across the garage through the joists of the second and third floors. It had all looked fine, but completely destroyed the entire electrical system. The solution ended up being returning the house to its rough stage. All the cabinets, sheetrock, trim molding, and everything else came back out. It was chaos. Because of the costs and delays, the house sat for almost a year. The homeowner and builder disappeared, the bank seized the property, several contractors involved went out of business, and when the bank finally was able to auction it off, another GC bought it and rightfully used his own subs. It ruined many peoples lives without affecting the original GC. One spightful decision, had an enormous effect on many good, hard working tradesmen. Having seen the destruction firsthand, I will always take the high road. I'm not saying I haven't been tempted. I'm just scared the consequences could ultimately fall on the wrong shoulders. Something to think about anyway.