2023 Spring we paid an electrician to reinstall electrical wiring after removing 3 walls in our 1990 home. We also had them install a new hot tub panel outside, a new 220V outlet for induction stove, and a few other new lines for eventual kitchen remodel. The total cost for this was $7100 and in the end, we attached all basic wall outlets and lights while they worked (so, they reviewed and checked the installs).
Since then we’ve had loads of electrical issues…pun intended. We had no issues prior to the remodel:
- MAJOR light flickering, like haunted house-level flickering in the evenings
- microwave clock runs fast, gains an hour+/day (sign of bad power)
- new dimmer and sensor light switch on different circuits broke (related? Seems odd)
- TV busted (no idea if related)
We originally asked the electrician who said it’s probably the city’s fault and isn’t giving us enough power; after two months of working with them they said that it appears our home’s electrical load is imbalanced and is all on one side, hence the uneven power issue and loss of power.
When I contacted our electrician, he said that because we installed the outlets and lights, it’s not his fault that the load is uneven. The thing is, they were the ones who did all the rough wiring and the outlets were put in before he even came, and the lights I connected while he worked on other wiring so I could make sure it was done correctly.
After having spent $7100, I think it’s justified that they come rebalance the load and not charge us for it, since this should have been done (to my knowledge) when planning out all of this in the first place. Am I in the wrong here? Should this have been done originally, or is it reasonable to pay him again to redo this?
Also as an aside, was I ripped off for this project (probably not enough info to really answer that one though)?
