Is it a bad idea for the Home Depot to give seminars for work which should be done by a skilled electrician?
December 21st, 2009 | by admin |
♥Mom Of Irish Twins♥ asked:
I am an electrician and disagree with places like the Home Depot giving seminars on wiring. A little knowledge can be dangerous and I wonder how many people have burned down their houses or electrocuted themselves after taking one of these seminars. What do you think? Should they be allowed to give crash courses in something that should only be done by a cerified electrician who has spent YEARS learning his trade as opposed to a few hours on a Saturday afternoon?
Tracy
I am an electrician and disagree with places like the Home Depot giving seminars on wiring. A little knowledge can be dangerous and I wonder how many people have burned down their houses or electrocuted themselves after taking one of these seminars. What do you think? Should they be allowed to give crash courses in something that should only be done by a cerified electrician who has spent YEARS learning his trade as opposed to a few hours on a Saturday afternoon?
Tracy
No Responses to “Is it a bad idea for the Home Depot to give seminars for work which should be done by a skilled electrician?”
By snowman on Dec 21, 2009 | Reply
No,I agree with you.I have built many homes and built many additions.I have never run a single circuit.I leave that to the electrical contractor.I sleep very sound at night knowing the job was done right.
By bigg_dogg44 on Dec 22, 2009 | Reply
i think its wrong also…..i wonder if they open themselves up for a lawsuit if something goes wrong?….i let my electrician do what he knows best……and he doesnt try and build!
lic. gen. contractor
By William B on Dec 24, 2009 | Reply
no if all there doing is teaching safety ,
any one can run wires but it takes an electrician to do the hook up,
By Reggie Jnr on Dec 27, 2009 | Reply
I agree with you to a degree, any sort of knowledge could harm if not applied correctly, therefore have the presenters of these seminars got the required qualifications to be teachers of a pretty broad subject. I don’t believe we need to spend YEARS learning how to change a light bulb or reset a circuit breaker, of course the ol’ fuse wire takes a bit more understanding to replace and yes the wrong way could cause many problems including death. Even how to remove the broken bulb from the socket with a pair of pliers is a potential disaster without the power to same being shut off, but we can’t all afford the $$’s required to perform such simple jobs @ 10:30pm Saturday evening. So I think it’s a good idea if (like anything else) it’s done properly.
By Don on Dec 28, 2009 | Reply
I think this modern day notion that one must hire a “certified professional” to perform every chore for us, at high prices under threat of legal action, amounts to outright extortion.
I’ve been doing my own wiring since I was young, my own plumbing, from there I built a few houses. Any person can study and learn how to do this stuff safely, if they are willing to do so.
I think it’s a great idea for anybody to understand how to do their own work. I don’t see any problem with this, whatsoever.
By John Reid on Dec 29, 2009 | Reply
Wow! They could possibly be opening themselves up to lawsuits by somebody who burns his house down (or maybe by his bereaved family members).
I have gotten “bit” a few times and blown a few circuit breakers. Now that I am old and gray and not too seriously brain-damaged, I run the wires but leave the hookups to a professional.
IMHO, Home Depot is making a serious mistake.
By Deric on Dec 30, 2009 | Reply
I agree 100% with your feelings on ”A little knowledge is dangerous”.
I have done electronics repair and electrical more than 35 years since age 12.
And have more than 20 years in the fire service plus fire investigation.
I have seen incredible things as you may imagine.
Just one example was a middle of the night dwelling fire that originated in the basement level, vented out a rear window, up the rear outside, and took the roof off this newer home.
Briefly, found a main panel 100 amp 2 pole breaker feeding a hot tub on the back porch.
Guess what cable was run to this hot tub ?
12-2 WG NM………
It took awhile to get the floor joists to sufficiently char and then burn.
No one died.
But that Thanksgiving morning was not good for the owner….
And I have asked Yahoo Answers to stop permitting the posting of electrical repair problems or questions.
The quantity of idiotic answers is astounding.
Many answers just downright beyond unsafe.
I very much share your concerns.
There are too few qualified individuals to ”answer” so many inquiries.
By DIY Doc on Jan 2, 2010 | Reply
It’s been a long time since I’ve been back here and I see peers have also offered valid answers and I too must agree.
So much of the notion of course is sales, and yet these and/or Plumbing workshops on a Saturday morning, often end up costing a homeowner major $$$ after they attempt a DIY.
I make my living as a GC, but I’m not so ignorant as to the state of our economy, and the desire of homeowners to want to do what they might not justify paying a contractor for, but working electricity, isn’t exactly like making a tile grout line too wide or too narrow, or having to re-paint a wall that someone messed up.
Not only are electrical/plumbing issues often code dictated, but they can be major liability issues as well, in some possible, horrible end result.
I’ve been in the trades most of my life and still don’t know it all, and I too call in other contractors who do know aspects of any work, I’m uncertain of. What can we do about HD workshops? Likely not much. I might sit through one however, and challenge the facilitator.
Steven Wolf
AKA D.I.Y. Doc
By latenttraveler on Jan 4, 2010 | Reply
There will always be those that think they are able to “see 1″ and become an instant expert. Worse that that are the ones that worked for some guy for a week and then became experts. you would not believe the times when the homeowner stands there telling me his grandson told him it is a broken “widget” when I’m looking directly at a broken “wodget” and am being accused of trying to rip them off by fixing the wrong thing
I compete against these types on a daily basis and just have to walk away shaking my head and waiting for them to get in a big mess that I can fix for a fee.
Just wait till HD decides to buy your wholesale house and go into direct competition against you. Happened in Atlanta Area in the HVAC field about 5 years or so ago. I wasn’t a dealer for the particular brand but it hurt a lot of small business people that were.
By Tigger on Jan 5, 2010 | Reply
If nothing else, it will show people a bit of what goes on in the electrician’s world.
I say let them go for it.
By John P on Jan 8, 2010 | Reply
I am a maintenance tech at a multi-family community. Basically I’m a jack of all trades master of none. I dont think it hurts any for Home Depot to present the public with a little knowledge. I personally have never attended one of these courses so I’m not really sure what the instructor teaches. I would say that from a novice point of view if a person learned how to chage an outlet or light switch then great for them. Now I have some experience wiring with my father but I will never claim to be an expert. So maybe from an intermediate stand point if I were to sit down and watch how to wire a home I might learn something I didn’t know before. I havent done any home construction other than a small job with my dad but am I mistaken in thinking too that a building inspector has to pass the work done? I know that doesn’t apply to every little town out there but for most places dont you have to apply for a building permit and have inspectors there to make sure everything is up to code? In that case wouldn’t it come back to the DIYer if he does it wrong?
By pugpaws2 on Jan 9, 2010 | Reply
I worked for Home Depot from 1998 to 2000. I was required to give painting seminars. Problem was they would not allow me enough materials to do much of anything. As I see it there are two problems here. One I just mentioned the other is the people doing the seminars are many times not qualified to be telling other how to do anything. Up until around 1998, or 1999 you could go into an electrical department and find a retired electrician working there. He could not only show you what you needed but give some advice. If the job was something that should be done by a real electrician, most would say so. Now Home Depot and Lowe’s have gotten rid of the experts they once had in the departments. Instead of hiring retired professionals they hire young inexperienced employees because they don’t have to pay them as much. While I’m on a roll let me say that they also schedule fewer people to work the stores. Then when you go to pay for your items you find almost no cashiers there. Instead they try to force everyone to use the self-checkouts. So yes there is a problem here. I feel that customers are more likely to try to do electrical or plumbing jobs that are best left to the professionals. Home Depot and Lowe’s used to be places to go and get good service and good advice from experienced tradesmen. Not any more.
P.S. To show you the lack of concern for customer service, the last 6 8 months I worked for For Depot they warned us constantly that if we clocked more than 40 hours we would be fired. If you were in the middle of helping a customer and your shift ended you had to walk away from the customer unless you wanted to risk being fired.
By Patch on Jan 12, 2010 | Reply
Think of it this way. What if someone had no electrical experience, and needed to wire in a new light for their elderly parents home so they can see a dark hall or something, but doesn’t have the money for a licensed electrician to come in and charge them a whole lot of money for 20 minutes of work. Would you rather them attempt it by themselves with no help other than the instructions that came with the light, or go to Home Depot and take a class which might save them from burning their house down or electrocuting themselves and a little coin as well. Plus you probably have to sign something saying professional help should always be contacted or whatever.
By Hvac_engineer1 on Jan 15, 2010 | Reply
YES
This is about money and times are tight.
Household electrical is not that complicated and the homeowner should have the right to do whatever he or she wants to his own house. If they can teach it in a few hours then why did it take you years to learn?
I don’t think they are giving crash courses on things that should only be done by a certified electrician. Besides those rules are set by cities and counties not retail stores. The retailer doesn’t control who is in the class or what the rules are in the students community.
You may think that household electrical work by law should only be done by certified electricians but that’s because YOUR AN ELECTRICIAN OR YOU ARE MARRIED TO ONE. That’s not the law everywhere and running lights, ceiling fans, and receptacles is not that complicated in most homes. Taking the course certainly doesn’t qualify people to get paid as an electrician to work on others homes but people are trying to learn a bit about their own homes and SAVE money.
If electricians were reasonable with their prices then maybe we would call them. I mean come on the sound of calling an electricain is almost like the sound of having to call a lawyer these days. You guys charge the $100 just for showing up at the house. Then an extra $100 to change a light switch. Then $30 truck charge and $20 dollars for a switch that you marked up 1000%. Let’s not forget the hourly minumum which means I pay for an hour labor even if you are only there for 15 minutes. After taxes and misc. fees we are looking at $300.
Let’s be real sister. Most homeowners are just wanting simple repairs or installations. It’s nothing that complicated, but electrical contractors charge 10 times the amount that poor kid gets for cutting my 1 acre lawn with a push mower. And it takes him the entire 3 hours of hard sweating work.
Like it or not people are going to do it whether Home Depot teaches them or some “brother in law” teaches.
I can work on my own car and that could be dangerous to me and society. I can cook my own food and trust me you don’t want to eat it. I can install my own ceiling fan at my own risk. If your job as a certified and highly qualified electrician is threatened by homeowners running a new light for a pool table in the basement then you might want to reassess your skill level in the trade.
I bet as an electrician (or wife) you think that qualifies you (or your husband) to tackle just about any project in your own home. I bet you or he would go out and try to troubleshoot your own air conditioner before calling a professional. I bet you might even try to run a new water line to a washtub if you had decided to put one in your laundy room. Even thugh you might risk having a leak and cause damage I bet you don’t call a professional for things like that do ya? I am talking about calling a real licensed plumber who is insured and bonded and on the clock making full scale pay. Just like you expect to get paid when you install a new 3 way switch for an old lady.
Simple electrical projects are not reserved for electricians. I would rather see people get a little knowledge from a store than none at all.
Besides if it’s so complicated all of the homeowners should be screwing up everything so bad that your phone must be ringing off the hook.
By TheElectrician on Jan 16, 2010 | Reply
The whole premise on which Home Depot operates is that the owner buys the materials and then does the work.
If they were to preach about contractors doing the work, they would go out of business real quick!