IDK Why this video was recommended to me by youtube, but, that was incredibly generous of you to teach those men how to properly do the job, incredibly respectable.

Minecraft Video -> Computerfile -> AntsCanada -> This video Weird youtube recommendations, but this video is cool.

I am a retired electrician with over 50 years in the trade, and I have never seen so much NEC violation in one home as you've shown! And that general needs to have his license revoked or at the least suspended. His job is to check and make sure all subs are licensed. When it comes to electricity, you don't take dangerous short cuts, use untrained help without having a journey man to check the work. That is a scary house to live in. And the local code enforcement needs to be reprimanded for their passing of such dangerous work! Appreciate you uploading and sharing this with the general public to see.

My brother died in a house fire because of this very same thing. Exposed wire junction in the attic that passed city inspection.

I have no idea why this is in my recommendations.

The "buddy system" was in effect in this picture. The general contractor and inspector were buddies... The inspector asked the general if an electrician had done the work, and the general said "sure" so, without looking at anything, the inspector signed off. It is obvious from these pictures that no licensed electrician did the work, and no actual inspection ever took place.

You have way more patience than I do. And shame on that GC for putting unskilled people in that awkward position. Great video.

this video should go viral just to show people they need to be careful with who they hire.

I have no electrical background, but I do know that this is beyond insane. I hope you continue to have good work on your horizon. I watch alot of random videos on youtube and this has perhaps been the most informative video without directly meaning too. You seem very educated, skilled, and serious about your work/passion.

I am no electrician, but just looking at those pictures made me think that this shouldn't be done like that.

Absolutely disgusting that people would pay for this, they basiclly pay for making their home a fire hazard.

Absolutely unbelievable! I’m a retired electrician after 40 years and I have seen some real nightmares, but never have I seen anything like this. This is downright criminal in my opinion.

Teaching the men instead of blaming them is a very good ending to this story on you part. Well done!

I was an Electrical Inspector in Oregon after working many years as a General Journeyman, and have been retired since 2004. Generally, in Oregon we tried to feed the power to a lighting circuit in at the switch and run the legs up to the various fixtures. We tried to start outlet circuits near the panel and run through the wall, around the house. I avoided putting hot wires in the attic if I could, knowing that if anything went wrong, I might have to get up there to fix it. Generally speaking, lots of California trained Electricians fed the power to the fixture and the switch leg went down to the box containing the switch. I didn't last long as an Inspector because of what I saw going on.

I wouldn't even pass my first year at college with these kind of shoddy installations holy shit

As a 16 year old going for a career in the medical field with no interest in any of the work this video involves, nor knowledge of said work, this video makes me cringe. I don't know how you could possibly go through with such a job like this and not see your own errors! The guys doing this MUST have known what they are doing! I really hope that these people that did the electrical never go near so much as a wire again.

I have been an electrical contractor for over 40 years and I have seen some bad work(usually DIYers) but never anything this widespread. That was an accident waiting to happen.

Teaching them how to do it: million and one points for you, that was awesome way to handle that problem. Many would've just mocked them when it is the employer who needs to make sure their workers know their stuff.

This video is further proof that I'll literally watch anything on KZfaq

You can't ground from wood? Don't be ridiculous. Almost all wood comes from trees and trees mostly grow out of the ground. It's only common sense that you can use wood as a ground. Though I will admit there are better alternatives. Like a small pile of dirt packed into the junction boxes then just make sure your ground wire is in contact with the dirt. Also a tip for better grounding mix some water in to make it mud. It packs better and as long as you water your receptacles every now and then your good to go.

WTF this is insane. How can someone seriously cut a rafter like that and not think twice.

I would sue the gentleman who did that horrific job for endangering people.

This was horrifying to watch... that "contractor" needs to not only have his license permanently revoked but forced to refund and pay for all corrected work.

Sir I really like the fact the you helped the guys showing them the correct way, as a former inspector I would find many unsafe projects and would do the same as you did. They won't ever forget that.....

Sometimes it really is worth it to click those recommended videos on topics you've never looked into before. Get hidden gems like this!

wow. in a 1.9 million dollar home? that kinda hurts

Your surprised it passed? Not me. I recently did a flood damage remodel in San Pedro, Ca. I added new lights, and outlets. When the city inspector came, he was more interested in my dog i had with me rather than inspecting anything. He was in and out in less than 10 minutes. I was actually shocked, he didnt look closely at one outlet and they were all exposed (no drywall) for the inspection. Luckily for the homeowner i take pride in doing my job ... correctly!

Seen a lot of work like this done by people who "install electrical work everyday" many times, and the cringe factor is off the scale. As a former inspector who worked in the field for 25 yrs. after going through a apprenticeship that was known to be the toughest in the area (had to pass even 2nd and 3rd stages by a min. of 3 master electricians) none of that would even be allowed by a first yr. apprentice! We had a saying for those homeowners who lived in those homes wired anything like that "oil the hinges" meaning for the doors so they could escape fast when it started on fire. The other day a neighbor asked me if I would look at their outside light, which stopped working on their older home with metal siding, pulled open the fixture, and found the hot wired in, and the neutral smashed into a crease on the siding! They just cut off the ground so they weren't bothered with it, and the box wasn't attacked to a nearby stud, and this was done by a guy "who wires houses" just 3 yrs. earlier! Wish this kind of stuff was the exception, but you eventually realize it's more common than you think. And people wonder why there is so many fires!

I'm confused by this video. I live in FL and our laws do not allow unlicensed electricians to work on new construction. It's supposed to be done correctly the first time. I'd be suing the GC and the county. The county is responsible for their inspection. Period. If they pass work like this, they should be held accountable. This GC should not be allowed to build a bird house until he has had every single job reinspected and brought back up to current code with zero safety violations present. ZERO!!! In Alachua county, this GC would be in Jail. This is criminal negligence.

Why is this in my recommended section? It's a good video, but I don't know why it's in my recommended.

everything in this video reminds me of my house when i bought it. except my house was built in 1880 and the wires were all paper back with cracking rubber. after a few months and 750ft of new wire i finally got it modernized

This makes me glad we have 3 1/2 years apprenticeship with schooling in germany before you're allowed to do electrical work alone. Hoping the Home Owner stays safe

Short story told to me by an electrician while he was checking the new wiring I did to my house: He installed all the wiring in a new house. Everything. By the book. The only thing he did not do was to put the lids on the junction boxes in the walls. (here there is usually a small junction box in every room). This was because he was going to do a final checkup after the walls(brick) were plastered with a cement/lime/sand mix. After a while the owner calls him to complain that the house is "energised". Touching the walls would give you a small electric shock and the power meter was spinning wildly. When he went to check the wiring he found NO junction boxes. The idiots had filled them with plaster. Man, the plaster guys almost got their asses kicked. The whole cost of plastering was refunded and they also had to pay for drilling out the junction boxes.

This is a very scary situation. The home owner should be taking the contractor to court!

I am surprised you could narrate this video with such a calm voice. I would have screamed all the way.

Not sure if the inspectors are overworked, under educated, lazy, or paid off, but lots of things get overlooked these days (hopefully not to this extent). My house had issues that had to be fixed like 2x4 studs further than 30" apart for load bearing walls (in the unfinished basement so it was right out in the open, kinda hard to miss stuff), etc. The house was only 4 years old when I bought it and we had GFCI outlets that the test and reset buttons ejected out of the outlet when tested. The attached deck had to be replaced, and when we disassembled it the number of code violations we found was scary. I'm only glad the home inspector I hired to evaluate the house was really good and pointed out the things that needed to be fixed before we moved in. Given what happened (lawsuits and such) after Hurricane Andrew tore through Florida, you'd have thought that building inspectors and contractors would have been a little more attentive...

It's a wonder the place hasn't burnt down yet...

Where I live, you are not allowed to install electrical wires as is in walls. You are required to use either a flexible (or rigid) plastic tube, or a steel tube, and then pull the wires through.

Thank you for taking time to teach how it's done right! TRUE journeyman!

Holy shit, if I had done work like this and had it inspected I would have gotten fired so fast my head would spin.

Let me get this straight. You expect a city inspector (who is a government employee) to actually do their job fully and responsibly?

SWEET MOTHER OF MERCY, i have no idea why this appeared in my recommendations but sweet FUCK. On a more serious not can't they take them to court or something?, i'm all about second chances, but this... i mean it's one thing to fuck up and put lives at risk, it's an other thing be ignorant/careless and put lives at risk , but all this is just gross negligence on an unfathomable degree, and not only that despite been given several chances to correct mistakes the contracted party has not only failed but also showed clear disregard of their failures.

I never thought, that I am going to watch such video, but it was quite interesting, thought I am very bad in a electrics. Your voice is perfect for such videos, great job.

Hey, man! full credit for doing a good job on documenting the issues. just to "criticize" without the photos could be hard to substantiate. Also, your willingness (heck, eagerness) to teach the GC's guys is a credit to you...as is your assessment of the guys (hardworking, respectful, etc). Please visit the nearest cloning station...we need a lot more people like you.... Cheers!

dont know why this was in my recommended but it was interesting and i liked it.

I love the calm tone you used to narrate this! You've earned a new sub!

Great job. You're saving lives. What a shame that the city is so corrupt that they would sacrifice lives for money. Someone needs to go to prison for this.

I recently did some remodeling in our kitchen and found an outlet mounted directly to knotty pine paneling that was cut out to fit the outlet with no junction box. Even as an electrical novice I was in shock to say the least. After living in the house 15 years it makes me wonder what else is hiding that we never saw.

City inspectors aren't electricians...I would had insisted that a licensed journeyman or master electrician had looked over everything before the city even came in. I would be surprised if they even bothered to look up into the ceiling.

why was this in my recommended and why am i watching it

This is absolutely terrifying. I would be scared to death to sleep in that house. You could easily wake up with a random electrical fire coming from any room!

it was nice that he showed them how to do it properly

Close to ten years on. Has there been a fire yet?

KZfaq's algorithms are fun, bringing such an old (but really interesting!) video to the surface...I kind of like it.

Reminds me of when I opened up my house like a tin of beans when I first moved in. True story: The electrical socket that powered the cooker hood fan was actually inside the cooker hood, where the steam from the stove runs right in front of it before going back out of the air holes. It was covered in fat from cooking. I still have some issues yet to be resolved, such as when I have my electric blanket on, I feel a tingle when I touch the wall as if I'm making an earth.

This is the exact reason I don’t have electricians do work in my house, Louisiana has a problem with get-er-dun quote skilled workers. I had the meter relocated from the back to the side of my home where the generac auto transfer switch was also installed and that’s where the electricians work STOPPED!!! Everything else is being done by myself using the NEC 2020 code book as reference a has thus far been inspected by both city & parish “county” as well as 2 master electricians that I know and have seen their spectacular work methods. As far as I can research, Louisiana is still using the 2014 NEC Code. YES, I’m installing new ground bonded junction boxes in my attic above each room due to my home being built in 1946 “76yrs old”! All the old BX 2-wire armored cable is being removed, all the 2-wire non-ground old school Romex cables are being removed and all light fixtures, and/or old insufficient junction boxes are being replaced. Dedicated circuits are being run as per 2020 NEC code, GFCI circuits are being run and each room has its own home run. Although, unnecessary or redundant it’s safer and easier to troubleshoot a problem that may happen over the years . The extra wire is costing me but each receptacle unless access is achievable without damaging the walls are being run individually up into the attic to a junction box(s). If more wires are needed and that junction box has come to its box fill limit another junction box will be installed, however I’m attempting to only have one junction box above each room. All junction boxes are bonded using pre-made green 12 awg pigtails with green ground screws, this is also how all fixtures are being grounded and metal light switch/receptacle boxes as well. I’m trying not to use plastic boxes or plastic fixture boxes so a box/fixture grounding method can be achieved. Plastic is the way much is done nowadays and I hate that fact metal boxes are better but, I do have 3 plastic junction boxes used simply for joining my security lights so one switch can be used. Metal boxes cost more and can save your life if a ground is installed & bonded which is how each junction box is being done above each room. That way if a short happens by mistake or future failure it will cause the breaker for that circuit to trip and save the people in that room, loved ones, the home and property from harm or worse. Using one home run per room and a junction box per room may be excessive but, it in fact will make troubleshooting a failure or mistake later easier if they should happen! More people should get educated and do their own work and of course do their due diligence when finding a pro or inspector to check their work!!!

This is outrageous. I dare say in all probability since it has happened this once, it has probably happened other times. They should find out who inspected and approved this work then audit their history of approvals.

this is why i have trust issues

I especially loved the conductors passing through the screwdriver slots in the knockouts for the box. Good stuff!

Thanks for taking the time to teach the two workers how to do the job properly. You likely saved homes and lives.

Damn 1.9 million is a lot of money for bonfire.

jaw dropped -just stunned at the shoddy work

This video keeps showing up in my recommendations for whatever reason, and every time I remember your plight. Keep doing the good work you do by not taking the cheep and/or easy way out.

you can find the city inspector at the neighborhood coffee shop counting the money

Fun story from when my dad had some electrical problems... He noticed that the main fuses in his house started blowing out one after anther. So he starts disconnecting different parts of the house only to find that if he disconnected the electricity to his barn, the main fuses would hold. He then starts going over the electrical systems in the barn and couldn't find anything wrong with them, so he concludes that the problem has to be in the line between the house and the barn. He hires a digger to come and dig the cable outta the ground, and lo and behold! The asshat that owned the property before him had run short on cable when he first put the line down, so he spliced it together with another cable midway through, only he "insulated" it by wrapping the wires in fist-sized balls of electrical tape instead of using proper insulation. He then buried the cable straight down in the dirt, no protective tubing or anything. Fucking genius. It kinda makes me surprised that not more houses burn down due to electrical fires with all these clowns running around doing electrical work.

Dude, it is your DUTY to notify the local department of building safety. This is a life safety issue, and this home MUST be condemned until brought up to code. Remember your liability. And let the homeowner settle this with the general contractor in court. They've got themselves a major lawsuit. Kinda makes me wonder what the plumbing looks like.

I've always done my own electrical work but I also respect electricity. When I bought my first home I bought a book and read it. Every improvement I made was checked and double-checked against that book. The work in this video is unbelievable.

I was shocked by this utter mess, until I realised this was probably not their first job. Now I'm finding it difficult to sleep, as I can only imagine what horrors these contractors have concocted prior to the incarnation of this abomination.

education is often the best medicine-thanks for shining a light on this

When you said you thought it couldn't get worse, I was thinking the house burnt down...

Oh my god. On a 1.9 million dollar home, this is criminal.

I've been an AV installation contractor and data cabler for 10+ years, done a lot of residential work so I've been in a lot of roof spaces, and a fair bit on the commercial side too. Seen my fair share of dodgy work (and come close to accidents due to it, more than once) but I've never seen any electrical job done as poorly as this. I feel sorry (and a fair bit worried) for the homeowners. Great video, keep up the good work upholding codes/standards and pro installation practices.

I'm actually glad I have 2 uncles who are qualified at most things. Roofing, Plumping, Electricity, and even Gas. One is a maintenance foreman, while the other does air conditioning for major corporate and industrial facilities, ie the big stuff, one of which is now retired. I've helped them a lot over the years with their instruction of course. Even when I was a teenager I could do better wiring than what I saw on this video. They're both home improvement do it your self gurus, and actually get angry when they notice stuff like this. I remember when we help redo my brother's home, roofing, wiring, plumping, even did the gas piping, the roof work. It was pretty bad, but the house was pretty old. One of my uncles was quite mad though that the roof used very thin plywood you couldn't even walk on it, we literally had to replace it all. I can do plumping and wiring, and confidently to boot, but you will not get me to touch gas, nope.... scares me to death. Too many bad Hollywood movies. What really bugs me about this video is, why the general contractor didn't at least provide proper educational materials for his new employees see one of them looked almost right out of school. They sell books on how to do proper wiring, it isn't rocket science.

I started my apprenticeship as an electrician about 4 months ago, and i've never seen something resembling this. That's fucking disgusting. My supervisors would probably kill me if i did anything like that.

That is totally amazing... I have never seen anything close to that bad, ever... Routing the wires through the slots, that was over the top for me. And, grounded to the wood??? OMG.

I find it incredible that a building inspector in California of all places would have let this go unchecked. The inspector and the general contractor should both be in jail.

Why is this "contractor" still in business ? Someone at the city inspector's office must have been bribed.

This work is horrifying. It's not just "cutting a few corners" or doing ugly/sloppy but functional work. These issues are legitimately dangerous. And we're not even seeing all the work that was done. I wouldn't feel safe living in this house without getting the electrical completely redone. I don't understand how anyone could think this is acceptable

Inside wireman apprentice here, sent this to my instructor at my JATC, expecting to elicit a good chuckle... but he wept. Thanks for posting this though, I'd call it job security for myself if it wasn't somebody's home that could unexpectedly burn down.

WOW!!!!! I have never.... As a 15 year IBEW journeyman electrician this gives me the shivers. I have seen a lot of bad work, I have even seen someone wire a bathroom fan/light like the can light except even worse because the sheath was stripped back about a foot, but I have never seen that many insane violation and absolutely straight up fire hazards. I guess I'm glad I've been so sheltered.

No idea why youtube recommended this video to me, but it was interesting. Sadly this happens a lot in southamerican countries, not as awful, but it's almost there. I've been saying to my family to call specialized people to renew all that awful electric connection on the house, but they refuse, saying it's "expensive" and how some members of the family can do the job.

To be fair, electricity "could" be grounded to wood. You'd just have to keep that wood fully saturated with water and somewhere have a connection to earth ground. Easy-peasy, house on fire-y!

I'm only two years into my electrical engineering degree, but all these wiring jobs made my eyes roll back into my head.

The fact that they didn't knock out the slugs on the junction boxes is hilarious. 🤣😂 I mean scary. 🙄

Well it's as they say. You pay for an inspection whether you get one or not.

Not sure why this was recommended but I am planning on being an electrician...

Oh brother this brings back memories. in the 80's the city in which I lived had a Mayor and city council which were heavily in favor of development. Developers started building at a higher rate then had ever been seen previously. In this city were many older homes that had been built on spacious lots. Soon multi unit condos projects with 80-120 units stood where previously 1 or 2 single family homes ad been. The building inspectors, as was discovered after the fact, were doing "drive by inspections". Hundreds of these buildings were constructed with a dangerously few good inspections. I came into this after the court settlement was reached. The list of serious decencies was staggering. Shear walls nailing not to code, hold downs, weak concrete footings, insufficient rebar in the rook of underground parking lots the lists went on and on. Total disaster.

addressed properly and professionally, much respect for you sir.

I am a computer scientist. My electrical skills are only really applicable to low voltage and current DC. Even with my limited knowledge I was cringing at the lack of common sense. Like what the hell were these people thinking. Why would you ground a fixture to wood!

Why am I watching this, I don't even know what this guy is talking about and this was in my reccomended...

He saves the best for the last sentence of the video.

I can't watch this video anymore. It's like a horror movie and I'm not even an electrician.

I'm not a qualified electrician, and I can tell there are problems with that installation

I'm a Belgian and am a elektrotechnical engineer and if I'd come across this kind of shoddy work all of it will be removed for it is just too dangerous to leave as is.

Subscribed. You seem like a gentleman who loves and values his work. You should do a full-on show like this. Kitchen Nightmares with electricians.

Thank you algorithm for sending this my way 9 years later

I've done electrical design work for a company out in California before, they wanted us to violate NFPA 30A, 52, and 70E (designs were for fuel dispensing locations) all over to save costs. Also, if I saw this in my house I would be calling a lawyer before calling the third party electrician because that wiring screams future lawsuit. The only way I would feel comfortable with any correction is if it involved tear down the walls and allowing a third party to inspect the work. I don't know a lot about NEC, most of my work is exempt from NEC, but I've read enough to be horrified by that install.

If you are not already familiar I suggest you look up the Badger house fire in Stamford Connecticut that occurred on Christmas morning 2012 where three young daughters and the two elderly Grandparents were consumed in a house fire while the mother and the contractor boyfriend were sleeping downstairs A 1920 two-and-a-half story frame house at the end of a cul-de-sac was undergoing complete renovation for quite some time and and with the construction being incomplete they were granted a a temporary Certificate of Occupancy when in the aftermath it was clear to the most untrained eye the house was not in any condition to be occupied with scaffolding still surrounding the house siding unfinished and who knows what else to say the very least Firefighters on the scene battling the flames attested that the fire was out of control as the balloon frame structure with the wall framing extending from the foundation to the roof line contained no fire stops and none were installed during the recent improvements before the framing were covered that they could see as they open the walls to fight the fire I only bring this up because the next morning news reporters from local papers were on the scene taking pictures and one happened to catch a photograph of the back of the rear entryway vestibule, which they later call the mud room and clearly it was a photograph of a sub panel which appeared to have arcing burn marks emanating from it onto the wood siding. The mother and the contractor told the authorities they had enjoyed a Christmas Eve in front of the fireplace and when the fire was out the contractor boyfriend had swept up the ashes so Santa wouldn't get burned, they told the young girls and putting them in a paper bag he placed them them in a covered metal receptacle in the mudroom claiming that this is where the fire must have started. Though in later depositions the contractor claimed the mother had put the ashes in the mudroom and he had taken the blame originally to protect her The contractor disappeared himself for a while, then resurfaced though his records were difficult to attain, The mother, Madonna Badger was found to have deleted all records and photographs of the construction project from her ex husband's computer, though he attested she had permission to access his apartment and his computer The contractor's insurers agreed to settle the lawsuit by paying seven million dollars to the estate of the three little girls. The father of the three girls who lived in Manhattan said publicly to Katie Couric he could not go on living without his three daughters and was determined to bring Justice to those who caused their death and filed suit against the City of Stamford claiming they were responsible [ From The Hartford Courant - Matthew Badger (the father) argued that the city was reckless by giving (the contractor) Borcina , who had no contractor's license, a building permit. He also argued that the city approved plans that didn't include smoke detectors in the girls' third-floor bedrooms, which he said was a statutory requirement. A key issue was the city's decision to demolish the house two days after the fire without telling Madonna Badger. The lawsuit named the city Director of Operations Ernie Orgera and Chief Building Official Robert DeMarco as defendants and alleged that they conspired to illegally demolish the house to spare the city from legal liability. Within a few days the entire house was carted away and destroyed, prohibiting any private investigators or insurance investigators from looking into the cause of the fire. In depositions, the city's two fire marshals acknowledged that the swift demolition of the house and destruction of debris made further investigation impossible ] City officials testified however they all circled the wagons, even one refusing to testify. With neither physical evidence nor testimony to prove liability the court had no choice but to find for the motion to dismiss the case though in it's finding it admonish the city and its employees for its actions. The city did agree to settle the lawsuit for undisclosed amounts to the Estates of the children and the grandparents though public records show that six million dollars was paid to the children's estate with the grandparents estate settlement unknown And sadly true to his word Mr Badger one month after his case was disposed passed away from an unknown cause except stated as natural causes. Heartbreaking. And this past October Michael Borcina, passed away from cancer, his years after the fire were spent working for Habitat for Humanity. I'll leave it up to you as to what the total number of victims were as result of this circumstance. As a footnote then-mayor Dannel Malloy is now the governor of the state of Connecticut So five lives perished in the fire, two more in the years shortly thereafter when malfeasance, negligence and conspiracy surely seem to be at the root of it all and nobody personally went to jail or lost their job or had to pay out of pocket or had wages garnished. They get to continue on with their lives doing their job as city employees the same way with no accountability, to collect their paychecks and later their pensions with one making it all the way to the State House and as all governors do with hopes and aspirations one day moving to higher office. The only consequence we can hope for is that these people have some kind of conscious and for the rest of their days their sleep will be disturbed by the images of three small girls and two elderly trying to escape the flames of a burning building that they could have prevented and the heartbreak of their loved ones. If not then truly these people truly are sociopaths with no empathy and feeling for the pain of others. So sad there are re these that not only walk among us but are in positions of authority vested with Public Safety I'm sorry for blowing up your comment box, but your video was diligent thoughtful sincere accurate responsible and spot-on and it triggered this in me, something I've watched from day one and followed every development and in the end has left me disturbed and unsettled over how this could continue in our society today Seeing what you saw on your video brought back the possibility of this happening over and again to innocent people by negligent people. Thank you and keep on fighting the good fight

I think this house should have been classified as "unsuitable for occupancy" until the entire electric system was replaced by qualified electricians. This is a really scary expose.

That last ground to WOOD line made me laugh I needed that