Can you help me decide if this was unforseen and I should pay the difference, or if it is his mistake and he is responsible? The overall job is a garage and 2 bedroom addition to an existing house, and it is being done through a GC who got the original bid and is paying the electrician.

History/existing wiring:Last year we had to add a subpanel for an electric gate and the planned garage. The wiring for 3 circuits for the garage was run in conduit over a flat roof to where the garage was to be added. The garage was delayed a year, and we added 2 bedrooms to the plans. So the current electrician knew the garage should only need to be wired in the new construction then hooked up to these wires, but the bedrooms would likely need to be completely done from the panel.

The first day I met the electrician after the slab was poured we made some minor changes to the drawn plans, based on his excellent suggestions, in exterior and interior light and outlet placement, added garage ceiling fans, and cable and phone to the garage, and cable and phone to an adjacent existing bedroom that had none, and repair of 3 exterior outlets that have old leaky covers(I am ok with his stated charge of about 600$ for these discussed changes, a lot of which is the wires themselves. I am just making a point these are the only "changes" we disscussed).

That first day he said that the conduit on the roof was smaller than he expected, which was his fault since he bid from the plans without coming to see it. So he would "eat the cost himself" of running the new extra lines in a trenched conduit that was a shorter distance, and he would dig by hand (30-40 ft), and he would add our existing cable lines into the conduit so they don't go all the way over the roof. Another day he was there I asked about the trench (since patio work was to be done) and he said he had figured out it would be better to just add a new conduit along the over the roof path of the other one. (We would have preferred the out of site and cooler for the wires trench, but he had already pulled wire for this path.....) At some point he wanted to see the existing panel/subpanel in the house, he opened them up and told me there should be room to add in the new circuits without a new subpanel.

Then the electrical inspection happens, and she(the inspector he has known since they did training together 20 years ago) passes with the condition of needing "voltage drop calculations" but ok to do insulation and drywall. A week or so later a bill shows up, handed to my husband by the electrician, listing itemized charges necessary to "bring it up to code" for 2900$ (The original total electric bill was 4400$, plus the 600$ for the add ons I mentioned above). It turns out the length/size of wire he used causes a voltage drop that requires a subpanel. And the electrician pulled all of the wire into the garage and bedrooms through a new bedroom wall so the panel will be in a bedroom(which is for a 6 year old boy) (for 2400$) or he can put it in the garage (for 2900$)

When I saw this bill, I called the GC and told him how I did not understand how this could be since the distance and condition had not changed from the original plan, and shouldn't the electrician have done the calculation before running the wires/choosing where to run the wires/allowing the drywall to be done. And why did he originally tell us he would have to use a shorter conduit underground then he said he had realized he did not need to do that, but now it seems his original perception was correct after all and he is trying to make us pay for the wiring to "fix" what should have been done a different way to begin with. His original bid said all work would be done up to code with appropriate materials.

I gave this bill to the GC, who I think should have been the one to get it in the first place since he is the one who hired the electrician and agreed on a price with, and the change in cost was not because of my changes. I have not heard the whole explanation from the electrician, I wanted some thinking time and for the contractor to try to handle it before I talk to the electrician myself. The contractor mentioned that the electrician said he bid off the plans and so the conduit was longer than he expected which is why it costs more......but he was here and saw the job before he lay the conduit and had several options as to how/where to lay it. And did not do the voltage calculation til after it was all in and the inspector forced him to do it.

I did not even mention yet that he(electrician) had promised to get the wiring finished and electrical inspection done before his vacation, and didn't. So that delayed any work for over a week since insulation and drywall had to wait for the electrical inspection. Then after he left the bill for me at the house, I immediately called the GC when I got home, who reassured me it was unlikely truly a new bill for more than 50% of the original estimate so not to get stressed til we got the explanation. The GC started calling the electrician and couldn't get a return phone call for over a week in spite of about 10 calls to home and cell, til he finally got him today. Meanwhile work proceeded with tape and texture of the walls and tongue and groove on the ceiling.

So I guess my bottom line question is, is it standard of practice to do a voltage calculation before laying out wire, and choosing where to run the wire, and if a sub panel is needed and where? Or is the wire done then voltage calcs done then subpanels added? No one has even mentioned the cost of drywall repair yet........ The plans show the existing house, but do not show the location of the panel or how the wiring ties into the existing wiring/panel. Just what the new wiring is supposed to be.

I know I am biased to agree with myself :) But to me it seems like he made a mistake by not doing the voltage calc first and is trying to charge me to rewire and add the panel, which is much more costly than just doing it with the subpanel in the initial wiring job. He is a licensed electrician, I checked. And he seems to do all of the work himself. My GC has worked with him on other jobs and says he "does good work and is an up and up guy" but agreed his disappearing acts have been out of character, and a surprise/frustration. And he doesn't understand the increase in bid yet. I usually have a lot of questions so the GC wanted the electrician to try to explain the charges directly to me. But my husband wanted me to have the GC talk to him first since the contract and existing relationship is between them.

I do like the GC, he is very calm and patient, almost always answers his phone immediately, fixes things that go wrong, cares about quality and final product and reminds me I should not worry since that is his job.

Who should pay for the extra electrical charges? Me/GC/electrician? Do the charges seem "reasonable" and/or "standard of practice"? Was a mistake made? What was the main mistake?

Thank you for any feed back, and your patience to read this far. One of the biggest stresses of this whole process is being completely unfamiliar and not knowing what to expect or look out for.

Sincerely,

lafdr