Derby's Electric

[Gideon]

AVOID this contractor.

Derby Electric (Lexington) was the subcontractor used by my builder. Refused to correct an issue after construction was completed for an unfinished area of the house. Did not install the specified number of circuits during construction, then refused to do anything further to correct the issue when I spoke to the owner.

Also, they ran the dead wires for the future HVAC, but I have only ONE space left in the panel box when I need four. And, since they installed a rather cheap Square D Homeline panel, tandem breakers cannot even be added to the panel to free up space. It looks like I am going to have to pay a REAL electrician to come out and fix the problems created by Derby, which should not have even been there to begin with if they followed the general contractor's instructions.

[swampfox]

And the real kicker is, the law protects THEM, even in cases like this.

I had a similar experience when I bought my house. Supposed to be a new heat pump put it. The realtors acquired an alcoholic Vietnam vet contractor with two or more flashbacks per minute. He installed it with 120 wire. Damn near burned my house down. Cost me $1400 for rewiring and another few thousand for a new heat pump after three years.

Dang!

[Gideon]

Just a bit of an update. Derby (owner himself) came out today and my father let him in the house (since I was at work). My father said that Derby tried to hammer in a tandem breaker with a pair of pliers (even though it wasn't going to fit, since the breaker he was trying to install is stated as non-interchangeable with Square D Homeline panels). When my father suggested a sub panel upstairs in the unfinished area, Derby got huffy that I had done wiring upstairs. Well, no kidding. The WHOLE POINT of asking for the upstairs circuits, with a single receptacle per circuit, was so that I could wire the remainder of the unfinished areas when I completed the upstairs. At this point, he just left.

So, I stopped by Home Depot on the way home, and spent $150 on a sub panel, extra breakers, wire, etc., so that I can now correct what should have been done originally.

My contractor has been extremely helpful through all of this, and I don't blame him. He doesn't owe Derby any money at the moment, so he doesn't really have any leverage. I have no leverage at all myself since I don't really intend to ever owe him any money. I maybe could go to court, but I would probably have to sue my contractor, and my contractor doesn't deserve it one bit. However, I can tell as many people as I can to avoid Derby Electric.