Been seeing crews run coax too close to power lines in new builds

Was doing a walkthrough on a site in Phoenix last Tuesday and counted 3 different houses where the cable was stapled within a foot of the main electrical feed. That's just asking for interference or worse if that insulation ever wears down. How do you guys handle telling the GC their guys are cutting corners without making enemies on site? Any tricks to get them to fix it without it turning into a fight?

2 comments

2 Comments

caseyfox16d agoMost Upvoted

Stubbed my toe on a junction box last week and almost cursed loud enough for the whole development to hear, so I feel your pain. I usually just walk up to the GC with a tape measure and a dumb smile and say "hey man, help me settle a bet with myself - is this 12 inches or more from the power line?" Makes me look like an idiot but they usually laugh and fix it without me having to play bad cop. Plus if they give me pushback I just pull the "look, my homeowners insurance already hates me enough" card. Works about 7 out of 10 times, the other 3 I just document everything and let my boss fight with their boss.

dakota_king8016d ago

That little trick with the tape measure and playing dumb is a good one, I'll have to remember it. Down in Tucson I had a foreman tell me to my face that 10 inches was "close enough" for their sparky. I just pulled out my phone, snapped a photo with the tape measure in the frame, and emailed it to his boss with a simple "can you clarify the spacing requirement for me?" Never had to say another word about it, they fixed it before lunch.