S H Lowerys Electric Co

In preparation of doing a kitchen rennovation on our home in Crestwood we got competitive quotes from three vendors. Subject was not the lowest but they had the advantage that they had done reasonably good work for me in the past on a large commercial project. The work on the house was to be a four part, two-phased job. The first phase included three parts: Replacing service entrance, upgrading the circuit panel, and bringing the kitchen up to code along with a few minor repairs and upgrades. The second phase was to include re-wiring the rest of the house. We scheduled phase one nearly two months in advance. We did not hear a word from them after confirming the date and time but they'd been reliable in the past so we didn't worry. Today, 28 Mar at 3:45 on the Friday before the work was scheduled to commence on Monday 31 Mar at 8 AM, Mr. Lowery called to confirm that we were still on for Monday. In the course of the conversation he indicated that it was my responsibility to call the power company to have the line dropped. He also said something about not having a permit so part of the job could not be done as scheduled. I found this odd because the quote the estimator provided clearly included a permit fee. Mr. Lowery then referred me to the estimator. The estimator said that they couldn't do the job without a permit. I indicated that, based on the quote and based on our conversations, that would be their responsibility though I expected to pay for it. He indicated that they would do a substantially reduced phase without the permit but I had to order the power drop and reconnect. I got on the phone with the power company. The lady asked me if I was going to do the work myself. When I indicated that I had contracted with an electrician she asked me, "So, why are you calling to schedule the drop? That's usually the electrician's job along with coordinating the city inspection and the reconnection." Nonetheless, she was able to get the drop on the schedule for the next Thursday, 3 Apr. This presented a huge problem because my better half and I took a week of leave and drove in from out of town to spend the week in Birmingham while the work was being performed on our retirement home. According to the scheduler at the time the work was contracted, the entire project was supposed to be FINISHED on Thursday with one day leeway for the power company and city inspection. I have this in writing. Anyway, I called the the electrician back and told him that I had scheduled the power drop and I made it quite clear that they had no business calling me 15 minutes before closing time on a Friday afternoon when work was supposed to commence on Monday and expecting me to do something that they should have taken care of two months earlier. They gave me some nonsense about the property owner being the only party who could schedule a power drop. Not only was that clearly inaccurate but it still didn't explain why they waited until the very last nanosecond to discover and disclose that they had not done any preparation or due diligence or anything in anticipation of this job. It seems that if they're so experienced working with the City of Birmingham and Alabama Power, they would have known that neither the power company nor the city can schedule their people on just a few hour's notice. The electrician was never able to explain why they waited until fewer than two business hours before the project was due to start to tell me that I had to do the scheduling. They had the temerity to imply that I had not done what I was supposed to do -- what exactly that was supposed to be was never clearly articulated because the quote was VERY clear that I was paying them to do the scheduling, permitting, and inspecting. All they asked us to do was show up, open up, get out of the way, and then write a check when it was done -- all of which were were perfectly prepared to do. I'm not entirely sure what happened here but I suspect the following: 1. They forgot about the job completely because it was scheduled so far in advance. 2. They probably got an offer to do a bigger, more profitable job and the only way to dump me was to fake it. 3. I don't think they had underbid because their bid was not the lowest. If they had misquoted, other folks had misquoted even worse. And, frankly, $13,000 for the entire job on a one level, 1,500 square foot ranch (with full unfinished basement and easy access to all of the wiring both underneath and overhead) is not exactly peanuts. I think they just screwed up and expected me to take the blame and in doing so, give them enough leeway to make it right. Regrettably I did not have the leeway to give and it is not my nature to accept blame for or to fix a mess that I had absolutely no hand in generating. When there was no apology, no acknowledgment that they had screwed up, no acknowledgement that they had put us in a HUGE logistical bind, no offer to make it right, and they continued to try to deflect the blame, I told them to forget it and that I had no intention of doing any more business with them. So there went their five-figure job and another five-figure job that I had planned for them to do on one of my commercial buildings. Before hanging up on me Mr. Lowery said, "And I don't care who you tell." Well folks, that's my side of the story and I have the documentation to prove it. If you can get them to do the work, they'll probably do a reasonably good job -- especially if you keep control of your expectations. But I just don't think you can trust them to do what they say -- or even what they put into writing. They're better electricians than they are business people though that is faint praise. If your standards are not real high and if you don't mind getting yanked around, you'll probably be reasonably happy doing business with them. If you have high standards and expect straight dealings, you better keep looking.

By prior arrangement with the power company, my service had been cut the morning of 4/28/09. I expected the work to be completed and power restored by the time I got home from work. However, when I arrived home around 5:00 p.m., power had not been restored. I immediately called the electrician and got no answer but left a message. Power was not restored until 4/29/09 around 3:00 p.m. I don't know who was at fault, but I think it was the contractor's responsibility to ensure I was not left without power.