Safety First Electrical Contracting, Consulting and Safety Education

3419 forty-first avenue, Colmar Manor, MD 20722

(301) 699-8833 (voice/ machine, 9am - 9pm). <electric@davidelishapiro.com> www.davidelishapiro.com/safety

Credentials, Services, and Fee Schedule

LICENSES I am a master electrician, licensed to provide any electrical service by Maryland, Virginia (Class A) and the D.C., plus seven subsidiary jurisdictions. My contracting is covered by suitable insurance and bonding.

PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION I am internationally certified as an electrical plan reviewer and as both a residential and a general electrical inspector. The Maryland State Fire Marshall has certified me similarly. My contracting and consulting have been recommended by the American Homeowners' Association, by Home Connections, by BG&E's Keeping Current and by Washingtonian Magazine. I am member of the National Fire Protection Association, publishers of the National Electrical Code. I also am a decade-plus member of the International Association of Electrical Inspectors (IAEI), and serve as Secretary-Treasurer of the metropolitan chapter and as a member of the executive board for the Eastern United States. IAEI has certified me as an instructor, and I have provided Continuing Education on electrical safety inspection to the American Society of Home Inspectors. I have served as a consultant on electrical topics to book and pamphlet publishers, the National Electrical Contracting Foundation, trial lawyers, and even the Handyman Club of America. I prepared a proposed American National Standard for NECA on how to install wiring devices, items such as switches and receptacles.

WRITINGS I have produced and validated a test, Safety Awareness for Electricity; published numerous articles for electricians in all the trade magazines; and written on electricity and home repair for periodicals ranging fromRedbook and The Washington Post to Practical Homeowner, Fine Homebuilding, and New England Builder--plus web sites. I initiated a monthly column on residential wiring in Electrical Contractor magazine, writing it from 1989 to 1992 and then resuming in 1999. My first book, Old Electric Wiring: Maintenance & Retrofit (McGraw-Hill, 1998) was the only one on its subject. My second, Your Old Wiring (McGraw-Hill, 2000), serves readers who lack the background to get full benefit from my first book -- including people with no electrical experience. I wrote an award-winning safety column for Utility Fleet Management, periodic articles for National Safety Council publications, and regular features, mostly on safety, for Public Power magazine. For many years, I have edited The Flexible Conduit, a transnational newsletter for electricians, inspectors and engineers in Mensa. My materials were distributed by New Jersey officials during 1993's National Electrical Safety Month.

SERVICES

• I consult on, install, and repair wiring in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and can arrange to serve anywhere in Maryland or Virginia.

Some people just want the job done safely. They want a top person to do their work, whether it's changing a light fixture or wiring a home. They do want to be billed fairly, to receive reliable service and clear communication -- to enjoy good value for their money. They're not interested in shopping for the cheapest bid. They don't want a false bargain -- a contractor who wins their job by guaranteeing a low price, and cuts corners to make a profit.

{I'm not necessarily cheaper than the next contractor. In fact, anyone with a screwdriver and enough guts will do for a customer who equates wiring that works with wiring that's safe.}

• When others, amateur or pro, hash wiring, I can either tear it out and rewire, or, if you prefer, apply a higher level of judgement and skill, rescuing what I can for a safer, more legal system than you had.

• As an expert on old wiring, I can address what the decades have left you, both good and bad.

• I will evaluate electrical systems for people buying property, or simply concerned about their wiring

How old is it? What's safe or unsafe? Can it support delicate electronic loads? Heavy machine or heating loads? What are the cheapest options? The safest and most reliable? The most flexible?

{I am no consulting engineer or architect; I am knowledgeable -- and a good communicator.}

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says, "Check even problem-free wiring at least every 40 years."

• I supervise and teach.

I can use your efforts to save you money, safely expanding your knowledge. Supervision is limited to tasks which I can oversee adequately; I do not take responsibility for others' wiring.

I have taught owners to wire new homes, advised people rehabilitating old buildings, and more.

Standard Billing Form

Safety First Electrical Contracting, Consulting and Safety Education
3419 41st Avenue

Colmar Manor, MD 20722

(301) 699-8833 (voice/ machine) 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., outside of emergencies

FAX (301) 699-8830 (Checked rather irregularly)

<safety@davidelishapiro.com>

http://www.davidelishapiro.com/safety.htm

BILL

NAME (s)

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ADDRESS

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SCOPE

OF

WORK

___________________________________________________________________________

Materials $________

Time: Master Electrician @ $84
NOTE: double-check for current base rate

Travel: Hours:__________ $_________

Labor: Hours:__________ $_________

+ Surcharges/ Premiums, detailed below: $_________

Other: ___________________________ $_________

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TOTAL $_________

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Received $_________ via___________________________ (signed)_______________________________ David E. Shapiro, M.S., M.Ed. +Surcharge/ premium bases : Additional charges per hour:

Rush (out of sequence or next day) ___@$14 Consulting ___@$24

<>Urgent rush (top priority or same day) ___@$24 Formal Consulting ___@$54

<>Emergency (come right away) ___@$34 Supervision, per person ___@$16

Sweat equity (some independence) ___@$24

Overtime, from 7-9 A.M. or 6-8 P.M. ___@$14 Overtime beyond 7 ½ hours a day ___@$14

<>Further outside normal hours ___@$34 Onerous conditions ___@$24

<>Holiday/Weekend scheduling ___@$44 Hazardous work ___@$34

Finish work that another began legally ___@$16 Extra-Hazardous work ___@$64

Repair non-professional/illegal installation ___@$34 Other Rate variation:______________________

Safety First Electrical Contracting, Consulting and Safety Education

3419 forty-first avenue

Colmar Manor, MD 20722

(301) 699-8833 (machine); Fax received ONLY at: 301-699-8830 (Checked rather irregularly)

TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT

GENERAL My expertise is limited to electrical work. I do not claim competence at repairing paint, wood, masonry or plaster that may need to be disturbed, sometimes extensively, in the course of installing or repairing your wiring.

I encourage you strongly to be present as I work, in order to ask and to answer questions. Any work, especially work performed after a building is completed can bring surprises. If you have me work alone, without a way to contact you, you are agreeing to accept the technical, cost-related, and aesthetic choices I make.

Appointments I take responsibility to keep my appointments, and if at all possible to call you if I am unreasonably delayed (more than 15-30 minutes). By making an appointment, you are agreeing to pay for a minimum of one hour of my time, unless you tell me a full day in advance that you want to reschedule or cancel.

STANDARD RATES My standard rates are $84.00 per hour for the normal field services of a master electrician. Normal field services have two characteristics. First, you are asking me to schedule your work during my normal hours and days, with normal priority. Second, you are asking me to install new wiring, or to repair or extend systems that in my judgment were wired and completed competently and professionally, and in accordance with applicable laws.

If you are available during my visit, I will inform you when I encounter dangerous or unprofessional installations. There are surcharges when, for example, I am potentially exposed to risk or liability by what was done before. Equally important, you need to know that equipment that was installed incompetently, or antiques that approach end-of-life, may stop working as the result of the disturbance associated with being examined; when this happens, the equipment's failure rarely is the responsibility of the person who examined it.

Business Hours and Time Calculation My normal field hours run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. I am quite willing to work outside these hours, if it is worth your while to pay extra. Please call no earlier than 9 am and no later than 9 p.m. except by prearrangement. In an emergency, of course, call any time at all.

My charges start when I leave for the job and end when I have returned. Depending on your location, and on whether I need to travel during rush hour, this could mean the "meter" starts with $60 or more on the clock in addition to my one-hour labor minimum. After the first hour, I prorate charges to the nearest quarter hour. You can call me to plan work or to guide you in tracking down problems on your own, without charge, for a total of half an hour. After this, telephone time other than handling matters such as appointments may go on your bill as consulting. All time spent on "formal consultation," such as preparing depositions or reports, is billed.

RATE VARIATIONS

Some services exceed the standard offerings of electrical contractors. When you need these, I add charges to the base rate of $84 an hour.

Premiums

• Occasionally, customers put in sweat equity, which means that they perform specified parts of the job under my supervision. If you are interested in helping me on the job, please request guidelines. These explain what assistance I consider appropriate when I am taking ultimate responsibility for work, and detail the rates that apply.

• I evaluate wiring and consult on wiring projects. I don't have a flat fee for safety surveys, for laying out jobs, for preparing specifications, and for other such tasks. Instead, I charge a consultation premium of $24 an hour, on top of my base rate,to help you in these ways. I also provide more formal "white collar" consultation; I charge a premium of $54 an hour for work that leads to depositions, formal reports, or other testimony; and for consultation on others' electrical books and articles, even ghostwriting.

• I undertake follow-up work troubleshooting, rewiring, or otherwise completing installations and repairs begun by others. This may involve my exposing at least part of the previous work in order to evaluate it, after which I will determine whether it needs rewiring. When I am hired to take over a job, I require a letter stating that the previous contract is closed uncontested; that there is no legal hindrance to my removing or changing what I find. While I will complete installations begun by others when I judge that it is safe to do so, I can not accept ultimate responsibility for any part of the wiring that I have not performed myself.

In addition to the premium for taking on this work, any surcharges described in the section that follows may apply. For example, when I consider something potentially unsafe to work on, if I agree to correct the wiring -- as opposed to simply ripping it out and rewiring -- a separate charge applies, beyond the premium for completing another's installation.

• I charge a premium of $16.00/hour to take over legal, professional, non-hazardous work that another licensed electrician has left unfinished.

• I charge a premium of $34.00/hour to work on previously-installed or -begun wiring that was not properly covered by permits, or was wired unprofessionally, or both.

Surcharges I surcharge for work performed outside my standard schedule:

• Rush jobs;

• Evening, weekend, and holiday work;

• and work beyond 7 1/2 hours in one day.

• I also surcharge for work that may put me at any risk of harm (not limited to electrical dangers).

• Finally, I charge for working under unusually difficult or unpleasant conditions. Some of these are under your control. One example is leaving the cat's litter box near where I am to work. Another that may be less immediately obvious is leaving delicate items stored in the areas I will have to get past in the course of my work, so I need to tiptoe around and to gingerly restack your treasures before I carry a ladder through, or drag an extension cord or cable. Some are not under your control: for example, sometimes the work means plowing through fiberglass in an unventilated attic or clawing my way through a crawlspace. Sometimes, the latter examples may constitute hazardous conditions, not merely onerous.

Surcharges and premiums add together.

Call-backs Calls to fix problems with my work are free, and I give them very high priority. When, however, it turns out that a problem for which I have been called back does not stem from my materials or workmanship, for instance when the problem represents the failure of marginal parts of your existing equipment that I did not fully rewire, the call is not free. When this turns out to be the case, if I rush out you will need to pay any extra charges rush priority entails.

PAYMENT

Payment is due right away, at the time services are rendered, except when we have agreed to another arrangement beforehand. Following the week of work, payment is overdue, except when other arrangements have been made up-front. Interest is charged on any outstanding balance at the rate of 2% per month. Collection costs, including legal fees, accrue to unpaid bills. It is very important that you ask me questions, check assumptions, and discuss concerns as they arise, so that disputes are avoided. CREDIT I accept cash and valid first-party checks; no plastic.

MATERIALS

Materials I provide are billed at full retail list prices as specified in catalogs such as those published by Grainger's, Inc. and lighting manufacturers. I guarantee materials that I provide, just as I guarantee my work. If you want me to install extra-premium components, let me know and I will be happy to do so. For example, a regular 120 volt wall receptacle can cost less than a dollar or more than fifteen-and this is at the store, without my warranty. I will gladly install customer - provided materials that are legal and suitable, without any extra charge. However, you take full responsibility for the time involved in rejecting, installing, removing or replacing materials you provide that turn out to be defective or inappropriate. Warning: salespersons rarely know the Electrical Code; a fixture or other part is not necessarily appropriate for the purpose for which someone tries to sell it. Also, "I've seen something just like this elsewhere" doesn't make an installation legal. I can shop with you or as your agent, so that you pay what I would pay, plus the cost of my time. I do not, however, warrantee materials that I haven't sold you, marked up.

PERMITS

All work done by me or under my supervision will meet or exceed applicable National Electrical Code requirements. If you want something done that I believe does not meet Code, I will check with local authorities if I am unsure. If I remain convinced it is illegal, you are welcome to pay for any time you have had me put in, and find an alternate installer. All new wiring, including "Just run me one more outlet," requires a permit and, after it is completed, inspection. When I design and run a job, I take responsibility for signing the permits and performing the work so as to pass inspection to Code. You are responsible for the cost of the permit and for obtaining it, and for meeting the inspector after the work is complete, or paying for my time waiting for and meeting the inspector.

I understand and agree to these terms Date: ______________

Signed____________________________________Print_______________________________

Phones: Day [Call between ____ a.m. and ____ p.m.]: _____--________--__________________ Fax ______-_______-_____________________

Eve. [_____ am- _____ pm] ______--________--___________________Add'l #, for ________ [ ___am.-__ pm]: _____-_________-_____

Second adult's name or Co. name _____________________________________Email:<__________________________@__________________>

Address_____________________________________________________________________________________________