Power Trip
Three things needed to happen before my wife and children could come home:
1.) Huge pine tree off roof.
2.) Electrician to fix busted breaker box pole and inspect for wiring problems that could result in my house going up like the Fourth of July when the power returns.
3.) Power returns.
Step 1 was already under way. They came out today and got started early.
It's a scary thing, because lots of jackleg flim-flam tree people come and either do a bad job, sometimes inflicting further home damage, or take your money and disappear. Haphazardly spray-painted streetside signs with tree-cutter telephone numbers definitely raise red flags.
"TREEZ KUT
CALL BR549"
Tree-cutting is expensive. The quote for getting the pine tree off my roof was $2,450. That's pretty much the going rate, based on my research.
I'd contracted with an outfit out of Georgia to do the job. They'd already done a co-worker's house and did a great job, clearing up limbs and brush that they weren't even contracted to clean up.
The most important thing to do with tree cutters is making sure they are insured. If they are not, they can file a lawsuit and take your life savings in the event of an injury or death. It is also important to check online with the Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints are on file. It's easy: Just go to http://www.bbb.org/ and fill out the information.
Lastly, you pay when the job is done, not up front.
With proper insurance, no BBB complaints and a glowing reference, the Georgia group checked out.
The crew showed up and went to work early today. I went to check them out and was told the job would take about three hours to complete. The crew boss was barking at them to do this and that. I liked this. The man was getting the job done right.
Three hours later, I returned, and an unforeseen scramble began.
Powerline workers finally had arrived in my neighborhood, but the first thing they do is disconnect homes from the main line if there are problems between the main line and the breaker box. The homeowner is responsible for the line from main pole to box and beyond. They were working the street behind us, and they'd already seen my busted box pole, come in over the downed backyard fence and cut the cord.
Panic set in.
If I didn't get an electrician out there immedietely, the powerline crew would pass me by when they came around the circle and in front of my house, and it could be weeks before the electric company would re-establish the pole-to-house connection. I was convinced that power crews weren't going to be diverted from their main mission to address one customer's needs in a place they'd already worked.
That meant it could be weeks before my wife and children could come home.
I started calling electricians in the phone book but was told the waiting list was two to three weeks long.
Oh my.
Then I remembered a contractor who left his business card in my door. He was a neighbor, and I'd bumped into him the day before while out on a jog and asked him to have a look at the house. He'd told me he had an electrician at his disposal.
Frantic, I called him and told him my predicament. Meanwhile, the power crews were now on my street and making their way past my house. The contractor said he'd make a phone call. Five minutes later, he called back and said electricians would be there in 20 minutes.
I called him an angel. I look forward to him repairing my house.
Fifteen minutes later, the electricians arrived. They walked to the back of the house, looked up, smiled and said, "We can fix that."
Feeling like a SCUBA diver left behind, I ran down the street to the power linesmen and excitedly told them that electricians had arrived and would fix my problem. They nodded and assured me they'd come back and re-establish the connection.
Soon, two supervisors for Florida Power and Light were assisting the electricians. Considering that the power crews as well as the tree people had been to hurricane-ravaged areas before, horror stories abounded about devastation elsewhere, at the hands of hurricanes Andrew, Katrina and Charley.
They said we were lucky.
I felt lucky all right. I was lucky that, in regard to what I had to do to get my family back, my bread this day hit the floor with the butter side up.
1.) Huge pine tree off roof.
2.) Electrician to fix busted breaker box pole and inspect for wiring problems that could result in my house going up like the Fourth of July when the power returns.
3.) Power returns.
Step 1 was already under way. They came out today and got started early.
It's a scary thing, because lots of jackleg flim-flam tree people come and either do a bad job, sometimes inflicting further home damage, or take your money and disappear. Haphazardly spray-painted streetside signs with tree-cutter telephone numbers definitely raise red flags.
"TREEZ KUT
CALL BR549"
Tree-cutting is expensive. The quote for getting the pine tree off my roof was $2,450. That's pretty much the going rate, based on my research.
I'd contracted with an outfit out of Georgia to do the job. They'd already done a co-worker's house and did a great job, clearing up limbs and brush that they weren't even contracted to clean up.
The most important thing to do with tree cutters is making sure they are insured. If they are not, they can file a lawsuit and take your life savings in the event of an injury or death. It is also important to check online with the Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints are on file. It's easy: Just go to http://www.bbb.org/ and fill out the information.
Lastly, you pay when the job is done, not up front.
With proper insurance, no BBB complaints and a glowing reference, the Georgia group checked out.
The crew showed up and went to work early today. I went to check them out and was told the job would take about three hours to complete. The crew boss was barking at them to do this and that. I liked this. The man was getting the job done right.
Three hours later, I returned, and an unforeseen scramble began.
Powerline workers finally had arrived in my neighborhood, but the first thing they do is disconnect homes from the main line if there are problems between the main line and the breaker box. The homeowner is responsible for the line from main pole to box and beyond. They were working the street behind us, and they'd already seen my busted box pole, come in over the downed backyard fence and cut the cord.
Panic set in.
If I didn't get an electrician out there immedietely, the powerline crew would pass me by when they came around the circle and in front of my house, and it could be weeks before the electric company would re-establish the pole-to-house connection. I was convinced that power crews weren't going to be diverted from their main mission to address one customer's needs in a place they'd already worked.
That meant it could be weeks before my wife and children could come home.
I started calling electricians in the phone book but was told the waiting list was two to three weeks long.
Oh my.
Then I remembered a contractor who left his business card in my door. He was a neighbor, and I'd bumped into him the day before while out on a jog and asked him to have a look at the house. He'd told me he had an electrician at his disposal.
Frantic, I called him and told him my predicament. Meanwhile, the power crews were now on my street and making their way past my house. The contractor said he'd make a phone call. Five minutes later, he called back and said electricians would be there in 20 minutes.
I called him an angel. I look forward to him repairing my house.
Fifteen minutes later, the electricians arrived. They walked to the back of the house, looked up, smiled and said, "We can fix that."
Feeling like a SCUBA diver left behind, I ran down the street to the power linesmen and excitedly told them that electricians had arrived and would fix my problem. They nodded and assured me they'd come back and re-establish the connection.
Soon, two supervisors for Florida Power and Light were assisting the electricians. Considering that the power crews as well as the tree people had been to hurricane-ravaged areas before, horror stories abounded about devastation elsewhere, at the hands of hurricanes Andrew, Katrina and Charley.
They said we were lucky.
I felt lucky all right. I was lucky that, in regard to what I had to do to get my family back, my bread this day hit the floor with the butter side up.
posted by Brian Pearson at 8:47 PM
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