Used to run cat5 loose behind drywall until I got a call back on a $300 fish tape

Back in 2018 I was wiring a house in Springfield and just shoved cables behind the drywall without stapling or strapping anything. Thought it was fine until the homeowner called me 4 months later saying their motion detectors kept going off randomly. Turns out a loose cable got pinched by insulation and was shorting out. I had to go back and snake new lines through the whole upstairs. Now I always use j-hooks and cable ties even on the cheap jobs. Anyone else ever have a lazy install come back to bite you with extra labor?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade_singh1mo ago

You gotta figure lazy always costs you double in the end. That extra hour of doing it right would have saved you a whole day of running new lines later. A couple bucks on j-hooks beats a callback any day of the week. Doesn't matter if it's a cheap job or not, shortcuts just turn into headaches down the road.

simon_coleman1mo ago

And yeah, once you get that first callback you learn real quick. I stopped using push-in connectors for the same reason. Had a whole panel where three of them let go after a year. Swapped it all out for screw terminals on my dime. Now I figure the extra ten minutes upfront is cheap insurance. Callbacks eat your profit faster than anything.