Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 03, 2013 8:19 pm Has anyone had any experience with ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics or Andrews Perth Home Services (saw the ad on WW docket, they seems to be doing everything )? Looking at getting someone to install LEDs and Wallmount TVs. Any comments would be great, unless someone had better experience and would like to share... Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 2Feb 06, 2013 10:55 pm Can't comment on ADCO or ANDREWS, but we are building with Ross North Homes, and they are using CUSTOM Electrics for the electrical work. To be honest, I really can't wait to get rid of them, they've been nothing short of a headache for me. Here's the saga so far: 1) We were told that Sparkies were to start work on Thursday about 3 weeks ago. We went to site Thursday evening, and found the walls marked with where the power points, switches and conduits were to go. Clearly, the guy marking out the walls couldn't read a house plan too well. We had several switches and power points in the wrong spot, some of them would have ended up behind our mirror in the ensuite, and others just plain stupid, where we had on our plans the alarm pad above our light switch, and they had put it DIAGONALLY to the light switch!!! 2) Sent the supervisor an email with a list of 7 things that need fixing before they start chasing the walls. Called the supervisor the next day, and he assured me that he had talked to the sparkies, and they would fix it. 3) Went the next day (Friday) to see their handiwork, and no fix! they had gone in there and chased the walls including all the incorrect ones. At that stage, they hadn't gone in with the chisel to take out the bits for the conduit and box plates etc... so sent the supervisor another email and chased up with another phone call Monday morning. 4) Again, went in Monday evening, and they had chisled out everything, including the wrong ones! 5) Sent a grumpy email directly to Custom Electrics, and was told to call the guy who was organizing the crew. I decided to wait until the end of the day before calling, and FINALLY, after 3 days, the message got through to the guys on site, as they had now added additional markings to rectify the problems. 6) The saga continues. Knowing how incompetent these guys are at reading plans, I decided to double check with them, as we had planned for no conduits showing in our garage (chase the external walls, then drill through the brick). I was re-assured that they can do that, and found a few days after, drill holes in the garage, where they had obviously started mounting the conduit in the garage, then pulled it all out. NOT HAPPY! 7) Also brought up that they had missed a chase in our Ensuite, where the heated towel rail had a concealed cabling, and that took them 3 days to finally get a guy on site to do some work on it. I ended up meeting the guys on site in the morning, as they couldn't figure out how to do it, so I had to explain to them what was going on. The two guys looked like they were both apprentices just from their age, they couldn't have had much experience. To their credit, they seemed to be really nice guys, although the only instruction they were given was the location of the chase, although I had sent in drawings and specifications of the towel rail. He was really grateful that I had those on hand to pass on to him! 9) Went there tonight to check out their handiwork, and all they had done was marked out the site for the chase! That took them all day?????? 10) also found at the meter box the main cable run to the power meter box which is encased in a metal like conduit, and that was attached to the external wall well above ground level, looking real ugly, not to mention a trip hazard. Contacted the supervisor about it via email, and will chase it up tomorrow... 11) Decided to look up Custom electrics on this forum to see if we're just unlucky, or if this is their standard MO and found your post, and thought I should warn you off them! To be fair, if you wanted some basic electrical work done, and you're not too fussy, they are probably OK. if you have some complex wiring requirements, and you are extremely particular with where your switches or GPOs go, then from our experience, they are certainly not the way to go. We were getting them to quote us on downlights in the house, but after this saga, there is no way in a pink fit that I would get these guys to put in my downlights. They have shown that they pay absolutely NO attention to measurements etc... that we had on plans. Seems like these guys use their eyes instead of a measuring tape. Apparently 'roughly there' is good enough in their books. Good luck! Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 3Feb 06, 2013 11:02 pm mlim Can't comment on ADCO or ANDREWS, but we are building with Ross North Homes, and they are using CUSTOM Electrics for the electrical work. To be honest, I really can't wait to get rid of them, they've been nothing short of a headache for me. Here's the saga so far: 1) We were told that Sparkies were to start work on Thursday about 3 weeks ago. We went to site Thursday evening, and found the walls marked with where the power points, switches and conduits were to go. Clearly, the guy marking out the walls couldn't read a house plan too well. We had several switches and power points in the wrong spot, some of them would have ended up behind our mirror in the ensuite, and others just plain stupid, where we had on our plans the alarm pad above our light switch, and they had put it DIAGONALLY to the light switch!!! 2) Sent the supervisor an email with a list of 7 things that need fixing before they start chasing the walls. Called the supervisor the next day, and he assured me that he had talked to the sparkies, and they would fix it. 3) Went the next day (Friday) to see their handiwork, and no fix! they had gone in there and chased the walls including all the incorrect ones. At that stage, they hadn't gone in with the chisel to take out the bits for the conduit and box plates etc... so sent the supervisor another email and chased up with another phone call Monday morning. 4) Again, went in Monday evening, and they had chisled out everything, including the wrong ones! 5) Sent a grumpy email directly to Custom Electrics, and was told to call the guy who was organizing the crew. I decided to wait until the end of the day before calling, and FINALLY, after 3 days, the message got through to the guys on site, as they had now added additional markings to rectify the problems. 6) The saga continues. Knowing how incompetent these guys are at reading plans, I decided to double check with them, as we had planned for no conduits showing in our garage (chase the external walls, then drill through the brick). I was re-assured that they can do that, and found a few days after, drill holes in the garage, where they had obviously started mounting the conduit in the garage, then pulled it all out. NOT HAPPY! 7) Also brought up that they had missed a chase in our Ensuite, where the heated towel rail had a concealed cabling, and that took them 3 days to finally get a guy on site to do some work on it. I ended up meeting the guys on site in the morning, as they couldn't figure out how to do it, so I had to explain to them what was going on. The two guys looked like they were both apprentices just from their age, they couldn't have had much experience. To their credit, they seemed to be really nice guys, although the only instruction they were given was the location of the chase, although I had sent in drawings and specifications of the towel rail. He was really grateful that I had those on hand to pass on to him! 9) Went there tonight to check out their handiwork, and all they had done was marked out the site for the chase! That took them all day?????? 10) also found at the meter box the main cable run to the power meter box which is encased in a metal like conduit, and that was attached to the external wall well above ground level, looking real ugly, not to mention a trip hazard. Contacted the supervisor about it via email, and will chase it up tomorrow... 11) Decided to look up Custom electrics on this forum to see if we're just unlucky, or if this is their standard MO and found your post, and thought I should warn you off them! To be fair, if you wanted some basic electrical work done, and you're not too fussy, they are probably OK. if you have some complex wiring requirements, and you are extremely particular with where your switches or GPOs go, then from our experience, they are certainly not the way to go. We were getting them to quote us on downlights in the house, but after this saga, there is no way in a pink fit that I would get these guys to put in my downlights. They have shown that they pay absolutely NO attention to measurements etc... that we had on plans. Seems like these guys use their eyes instead of a measuring tape. Apparently 'roughly there' is good enough in their books. Good luck! That is the kind of story that puts you off building Nasty, nasty and more nasty! Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 4Feb 06, 2013 11:07 pm Gotta say though bradster, that apart from Incompetent sparkies, most other things have gone rather smoothly. Our supervisor must be the most understanding guy around! The only issue I have with Ross North is their drafting department, who don't seem to care too much about details... or is it more that I'm too much of a details type person? Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 5Feb 06, 2013 11:15 pm Our builder is using Custom electrics as well. So far seems to be ok, but not completely sure as we don't have any lights installed by them, only switches and GPOs. I rang them up to enquire about them doing some work for us and they told me that they only work for the builder. Well, one less company to think about... Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 6Feb 06, 2013 11:27 pm Hmm.. that's interesting, as they are doing extra work for us, that we are paying them separately for! Once the walls went up, the missus decided that she wanted the option to put the TV on both walls as opposed to the one wall that we had cabled for. They were quite happy to quote us for that, along with upgrading our switches and GPOs to fancier faceplates. I also got a quote from them for downlights, which weren't part of our original plans with Ross North... You may have to go through your supervisor or something? Anyway, maybe best they fobbed you off! If you're looking for a good sparky, we have used VJ Electrical several times in our current home. They've been honest and professional. Not the cheapest, but if they say they will get back to you, they will... (My personal bugbear about tradies who don't call you back!) Good luck with the build! What stage are you at? Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 8Feb 06, 2013 11:53 pm Did you get my pm the other week AGF? My Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=62001 Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 9Feb 07, 2013 12:19 am jaceb Did you get my pm the other week AGF? Sorry, I didn't get any pm from you... just checked inbox and nothing is there mlim Hmm.. that's interesting, as they are doing extra work for us, that we are paying them separately for! Once the walls went up, the missus decided that she wanted the option to put the TV on both walls as opposed to the one wall that we had cabled for. They were quite happy to quote us for that, along with upgrading our switches and GPOs to fancier faceplates. I also got a quote from them for downlights, which weren't part of our original plans with Ross North... You may have to go through your supervisor or something? Anyway, maybe best they fobbed you off! I spoke to them (guys who was doing our electrical) at the beginning but they looked very lazy and didn't want to do anything extra. They said "no" right away and referred me to their head office. I asked them for any additional work they might be able to do but they were very unwilling... Same was with Intelligent Home guys - I asked them to throw in some extra wires for intercom but they refused saying that they can't do it at this stage. I will have to do it later (meaning ruining the walls and plaster)... Don't know how people getting them to do some extras during construction... ours seems to be very restricted... Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 10Feb 07, 2013 12:45 am Hmm... we go directly through our supervisor. I haven't talked to a trade directly yet that wasn't first teed up by the supervisor. I guess we're lucky that way. Our supervisor outright told us at the start not to go through the office, as they would start charging variations for things that were just a simple instruction to trades like don't put a switch here, put it there type stuff. Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 11Feb 07, 2013 8:46 pm mlim Hmm... we go directly through our supervisor. I haven't talked to a trade directly yet that wasn't first teed up by the supervisor. I guess we're lucky that way. Our supervisor outright told us at the start not to go through the office, as they would start charging variations for things that were just a simple instruction to trades like don't put a switch here, put it there type stuff. Vote +1 for your SS sounds very good, good luck with your build Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 12Feb 15, 2013 10:49 pm custom electrics seem to have a bad name, im a sparky and when i was an apprentice when we were at tafe and someone said they were from custom electrics everyone took the p*ss out of them n said they were rough... but thats just talk amongst the boys at tafe... ive never actually seen their work. dont know much about ADCO. and as for andrews, i got a quote on a GPO from them a little while ago, just out of curiosity to see what people were charging, they seemed to be expensive IMO. Building with Blueprint Homes in Highbury Park, Baldivis Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 13Feb 15, 2013 11:06 pm aidan custom electrics seem to have a bad name, im a sparky and when i was an apprentice when we were at tafe and someone said they were from custom electrics everyone took the p*ss out of them n said they were rough... but thats just talk amongst the boys at tafe... ive never actually seen their work. Haha... No, I think that's about right... Every time we saw them on site they were having a lunch break or were sleeping in the garage... They put different light switch (other brand/collection) in our ensuite even though all other switches are the correct ones. Dont get me started on placement of GPO for dishwasher... I'm still wondering how I'm going to access it... Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 14Feb 15, 2013 11:23 pm Custom electrics are basically run by apprentices. There's a reason they can afford to win the volume of work that they do, and it's because generally speaking, they use a high number of apprentices to do the work, often unsupervised. My Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=62001 Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 15Feb 16, 2013 12:29 am jaceb Custom electrics are basically run by apprentices. There's a reason they can afford to win the volume of work that they do, and it's because generally speaking, they use a high number of apprentices to do the work, often unsupervised. That's very promising... How come that most builders are using them? Don't they want some quality work? I understand they are trying to cut the corners but after what they are charging you would expect some kind of quality control... Isn't it that almost all builders are using Custom Electrics hence they don't do any work for regular Joe's. Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 16Feb 16, 2013 11:19 am I guess it's just cost saving. Builders produce so many homes, think how much they save by using a company like customs. Not only that, as you discovered, customs really only do work for builders, so their apprentices are a bit like robots, they know how to do the same things over and over. At the end of the days, all the work is tested to Australian standards by a tradesman, so you can breathe easy knowing it's safe, but it's the smaller problems like you have that sets them aside from a company who take pride in their jobs and a company who is all about producing numbers. My Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=62001 Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 17Apr 23, 2013 5:15 pm Here is my story... After collecting quotes from ADCO, Cockburn Electrical and TES Electrical we decided to go with ADCO as they were the cheapest. TES Electrical quoted almost double the amount of ADCO for the same job. Cockburn Electrical was almost on par with ADCO but it took them a week to produce the quote. We set up the installation date with ADCO, which was about 3 weeks from the confirmation date as they were too busy apparently. They were very precise that they must start at 8:00am. On the day of installation we were ready for them at 8:00am... 8:30am... 9:00am... 9:30am I called the office and been informed that they are on their way and be there shortly... 10:00am I called again and been told that I will be contacted shortly... 10:30am - someone called from ADCO to inform us that the guy who was supposed to come out was sick and will come back the next day... Ok, day wasted. Day 2: 8:00am - we're ready for them to come out... 9:00am - I'm calling the office to see where they are... 9:30am - they called me back to inform that no one is available to do the job today and will be back tomorrow. Another day wasted... 3:00pm - called them to tell them to stick it and cancel the installation... the guy on the other end of the phone started to tell me that they will definitely be there tomorrow, however i said we don't require their service anymore and hanged up. He also mentioned that it was a big job and they'll come out tomorrow. Just don't understand if it's a big job why don't you put it on your priority list? Oh well... Thanks to suggestion by one of the forum members, I called Platinum Electrical (Perth branch) and they were very quick to come back to me with the quote (I think it took them about 5 minutes to confirm the prices). The prices were lower than ADCO or others and installation could take place in 2 days. They came out at the time they said they would... did full installation, took all the rubbish with them and swept the floor. Couldn't be more happier with their service and quality of work. Highly recommend this company (Platinum Electrical - Perth branch) if someone needs some downlights or other lights installed. Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 19Sep 06, 2013 8:38 am ....'WOW'....I 'own' CUSTOM Electrics and had NO IDEA we were so 'on the nose' with so many people. I know some of these issues go back some months, but, I am really surprised at some of the comments....and I am really troubled by what I am reading. I clearly need to get a grip on what we are doing and make some changes. Please...if you have specific concerns, call me personally to discuss...even if your experience happened some time ago, I 'am' interested....and, if I can help you, I will! Re: ADCO Electrics, CUSTOM Electrics, ANDREWS ? 20Nov 04, 2015 5:02 pm Do NOT go with Custom Eletrics if you can prevent it!!! We've had handover two weeks ago and the following issues were discovered/still not fixed: - switches not working - covers for power points missing and some left in our garage - power points turning themselves off because "the cover was loose" - wrong light installed - switches and powerpoints at idiotic locations and moved from were they were on original plan (later ammended to make it look like the positions were planned that way) - they were putting the power point to the fridge in such a stupid place that the fridge would have had to be at least 7 cm further away from the wall. I noticed this during the build and made them change it... which they did AFTER the plasterer had been in even though they were made aware of the issue weeks prior by myself directly - absolutely arbitrary choice of were the more expensive switch boards and power points were going and were the standard ones went - we are told we can only use certain light globes with the light fittings that are hooked up to the nicer Clipsal switches. If you turn off the light it keeps pulsing. This only happens with some of them. - now it turns out that the smart wiring does not work - at all! - around most light switches the paint was damaged and peeled/broken away. There doesn't seem to be any care taken whatsoever Yes, there are a lot of appretices doing the work. I am not surprised at all to be reading others' negative experiences. Oh yes, and they love blaming the home owner for the issues. So, dear "Troubled", it seems like nothing has changed! Hello, we can help you please get in contact 0421019219 thank you 3 31853 Hi, Seeking volume or semi-custom builder in victoria(east), which have existing double story wide floor plans. Seeking 18-20m wide homes with depth of 12-15m long. Or… 0 25171 |