how long for this re-wire is reasonable?

I renovate old historic houses. I don't do shoddy 'flips'. I pour a year + into each property and do it the right way. I value relationships with my subs and am usually loyal to a fault.
This current electrician has done about 5 houses for me over the last 5 years. His best guy moved and was not available for this project. I expressed concerns prior to the job over his man power and whether he had a good replacement which he assured me he did along with a few other guys. I offered him $1000 over his estimate because I knew I had a couple sconces that were not on the right spot on the plans and the architectural plans weren't the greatest.

Long story short, a re-wire, new panel of a 3,400 foot house just took 9 weeks (no rock on walls). Guys were just barely ever showing up for more than a 2-3 hour day if at all. I had to do all the managing and dealing with the City for inspections. I didn't realize the electrician (owner) had another electrical day job and was trying to run everything with no oversight. Took 4 shots at inspection to pass. They weren't just fails but they kept telling me they were ready and then realizing they forgot huge items and inspector would show up while they were trying to finish which looks horrible. Guy barely answered his phone or text.

We finally pass inspection after this total disaster. Plumber and HVAC had been finished for 6 weeks ready for inspection so we were completely stalled on all phases of the project until he passed. Cost me about $25,000 in delays and i'm not a rich guy who can afford to just eat me. Guy immediately starts blowing me up non-stop for payment 4-5 times the first day and offered $100 off the job for the issues which i found worse than offering nothing at all.

This a work out situation or am i overreacting? Really feel like he should be paying his guys and offering this rough in for free since he only visited the job once to get his deposit check and drop off material. Curious how long you'd take do a rough in like that in.

Posted Sep 2, 2025, 3:23 PM UTC

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