Kitchen and Bath Remodel Trim Day in Vancouver, WA (Hazel Dell)

A full remodel trim day on a 1993 home in the Hazel Dell neighborhood of Vancouver, WA, for one of our general contractor partners. One visit, five punch-list items and two change orders.

The kitchen: island pendants and a missing outlet

We hung two amber glass pendants over the new quartz island. The rough-in was done on an earlier visit, so trim was just mounting, wiring and testing. That’s quick when the box ends up where the pendant’s supposed to hang (it doesn’t always). Pendants, chandeliers and fixture swaps are a big part of our lighting installation work.

The microwave outlet in the pantry got missed. The plans put the microwave in the pantry, but nobody roughed in an outlet there. We fished Romex up from the crawl space into the pantry wall, drilled through the back of the cabinet, and set a box on the back wall of the pantry. It’s slower than a regular new outlet, but cleaner than running conduit across a finished wall.

We cleaned up a few small things in the kitchen too:

• The switch by the sink wasn’t shutting the disposal off reliably. We traced it, replaced it and tested the circuit.
• The under-cabinet light right of the stove had a loose connection. We found it and tightened it.
• We left the GC a note about an air switch for the disposal if the switch wiring keeps acting up.

The baths: two vanity lights on change orders

The upstairs guest bath was wired for a vanity light, but the electrician before us left a bare wire sticking out of the wall with no box. That’s a fire hazard and a code violation, and the GC flagged it. We put in a proper old-work box, made up the wires, and hung a three-bulb crystal light on it.

A second bathroom got a new vanity light the same visit as a change order, a modern four-bulb black fixture with globe shades. No problems there, just a swap.

Why GCs stick with one electrician for a remodel

A remodel trim day usually has 5 to 10 small electrical items spread around the house. A GC has three options:

1. Do the small stuff themselves and call an electrician for the big stuff. That misses code problems like the bare-wire vanity box here, and it’s a permit risk.
2. Call whoever’s cheapest each time. The quality’s all over the place, a new crew learns the house every visit, and it’s harder to work around other trades.
3. Stick with one electrician. The same crew knows the house, the GC’s standards and the homeowner, and problems get fixed once.

We work the third way. Our contractor and builder page covers how we work with GCs. On a job like this we’ll usually do the walk-through, rough-in, inspection and trim, and stay on call for anything the homeowner finds after move-in.

Running a remodel and need an electrician who can knock out a messy punch list in one visit? We handle remodel electrical, kitchen electrical and bathroom electrical from rough-in through trim. Call 360-828-7143 or drop us a line for a free estimate.