What, no electrical plans?

Q. We can’t seem to get electrical plans for our house. We checked our Building Department, and there’s no record of the lights, circuits, anything. Our electrician says we should have them, but there are none for the work we had done about three years ago. Our architect told us we didn’t need them, and that the electrician knew what to do, obviously, without them. Is this typical?

A. I’m not shocked to get your electrifying question. Architects aren’t charged by most municipalities to prepare and/or submit electrical plans. A plan’s examiner once even asked that electrical circuitry and light locations be removed from the plans; he didn’t even want to look at them. His explanation for why was that many building departments don’t want the responsibility or liability to review or approve power or lighting, since electrical work is a major cause of property damage due to fires.

I stopped providing electrical plans for residential clients, except when owners put the effort into the process, including paying additional fees and requiring the electrician to make an effort to follow the plans. At the beginning of my career, I thought that if I put the time into selecting fixtures with the owner, going over the location of beds, couches, etc., the work would be carried out, to the plan, during the installation. Instead, electricians would come in, convince the owners that they could do better, suggest other light fixture locations and, right away, the plans became obsolete. I was fine with electricians suggesting alternatives, moving recessed lights because of hidden beams, suggesting repositioning of switches and outlets, but then the “m” word started getting thrown around: mistake.