Haha.

I'm an ex teacher with a grad. degree. Less bull shit to deal with as a contractor than a teacher.

I do understand many painters are 1. Shitty and 2. Have substance abuse problems. I do enjoy drinking socially, but have neither 1, or 2.

So what happened ?

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

You're screwed.

If you owe the painters any more money, don't pay it. Get a couple of quotes from electricians and send the one you choose to the painting contractor. Good chance that the electrician may be more than what you were going to pay the painters...

Don't expect to actually get any money out of the painting contractor without hiring a lawyer, and even then... good luck with that.

National Electric Code says that all splices, terminations, etc must be in an approved junction box; flying splices are a huge no-no and a good way to burn your house down.

There are some ways to go about correcting this, but nothing really easy unless whomever originally wired them did not staple the Romex: then you *may* be able to pull another cable. But I doubt it.

Best way to do it and do it right: pull the beadboard off the wall between cabinet and countertop, then open up the wall and let the electrician do his thing. Do it right and you can simply replace the drywall portions you removed without taping and mudding, then replace the beadboard.

That's my recommendation. Good luck.

- Jeff

*Note: NH Master electrician with 20 years in the trade, 14 as a Master.

Thanks for the replies everyone. This is a reputable company with a good history so I'm glad I paid a little more than the lowest estimate. The owner looked at it today and said shoot, our bad. I offered to have an electricians estimate produced tonight, but he said don't worry about it. We worked out that I'll pay 500 less today, get it fixed by an electrician, show him the bill, and ill owe whatever is left if it's under 500 to cover the balance. He offered to get his own electrician or have me use a guy I like so I'm going with my guy.

I might end up redoing the beadboard in a couple spots if holes are cut but I'm ok with that since he was willing to own up and I think it was an honest mistake. My electrician said said the repair is likely to be 250 give or take a couple hundred depending on whether snaking new wires is easy or not.

The best part is the kitchen looks amazing...like a brand new kitchen. We are psyched!