Question: A contractor wants me to sign a Partial Release form on a job he hasn’t paid me for yet. Doesn’t that put me at risk of not collecting the money if I’m not really paid after I sign the release form? – Greg Storn

Answer: The good news here is that there is an easy solution to this issue. There are four different legal documents that apply to contracted work: 4. Unconditional Release Upon Final Payment

The only “condition” of a Conditional Release is that the release is valid only if the money specified on the release is paid to the contractor. In other words, if you are 50% complete with a $10,000 job, you can safely sign a Conditional Release Upon Progress Payment for $5,000. If you aren’t paid the $5,000, the release is not valid and you have not given up any of your lien rights to this money.

On the other hand, if you sign and Unconditional Release, you have just given up your rights to whatever amount of money that was on the Unconditional Release from. So the rule is, don’t sigh an Unconditional Release from until the money you are releasing is in your bank account. I’m not talking about a check in your hand, either. I’m saying that you should never sign an unconditional release until that check has cleared and the funds are literally in your bank account.

Some or my company’s corporate clients always ask for a release before they will pay an invoice. No problem, we just send them a Conditional Release Upon Progress Payment or a Conditional Release Upon Final Payment. Later, after their check has cleared into our bank account, we will (if they ask) follow up with an Unconditional Release.

By the way, Conditional Release forms protect both the client and the contractor. If a client gets a Conditional Release form a contractor, they know that they are protected from getting a lien from that contractor, but only if they actually pay the contractor the money specified on the lien.

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Tripped circuit breaker: many of us have experienced them at some point in our homes, yet instead of asking ourselves, “Why Do Breakers Trip?”, we reset the breaker without much thought. Before flipping the switch back over to the “ON” position, however, it’s important to understand why the breaker tripped in the first place, and what can be done to keep it from happening again.

Ignoring a Tripped Breaker is Not a Good Idea

Because of the many reasons why your circuit breaker could be tripping, and because of the purpose of the circuit breaker, you should never take a tripped breaker lightly. It’s important to understand that the circuit breaker is a safety device; simply switching the circuit back on without investigating the culprit can become costly in the long run and, in many cases, extremely dangerous.

It’s full-on spring, and there seems to be a lot of activity in the landscape lighting world. That’s probably because landscape lighting is generally a great and affordable way to significantly improve the curb appeal of your home. Landscape lighting ideas abound on the internet, and, since it’s a popular season for landscape lights, I thought I would curate for you some of the best landscape lighting I have seen out there on the Web.

1. Wall Grazing at Its Finest

Wall grazing is a lighting technique in which light is cast up or down a wall in order to let the light and shadow play off the wall’s texture. Wall grazing works especially well on this wonderfully textured stone wall. Interesting walls like this almost demand uplights to play off their texture.

2. Cinematic Pond Beacon Situation

Very bright light on this structure in the middle of a pond creates a dramatic, almost cinematic effect. Bright uplights on the trees give some context to the attractive structure.

3. Variations on a Path

Using different styles of path light can make the walk to the house much more interesting. Never assume it’s law that all your path lights match. Mixing it up a little gives the eye a lot more to look at, and the outdoor lighting design looks more calculated, in a good way. Instead of the string of path lights that come in a pack, this is conscious design that makes every trip to the front door pleasant.

4. Variation on Variations on a Path

Another way you can break the monotony of path lighting is to place your path lights according to the visual features along the path, like plants or garden ornaments. Setting up the path lights to be spaced a little farther apart and placing them in different proximity to the path – now directly on the path, now set back near some interesting plants – leads the eye farther down the path, which creates a spectacle and gives the eye much more to admire.

5. Path Lighting without all the Path Lights

Landscape lighting doesn’t always have to include path lights. Here, adequate illumination and very attractive lighting design is achieved by uplighting trees and using downlights mounted on the house.

6. Moon Lighting: A Supernatural Experience?

Moonlighting is a technique in which lights are hidden higher up in trees to create an ambient effect. Pretty cool!

7. Under Counter Lights

One really cool outdoor lighting effect is under counter lighting. Led rope, tape, or LED tape rope hybrid can be run under the edge of counter, stone wall ledge, bar, island, or bridge to create a wonderful lighting effect. This is one application in which LED landscape lighting works really well.

8. Water + Lighting =  Awesome

What’s cooler than light fixtures giving an almost otherworldly beauty to outdoor water features? This is my personal favorite kind of landscape lighting. It just provides such a reliably relaxing and comfortable atmosphere. If your home is your sanctuary, you might want to consider this one-two-three punch of water, sound, and light.

9. Shadowy Magic

Moonlighting can also be used to create cool shadows on the path. See that light mounted up in that tree? It mimics the light of the moon, creating interesting shadows on the ground and enough ambient light to see where you’re walking. Great lighting design.

10. Lit Up Night Time Oasis

There are a lot of interesting things going on here. The space feels large and luxurious, in part because that uplight at the back draws the eye directly to the back edge of the space, making the whole spread look larger. The path lights around the perimeter draw attention to the landscaping. Of course, the star of this show is the cove lighting used around the bridge, making it look almost as if it is floating on light. Yes to this.

11. Epic Landscape Lighting in a Park

I mean, this pretty much speaks for itself. The high powered uplights illuminating the tall canopy creates an amazing effect. Not only is it beautiful, but it also represents the dual purpose of landscape lighting: To beautify and to make safer. Urban parks can be dangerous, but this one looks even more welcoming at night.

What is an electrical transformer? Well, chances are you’ve seen one before, possibly without knowing it. They come in all shapes and sizes and there’s likely one in your neighbourhood or possibly even in your toy train set. And no, we’re not referring to any type of extraterrestrial robot. Larger ones are usually grouped together and can often be found enclosed in isolated, fenced-off areas or power plants. Although at some point in time, you’ve probably been told not to get too close to one, their function might still be unclear. We get more in depth about their overall purpose below:

Electrical transformers are electrical devices used to transfer electricity from high voltages to low voltages and vice versa. Most electrical transformers are built for the latter. Without getting too technical, the process used to transform this energy is known as electromagnetic induction which utilizes magnetic fields throughout the process.

There are many different types of electrical transformers that serve different purposes depending on the size of the task. Everyday uses around the household may include powering appliances, equipment and even children’s toys. The power that stems from large power plants is usually too powerful for its intended use; therefore, an electrical transformer is used to downsize the electricity into an appropriate voltage that is then transferred through coils.

Aside from powering our home appliances and equipment, electrical transformers have an enormous impact on our everyday lives. Many homes and businesses aren’t located within a close enough proximity to a power plant. So how do these homes and business’s get enough energy to operate? That’s where electrical transformers come in handy. The technology behind these transformers allows them to transfer energy from far away at an impressive speed. The next time you heat up a meal in the microwave or flick on the lights in your house, you’ll know exactly where that energy came from!

For more information on electrical transformers and professional electrical services, contact a licensed electrician at Expert Electric today or call us at 604-681-8338.