I finally called out a helper for skipping the final walk test

Last month in a big apartment job, my new guy finished a zone and said he was done. I asked if he walked the whole area to check the sensors. He said he just looked at the panel light. I made him walk with me, and we found a door contact on a patio slider that was a full inch out of alignment. The magnet was on the frame, but the contact was on the moving door. It would have shown 'closed' but never tripped. In my experience, that final physical check catches more than half of my callbacks. You can't trust the panel alone because a bad install can still show a green light. It takes two extra minutes per zone and saves a trip back. How do you guys make sure your helpers don't skip this step?

4 comments

4 Comments

uma6591mo ago

Ugh, that's so real. I mean, the panel light is a liar sometimes, you gotta see it for yourself. Good on you for making him walk it.

kai8395d ago

and honestly @uma659 you're right but the panel ain't lying on purpose... it's just showing what the sensor picked up at that exact moment, not the whole picture. the problem is people take that single reading as gospel and skip the walk, which is where you catch stuff the sensor missed. gotta remember the tool is helpful but it's not smarter than your own eyes on the final check.

matthew_walker1mo ago

The panel's not lying, it just shows what the sensor sees, which can miss things.

sarahscott1mo ago

Ever notice how this happens everywhere, like with @uma659 said about the panel lying? People skip the last check because they trust the system too much, but the system is just a tool. That final walk is what actually gets the job done right.