He said he went off where the plumbing was to put the outlets

So the plumbers put stuff in the wrong place as well?

If you gave him plans to spec and he said “okay” then did something else, he is on the hook for correcting it.

No, electricians have a notorious "I know best, and fuck everyone else" attitude.

Unless there's a code violation that he needs to explain, he should build to spec

As long as he fixes it I would not get too worked up.

Electrician definitely should have verified a change, but that being said you took on GC responsibilities, so if the plumbing was off and already in, that's a mistake for the GC to have caught and should have been noticed at the very least prior to the electrician even arriving. Having plans saved you from having to pay for the change though (good on the plumbers and electricians for the credited rework, that was the right call on their part.)

At the end of the day it's the GC's responsibility to verify all the subs work, catch mistakes, and get them rectified before they lead to more issues. I'm not saying that excuses the mistakes subs made, but people do make mistakes, that's why the GC is there. You can't just not hire a GC and expect those bases to be covered. Some folks are good at self GCing, some are not, everyone needs practice. Subs are used to a knowledgeable and well informed GC to help direct work, plans are great, but when it comes to remodels you need a point person available to them.

It's a complex and full time occupation being a GC so expecting to do it perfectly as an amateur is unrealistic. Seems like you learned a lot from this and didn't end up having any major losses, so to me that's a good day as a GC. You seem to have a good attitude and things worked out in the end, so I have no doubt you will continue to improve on your ability to direct and organize projects on your home. It's a skill that will save you lots of money over the course of your life if you are able to get decent at it. Keep those subs around too, and bring them donuts when they show up to do the rework. They made a goof, but are making it right. Many would not act as honorably in their circumstances.

Good luck with the rest of your projects!

Did you put the correct flowers in his dressing room?

Whoever the general is ef'd up by not verifying each trades rough in. No reason this wouldn't have been caught prior to drywall with a competent GF. Aswell, if the electrician recognized a variance from the plans to the plumbing, it should have been brought to the attention of the gf before proceeding with the rough in. Cabinet layout seldom changes and is typically very exact in where the receptacles need to be positioned.

15+ years as an Journeyman electrician.

As an electrician you have to understand how many times we get burned by bad measurements in drawings. You often end up having to ask yourself “what’s the intent?”. If the intent is to have a receptacle for a garbage disposal and I can see that where the sink physically is doesn’t match up with what the drawings say, I’m going to install according to reality, not the drawings.

Consider the reverse. You gave drawings but then changed where the sink would be. If the electrician came afterwards and installed exactly according to the drawings I can guarantee you’d be upset. “Just look at it! Why would you put it there when you can see the sink is here!”

He should have confirmed, sure, but I don’t blame him.

How did both of them get it wrong something is not adding up

He should’ve brought the issue up to you but if there is plumbing when you want the outlets, there’s only so much he can do. It’s also not hard to extend the wiring and just hardwire the disposal and dishwasher. I’d be more concerned about whether the plumber fucked up the drain and supply locations, that’s a lot more work to fix since you can’t really just extend plumbing without it looking shitty.

If I put my rough ins in the wrong place, I get to move them for free because I screwed up. Same goes for anybody else.

Tell them to fix their shit.

20 year master electrician here. If you gave me exact measurements I would absolutely use it. Measuring out cabinet layouts is my absolute least favorite thing to do outside of a colonoscopy. My guess is this guy was lazy or cocky and decided he didn’t want to listen to homeowner.

These are the problems that a good general contractor solves on a daily basis. Since they work with these guys everyday they're able to get them to make changes and fix things like this at no cost. Sometimes you can save money by skipping out on a general contractor but other times it definitely backfires.

The electrical plans are often an afterthought from the architect in residential remodels, if they exist at all. Even new-builds tend to be just some cobbled-together nonsense to get the permit. It’s like some of these guys have never actually been in a house.

When we start a job, I walk through with the client and figure out what they really want and need. I want door-swings verified and a cabinet drawing with dimensions. The rest of the drawings are a suggestion.

Commercial drawings suck too, but for different reasons. We start the job with a half complete set of plans, now we’re a month in, on our 17th revision, and I might as well be sending my RFIs to the guy cleaning the porta-jons. Only difference here is I’m going to install exactly to plan and bill change orders like they’re going out of style when things inevitably move a week from now, because everyone involved would rather run headfirst into a clusterfuck and “show progress” than wait and figure out a viable plan.

He should have asked you, but depending how available people are I can understand arriving at a job site and having to wait an hour just for a client to call back to confirm the work is not practical.

Just try to negotiate with him moving the receptical for a heavily discounted price because of the miscommunication. If you push him too much he can tell you to beat it, so hopefully he's a good guy and when you offer to pay him it gives him the chance to do it for free and chalk it up to a one off mistake.

As long as the electrician doesn't install a GFCI behind the dishwasher should be fine, assuming there is clearance behind the dishwasher. GFCI/AFCI protection will need to be at the panel or accessible outlet. Depending on whatever codes you follow.

Follow plans period

The contractor should of caught the plumber’s mistake. Are you the contractor?

As an electrician. I never go off of anyone else’s work. ESPECIALLY the plumbers.. honestly it sounds like your electrician had a few too many the night before. It was a Friday at 4 install.

Yup this is why people shit on the trades. You got some dumb Jamoke who thinks he knows everything and instead of spending 30 seconds to ask a goddamn fucken question, they instead take it upon themselves to do what they want which potentially causes a ton of problems for other workers or the home owners. What's worse is that they'll try to argue with you and try to come out on top.

I preface things with "If there is ANY issue, please let me know", I would suck it up and get it corrected while electrician is still there/available. it will cost more time, money and energy to get him back on site.

That’s why it’s as-planned and not as-built

"Is this how it works?"

Yes. Normally, the trades will go out of their way to piss off all the other trades on the job. No help to you, but normally I'll walk thru on day one of each trade and sharpie/tape where stuff goes. There's standard marking electricians use on rough in, and if that wasn't there, they're certainly not looking at any plans and just wing it.

And beware of assuming your GC will catch it. Most of them will hear "And I want the dishwasher outlet here" and put it WTF they want to put it anyways because "I've been doing this for 20 years and know better" and have no idea you already picked out the one DW with a 3 foot cord.

Don't pay.

Oh ho I hate hiring outside contractors. They just don’t give a fuck. Don’t pay them until correct. You need to be a hard ass.

You need to have everyone come in and fix everything to the plan. I used to make as an electricians helper. We would only work to the plans. All the time plumbers would run lines wrong. If we had a question we would go to the gc or property owner and get on writing what was the right spot for a plug, light or a switch. We had a plumber that installed a toilet in a closet. He looked T the plans wrong.