How I learned to check my electrician's work before the drywall goes up

I did the same walk-through routine on our basement finish last spring and it paid for itself twice over. My electrician ran the circuits for a future wet bar and I almost let the drywall crew cover a box he'd set too deep in the framed wall. Because I had my evening photos, I coud show him exactly where it was and he fixed it in ten minutes with a box extender. No cutting drywall later, no arguing about who pays for it. The labeling thing is underrated too. Mine wrote on the inside of the panel door which breaker fed what, and he taped little notes near each capped box during rough-in. Six months later when I hung the TV I knew exactly which circuit was live without guessing. Saved me from killing power to the whole basement to swap an outlet.

On the permit side, I'd add that in my town the inspector acutally caught the GC's framer nailing too close to one of the cable runs. The GC grumbled but moved the nail plate, no charge. That's the whole point of the inspection, someone whose paycheck doesn't depend on the job looking done. Only pushback I'd give is don't be shy about asking for the walk-through mid-day instead of after the crew leaves. Mine stayed late one Friday and I couldn't reach him til Monday, which cost us two days of schedule.

Before phones took decent pictures we used to pencil box locations right on the subfloor and write the measurements off two walls in the margin of the blueprint. Still do it half the time out of habit. My old journeyman drilled it into me: paper don't lie, memory does. I remodeled a kitchen in '92 where the previous guy buried a junction box behind the plaster with no record of it. Took me two days with a coat hanger and a fish tape just to find the thing. A phone full of photos would've saved me a weekend and a few choice words.

One thing I'd add is check the box heights against your cabinet drawings before the drywall goes up, not just against the wall. On our kitchen gut the island design changed after rough-in and two outlets would've ended up dead center behind the countertop overhang. Had the electrician shift them over 4 inches while everything was still open, took him five minutes. Also made him swap the microwave box down to counter height since we moved the appliance to the base cabinet. Little stuff like that is invisible on the plan and obvious once you're standing in the room with a tape measure.