alertelec said:
Can you expand on this a little bit please, or point me in the direction of the topic, are you saying that Building control have an imposed limit to what they can charge for inspection? What about when only electrical work is involved?
All the LABCs I've looked at have a schedule of charges for fees which are based on the value of the works. And that fee is supposed to cover
all of their activities associated with Building Control for the works in question.
transducer said:
So the inspector during his visit would inspect all electrical work as well as building and not charge any extra?
Some LABCs (most, in fact) find themselves unable to carry out their own inspection & testing. Well - they only had 2 years and 3 months to prepare for their new responsibilities to check notified work for compliance with the Building Regulations....
Many of the LABCs that don't have the ability to do it themselves are exploiting the ignorance of their customers and indulging in sharp practice:
1) Charging people extra because they have chosen to subcontract electrical inspection and testing to a 3rd party. LABC Services, the umbrella organisation, have confirmed to me that LABCs are not allowed to do this. I recently asked them what the position was regarding LABCs charging extra because they had to subcontract, and this was the answer I received:
Building Regulation fees are set to a scale that embraces the whole scope of what may be necessary in respect of checking and approving the plans and inspecting the work. The input necessary can vary according to the circumstances of a specific scheme, but the fees are not variable due to this feature.
The local authority has a legal duty to carry out the Building Regulation function to a proper degree. This can also vary in extent according to the demands of any scheme and considerable discretion rests with the authority. However they are responsible to give a proper service within the fee and cannot charge extra for the reason you mention. Indeed if they failed to inspect yet still charged you might have a case for a refund.
2) Insisting that non-registered people themselves get the work inspected and tested by someone they regard as competent - it is quite clear that the legislation does not allow them to do this.
Surely if this is the case I could do the install, certify it myself and get buildng control to inspect it, therfore no need for a sparky at £25 Perhr
Yes you can. What happens then, vis-a-vis your Building Inspector's acceptance of the certificate will be interesting. A lot will depend on how reasonable he is, and on how much you are prepared to rock the boat.
If they want to charge you extra, you may have to fight hard to get them to accept that they can't and that the fee you paid them must cover the lot.
If they won't accept your certificate, and insist on one from an electrician, you're going to have to show that you have good grounds for believing that you are competent to issue it, and you are going to have to argue with them over the fact that the law does not give them the power to insist on a certificate from someone else and also that neither the law, nor the IEE Wiring Regulations (which are not mandatory anyway) has a definition of "competence" when it comes to EICs.
How do you propose to carry out the necessary tests of the installation that are associated with certifying it?
