Cost of supply and fit 2 residential consumer units

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Essex
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United Kingdom
An old lady friend recently had 2 residential consumer units fitted: one for the electric overnight storage heaters in her very small house and the other for the ring mains. She was charged £800 cash for supply and fitting. No other work was done.

The receipt shows the tradesman as "Local Electrician", only a mobile phone number is given, his address does not tie up with Electoral Register and the receipt states that 2 men did the work when there was only 1. The work took 3.5 hours but some of that time the electrician had gone out.

Looking at a "Price for a job website", I see variations for supply and fitting of a single (12 way 17th version) consumer unit varies from £200 (Scotland) to £450 (London).

Does the £800 seem a fair price ? If not, can trading standards help with a situation where the electrician is, I suspect, just one chap working as a sole trader.
 
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The electorial register is home addresses and not work addresses. Working from a different address protects the cowboy's house from angry customers and debt collection agencies.

If there is no mention of membership of an accredited trade organisation on the receipt then it is likely he is a cowboy and it is therefore un-likely that he was able to correctly notify the local authority building control of the work and equally un-likely that his test results or self certification ( if any ) were given to them.

First line of enquiry would be to ask the building control if they are aware of this work which has to be notified to them under Building regulations Part P.

Some authorities may help you in any action that is needed as a result of the possibly non notified work and may support you in recovery of money spent.
 
The lady should also have received an Electrical Installation Certificate containing a Schedule of Inspection and Test results.
This would/should have had the details of the 'electricians' membership number.
The big question is whether the consumer unit(s) have been correctly installed and/or are they in a dangerous condition?
 
As Riveralt says, the key result of the job is whether it was done properly and safely. I would say that £800 for the job as described was well over the top, but there's no law against charging high prices - last year a householder proudly showed me his £1200 consumer unit! When it comes to prices "the market" is supposed to level things out to the buyer's best interests, but if the buyer doesn't explore the market and compare stalls they will be liable to this sort of exploitation.

Caveat emptor.

PJ
 
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She was charged £800 cash ... his address does not tie up with Electoral Register.
If he turns out to be dodgy she should tell the taxman - I'll be he won't have declared the income. Particularly if VAT evasion is involved, they will be after him like a rat up a drainpipe.
 
£800 doesn't sound astronmical, as long as the lady has her certificates and a decent job.
 
may find that this chap did it as a cash job to avoid VAT being wacked on top?
need to see some photos and the certificates to decide if it needs further investigation
 
one man. 3 and a half hours for two consumer unit changes/ installs. I bet i could do it in that time or less, but it certainly would not involve a full set of tests and inspections on all the circuits involved.

How did the old lady find the electrician?.

Go to the relevant government web site and report the details you have of him into the website, they will follow it up. I think you can do it anonymously.

But you dont know, he may have or may declare it. I often get paid in cash, it does not neccesarily mean i am a cowboy and a tax evader.
 
Is the problem the price or the quality of work? If it's the price then I cant see what you can do. This happens all too often where people accept a quote then get annoyed that they could have had it done cheaper. Around my way that price would be excessive, perhaps almost double what it could have cost but thats not really the point. The price has been agreed, the work done and the bill paid. What brand of units are they can affect the price too, it could be a chint unit or one of the units in B&Q which cost £50 ish each or it could be units fully loaded with RCBO's of a superior brand where each RCBO could cost £30+.
 
nought wrong with the BG/Nexus branded boards from B&Q, have to buy a couple of MCB's occassionally for them as wrong ones in board but still cheaper than other brands/merchants!! :LOL:
had no trouble with them so far some fitted 2+ years ago!
 
I recently had to fit one myself, I have also fitted numerous chint varients, I cant see the problem with them, they are cheap and cheerful, since MK have gone down the pan with their quality and electruim can produce faulty goods for over a year without realising theres little left to choose from thats in the middle price range. I do currently prefer Hager boards though :)

My point was that the price of materials is also going to affect the price of the job!
 
Thank you everyone, most helpful.

I was really trying to get an idea if the price was fair and, if it was not, see if there was any point in trying to get some money back. The lady is old, forgetful, frail and nervous so we are on weak ground.

My limited investigations and useful tips from this site (thanks) do not provide me with any reassurance that the electrician - from Yellow Pages - was genuine or qualified. If that proves to be the case, he looks like a man of straw and therefore we can do nothing.

Having said that, I will investigate much more throughoughly next week
 
I was really trying to get an idea if the price was fair
Probably not.


and, if it was not, see if there was any point in trying to get some money back.
If the work was OK, no.


The lady is old, forgetful, frail and nervous so we are on weak ground.
She has you to help over this.


My limited investigations and useful tips from this site (thanks) do not provide me with any reassurance that the electrician - from Yellow Pages - was genuine or qualified. If that proves to be the case, he looks like a man of straw and therefore we can do nothing.
If he's in YP then he's at least one step up from the bloke in the pub.

Does his advert claim that he is registered with NICEIC, or NAPIT, or ELECSA or ECA etc? Or say anything about Part P?


Having said that, I will investigate much more throughoughly next week
need to see some photos and the certificates to decide if it needs further investigation
whathesaidsmiley.gif
 

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