Do I need a Periodic Inspection Report?

[greenboy5]

I've just had my London 4 bed house renovated and extended. I believe the electrics were completely rewired in the house proper, and new electrics installed in the extension.

My builder used a different electrician for each job. The first gave us a (handwritten) certificate. The second hasn't yet and tbh, am not sure will.

We would like to be sure the electrics have all been done competently (especially as there have been a few minor mistakes). What would be the best / costeffective method of achieving this? Would a full Periodic Inspection Report be sensible?

Many thanks.

 

[pjcomp]

The best method would be to go to the builder and insist on the electrical work being properly certificated - from your message it appears he was the main contractor and subbed out to the electricians, so he is responsible. Did you have to go through planning consent and building control? If so the local authority should be insisting on seeing certification for the electrical work before giving you your completion certifcate.

PJ

 

[ricicle]

Don't pay until you receive the full and correct certification.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Have you paid the builder?

What happened about a Building Regulations completion notice for the electrical work?

 

[greenboy5]

The best method would be to go to the builder and insist on the electrical work being properly certificatedPJ

That brings me to another point - the 1st electrician provided me with some sort of handwritten form. Is it possible that is a genuine NICEIC or similar certificate? I was expecting a typed form/report.

 

[ricicle]

If the Electrician was not using design software then it it acceptable for the forms to be hand written. Did they have the logo on them with the contractors membership no. ?

 

[greenboy5]

What happened about a Building Regulations completion notice for the electrical work?

I don't know. I'm not that sure my contractor is really into Building Regs.

We had the chimneys taken out and he was very surprised when I asked why Building Control weren't informed. Said he asked a BC Surveyor and was told 'most ppl don't apply for one and the BC turn a blind eye to it'. (In the end I didn't trust him so got the chimneys completely taken out through the roof too, so no support needed.)

Also, I had 2 rooms knocked through and a RSJ fitted and while he claims he got an engineer to provide calculations, he told me we can't get Building Regs for it unless I pay an architect to draw up plans.

I also got the impression that he doesn't usually apply for a Cert of Completion for his extensions (although I made sure to get one myself).

 

[greenboy5]

Don't pay until you receive the full and correct certification.

His electrician (the 1 who I am unsure will provide certification) is currently away. Would it make sense to have an inspection done by someone else, then if anything is wrong, provide a list to the contractor for his electrician to remedy?

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[greenboy5]

The piece of paper you need is an EIC (electrical inastallation certificate) this verifies that every part of the installation is correctly designed, installed and tested.

A PIR only verifies some of the visible parts and may or may not include full testing.

I've googled a sample EIC - it does look a lot like the handwritten certificate i received from the 1st electrician (maybe I'll post a JPG of it later)

I thought a full PIR, as opposed to a visual one, would take several hours and would involve full testing

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[MalcofArabia]

To be honest you may be between a rock and a hard place here.

Some BC are very understanding and if you contacted them telling them you had your electrical installation done and didn't receive documentation they my issue you a certificate on a comprehensive PIR. They though will most likely choose the electrician and charge you for it as well as all the other notification work. It will not be an EIC but as I said, but some BC do sign off on PIR's in certain circumstances.

They may also ask you who did the installation as they may want find out who is doing work and either, not self certifying it, or not notifying them. You then may have to answer some awkward questions on all the building work done in the house that was not under BC control. So your going to have to really tread carefully here.

You may find the best course of action is,and it was said before, contact the builder and hopefully you have not paid him in full. Tell him unless you get all the paperwork, including building and electrics you are not going to pay him.

 

[greenboy5]

They may also ask you who did the installation as they may want find out who is doing work and either, not self certifying it, or not notifying them. You then may have to answer some awkward questions on all the building work done in the house that was not under BC control. So your going to have to really tread carefully here.

Not sure I understand you here. Why would I get in trouble? I'm just the clueless customer being guided along by the Contractor/Project manager. I dont know which areas of building work do or do not need BR's. Surely it's his responsibility, not mine, to get BC involved?

 

[ericmark]

The blank form can be down loaded here

I had problems with my fathers wet room. My sister insisted we did not DIY and she arranged for a PROPER builder.

There was a time constraint as it needed to be finished before my mother came out of hospital as now with one leg wet room was necessary.

They over ran on time and seemed to have great problems cementing tiles to the floor seems the cement was faulty and would not dry. We had noted repair on electric under floor heating and were dissatisfied mainly as not finished on time.

After they had over run by 3 weeks my son told them it must be finished by end of that week and they walked off job never to be seen again. As part of the job the consumer unit had been changed, Lintel fitted where wall knocked down, and doorway altered.

On calling building inspector he passed the drains but found no packing under lintel. We had to remove tiles because of non setting cement and found lintel above door only supported on one side. This we got another builder to fix for us. The whole under floor heating had to be replaced as open circuit. And fault finding on RCD protected circuits was a nightmare. We were lucky building control accepted the installation certificate with no signatures against design and installation and a note to say I had only inspected and tested the electrics not fitted by myself. And a completion certificate was issued.

We were not told what happened to builders but know building control were looking into them and they stopped trading.

Why they didn't inform building control in first place must be they knew they were sub-standard as there was no charge for work for the disabled. They didn't get final payment but did get instalments.

From my experience the sooner you contact building control the better. We will guess the builder did not pay the electrician as he was to have returned to finish off the work but never seen again and builder was trying to DIY the electrical work. I would guess this is why no installation certificates were issued guess electrician wanted paying before issuing.

 

[MalcofArabia]

And don't think the BC are clueless either. The worse case scenario is that they can make you undo all this work if you didn't get the right documentation.

The sorry but I didn't know, isn't a defence with the BC. They take the view that you should have least asked if you wasn't sure, . You are in a no win situation with them, if you get a real stinker of an inspector he could make your life a misery. I was only trying to help you by saying what happens in the real world. You said yourself that you had chimney breast removed and Steel girders installed. You said yourself that you ask ed the builder about BC and his reply was don't get building control invloved as they would want drawings and architects!!, so you decided LET"S DO IT ON THE CHEAP good idea save a few quid, well you may find you haven't

But go ahead and do what you feel is best.