Do I need a Periodic Inspection Report?

[ericmark]

MalcofArabia is in many ways right. The LABC would not allow my son to sign the installation certificate he only had a C&G 2391 and 2381 (as it was then) they would let me sign as I had a degree in electrical and electronic engineering. I also had C&G 2391 and 2381 but never asked me about them. Which to me says the LABC were clueless as my degree was nothing to do with house electrics although of course I did not tell them that.

As far as I am aware it is the house owners responsibility to ensure the LABC are informed and the builder although will often do it for you has not got to. If you can say hand on heart I thought builder had done that for me then OK. However if builder says he thought you were doing it the LABC must try to work out who's telling the truth. And at end of the day and correction orders are issued to you the owner not the builder.

However not to involve them means no insurance, and the house becomes unsellable and the mortgage company can demand repayment. So is it worth it?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Have you paid the builder?

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

Would the person who gave that a thumbs down care to to provide a rational explanation of what was wrong with it?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Have you paid the builder?

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

Would the person who gave that a thumbs down care to to provide a rational explanation of what was wrong with it?

Would the two people who gave that thumbs downs care to to provide a rational explanation of what was wrong with it?

It seemed a reasonable question to me, noting my post got marked down and yet MalcofArabia got no criticism for discussing the same issues I asked about.

 

[ricicle]

It probably wouldn't take a genius to guess which timewasters did it, so I wouldn't bother lowering yourself to their level.

 

[LiamPope]

BAS - you dont honestly think you'll actually get a sensible answer to that, do you? My advice would be to not allow this ratings thing to become a fun new feature which a few immature people use to wind you up. If you keep responding in that way, that's exactly what it'll become, and there'll be yet another reason for threads to be derailed off topic into endless repetative keyboard fighting nonsense. Rise above.

 

[greenboy5]

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.

So am I correct that if we get a Certificate for the electrics from the electrician that will be enough (and preclude the need for a Cert of Completion)?

Regarding the RSJ - if I wanted to get regularisation - would I need architect's drawings or are the engineer's calcs enough? Would it be best not to open a can of worms?

 

[greenboy5]

Which to me says the LABC were clueless as my degree was nothing to do with house electrics although of course I did not tell them that.

However not to involve them means no insurance, and the house becomes unsellable and the mortgage company can demand repayment. So is it worth it?

I don't understand how you can extol the virtues of involving BC if you freely admit they are clueless.

Anyway, please elaborate when you say that not to involve them means no insurance.. I didn't know that...?

 

[pjcomp]

So am I correct that if we get a Certificate for the electrics from the electrician that will be enough (and preclude the need for a Cert of Completion)?

Regarding the RSJ - if I wanted to get regularisation - would I need architect's drawings or are the engineer's calcs enough? Would it be best not to open a can of worms?

You'll need the electrical installation certificate from the installing electrician so the LABC can tick the box on their paperwork before issuing the completion certificate. The electrciian will need to be a member of an approved scheme that allows him/her to sign off their own work.

As regards the RSJ, the engineer's calculations are only part of it - LABC will want proof that those calculations were followed by the builder. Such proof is usually obtained by a building inspector coming round at strategic points during the work to ensure that the builder is doing things right before he covers it all up with plaster.

On the one hand you might want to quietly forget the whole thing and let sleeping dogs lie .... but when you come to sell the house the buyer's solicitor will be asking for all this paperwork that shows the building work was done properly, was done within the building regs, and was signed off by the building inspector. And your property insurance may well be invalidated if you've had unapproved work done.

PJ

 

[greenboy5]

so you decided LET"S DO IT ON THE CHEAP good idea save a few quid, well you may find you haven't

Considering he charged me over £2k for replacing the old RSJ with a new one, I'm not sure how much choice I had

 

[greenboy5]

On the one hand you might want to quietly forget the whole thing and let sleeping dogs lie .... but when you come to sell the house the buyer's solicitor will be asking for all this paperwork that shows the building work was done properly, was done within the building regs, and was signed off by the building inspector. And your property insurance may well be invalidated if you've had unapproved work done.PJ

Oh gosh. I don't really care about your first point, because I don't plan on selling the house (only just bought it!), but you've got me all nervous now about the insurance. I never even thought about that. I suppose if I wanted to get regularisation I'd end up with a big mess in my dining room...?

 

[pjcomp]

It might be an idea to throw yourself on the mercy of the building inspectors. Go along and explain the situation, that you trusted in the builder you employed to do things by the book but now you're not sure if he did. They'll probably be familiar with him and be able to tell you whether he's likely to have done a good job. Yes, it might mean a bit of a mess if they decided to open up a few bits of wall to check the workmanship, but better to get that over and done with sooner rather than later. Could be everything is OK - there's what's called permitted development which doesn't involve planning permission or building regs permission and this work may fall into that category - again, building control will confirm or otherwise.

PJ

 

[LiamPope]

I don't understand how you can extol the virtues of involving BC if you freely admit they are clueless.

Because whatever one's personal personal opinion of them might be, the law says they have to be involved with notifiable/controlled work, which includes most of what you've had done, not just the electrical work.

You will need a completion certificate for the whole work if you want to successfully sell the house without any trouble. If any major house insurance claim ever has to go in, and the insurance company look into things and find out you've done unapproved building work, they wont be paying a penny. In both cases, I suppose you could always try and pretent the work was all carried out before you moved in, but I dont like your chances of passing that one off.

Sounds like you've used a cheap cowboy builder who possibly avoids notifying BC because his work isnt up to standard. If you can't trust his electrical work, can you trust his structural work? Do you have a copy of these 'structural engineer's calculations'? I would question if they even exist. He has probably, at best, used previous experience or rule of thumb, and the RSJ installation may well be OK, but then again, it could not be. Without calcs and inspection you don't know. Maybe your house will fall down tomorrow - who knows? The buck will stop with you the owner at the end of the day. You've also admitted you were complicit in avoiding notifying BC, so you will have a hard time claiming ignorance, not that that would help anyway.

If I were you I'd be getting BC involved sooner rather than later, and be witholding payment from the builder until you get your required paperwork. You should also be prepared for BC to want to remove plaster etc to inspect the structural work is done to standard.

 

[greenboy5]

Could be everything is OK - there's what's called permitted development which doesn't involve planning permission or building regs permission and this work may fall into that category - again, building control will confirm or otherwise.PJ

Thanks for your help, although I think you are mistaken here. Permitted development only relieves the need for planning permission - not for Building Regs - so that won't really help me

 

[greenboy5]

Sounds like you've used a cheap cowboy builder who possibly avoids notifying BC because his work isnt up to standard. If you can't trust his electrical work, can you trust his structural work?

Thanks for the reply. As it happens, we have got the Completion Certificate for the extension proper, so seems his structural work may be okay. He claims he is on good terms with BC - they trust his work etc - which may be true, considering the BC Surveyor was inspecting the foundations long before I'd even submitted the Application, which would imply they trust him.

Maybe I'll have a word with him and find out best way to go about it.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It probably wouldn't take a genius to guess which timewasters did it, so I wouldn't bother lowering yourself to their level.

I'm not, I'm just highlighting their petty and immature idiocy.