Minor works certificate

[wolfboy]

Hi,

I need to run a new socket (spur) off the ring main into a cupboard. Is it possible/ legal for me to do the work myself and then have an electrician test and issue a minor works certificate. Are electricians reluctant to do this and am I likely to save any money?

Thanks
Martin

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Is it possible/ legal for me to do the work myself and then have an electrician test and issue a minor works certificate.

If you know how to do it, then yes you can just do it, no certs needed, provided it's not in any special zone.

 

[ericmark]

No, an electrician can't issue a certificate for work he has not done, but you can issue it, you have done the work. He can do the inspection and testing and record it on an EICR, which is nearly the same as an insulation certificate, and the figures can be obtained by inquiry, so nothing wrong copying his readings onto your certificate.

So in essence, he can fill in the certificate with all the readings, and you sign it. As you have done the work.

 

[BS3036]

I need to run a new socket (spur) off the ring main into a cupboard. Is it possible/ legal for me to do the work myself

As long as it isn't in the bathroom, and you are sure you are doing it right, you can do this yourself totally legally. Eric used to work as an electrician for pay, and seems to want you to give money to an electrician, but you only need to pay money if you don't know how to do the job yourself.

 

[wolfboy]

Thanks guys.

 

[ericmark]

As long as it isn't in the bathroom, and you are sure you are doing it right, you can do this yourself totally legally. Eric used to work as an electrician for pay, and seems to want you to give money to an electrician, but you only need to pay money if you don't know how to do the job yourself.

Correct, what I was trying to say, is you don't need to own the test equipment, someone can do the testing for you, but you sign the certificate as you have done the work.

 

[ebee]

As far as I am aware, a report was decided in court to be allowed to call a certificate (We as Electricians usually refer to certificates and reports (PIR/EICRs) as seperate things.
If we follow that lead (some might not like it) that they are all "certificates" of some kind then it just might make it easier to simply state "Yes you can do them yourself providing that you are competant enough to do them properly and therefore not mislead.
"Competance" in such is not such a straightforward concept to define universally (there are some discussions on this forum about that).
As for certifying someone elses work then yes you can - the original EICR template on the IET (IEE) website gives some "model forms" that you are expected to broadly comply and allows for three persons to sign it 1/ The Installer 2/ The Designer(s) and 3/ The Test/Inspector .
So as long as you competant to your part or parts of that then OK.
There is a simple version of the certificate where a person gives one signature for all three parts too.

When I mentioned "Competant" this is not to be confused with a "Competant Persion Scheme" as required under Part P (England and Wales have slight differences too), that is a different thing.

In short, you can sign providing you do not decieve both intentionally and unintentionally so long as you make it clear what you have done and what you have tested properly.

PS - A few years back a Gas Engineer commented to me (and this applies not just to Gas work but Electric works too in my opinion)
"The only person that is being policed is the bloke who is trying to do it right in the first place" I think he might have been right.

 

[Mottie]

PS - A few years back a Gas Engineer commented to me (and this applies not just to Gas work but Electric works too in my opinion)
"The only person that is being policed is the bloke who is trying to do it right in the first place" I think he might have been right.

That applies to everything. The police only go for the easy targets. Hardened lawbreakers are often ignored - too difficult, expensive and dangerous to apprehend them. They’d sooner stop a poor person stealing a loaf of bread than tackle a seasoned shoplifter filling a bag with £199 of fillet steak.