Need advice

[Fabs]

Hello,

I am having a bit of a nightmare at the moment.
I hired a team of polish builders to refurbish my new house.
This work involved mainly fitting a new bathroom, kitchen, central heating and patching up the roof, partially knocking a wall down and having the kitchen and garage rewired.
The wall that was partially knocked down hosted the meter and CU.
The builders moved the meter and CU to another location and extended the meter tails. All in all they did a good job.

However I note from this forum that only the electricity board are supposed to handle tails, meter etc etc.

I am now worried that I have broken the law and invalidated my insurance.
How can I sorth this mess out?

I rang the builders but they don't want to know. I paid cash with no written contract so I can't do much with them.

 

[Click-Sure]

Did you get an EIC showing particulars of work done, test results etc for the electrical work?

Seeing as they've moved DNO-side equipment, I doubt it. Out of interest, how did they go about 'extending' the tails, or did they all play tug of war with them to stretch them? (I've seen polish gangs do stranger).

Edit: wanted to say more.

 

[ricicle]

Did you get an EIC?

 

[Fabs]

The posted me an excel spreadsheet with some values in it.

I did query the tail job at the time. They said they would not bother ringing the DNO because they would not bother to turn out anyway.
They extended the tails to the other room beyond the knocked down wall. All in all it looks quite tidy. The only beef I have is that from what i read on here, the DNO should have been asked fotr authorisation.
I mean I appreciate their initiative for extending the tails and moving the equipment but I could have done with knowing beforehand that ideally the DNO should have been informed.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I do hope that you are not for one second blaming anyone but yourself for the situation you are in.

If you're going to project manage building and electrical work then there are all sorts of things you need to know about before starting, and if you go ahead despite your ignorance of them then all sorts of things can go wrong.

 

[Fabs]

I do hope that you are not for one second blaming anyone but yourself for the situation you are in.

If you're going to project manage building and electrical work then there are all sorts of things you need to know about before starting, and if you go ahead despite your ignorance of them then all sorts of things can go wrong.

As said before, I am happy with their work. The tails look tidy (even if a bit long) and I have power. Howeever I wished I knew before that the DNO had to be involved.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

As said before, I am happy with their work. The tails look tidy (even if a bit long) and I have power.

But do you have power safely?

Howeever I wished I knew before that the DNO had to be involved.

As I said - it is entirely your fault that you didn't know.

 

[sparkydude]

Can you post a few pics so we can look closer into what has actually been done?

Nick

 

[plugwash]

some pictures would be nice.

did they move the meter?
did they move the service cutout?
did they extend the existing tails with some kind of joint or did they replace them?

 

[Click-Sure]

did they move the service cutout?

Lets hope they got one of the 'insulated poles' to do that job!

 

[Pensdown]

did they move the service cutout?

Lets hope they got one of the 'insulated poles' to do that job!

 

[DESL]

All I will say is you get what you pay for!!!!

 

[fleming'slefthandrule]

Not my field but what about the rest of the work they did? Does this not come under any building regs?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I expect that Fabs will be back to say that he just wished he'd known in advance that things like knocking down walls, installing bathrooms, central heating and rewiring required Building Regulations approval...

 

[Softus]

Howeever I wished I knew before that the DNO had to be involved.

As I said - it is entirely your fault that you didn't know.

Blame, blame, blame, blame, blame. Does your life comprise nothing else?

By the same token, Fabs' builders had no business doing something illegal, and had a duty to inform him if they were being asked to do something illegal.

Fabs - have you considered commissioning an independent test of your installation? It would give you peace of mind, and a document to which you could refer if challenged.

The point about Building Control is also valid - some of the work you've had done should have been notified under Part P of the Building Regulations.