Don't forget your home insurance may not cover you should your house burn down due to you having a 10kw shower on <1mm bell wire etc so get someone in to give some advice and the main thing will be that they can tell you what to do and how to do it and so long as you don't plaster over the wiring/stick laminate over the floorboards etc so he can have a look and say "that looks fine to me" you're sorted as he'll willingly sign off the job as its basically the same as if he'd got a trainee to do the job but not have to pay them
No Ring... Where To Start?!
- Thread starter jagillham
- Start date
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Thanks for the link, I have taken a look before, but little lost in the pages. I understand what is strictly the law, but I can't see how it works in the real world. Say I buy a house, and want the consumer unit changed (the case is broken). Everything is fine, so does it get signed off, even though they didn't do the rest of the wiring?
That is indeed what I thought.
And which therefore makes it completely pointless to keep on asking about what you currently have - what you have is irrelevant, as it is being removed.
If you had then you would not have been left with the dubious sounding final circuits you describe. Unless the new CU had been installed by an idiot.
Sorry - I really can't be rsed to do it in powerpoint and export as a JPG just to get letters bigger than this site provides as standard, so more in hope than expectation I will try this one more time.
YOU
MAY
NOT
DO
ANY
WORK
WHICH
YOUR
ELECTRICIAN
HAS
NOT
AGREED
BEFOREHAND
THAT
YOU
MAY
DO.
YOU
HAVE
TO
FIND
YOUR
ELECTRICIAN
FIRST
AND
AGREE
WITH
HIM
WHAT
WORK
YOU
MAY
DO.
OK?
They certify the work they did, which is replacing the CU.
In your case you are hoping for someone to certify work which you have done.
Not the same.
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As already stated the electrician will only sign off work he has done, the electrical certificate issued should give a clear description of the work completed; the building compliance certficate should cross reference that electrical certificate. So in your example it will only cover the consumer unit replacement and NOT rest of the electrical installation.
If you want to do the work yourself and you need to NOTIFY your building control department BEFORE you start. There will also be a fee to pay, and they may impose some conditions on how you do the work. Or ask your electrician.
Not the same at all. The trainee will ( should ) be aware of what not to do and what must be done to make the installation safe.
If someone signs of your work as safe and there is a fire and your insurance company sue him for the costs he would be able to claim on his insurance for the lapse of the trainee who he must name to his insurers. If he cannot name the person who made the error then his insurance will not pay his claim. There for a reputable electrician is not going to sign of the work you do unless he is there to see EVERY bit of cable as it is installed.
That said a dis-reputable "electrician" ( aka house basher ) might take a chance and for a nice handfull of ten pound notes sign off the work. If there is a fire he will declare himself bankrupt to avoid having to pay any claims, you insurers will then investigate a bit further and your claim will be reduced considerable, that is if they pay anything at all.
It isn't fair on people who do have the knowledge and skills to do DIY work properly and safely but if it prevents a few cheap skate bodgers from causing accidents then it is worth it and so be it.
For all the big font (I can read and am quite well educated, but thank you 
) it does still say on the local building control website that I can do the work and pay them to test/sign it off.
To my mind then, the most cost effective option is to lay all the new wires, sockets etc (notifying BCO first ofcourse). Pay the sparky to install the new CSU and sign that bit off, and the council to sign off the rest?
) it does still say on the local building control website that I can do the work and pay them to test/sign it off.To my mind then, the most cost effective option is to lay all the new wires, sockets etc (notifying BCO first ofcourse). Pay the sparky to install the new CSU and sign that bit off, and the council to sign off the rest?
In deciding that such was the most cost-effective solution for you, did you ascertain what the 'appropriate fee' charged by your LA would be? The figure varies between councils, but can be quite substantial.
One practical problem with what you suggest is that the inspection/testing of the installation may not give satisfactory results if the LA test after your re-wiring but before the CU change - or, if the other way around, the inspection/testing of the installation (by the electrician) may not give satisfactory results if undertaken after the CU change but before your re-wiring. Either way, that could represent a problem of 'signing off'.
Kind Regards, John
OK I see your point there. Hopefully it would all be fine, as the consumer unit was installed about 2007, but no way of knowing for sure I suppose.
Could I, for example, have the electrician put the new box in and signed off. Then DIY the sockets for the BCO to sign later? Or, will the box not pass if the old sockets/wiring not up to scratch.
I've not checked the cost as yet, but will do. Clearly if there is not much in it, makes sense to get the electrician to do the lot.
Could I, for example, have the electrician put the new box in and signed off. Then DIY the sockets for the BCO to sign later? Or, will the box not pass if the old sockets/wiring not up to scratch.
I've not checked the cost as yet, but will do. Clearly if there is not much in it, makes sense to get the electrician to do the lot.
As I said, there could be a problem. The tests undertaken after a box change involve the whole installation - so could 'fail' if the box change was done before the other work.
Exactly. As I said, charges vary. In my area, the local authority charge is currently £350 - which would pay for a good few hours of an electrician's time.
Kind Regards, John
£350?! A lot more than I would have thought!
I suppose the chances the getting the BCO and sparky there at the same time to do the lot are slim to none?
Any rough guesses of how many getting the whole thing done would be if I had all the boards up ready etc? I'm down in Kent.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the law does seem to back people into a corner. What if the consumer unit needed changing, but the customer was unable/unwilling or unable to afford a full rewire? What happens then, they have to sit in the dark & cold until they can afford it?
A lot more than I would have thought!I suppose the chances the getting the BCO and sparky there at the same time to do the lot are slim to none?
Any rough guesses of how many getting the whole thing done would be if I had all the boards up ready etc? I'm down in Kent.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the law does seem to back people into a corner. What if the consumer unit needed changing, but the customer was unable/unwilling or unable to afford a full rewire? What happens then, they have to sit in the dark & cold until they can afford it?
jagillham said:
Under what conditions would you expect that to happen?
I suspected that you might say that - but I did warn you£350?!
You'd have to asked them. The electrician might possibly be fairly flexible, timing wise.
I don't really understand that question. If you're asking how much it would cost, there are others here who might be able to give you some idea - although they are bound to say that 'it depends' on the actual situation.
There are many criticisms of the present situation, some relating to the level of LA charges, particularly in relation to very small jobs. One might argue that, in terms of the big picture, £350 is 'not too bad' in relation to the total cost of a 'full re-wire', but it would certainly be a bit ridiculous to pay £350 for, say, just adding one light in a kitchen. However, in terms of what you actually say, if the present wiring was going to fail tests, then that would 'need' re-doing just as much as would replacing the CU.
Kind Regards, John
But you aren't doing the electrical work in isolation. "Moving some walls" is almost certainly going to need Building Regulations approval, so the electrics would just be part of that.£350?!
Why do you think that if you replace the CU you also need to completely rewire?
I think (s)he was hypothesising a situation in which the wiring was so bad that post-CU-change tests of the installation would yield unsatisfactory results. As I responded, if that were the case, the wiring would 'need' attention at least as much as the CU!
Kind Regards, John
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