Rewiring and certificate

[North]

Hi,

I am just about to have my house fully rewired. I got the electrician from a friend but I would like to know what is the normal process as per payment and certificate:
- Do I pay him before or after he finishes?
- How can I make sure he is a certified electrician?
- How does a certificate look like so that when he gives me mine I do know what to look at to make sure everything is legal.
Thanks

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Check they are a member of a scheme provider, ask them and ask for registration number, then contact them.
These are the scheme providers:
BSI
British Standards Institution
01442 278577
ELECSA
EC Certification Ltd
0845 634 9043
NAPIT
Napit Registration Ltd.
0845 543 0330 - Fax: 0845 543 0332
NICEIC
NICEIC Group Ltd
0870 013 0382
Method and way of payment should be agreed between you.
I like to have 20%-25% up front for materials, then I am quite happy to arrange instalments depending on the size of the job, but leave a little over for completion of work and certificates.
The certificates will vary from provider, but there will be similarities.
If the electrician is designing, installing and inspecting and testing it should be a one signature cert.
You should have at least four pages.
Link to some forms, click BS7671:2008 Right hand side of page this will download you copies of forms.
It's the 'ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION CERTIFICATES NOTES FOR FORMS 1 AND 2' (starts at page 5) this Certificate is only valid if accompanied by the Schedule of Inspections and the Schedule(s) of Test Results.
http://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-regulations/forms/index.cfm
But now you will know how easy it is download and print certs and schedules, so just because they give you a cert, does not mean they are legal. So don't take that as cast in stone
If the electrician is not a member of a scheme provider, this does not mean they are operating illegal either, but they must be a building controls notification in place prior to work starting.
This can either be applied for by you or the electrician, they often come with quite a tasty fee attached.
You can contact your local building controls officer and they will tell you if an application is in place.
But again the electrician will need to produce certificates as linked to, for building controls and yourself.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

NICEIC also have sample certificates on their site for you to look at, but really they can take any format.

The key things are:

1) The declaration of compliance with BS 7671 (The Wiring Regulations) - this is defined in the regs, so the wording should always be there.

2) The types of tests carried out - you can see those on the IET and NICEIC certificates. The layout might differ, but not the content.

 

[sparkybird]

I normally ask customers for stage payments on a rewire (might only be 2 though) but don't expect them to hand over the final payment until it's all complete and they are happy with the work.
Once the final payment has cleared, I'll issue the certificates (this is my way of making sure I get paid for the work done!)

HTH

SB

 

[ban-all-sheds]

... don't expect them to hand over the final payment until it's all complete ... Once the final payment has cleared, I'll issue the certificates ...

It's not complete until you have issued the certificate.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Once the final payment has cleared, I'll issue the certificates (this is my way of making sure I get paid for the work done!)

that's fair, some dodgy folk not wanting cough up the last bit!