Shopping list for first fix?

[cjard]

Hi guys, just wondering if someone would cast an eye over this and tell me if I've left anything out? I'm after getting a rake of stuff to leave my electrician working his way through


100 amp switch fuse
25mm SWA 4 core (CU is 10 metres from meter)
10mm T&E
2.5mm T&E
1.5mm T&E
single back boxes (metal or drylining? there isn't always anything to fix metal ones to e.g. a noggin, and using drylining boxes would save me having to mess about installing noggins.. but are metal/nogs better?) )
double back boxes
clips
grommets (are they needed for drylining boxes?)
fire alarm cable (? or is it just normal cable to mains powered alarms?)
cat 5 cable (to light switches/power points, for future home automation purposes)
cat 6 cable (for media/networking purposes)
coax
doorbell cable
cable clips



thanks

 

[333rocky333]

dry lining boxes always seem to make the frontplates not sit flat
theres a new type now that spans the studs
why 4 core swa

 

[flameport]

1.5mm T&E if you insist, 1.0mm will be suitable unless your lighting circuits are massively long.
The SWA will require suitable glands at each end.

Drylining boxes do not require grommets, metal ones do.
If you want flat plate sockets, get 35mm deep boxes.
Lighting boxes 25mm at least, do not buy or fit the 16mm ones, they are useless.

Smoke alarms use standard 3 core & earth, fire resistant cables are not required.
Doorbell can be done in Cat5, no need to buy separate cable for it.

 

[Taylortwocities]

My major thought is that you should be asking your electrician this. He is the one who is going to do the installation.

Personally, I hate it when customers provide materials. It is often wrong, or there is not enough, or there is too much. In my experience, you wont save any money by taking this approach.
When I provide a price for a job (labour + materials) I will provide a fixed price, as I know what is going on. If you supply the materials then i'll do it on a day/hourly rate to cover for the unknown. That's more expensive for you.

Re CAT 5 & 6. Cable comes in 1000ft reels, so do the lot in CAT6

 

[cjard]

ofigured I'd mount the DL boxes in the plasterboard before the plasterer comes, with a bit of glue so that when the socket face is released the box remains flush with the PB and can be skimmed up to, should give a more flush finish, but I'll note the point and consider noggins for internal walls.. external walls have a service void already so could use the metal boxes. Maybe cost effective to do so as the metal ones seem to work out cheaper than plastic (though at these quantity there is probly only a few quid in it)

Light circuits shouldn't be excessive - probably 4 rings like the sockets are (front and back/up and downstairs) with a dimmable transformer and bank of LEDs on every switch (considering varilight gear).. but I did wonder whether, with the use of 12v instead of 240 and the commensurate increase in current from switch/transformer to bulb, whether getting a few reels of 1.5 would be better for the lighting..? or maybe I should do the 240v runs in 1mm and the 12v bits in something thicker?

4 core swa because.. I need 3 cores as is, and if I have something like economy 7 in future I'd like a spare core for that feed without having to run another cable. For now he's just going to use 2 cores as earth + L + N. Got a load of glands kicking around in a box somewhere..

35mm it is

Sparky requested I get the gear for reasons best known only to him and his accountant.. And much as I'd love to leave him to it, he never orders enough, so finds himself toddling off to the local Newey & Eyre to get punched on the nose for prices, or disappearing for half a day to the next town over to get a reasonable amount of gear..

 

[sparkwright]

As well as 1.5 mm2 T&E for the lighting, it's highly likely you will also need 1.5 (or 1.0) mm2 3 CORE&E.

This is used for 2 way switching, timed fans, smoke alarms where more than one is required, central heating.

Never goes right when customers supply their own materials...

 

[cjard]

Noted re the 3C&E, cheers.. As for supplying my own gear; believe it or not, it's at his request!

 

[Jackrae]

He's not a "credit risk" by any chance and therefore only buys with cash.

 

[JohnW2]

He's not a "credit risk" by any chance and therefore only buys with cash.

That's obviously a possibility, but he may also be trying to keep his turnover below the VAT registration threshold. cjard: is he going to charge VAT for his work?

Kind Regards, John

 

[cjard]

He did mention a preference for keeping below some threshold or other, and he isn't VAT registered.. I'm getting his services cheap enough that I couldn't do better with a vat reg spark charging me 5%

 

[JohnW2]

He did mention a preference for keeping below some threshold or other, and he isn't VAT registered..

In that case, I would suspect that what I suggested could very well be the explanation. I have to say that it does seem a bit daft that what are essentially 'pass through expenses' count towards the turnover which determines whether one has to be VAT registered.

Kind Regards, John

 

[DaveHerns]

If he's not too "legit" are you going to get the proper paperwork on completion?
I had a bathroom fitter who kept "popping out for supplies" but I know now he was off to the pub for a few pints...

 

[cjard]

Just because someone doesn't want the accounting headache of vat return 4 times a year and have hmrc treating them like someone on the fiddle, does it make them "not too legit"?

 

[JohnW2]

Just because someone doesn't want the accounting headache of vat return 4 times a year and have hmrc treating them like someone on the fiddle, does it make them "not too legit"?

Indeed not, and, from the point-of view of the majority of domestic customers (who will rarely be able to reclaim VAT) a non-VAT-registered electrician is almost 17% 'cheaper' than a VAT-registered one - so presumably quite likely to attract customers.

Kind Regards, John

 

[cjard]

Regards the shopping list, because of the distance from meter board to cu I'll need a suitable isolator. It apparently also improves the health and safety of the install process.

I've a question, having seen them referred to as switch fuses, does it thus really have to be a (100amp) fuse like this:

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CGMSF100.html

Or is this the same thing (seems to be an mcb based device rather than a cartridge fuse):

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/Products/size_3/CGFS100.JPG


And in any case, is that thing above just one of these

http://www.screwfix.com/p/mk-sentry-100a-dp-incomer-main-switch-isolator/80187

in an enclosure:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-ip40-insulated-enclosure/32311