I'm just gonna waffle a bit hear but please bear with, I do have a point...
I used to work for a Mr Electric franchise that covered a city area. I came on board as a QS from my previous job at a local council.
They said that they needed me to turn things around as their NICEIC annual inspection was due in 2 months and they had no idea what would be expected of them (it was their first ever annual check).
So naturally, the first thing I did was to assess the situation to see how deep in it I was..
Well they had absolutely no idea what notification was to start.. (this was early 2008 BTW) and no understanding of something called part p. I asked for them to get me a list of their last quarter and about 80% was domestic and a good chunk of it was notifiable (they had a scheme where if an electrician 'sold' a fuseboard, they would get 20% of the total quote) which I stopped right away.
So I logged into the BRCS NICEIC site and to my surprise they hadn't notified a thing.. so then I asked about the guy before (previous QS). 'Oh we just told him he would be QS' they said. He was never checked out by the NICEIC and they had no record of him..
Then I got onto the easier things necessary for inspection..
Complaints folder,
Calibration Logs from out of house and in-house self check records,
Indemnity insurance...
Nothing.
No risk assessments, PPE records, Ladder inspections or anything.
All they wanted was periodics which resulted in fuseboards.
So I worked my ass off introducing new systems and notifying what was still within the 30 days and just trying to iron things out and all went great for the inspection..
But I had real concerns as to who inparticularly was competent in the company.
I went to the annual Mr Electric conference (where they give out badges, and pins for things like number of sales etc). It was a full tux affair. I thought it would be the chance to have a chat with the guy from home office who is supposed to be the 'technical guy' to see what his opinion on the state that the company was in had got to.
Unfortunatley he got sh*tfaced and ended up having a punch up with a load of the franchisees, and as he was 'home office' he ended up being jacked.
So I spoke to clive and said I had a couple of concerns and he suggested I came to a training day to have a chat with him.
The whole day involved him standing in the middle of the room showing dvd and projections and it was all about selling and image. Wearing a black belt to finish off the outfit. Using the Mr Electric door mat upon arrival waiting for the client to see you laying it down so that the wording is facing the client.. parking your van on the road regardless of the size of their drive so passers by can see the van. I thought the answer to the question was so oil didn't get on the driveway.. but it wasn't.
Sheesh.
The he went on to justify their charges.. £75 for the first hour then £60 an hour thereafter... and how he has a system showing that's why you have to charge that much. They've got a deal price on new db's at the moment..£599 + VAT... bargain eh.
It's then that I decided enough was enough and that I would be leaving Mr Electric. I cannot be encouraged to sell someone a fuseboard if they don't need it.
Before I left I explained to Clive that I belive that he is loosing control of the proffesionalism. I said all he needs to do is take on at least one guy at the home office who's sole job would be to travel up and down inspecting the franchisees making sure that they are performing competently and safley. But I think I pi**ed him off..
I also said that the website was incorrect, as it said they were with elecsa whilst the franchisee I was with wasn't.
So I have just logged my company out having done a notification and noticed the computer had the login details from back then saved in the browser, I couldn't resist. As I expected, I was the first person to do a notification, and I am still the last.
But the good news is that the franchise I worked for is now for sale, so hopefully someone who knows how to be an electrician will buy it. Although Clive will sell it to a milkman I expect.
So my point is this...
With all the safety aspects, different working environments, and now legal requirements being introduced to our industry.. is it still wise to franchise it out to who-ever wants to pay for it. Particularly when I have witnessed no real control or monitoring from the likes of Clive and his home office staff over the use of his product...
I used to work for a Mr Electric franchise that covered a city area. I came on board as a QS from my previous job at a local council.
They said that they needed me to turn things around as their NICEIC annual inspection was due in 2 months and they had no idea what would be expected of them (it was their first ever annual check).
So naturally, the first thing I did was to assess the situation to see how deep in it I was..
Well they had absolutely no idea what notification was to start.. (this was early 2008 BTW) and no understanding of something called part p. I asked for them to get me a list of their last quarter and about 80% was domestic and a good chunk of it was notifiable (they had a scheme where if an electrician 'sold' a fuseboard, they would get 20% of the total quote) which I stopped right away.
So I logged into the BRCS NICEIC site and to my surprise they hadn't notified a thing.. so then I asked about the guy before (previous QS). 'Oh we just told him he would be QS' they said. He was never checked out by the NICEIC and they had no record of him..
Then I got onto the easier things necessary for inspection..
Complaints folder,
Calibration Logs from out of house and in-house self check records,
Indemnity insurance...
Nothing.
No risk assessments, PPE records, Ladder inspections or anything.
All they wanted was periodics which resulted in fuseboards.
So I worked my ass off introducing new systems and notifying what was still within the 30 days and just trying to iron things out and all went great for the inspection..
But I had real concerns as to who inparticularly was competent in the company.
I went to the annual Mr Electric conference (where they give out badges, and pins for things like number of sales etc). It was a full tux affair. I thought it would be the chance to have a chat with the guy from home office who is supposed to be the 'technical guy' to see what his opinion on the state that the company was in had got to.
Unfortunatley he got sh*tfaced and ended up having a punch up with a load of the franchisees, and as he was 'home office' he ended up being jacked.
So I spoke to clive and said I had a couple of concerns and he suggested I came to a training day to have a chat with him.
The whole day involved him standing in the middle of the room showing dvd and projections and it was all about selling and image. Wearing a black belt to finish off the outfit. Using the Mr Electric door mat upon arrival waiting for the client to see you laying it down so that the wording is facing the client.. parking your van on the road regardless of the size of their drive so passers by can see the van. I thought the answer to the question was so oil didn't get on the driveway.. but it wasn't.
Sheesh.
The he went on to justify their charges.. £75 for the first hour then £60 an hour thereafter... and how he has a system showing that's why you have to charge that much. They've got a deal price on new db's at the moment..£599 + VAT... bargain eh.
It's then that I decided enough was enough and that I would be leaving Mr Electric. I cannot be encouraged to sell someone a fuseboard if they don't need it.
Before I left I explained to Clive that I belive that he is loosing control of the proffesionalism. I said all he needs to do is take on at least one guy at the home office who's sole job would be to travel up and down inspecting the franchisees making sure that they are performing competently and safley. But I think I pi**ed him off..
I also said that the website was incorrect, as it said they were with elecsa whilst the franchisee I was with wasn't.
So I have just logged my company out having done a notification and noticed the computer had the login details from back then saved in the browser, I couldn't resist. As I expected, I was the first person to do a notification, and I am still the last.
But the good news is that the franchise I worked for is now for sale, so hopefully someone who knows how to be an electrician will buy it. Although Clive will sell it to a milkman I expect.
So my point is this...
With all the safety aspects, different working environments, and now legal requirements being introduced to our industry.. is it still wise to franchise it out to who-ever wants to pay for it. Particularly when I have witnessed no real control or monitoring from the likes of Clive and his home office staff over the use of his product...
