visual inspection reporting, not periodic inspection.

[granthamarms]

when you guys do any visual inspections for landlords how do you produce a report for them? are there any preprinted reports or do you all have your own versions. also if i start doing some of this work im thinking of including photos of any remedial work to be included. what do u think?

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

You can get free downloadable forms of the IEE website, but why just visual, why not the whole PIR?

 

[dingbat]

A visual inspection is a Periodic Inspection.

See Regulation 621.2.

Very few tests are actually essential and, in any case, most landlords' installations will be unsatisfactory before any testing need be carried out.

A better approach would be to arrange to meet your client on-site and explain this; then you can negotiate a better service for him than charging for something you could tell him in ten minutes.

I used to get them to pay me for a detailed quote for remedial work. It worked really well.

 

[Johnmelad502]

You can get free downloadable forms of the IEE website, but why just visual, why not the whole PIR?

Link?

 

[Taylortwocities]

The VIR is a farce invented by the NICEIC - who should know better.

There is no VIR form on the IET website. You can find a sample report here VIR
and hereVIR

If you do this then you'd better have a long list of disclaimers and limitations.

 

[dingbat]

The VIR is a farce invented by the NICEIC - who should know better.

I don't know why you believe this.

The inspection is far more likely, in many installations, to reveal critical problems which would warrant an 'unsatisfactory' assessment without any testing being needed. A competent person and an ethical contractor would better serve his client by carrying out an inspection only, for a reasonable sum and then use that as a basis for recommending any further investigation, which would probably involve testing.

Scenario:

A client phones you up for a visual condition report. You chew his ear off and insist - as you're a proper sparky [rant, rant] - that only a full inspection and test (impossible, by the way, unless you want to create havoc) is acceptable. He says thanks very much, declines your quote and goes with the nice young man who's offered to do a visual for £75.

You've lost your client to him. Worse still, the nice young man is no cowboy and he carries out a thorough inspection, delivers the report by hand, discusses what he's found and and what's needed to bring the installation up to scratch and walks away with a nice little job in the bag for next week.

(The client, meanwhile, thinks you are the cowboy because you wanted to do charge far more than was necessary to report on the general condition of the installation!)

A VIR is a PIR with the limitation being that no testing is to be carried out. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it - in fact, for many older installations it is the only reasonable route - and all the NICEIC have done is produce a simple form to record the findings.

Of course people will take advantage and the ignorant will carry out such inspections, but don't fool yourself that this wasn't happening before the NIC created this piece of paper.