What Would You Do?

[securespark]

This is related to my desire to rewire Secure Towers.

I have spoken to my local BCO, explaining who I work for, the fact that I do reportable work for my employer & that I am qualified with 20+ year's experience and various bits of paper etc etc....He has pooh-poohed all of this.
He even had the cheek (when I offered to meet him & show him my certs) to suggest that it would not help because he would not be able to verify their authenticity...

As far as he is concerned I am a DIY'er. I should pay the fees (£400+) and submit full plans. I should then allow him to inspect my installation ("EVERY INCH" were his precise words). I have told him I cannot do this job in one hit, but would have to work over many weekends. He replied that he will only make two calls to inspect, but still insists on seeing every inch of the new installation.

I can see he is very picky and could see him (for example) failing the installation because cables are not clipped in inaccesible places.

He also expects me to pay for I&T. Apparently all the councils "agreed" that was the way they were going to deal with it. No amount of explaining that this practice is not acceptable seems to sway him.

How would you tackle the situation?

1. Rewire, cross your fingers and sweat out 6 months?

2. Train up to self-certify & then rewire?

3. Bearing in mind time/money/effort is in short supply, fight the council:

Notify, pay the fee, rewire, get inspected (having fought their "TWO INSPECTIONS ONLY" rule) and demand they inspect & test without extra fees?

4. Your own solution?

 

[JonoPashley]

Sounds like you got their office jumped up know it all.
Personally id go see their head man and see what his stance is(if it wasnt him you were already talking to)

 

[ColJack]

why can't you do it through work if you already do reportable work for them?
bung them £100 to sign a bit of paper for you once it's done..


will be doing this with my uncle once I've finished my kitchen, but for a couple of pints of beer as payment and a goodwill gesture of £20 + whatever the paperwork costs him.

I'm fully qualified, but since I don't do domestic have no interest in joining a self cert scheme to just do my house..
plus from what's been said on here you have to go the LABC route for a couple first anyway so that the scheme can come and check your work..

 

[Lectrician]

Will your employer not allow you to certify the job through them? It costs peanuts as you know.

 

[Stoday]

It's clear your BCO does not want to deal with anyone who can't self-certify.

So do your work and ignore the BCO.

Get the "you pay for I&T" in writing, so that if things go t*ts up you have an excuse and he an embarrassement. There's a copy of a home office circular that says the BCO cannot charge for I&T and in any case you should find it impossible as a DIYer to get I&T.

 

[ericmark]

I wrote to my MP. It seems in Wales the charge is £100 plus vat.
The council told MP that they had visited sites where qualified electricians had made blatant mistakes so now tested all in same manor.
I complained about charges and sited worse case scenario where it states that any alteration to central heating needs Part P approval so to change a thermostat to a thermostat with timers in theory requires Part P but it requires only two wires to be swapped like for like.
It seems at this moment new guide lines are being drawn up allowing councils more flexibility as at the moment the minimum price that any job is calculated at is £2000 so if your being quoted £400 then must be £8000 for rewire.

When I changed my thermostat I ignored Part P. And I would expect most people ignore Part P. The consumer unit because the 17th Edition types were not available do need Part P as no way around it. But everything else could be claimed it was changed bit at a time due to damage like for like and not require Part P. As a result it seems a daft law as near impossible to enforce.

I have not seen any prosecutions for any Part P work that did not also include substandard work or a claim that they were part of scheme when they were not.

The problem lies with insurance and house sale. The latter I know they now ask for paper work but a PIR is not done under Part P anyway so becomes a little daft. Only thing is should be insured to do a PIR in first place. As to general insurance I have heard they can refuse but know of no instant where they have.

However for anyone on here to say you should break the law would be silly so I will say you should pay council £400 and accept their charges!!!!!!!

 

[bernardgreen]

From my experience ( self built an entire house ) with building inspectors they had inspected every important part of the build using council staff to do the inspection and an external firm to verify the architects calculations of load bearing and other structural elements.

At no time was there any extra cost for these services. No charge to us for the firm that verified the calculations.

Foundations, drainage and other items were inspected by informed and able council staff who also offered valuable advice to ease our tasks.

It seems that now with Part P the councils ( not all of them ) are unable to inspect installations and verify design of the installation. So they seem to be asking for an external firm to do the inspection because the council do not have staff with the necessary knowledge and skill.

They should not be charging the customer ( the DIY electrical installer ) for this external firm because it is failing of the council to have the necessary staff in place. If the council have to employ external firms for inspections then they should waive their charges for notification of Part P work.

 

[andyandy2]

If it was me I would go ahead and rewire, do all the tests etc. and keep all paperwork. If there are any problems let them take you to court, show the judge your qualifications etc. Whilst i agree that Part P is supposedly cutting out dodgy diy practice, i rule which prevents a qualified electrician working on his own house to me is crazy, and as stated in other posts how many householders are aware of Part P and how many would pay council fees to move a few sockets or whatever
I think we are getting bogged down with to much red tape time for the revolution

Trying to imagine if a similar rule was brought in for repairs to vehicles, how many people would comply !!!!!

 

[ColJack]

you don't need to notify for a thermostat change unless it's in a "special location" or kitchen..

DESCRIPTIONS OF WORK WHERE NO BUILDING NOTICE OR DEPOSIT OF FULL PLANS REQUIRED
1. Work consisting of—
(f) in heating or cooling systems—
(i) replacing control devices that utilise existing fixed control wiring
or pneumatic pipes;
(ii) replacing a distribution system output device;
(iii) providing a valve or a pump;
(iv) providing a damper or a fan;

 

[Spark123]

You don't have to nofity a replacment thermostat even if it is in a special location or a kichen.
The replacement still has to comply with P1 of part P tho, as in it has to be safe.

 

[ColJack]

you miss out the word "don't" in that reply?
makes no sense otherwise..

 

[Spark123]

see edit

 

[Chri5]

Do the work outside the LABC, fill in a EIC and get a 3rd party / mate from work to do a PIR

 

[Spark123]

Will your employer not allow you to certify the job through them? It costs peanuts as you know.

I'll second this!

 

[streetlighter]

out of intrest Securespark are you in East Cheshire or West Cheshire and Chester ?