Consumer unit certification rip-off?

[mattylad]

I would class "doing an eicr" as work for the person doing it.

 

[RF Lighting]

Sounds like a the sort of customer I’d avoid to be honest. The electrician has quoted £700 and I’ve found some dreadful cheap non compliant consumer unit online for £100 so he is clearly earning £600 for an hours work.

 

[JohnW2]

I would class "doing an eicr" as work for the person doing it.

Of course, but we knew that the EICR had been done (resulting in a 'fail'), so I presumed that when you asked "Was all this not quoted before any work took place?", I presumed that you meant work other than the EICR, since they obviously could not have quoted for remedial work before the EICR had been completed and indicated whether any such work was required!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Sounds like a the sort of customer I’d avoid to be honest. The electrician has quoted £700 and I’ve found some dreadful cheap non compliant consumer unit online for £100 so he is clearly earning £600 for an hours work.

I'm a bit confused by that statement, so could you perhaps clarify what you meant?

Given that I don't think that £700 is not at all unreasonable for a half-decent CU replacement (in London), I could understand your saying that you would avoid a customer who moaned about such a quote, but you then go on to talk about an electrician perhaps charging "£600 for an hour's work", which is clearly not something one can hold against the customer!

Kind Regards, John

 

[HERTS P&D]

John, RF Lighting is being sarcastic!

Andy

 

[JohnW2]

John, RF Lighting is being sarcastic!

... in which case some sort of emoticon may have helped my ageing mind

So, do I take it that you think he was agreeing with what I have written at least three times - essentially that I don't think the OP is really justified in 'moaning' about the £700 quote?

If so, I don't think I live in quite the same world as RF- since if I had, over the years, 'avoided' all those clients (or potential clients!) who moaned about my quotes and tried to 'talk my prices down', I suspect I would never have had much work to do

Kind Regards, John

 

[RF Lighting]

I’m saying the customer who thinks he knows how to spec and price the job has said the materials will be £100 so the other £600 must be profit, without any concept of what is actually required or that the electrician has overheads.

 

[RF Lighting]

I’ve been in this game a long time and have learned how to sniff out a wrongun a mile off. I’ve built up a reputation so I have enough work working for nice people and can steer clear of the tyre kickers.

 

[JohnW2]

I’m saying the customer who thinks he knows how to spec and price the job has said the materials will be £100 so the other £600 must be profit, without any concept of what is actually required or that the electrician has overheads.

Yes, thanks to Andy, I now realise that, and my apologies for being slow in catching on! We therefore seem agreed.

However, as I've just written, if I had 'avoided' all those clients (seemingly most of them!) who question my quotes because they have little "concept of what is actually involved" and/or that I have overheads, I would never have had many clients or work

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

I’ve been in this game a long time and have learned how to sniff out a wrongun a mile off. I’ve built up a reputation so I have enough work working for nice people and can steer clear of the tyre kickers.

It sounds as if you're lucky, then.

Clients of mine are usually commercial organisations or, worse, government departments/agencies etc., and ones who are not 'penny pinchers'('wronguns') are pretty few and far between.

In particular, in the manner you suggest, those involved in 'negotiating contracts' (who generally know nothing of the subject in question) rarely have the slightest concept of how much time/work is involved in what I'm being asked to do. The most common problem relates to situations in which I have to expend many days, or weeks, doing research and detail work in order to produce 'a report' - when I often get questioned as to how I can possibly justify "charging thousands" for producing just a few pages of writing (sometimes they are hundreds of pages, but not infrequently fairly short).

I imagine that it's not quite so bad with electrical work, since a fair bit of the 'work involved' relates to activities that can actually be 'observed' or, at least, which are to not difficult 'to imagine'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[niceboy]

Thanks for the interesting discussion. To clarify a couple of points, the only work I agreed to was the ECIR at a fixed price of £119 (a fairly typical price through these landlord compliance agencies). I assume the sparky was qualified despite having an unpronounceable name.

RF, I'm not "moaning", only doing what most people do when asked to cough up nearly a grand - ask what I get for the money. I am actually pretty clued up about electrics, having been an electronics hobbyist all my life but not normally exposed to things like certification, which I leave to you guys. Hence the questions about whether both an "Installation Certificate" and "Building Compliance Certificate" (their words) are necessary and cost £150 each. Your verdict?

Incidentally, they now tell me the £700 will include the original (failed) ECIR, which I haven't paid for yet.

 

[Vicario]

The comments about London are interesting but remember that the outer boroughs can be accessed without going near the Congestion Zone. I live 10 miles from Charing X in South London but have never driven in the CZ. A few years ago I posted an electrical job on a well known site and was surprised to get a quote from North London. They said that as the job was possible to do in a day they were happy to come over the river. They did a good job after taking 50 minutes to get here over the Dartford bridge. I think that tradesmen here are quite savvy about avoiding areas that are problematic.

 

[RF Lighting]

For me to issue the certificate for a consumer unit replacement I have to buy a tester (£1000) and then go on an inspection and testing course (£1350) and lose 7 days work whilst attending the course (£2100) then I need to join a competent person scheme (£630) and lose another days work for the site assessment (£300). Now I’m ready to spend time actually testing and entering the results into my iPad (£800) using the certification software (£75) then I need to insure my kit, buy regs, guidance notes, etc etc

Come to think of it £150 sounds pretty cheap...

 

[EFLImpudence]

I have to say, RF, I think you are being totally unreasonable.

 

[HERTS P&D]

I have to say, RF, I think you are being totally reasonable.


Andy