Quote for electric shower install (No Pre-existing shower)

scot-canuck

Hi all,
At the moment I am trying to get a quote to have an electric shower installed above my bath
The property is council owned (Scotland) and I have a letter from them giving permission for the installation to take place.
Have a couple of questions as well.

1) How much should it roughly cost for parts and labour? have been quoted £157 (by someone who is a jack of all trades, but avoiding that given a few untruthful things mentioned by him) £170, £180, £396 (lowered to £300 when questioned on it) along with several visits without quotes being sent, several visits arranged without people showing up, then again all these were plumbing firms who were going to contract in an electricians) so now trying electricians who can also bring in a plumber to get quotes to see if I have more luck getting someone to come out and quote me a fair price for a good quality job (I have the money laid aside so its not like I'm trolling around wasting their time, I want the job done and soon so I can have a shower and to make it easier for the wife (she has balance issues so getting in and out of the bath is really tricky for her, council wont help, they just tell us to wait till 2012 when the bathroom refits are due to start (at the other end of the county) or be put on an infinite long list for a move to "disabled accomodation"...my wife isnt a cripple, she just needs a little help!! :mad::mad::mad:..sometimes, mostly she is right as rain and likes to wind me up :p)
Some information
- circa 12 metre 10mm2 cable run (been told this by several contractors, most of whom have never come back with a price)
- roughly 3 metre water pipe run (cold mains pipe runs past the bottom of the bath)
- 9.5 Kw electric shower (bought it from ALDI, Galaxy brand) Bargain at £40
- Electric cable runs under floor (due to being ground floor flat in 2 level building), hatch is in kitchen adjacent to bathroom with straight line run under bathroom and hall (which houses Consumer Unit)
-CU is an MK Sentry type with spare slots
- Does there have to be a pullcord in the bathroom or is it ok to have an isolation switch in the fuse cupboard only? (cupboard is about 6 foot from bathroom door) I ask as most of the contractors who have come out have suggested it due to no access to the bathroom ceiling from above because of the flat upstairs

2) Council have told me on completion of the shower installation they want an "NICEIC report" as documentation the shower was installed properly....is this the right name for it, or are they just referring to a general certification by a competent electrician? I ask as their "building inspectors" don't seem to be the brightest pennies in the jar, and regularly turn up to inspect work in business suits (and stiletto heels for the female inspector) [Even when told the property looks like a building site due to their renovation contractors half finishing work and leaving it half done with mess everywhere]

Though had a look down the floor hatch in the kitchen and found a length of twin and earth laying on the concrete / tar / gravel mess in the bottom of the foundations under a massive pile of bricks ; which a previous contractor had smashed out of the foundation work...:eek: instead of lifting the living room floor and opening another hatch or 2 to finish the rewire and other work (I carefully cleared off the bricks and the cable is intact thankfully but one of my floor joists in the kitchen though is solely resting on 2 bricks side by side with about 18 inches of air underneath)

baldelectrician

That's why I don't do contract work- they screw down the price and contractors find it hard to take the time and do the job right.

As far as your shower goes;
The shower you have bought is cheap tat (as are Gainsborough post 2004)- this may be why a couple of contractors have not got back to you.
I bought a new Triton shower for my dad 2 weeks ago for £78 in a big base shed type shop.

For electrics only the shower install should be £110-£180. This depends on awkwardness (or lack of)

The consumer unit is MK (old MK spares are hard to get), new spares are off the shelf and good.

What council is it? You should be able to use a NICEIC or SELECT registered contractor.

The isolator should be in the vicinity of the bathroom (pullcord inside or double pole switch outside). It is preferable to have it adjacent to the bathroom - if it is not a pullcord

sparky883

I Think you will find it hard to get any Electrician to meet your Ever Increasing standards and i for one would "sus" you out right away and not bother getting back to you with my quote,i am refering to your other post as well, in my opinions expressed here.
For the record we would charge £450-00 for a shower install, including a Mid-Range Shower and Certificated (Midlands) and at the moment we install about 2 per week.

scot-canuck

@ sparky883 - again your entitled to your opinion, but as am I and personally I wouldnt even bother calling your company if thats your attitude to safety.

@bald electrician - thanks for the estimate, in line with what I have got from plumbers and sparkys. Got a quote for £230 for both sets of work, NICEIC certified. Though dad had a triton...lasted 13 months then pressure regulator died on him, mira previous was ok, replaced with a generic shower and for him its been ok. Pays money takes chance, just will have to wait and see what happens.

baldelectrician

Triton have a 2 year guarantee. They fix it no problem.

I get very few faulty Triton showers <2%.
Had a few Galaxy / Neptune showers go faulty. usually 2 months out of guarantee

scot-canuck

@ Bald electrician
I suppose its luck of the draw really, round here a lot of plumbers slate tritons for being quote "cheap junk" and usually suggest mira or aquatherm, I'll take it as Live and learn if it goes wrong really, I checked the box and found that it has a free 3 year warranty thrown in with it. One good thing about buying from Aldi, I've found that (at least locally) they have no issue taking back defective stuff, never had to use their helpline, so will wait and see how that goes, but have heard ok things regarding it.

If it lasts for the length of the warranty thats fine with me, by then I'll prob be looking for a 10.5 as a replacement.

11.5 would be nice if they become available at a reasonable cost compared to a 10.5

Thanks though for your reply and input. Much appreciated. Merry Xmas / hannukah etc

Pyewacket338

I've had a Gainsborough 9.5 fitted for 5 years, never had any problems with it!