Quotation for some electrical work

al_hunter

Hi. Don't know if anyone here will be able to help. We need some electrical work doing at home and so far have only managed to get one quotation (have another electrician coming a week on Tuesday when he returns from holiday). We are proposing to have our old style cartridge fuses replaced by a new dual consumer unit which will be moved down the wall about 500mm and put on the other side of the masonry wall in the garage. To do this, the electrician has quoted us £100 to test the circuits prior to carrying out any work then £360 to actually install the consumer unit and move the location of it. We also need a circuit installing for the cooker, which he was quoted us £125. It all seems expensive, and as I say, we only have one quotation at present. Anyone got any thoughts?

zax47

For a PIR (Periodic Inspection Report) £100 is good value, it needs at least 1/2 day of testing/inspection plus writing up (I charge £125 as minimum, more for a big house/lots of circuits). This will tell him, and you, just what the current state of your electrical installation is, and if any remedial works need to be carried out to allow him to safely re-energize the installation after the CU change.

£360 for a CU change including potentially modifying EVERY SINGLE CIRCUIT because you want it moving, is also pretty good. If he has to lengthen every circuit by 500mm to accomplish this then it all takes time, and £360 sounds cheap. If there is enough slack available then £360 is OK (I'd be looking at around £400 generally - without moving it). Additional cooker radial at £125 is also good, depending on how much of a !!!!! it is to route the cable and how much making good is needed afterward.

Get more quotes for comparison but these prices seem good PROVIDED that the guy is a registered "competent person" (like me!) who is suitably qualified to do all this work, as it is notifiable under Part P of the building regulations.

Check him out here;

http://www.competentperson.co.uk/

If he isn't suitably qualified & registered then wait for someone who is.

olias

Don't know about the other work, but I just had a PIR done following a lightning strike and it cost £299 (4 bed 3 storey house). The two guys were here for the best part of a day.

Olias

al_hunter

zax47 wrote: »

For a PIR (Periodic Inspection Report) £100 is good value, it needs at least 1/2 day of testing/inspection plus writing up (I charge £125 as minimum, more for a big house/lots of circuits). This will tell him, and you, just what the current state of your electrical installation is, and if any remedial works need to be carried out to allow him to safely re-energize the installation after the CU change.

£360 for a CU change including potentially modifying EVERY SINGLE CIRCUIT because you want it moving, is also pretty good. If he has to lengthen every circuit by 500mm to accomplish this then it all takes time, and £360 sounds cheap. If there is enough slack available then £360 is OK (I'd be looking at around £400 generally - without moving it). Additional cooker radial at £125 is also good, depending on how much of a !!!!! it is to route the cable and how much making good is needed afterward.

Get more quotes for comparison but these prices seem good PROVIDED that the guy is a registered "competent person" (like me!) who is suitably qualified to do all this work, as it is notifiable under Part P of the building regulations.

Check him out here;

http://www.competentperson.co.uk/

If he isn't suitably qualified & registered then wait for someone who is.

Thanks for your response.

With regards the moving of the CU, I would be quite happy for it to remain where it is. On the written quotation the guy provided it reads that it should be moved because "it is inaccessible". It's basically positioned on the wall above the stairs, but both myself and my partner, who is 5' 4", can reach it without any problems, without the need for a step ladder or whatever. He basically said to me that he thought it was inaccessible for him to work on and for that reason he was going to move it.

As you say, get some more quotations - I'm trying to get hold of electricians but with it being this time of year they all seem to be going away on holiday, though we have another coming to have a look tonight and another a week tomorrow when he returns from holiday.

zax47

Understand about moving it. Unfortunately he will have to comply with current regs for this work, which means making it more "accessible" than previous rules allowed! It has to be placed so access is easy for maintenance/re-setting breakers. It's a pain for us sparkies in many respects but it is geared towards making things accessible for the disabled and less-able bodied. For example, new sockets must be 450mm min. off the floor and switches no higher than 1.2m! It does mean that "granny" will no longer have to get on a chair, balanced on a coffee table, in the dark, with a candle, to re-wire a fuse!