advice needed! victim of dodgy electrician

stripeyshirt

Hi All,

I was hoping someone might be able to offer me some advice.

We had some building work completed using a building contractor who sub-contracted the electrical work to an electrician. The contractor assured us the electrician was qualified to carry out the work.

We subsequently had another electrician around who has inspected the work and condemned it all as dangerous and not up to Part P regulations.

We wrote to the builder and said that he had 7 days to arrange for a qualified electrician to come around and to arrange for the work to be fixed. He then sent around the same electrician who was unable to provide any proof or membership information for any of the electrical regulatory bodies.

We are now in a situation where we are living with hazardous electrics. Do we give the builder another chance to rectify it? Or do we go and hire our own electrician?

Also, if we pursue the matter to the small claims court, can we claim all of the money we paid for the electrical work or just the money that it will cost us to fix it?

If anybody has been in this situation, or can offer me some advice I would greatly appreciate it. It is so stressful!

Thanks,

stripeyshirt.

Jaynne

If it's all dangerous and has to be removed then surely the cost to fix (remove + replace) is greater than the original cost? If not perhaps because some of the materials can be resused then I thought you would be claiming for the cost to fix.

stripeyshirt

Hi Jaynne,

I think the cost to repair is less because we can't have the wiring re-done in the same way - the original work was done prior to the flooring being laid and the whole flat being replastered.

The new electrician is going to have to rewire using trunking instead.

Thanks,

Stripeyshirt.

Jaynne

Urgh trunking! That will look horrible. Surely you should be getting quotes for having the work burried and then made good as this is the cost you should be claiming for (ie the standard you paid for in the first place).

This will obviously be a lot more but then the builder shouldn't have employed a dodgy electrician in the first place!

stripeyshirt

I know! Pretty much our whole kitchen was re-wired (and then a new kitchen installed), new sockets in all rooms, new fusebox, 8 spotlights in new suspended ceilings in kitchen and bathroom etc. So making good and having the wiring buried would mean taking up laminate flooring, re-plastering in several rooms and god knows what would have to be done in the kitchen. We don't have the money to pay another electrician to do it all - the original work cost in the region of £2000 and he refuses to acknowledge that there is any fault with the works.

As the electrics in their current state are dangerous, we have to have them made safe - trunking or no trunking!

molerat

Who certified the original work carried out ? Why was the second electrician called ?

stripeyshirt

The certificate never appeared - which is why we had to get another electrician in.

We were assured the work was carried out by a qualified electrician and that a certificate would be provided but it wasn't.

molerat

Your builder has failed to provide you with the service he was legally required to. It is up to him to correct it. Have you spoken to building control and trading standards. The law has been broken here.

keystone

stripeyshirt wrote: »

We had some building work completed using a building contractor who sub-contracted the electrical work to an electrician. The contractor assured us the electrician was qualified to carry out the work.

Which makes it the builders responsibility not the electrican he employed to do the work.

We subsequently had another electrician around who has inspected the work and condemned it all as dangerous and not up to Part P regulations.

Your second electrician is talking utter nonsense if thats really what he said. Part P of the Building Regulations is a paper chase. Now if he had said it was dangerous and didn't comply with Edn 17 of the Wiring Regulations that would be a completely different matter.

We are now in a situation where we are living with hazardous electrics.

Actually from what you have said so far you don't know that at all.

Do we give the builder another chance to rectify it?

Yes you should. What certification are you waiting for. The electrician should have completed an Installation Certificate or a Minor Works Certificate depending on the work done. The builder might be a Part P registered firm. In that case he will have submitted his paperwork (notified it) to the LABC. It is they who issue the Part P Certificate and it can take them some considerable time.

Or do we go and hire our own electrician?

No you tell the builder that you will get an inspect of the work done through a Trade Body (eg NICEIC) and provide you with a report which you will let him have a copy of.

Also, if we pursue the matter to the small claims court, can we claim all of the money we paid for the electrical work or just the money that it will cost us to fix it?

Thats moot as it probably amounts to the same thing but thats down the track from here.

It is so stressful!

Don't let it be.


Cheers

keystone

molerat wrote: »

Your builder has failed to provide you with the service he was legally required to.

Thats a bit judgemental on the paucity of information so far presented.

It is up to him to correct it.

Yes - whatever is wrong, if anything is wrong, its his responsibility.

Have you spoken to building control and trading standards.

Might be premature.

The law has been broken here.

Eh?

Cheers

zax47

molerat wrote: »

The law has been broken here.

Which "law" exactly would that be then? "Part P" is a sub-section of the Building Regulations regarding what electrical works are notifiable to LABC and the IET 17th Edition Wiring Regulations (2008:amended 2011) are "guidance for best practice", so which statue law has been broken......?