Electricians advice

stphnstevey

Hi

I have recently had a quote to:

- Replace our old fuse box
- Earth all the lights
- Replace the cable from the electric meter to the fusebox
- Bond the water and gas stopcocks

£1600 - I think this is overpriced, but can anyone advise?

swagman

It sounds a lot to me too. But much depends on the construction of the property and how much time would be needed, for example, to access the various lights for earthing.

The thing to do is to get at least 3 estimates and, if you can, include small local firms as well as larger ones.

D_e_n_i_s_e

recently had my 3 bed semi done, all the sockets all the lights new wiring and fusebox £700 plus 20 cups of tea!
Asian Bloke completed the job in 2 weeks. Now he is doing the neighbours!

As with any housework get 5 or 6 quotes and average out the cost that way you know you aint being ripped off, then check out there ref (previous jobs done)

One other thing when you ask for a quotation make sure you say:
'Do you give a FREE quotation?'

reason - some guy/gal here on moneysaving a while back was charged £50 for a quotation :eek:

one last thing always pay electricains once they've finished the job and not before - most electrician are fine with this.

wadge

OT, but £700 for two weeks work? Take out materials and he's pocketing £250/week?

baldelectrician

D_e_n_i_s_e wrote: »

recently had my 3 bed semi done, all the sockets all the lights new wiring and fusebox £700 plus 20 cups of tea!
Asian Bloke completed the job in 2 weeks. Now he is doing the neighbours!

D e n i s e
The materials for a rewire costs around £500- check screwfix wesbite,

Then £200 for a weeks labour (you'd get more flipping burgers in McDonalds).
then you have tax, national insturance, diesel, van insurance, public liability insurance, plus equipment - tools drills, compotent scheme registration.
Was the guy qualified?
Was the bonding done? (earth wires to gas meter and water stop valve)
Did you get any certificates? The work is notifiable under Part P (England/Wales)
I hope nothing untoward happens, as your insurance company may not pay out if there is no paperwork.
You should have had mains powered smoke detectors (with battery backup) installed as part of ther rewire.


stphnstevey
The pirce seems a bit steep. My rewires start at £1600 for a flat, and £1800 for a house. Price includes all relevant paperwork.
You will need paperwork (an EIC- Electrical Installation Certificate) for a rewire. Make sure they include this and Part P notification in the price.

The paperwork is a must as you will need it when you go to sell your house- Home reports/HIP.

You should use a competent person for the work, links below

In Scotland:
Individuals regitered;
http://www.sbsa.gov.uk/register/ListAC.asp
Companies
http://www.sbsa.gov.uk/register/SearchCo.asp?T=Construction&ID=2

In England and Wales:
http://www.competentperson.co.uk

stphnstevey

Thanks for all your help

This is a 60's house

Baldelectrician - you say its a bit steep, but your quotes would be about the same. I don't understand?

Can I save money by buying the materials myself if I ask for a detailed list?

Should I ask for an itemised quote to see where the money is going?

Whats an average electrician daily or hourly rate?

How about offering to pay in cash for a reduction?

baldelectrician

My prices are slightly different - your post doesn't mention rewiring upstairs or downstairs, sockets, smoke detectors, or Part P notifiction / certificates.

Don't offer to buy materials - customers generally buy sheeeet from screwfix or B&Q. What if you buy the wrong stuff and it costs time on the job?
Who pays for the wased time?

hourly rate varies, but a rewire (weeks work + calling back to connect appliances etc) should be around the £1100-£1500 mark

I use GET sockets (decent quality) and MK consumer units.

D_e_n_i_s_e

Im noticing some hostility with regards to my post!

Ok let me clear a couple of things up.

why oh why is it that when someone can get things done cheaper people have to counter and degrade the post by saying things like is it legit, how can he get it do it so cheap etc.

Fact
a) Competition is all good (ther'd be little moneysaving if there wasnt any around)
b) As in with any trade now we are part of europe things can get done at a fraction of thge cost (I had a reputable Polish person who offered to do the job for a mere £500)
c) no one is prepared to pay over the odds for anything

now with regards to what blade electrician said. The chap who did the wiring is qualiifed and bona fida with all the certificates to prove it. He is 45+ and purely does the work more on a hobby basis than anything else, he doesnt take on big projects and he doesnt work too a deadline. He works at a steady pace and doesnt rush the job. He know contacts who can get him some bargian deals on electrical stuff.

On a personal stance whenever i here tradesbodies such as FMB, CORGI etc one word springs to mine - RIPOFF!

Personally i tend to go off word of mouth!
some years ago i had a fault with the boiler - Rang homeserve who sent round a young just recently qualified corgi reg plumber, took him two hours to find the fault and another hour to fix it. 2 days later it went on the blink again, so i called an experienced plumber a friend knew found the fault fixed it 40 mins and charged £20. fault never came back.

the fact is experience is what matters i couldnt care two hoots about all these fancy status symbols (such as corgi) that these trade bodies bandish about.

One last thing Blade (and im sure you already know this) Screwfix, Band Q etc are a con. If an electrician working for me was to say he was going to get the materials from there id point him to the local hardware shop!

i purchased some fancy handles the other week fron aldi (or lidl?)for 4.99 (£20 in B&Q), chrome sockets in netto.

marshall2k

On a personal stance whenever i here I]sic[/I tradesbodies such as FMB, CORGI etc one word springs to mine I]sic[/I - RIPOFF!

Personally, when I hear CORGI, the term "required for all businesses undertaking work on gas fittings" comes to mind.

baldelectrician

denise

I am not trying to be hostile, just it costs me a lot of money to run my business as a 'registered' electrician.
There is always a lower end price- if it is below cost then there must be issues that are being overlooked, or things that are required that are missing.

I didn't ask if he had 'certificates' I asked if you got them when the job was complete.


In any walk of life you get what you pay for-
an example:
Rewired my mates lights yesterday (he did some tiling for me);
I said I would buy spot lights for his kitchen - his wife bought them at a B&Q / Homebase style place.
Fitted them and they were so poorly designed they bent when you pushed them in to the ceiling.

I noticed you failed to answer my post in relation to certification and smoke detectotrs, as you say he is qualified then he should supply you with certificates.
see link:

http://www.iee.org/Publish/WireRegs/Forms_2004.pdf

You should be getting something like this when you have electrical work done

stphnstevey

Easy kids!

I guess what your saying is you would say a rewire would cost around £1100-£1500 mark. Is that a complate rewire as I just need the lights done?

And you think this would take about a weeks work?

Can I just ask about smoke detectors - I have battery based smoke detactors, why would I need ones running off of the mains supply?