Electrical Questions

Blackeyez09

Hi

Calling on all you lovely MSE people for some advice

When I bought my house I had an electrical inspection which stated that I needed to have consumer unit changed and earth bonding

I have had an electrician round, he first changed the fuse box to RCD protected one but told me that I have a borrowed neutral from downstairs to upstairs light. He also tested all sockets afterwards and said there was high resistance and he needed to find out where this is coming from. He now says he will return to do the earth bonding and check each individual sockets. He says this is because with old houses lots get added to over the years. He is charging 300 for consumer unit change and 200 for bonding plus any unexpected..

I know it's late but is thus reasonable? Also the circuit on basement is very old with rubber wiring which he felt he needed to disconnect due to safety and will need to be rectified at a later date. Rest of the wires throughout house are grey PVC which He feels is ok but may need requiring in next 5 years or so.

Any thoughts please
Thanks

jhs14

300 for new CU is very reasonable - almost too cheap. Ask for a breakdown of the 200 if you're not sure what that's including.

squeekswhenwalking

I don't think it's cheap. Materials less than £100 -and a days work max. Does he mean earthing main services? Depends how far stop tap and gas meter are from main earth terminal but that doesn't sound cheap either., did the inspection not show resistance problem? Why would it need rewiring in 5 years? If it's safe now it may well still be safe, though a retest should be carried out in 5 years.

Blackeyez09

Thanks for your reply

I did chase round and those prices seemed reasonable
It's the extra cost he is going to add as he claimed he found high zs and
he would need to find where this was coming from by checking each behind socket. He also mentioned doing something about this borrowed neutral. He condemned my cellar lighting but admittedly it's encased with rubber and clearly very old I will have to do something about that at a later stage for sure.

The other thing is he is supposed to be doing some plastering which I advised him might be difficult if cost of electrical stuff is significantly more than unforeseen problems. He never mentioned he would outsource the work to someone else who happened to turn up when I was there!

I also am not happy with price agreed was 900 for hall, stairs and landing and he says landing is not included though I am sure I took him upstairs. He now says it's 1000 to skim the lot could be slightly more if materials are a lot higher.... Is this reasonable?. It is a 3 bed victorian house and there are some wires to be chased ( 3 sets)


Thanks

Blackeyez09

Sorry significantly more than quoted due to unforeseen problems*

Blackeyez09

Another question is the inspection I had claimed to be limited due to old fuse box he was not able to do all the testing?... Not sure how much of this I believe now

jc808

is he a plasterer?

DRP

Blackeyez09 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply

I did chase round and those prices seemed reasonable
It's the extra cost he is going to add as he claimed he found high zs and
he would need to find where this was coming from by checking each behind socket. He also mentioned doing something about this borrowed neutral. He condemned my cellar lighting but admittedly it's encased with rubber and clearly very old I will have to do something about that at a later stage for sure.

The other thing is he is supposed to be doing some plastering which I advised him might be difficult if cost of electrical stuff is significantly more than unforeseen problems. He never mentioned he would outsource the work to someone else who happened to turn up when I was there!

I also am not happy with price agreed was 900 for hall, stairs and landing and he says landing is not included though I am sure I took him upstairs. He now says it's 1000 to skim the lot could be slightly more if materials are a lot higher.... Is this reasonable?. It is a 3 bed victorian house and there are some wires to be chased ( 3 sets)


Thanks

Personally i 'd rather a plasterer did the plastering, and an electrician did the electrical work...

Is this guy qualified to certify your electrical work?