How should I find an electrician - should they be registered?

cashferret

I need a couple of electrical jobs doing and a friend has recommended her electrician. He was recommended to her, and I value that kind of recommendation.

But I can't find him online and when I look for a registering body for electricians, there seem to be loads of different ones.

Does electrical work in the home require you to use a registered electrician, like gas work would require one registered with CORGI (or whatever it's called now)?

And if so, which of the several registering bodies is the one that counts?

Even if it's not a requirement, are there advantages (for claiming on insurance, for example)?

TheCyclingProgrammer

Any electrician carrying out work in your home should be fully competent which in practice normally means they are registered with a recognised body, have the appropriate qualifications and can perform their work to the standards required by Part P of the building regulations (in England and Wales) and BS7671 wiring regulations (latest edition).

So long as the work meets the required standards I don't believe that it is legally necessary that the electrician is registered like with gas (it's Gas Safe, not CORGI by the way) but personally I wouldn't hire an electrician who wasn't a member of a recognised body.

See here for more info:
http://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/guides-and-advice/building-regulations/england/

J_B

Our electrician is registered with these folks:-

http://www.niceic.com/

cashferret

Thanks - just managed to get him on the phone and he says he's NICEIC registered so I'll go with him.

dominoman

cashferret wrote: »

Thanks - just managed to get him on the phone and he says he's NICEIC registered so I'll go with him.

Don't just take his word for it. Check here:
http://www.niceic.com/householder/find-a-contractor-results?

It's not necessary to be a member. But if he says he's a member and isn't then use someone else.