Electrical work certificate

Dedekind

Hello,

we have started doing some renovation work on our living rooms with a builder recommended to us by a friend of a friend. Various things we do not like (not relevant right now), the main one is that he is doing absolutely everything himself: electrics, plumbing, plastering, etc. Most things I would say it's ok but electrics are something we should have thought of before.

Electrical work consists of re-wiring the whole ground floor -- new spot lights and sockets. I don't think he is a registered electrician so he will probably not be able to issue any kind of certificate. Is this something we can ask for from someone else after he finishes? Right now he hasn't finished all the electrical works, the wiring below the floorboards is easy to check because the floors have not been fixed yet. But the wiring in the walls/ceiling is harder to check now because he already put the plaster.

We have talked to another builder we know and said his electrician cannot vouch for someone else's work (makes sense). He can do an inspection but it's not a full certificate.

Now, I know this was our mistake: all this should have been said before starting any work, etc. But we are at this point now. Any suggestions?  Any issues we might find with the local authority?

greatcrested

If he's not a member of the appropriate 'Competant Person' scheme you'll need ot get the local authority to inspect and sign off the work. They may need to inspect during the work rather than just at the end. Speak to the builder and the LA.

knightstyle

What electrical work is notifiable in England?

Electrical work which requires notification differs between England and Wales. Additional changes were introduced to Part P in England in April 2013. This means that electrical work in a dwelling, or associated with its surroundings, is notifiable to a local building control body where it includes:

• circuit alteration or addition in a special location*
• installation of one or more new circuits
• installation of a replacement consumer unit (fuse box)
• rewire of all circuits
• partial rewire
• new full electrical installation (new build)

What do I need to do if I wish to have electrical installation work carried out in my home?

All electrical work in the home in England must comply with Part P of the Building Regulations. In addition, those items described as notifiable above are required by Law to have a Building Regulations Compliance Certificate.

It is strongly recommended that you employ an electrical installer who is registered with one of the Government-approved Scheme Operators listed on this website. This is the only way in which you can be sure of employing someone who has had their domestic electrical competence verified and is authorised under the Regulations to arrange for you to be issued with the Building Regulations Compliance Certificate.

There are other ways of complying with the Building Regulations, but these do not verify the competence of the electrical installer and they involve making a further payment for electrical work to be inspected. The most common route for home owners to do this is by informing the Building Control Department of your local authority before the work commences.

Risteard

You should be given an Electrical Installation Certificate for the work, regardless of who has carried it out. If he is not competent to verify the installation (i.e. carry out the inspection and testing) and certify it then frankly he isn't competent to design or install it. So you should insist on a certificate, and if he tries to pretend that someone else can do this for him then you should point out that they would have been required to inspect it DURING ERECTION and upon completion. So before tracks were plastered over etc.

lesalanos

I've had this before.
You just need a registered electrician to come out and test everything.  If everything is ok they will issue you with an EICR report and they will notify building control too 

Will cost around £150 

Risteard

lesalanos said:

I've had this before.
You just need a registered electrician to come out and test everything.  If everything is ok they will issue you with an EICR report and they will notify building control too 

Will cost around £150 

Periodic inspection and testing does not and cannot replace initial verification. Furthermore your LABC (if in England or Wales) may not accept this.

Dedekind

Well the builder said he can get an engineer to come around and issue the certificate (for an extra cost). I don't mind the extra cost, as long as it's a proper certificate -- a bit hard given that some tracks are behind plaster but maybe he can still do it?

Risteard

Dedekind said:

Well the builder said he can get an engineer to come around and issue the certificate (for an extra cost). I don't mind the extra cost, as long as it's a proper certificate -- a bit hard given that some tracks are behind plaster but maybe he can still do it? 

No, he can't.

As I pointed out the inspection and testing must be DURING ERECTION AND ON COMPLETION.

It cannot simply be done after the fact. This is very clearly stated within the Wiring Regulations. So this inspector should have been there throughout the job for this to happen. And for domestic installations in England & Wales these work solely by self-certification, so it wouldn't be appropriate even if present during the job.

Heedtheadvice

@Dedekind, to get proper and full information you need to post the country where the property is located. As you may have gathered regulations and competence schemes vary across the UK home countries (as well as there are sometimes posters from other English speaking countries!!). Also sometimes trades have been known to work across borders.

Wiring regulations apply uk wide (Cyprus use them too) but the application of them differs slightly, however Building regs are location specific most notably part P which is often referred to in posts.

England having the biggest population....the rest don't matter? 🤔

lesalanos

Risteard said:

lesalanos said:

I've had this before.
You just need a registered electrician to come out and test everything.  If everything is ok they will issue you with an EICR report and they will notify building control too 

Will cost around £150 

Periodic inspection and testing does not and cannot replace initial verification. Furthermore your LABC (if in England or Wales) may not accept this.

All went through without issue.  Happens a lot apparently 

ComicGeek

lesalanos said:

Risteard said:

lesalanos said:

I've had this before.
You just need a registered electrician to come out and test everything.  If everything is ok they will issue you with an EICR report and they will notify building control too 

Will cost around £150 

Periodic inspection and testing does not and cannot replace initial verification. Furthermore your LABC (if in England or Wales) may not accept this.

All went through without issue.  Happens a lot apparently 

Doesn't mean that it's a good thing, just that they continue to get away with it. The additional problem is that Building Control don't really understand it themselves and are too quick to sign things off.