Electric wiring — Building Control cost changes

[Stoday]

Changes in what Building Control can charge for changed in October 2010. Now they can charge for any external costs on top of the usual notification fee. This can double the cost of notification from (typically) £150 to £300 where they call in an electrician to check for compliance. BC would normally do this because they lack the capability of doing it themselves.

That more or less rules out DIY wiring installations that should be notified on cost grounds: it's cheaper to employ a registered electrician.

On the other hand, in the five years since part P of building control has been in operation, no householder has been prosecuted for breaches; only cowboy electricians. I have some sympathy with DIYers who are competent and who (erm) comply with this legislation with the same diligence as they comply with speeding, parking and copyright legislation.

 

[Ateallthepies]

Part P in general has been a failure and as usual comes down to money. The costs of getting building control in to asses DIY electrics is as you say quite a bit. Also getting a sparks in can also be costly especially if they have to do other works before they can do the job asked for, typically earthing concerns/RCD's. What is someone to do if they can do the job themselves for fractions of the costs of getting it done 'properly' in these lean times?

As for getting prosecuted for doing a bit of home diy electrics, it's laughable, how are the 'authorities' going to find out in the first place and if 'they' do nothing will happen as 'they' can't even prosecute 'proper' criminals.

Example; a home-owner wants an extra socket, about £50-100 depending on circumstances if no remedial works needed. Their home is not up to spec though with the earth bonding to the services inadequate. Also it has an old Wylex rewireable fuse-board (no RCD). A registered electrician will have to first make the earthing up to spec and could be up to half a days work plus materials and also install an RCD on the circuit being worked on, which with a 3036 re-wirable board is a problem requiring either a board change or an external unit installed. What with the testing, materials and labour could be up to £500 for a board change.

Total costs before extra socket can even be fitted.....£600+ :shock: #-o

In these circumstances after informing the client I have lost the job :roll: , been made to look like a conning tradesman and given the local handy-man some work or the home owner has done it DIY and who can blame them?!

Rant over,

Steve.

 

[jbb1003]

It's a pain in the neck. Cambridge want an extra 190 quid for testing, even though they were happy to accept my EIC last time. So I'm going to write out a buildings notice that covers everything I might possibly want to do on the property, and just close it off when I sell. They even suggested I do that!

So - what's the point???

 

[Ateallthepies]

The building control fees were originally meant to include all testing and inspecting so a DIY'er with no testing knowledge could do the work. Then some authorities would accept an EIC from the DIY'er and sign off. Then some authorities would not do the testing and wanted an EIC from whoever. Now it seems that an EIC is required through the authority and is extra!!!
Typical Britain, nothing is consistent from area to area and it seems intent on doing the opposite of what it was intended to by the ever increasing costs and red-tape, i.e making electrics safer.

Before becoming NICEIC approved I went the building control route on a few jobs and it was a nightmare of incompetent bureaucracy that is also expensive.

Steve.

 

[zrzavy]

I do not accept the reasons why Part P was introduced - that it was because 5 to 6 people get killed each year through faulty electrical installations. Bad, but not that bad when you consider tens of thousands die each year in government owned NHS hospitals through poor standards and mistakes and limited resources and late cancer diagnoses. I suppose this does not matter because it is GOVERNMENT money that would be needed to put things right to reach the (intended) standards Part P was intended to acheive.

I was a TV Engineer for ten years. Yet I am not "competent" to change a mains socket in the kitchen!!!

There must be many DIY people who are not Part P electricians, but who are or have been connected with work / employments involving electricity. They might even be PHD people or teachers in an "electricity related subject" in some cases. Yet even THEY cannot change a mains socket in their kitchens.

I am not against getting rid of cowboy electricians but I feel it very bad to prohibit competent DIYer who are only deemed DIYers because they no longer work in the jobs they once did.

 

[The Wood Butcher]

Part P was introduced purely to add profit to the electric-ing (yes, that is a real word...) industry, which is exactly what happens when you get said industry to write the regulations... :roll:

The irony is that at work I work on complex commercial single-phase and three-phase installations perfectly legally, but becuase I'm not registered with the NICEIC lot I'm not allowed to work on my home electrics... time for another one of these :roll:

Luckily I have a stock of pre-2004 wire to use up, but I'll be in the same position as everyone else when I come to sell my house and I'll have to tell buyers to take it or leave it if the solicitors get over officious.

If this government manage to do anything of benefit to the country at large it would be to scythe through a lot of building control regs.

 

[Digit]

If a buyer of my property wanted to know when the wiring was done they'd have to tear the plasterboard off the walls.

Roy.

 

[The Wood Butcher]

If a buyer of my property wanted to know when the wiring was done they'd have to tear the plasterboard off the walls.

Roy.

Ah, there is a cunning trick that avoids that... you unscrew a plug socket.. :wink:

 

[jumps]

Luckily I have a stock of pre-2004 wire to use up,.........

sadly I am now running very low on this

 

[highlander]

I sold my house in november last year,3 days after contract was concluded our solicitor is on the phone,the previous owner before I had bought the house had wired the kitchen wrong,ie spurs instead of ring?I am clueless regarding sparky work so never touched any of it during the 5 years myself and the wife were there,the house is 120 years old!
At one point we could have been looking at total rewire that we would have had to pay for!!
In the end the kitchen had to be totally rewired,the shower was 10.5kv and the wire wasn't big enough so had to buy new shower for them,all together a £1000,this was all after we had moved out and were living in our new house!
Total nightmare,
It's some clause up here that the buyer has 7 days to report and claim any faults that would cost over £150 to fix,
Was half expecting the combi boiler to blow up to top it off!!
Anyway all sorted now....!happy days

 

[Digit]

you unscrew a plug socket..

Ah, but I had a cunning plan, they are all wired with old stock from my pro days!
Out buildings etc are modern and I suspect they would not be checked. I hope!

Roy.

 

[The Wood Butcher]

you unscrew a plug socket..

Ah, but I had a cunning plan, they are all wired with old stock from my pro days!
Out buildings etc are modern and I suspect they would not be checked. I hope!

Roy.

Clever. Respect due as those young folk used to say.

 

[Stoday]

you unscrew a plug socket.. :wink:

That proves nothing.

You are allowed to replace sockets anywhere (including kitchens) without notifying Building Control.

So you could have done the wiring before part P and replaced the sockets later.

 

[Digit]

Being serious for a moment, is it my imagination or is present day T & E stiffer and more difficult to strip than it was?

Roy.

 

[The Wood Butcher]

you unscrew a plug socket.. :wink:

That proves nothing.

You are allowed to replace sockets anywhere (including kitchens) without notifying Building Control.

So you could have done the wiring before part P and replaced the sockets later.

It proves something if you have post 2006 wiring colours (blue/brown) in the aformentioned socket, when Part P was introduced in 2005... :wink:

 

[Deejay]

It proves something if you have post 2006 wiring colours (blue/brown) in the aformentioned socket, when Part P was introduced in 2005...

When did the new coloured cable appear?

I think it was available a fair while before the old black and red stuff disappeared (into peoples sheds )

Cheers

Dave

 

[Stoday]

The new colours became mandatory in 2006; they were widely available well before then.