I was asked once for a PIR at a tenancy change I quoted my usual £240 the owner looked me and said Back home I get them done for £40, to which I replied thank **** none of my kids stay in any of your properties and walked off, however this is all to common we could all do drive by EICR,s at £60 a go we could do 5 a day and be home most of the day, we need legislation for ALL electrical work
Well said bud. I can't get anywhere near £240.00 for an EICR in Glasgow. Even at £125.00 / £150.00, I'm still struggling against the muppets who charge £50 / £ 60 for a "landlord's safety certificate". The Scottish Government's statutory guidance is an absolute joke and not fit for the purpose. The whole system needs to be scrapped and something more stringent put in its place.
This morning I attended a short but free seminar put on by Hager, about the upcoming 18th edition. I not only came out more depressed than when I went in, but it looks like they are already gearing up for amendment 1 on the 18th.
I agree with most of the above comments, I am a one man band and cannot compete with stupidly low EICR's but do carry out a number per year at a reasonable cost to cover time/effort. I will not put my name on "letter box" EICRs and refuse to compete. The issue is educating the public to the amount of work involved to Inspect & Test an installation properly. Also commercial companies selling low subscription electrical cover and cheap tests which are visual & not worth the paper its written on. I compare this to an MOT (except on price!)...look at the tyres for £60 and add unnecessary remedial work to cover costs or spend £240 + for a well documented test to ensure safety of persons and livestock.
As for the 18th course selling...I passed mine in a week by trying out an distance learning course in your own time, bedtime reading the book, the recommended 40-50 hrs was probably half that ...£148 job done incl exam seat....and still went to work.
I agree with most of the above comments, I am a one man band and cannot compete with stupidly low EICR's but do carry out a number per year at a reasonable cost to cover time/effort. I will not put my name on "letter box" EICRs and refuse to compete. The issue is educating the public to the amount of work involved to Inspect & Test an installation properly. Also commercial companies selling low subscription electrical cover and cheap tests which are visual & not worth the paper its written on. I compare this to an MOT (except on price!)...look at the tyres for £60 and add unnecessary remedial work to cover costs or spend £240 + for a well documented test to ensure safety of persons and livestock.
As for the 18th course selling...I passed mine in a week by trying out an distance learning course in your own time, bedtime reading the book, the recommended 40-50 hrs was probably half that ...£148 job done incl exam seat....and still went to work.
Who was the course provider? I'm interested in taking the same route that you did. The alternative is either four days lost business by doing the course during the day, or two three-hour evenings a week spread over four weeks. Neither option works for me.
What rankles me is that I did the BS7671 course to the second ammendment in 2014 only for the third amendment to be added in 2015. Like a lot of other sparks, I didn't do the third amendment update, and because of that, I now have to do the full course. I resent having to spend this time in a classroom learning mostly what I already know and have already passed an exam in. I'm sure I won't be the only one who isn't happy about this requirement. I feel like I'm being royally ----ed-over here.
Then there's the cost. My local college are asking £380 plus VAT. As several other posters have noted, there will be plenty of people who won't bother doing the edition 18th edition course, but who will still get plenty of work regardless. Indeed, I'm aware of a competitor who doesn't even have the 17th edition and doesn't have any formal qualifications in inspection and testing, but who regularly beats me hands-down on price because I just can't compete with his ridiculously low prices. His customers aren't complaining about his "reasonable" prices, that's for sure. If only they knew why he is so cheap.
HI JK
I did the 17th ed course previously...not amendments but still took the 18th via e-qualified... simple room with computers..location wise they are in Northampton for exam, which maybe a tad far for you but there are others doing distance learning Home - http://www.e-qualified.co.uk/index.html
At the end of the day even if you sit a 3 day course you would have to swat up before the course to gain any benefit.
As for the cheap EICR's going around...either you stay true to yourself and do a good job for a good wage & for the customer... or you fall big, ending up botching it just for the money with a don't care attitude...I say there will always be cheaper but not good value in the end. As JOHN RUSKIN said... “It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When
you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay
too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The
common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a
lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well
to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
have enough to pay for something better.”
Good Luck...Hope it helps you
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