Advice on Part-P authorities

[dixon9]

As I want to return to the wonderful world of sparks there seems to be no choice but to become Part-P registered if you want to work without restrictions.

There are 5 assessment authorities such as NEC, Elecsa, Napit, BSI..

What are your experiences working with them? Who´s good and who´s bad? What are the respective assesors like?

Any feed back would be welcome.

 

[PAUL M]

As I want to return to the wonderful world of sparks there seems to be no choice but to become Part-P registered if you want to work without restrictions.

There are 5 assessment authorities such as NEC, Elecsa, Napit, BSI..

What are your experiences working with them? Who´s good and who´s bad? What are the respective assesors like?

Any feed back would be welcome.

you will find a lot of poeple slagging the nic on here but i have been with them 2 years now and have to say they been ok with me ,the assesors are down to earth blokes ,have not dealt with any of the others so cant comment,you pays your money and takes your chances,

 

[dixon9]

The impression I get is that NIC seem to have manouvered themselves almost into a "monopoly" as THE Part-P authority. How did they do that? Presumably they were first? Why do local councils only seem to recognise NIC and not the others equally? Surely, if a council says "You have to be NIC!" then this discriminates against the other bodies such as NAPIT which are supposedly equal and this is in itself illegal?

Some observations:

Looking at NIC, BRE, etc on the net, the impression I get is that ELECSA seems to be very straightforward and have a friendly air about them.....

What puzzles me though is that BSI is hardly mentioned or electricians don´t appear to use them - why is this? Surely BSI and the kitemark would be one great selling point for your company and is widely recognised by the public (even if in Part-P terms they are "equal" to the others).

Are there certain areas of the country that use one body than others?

It really is quite difficult to make a decision on who to register with when the time comes.

 

[PAUL M]

I dont know why but poeple seem to prefer nic registered i know its wrong but they are the one most poeple outside the industry have heard of,i looked at bsi when i was deciding who to go with and they wanted about £800 at the time so the kitemark comes at a price.

 

[EasyFox]

I'm same as Paul M & with the NICEIC, no problems with them at all & have been with them since part P kicked off.
The on-line technical manual is good, I dont know if any of the others have something similar.
I went with NICEIC because they are the name that the general public associate with electrical work.
All the scheme providers have their pros & cons i suppose but NICEIC works for me at the moment & the fee has been frozen this year.

 

[Shakey]

you will find a lot of poeple slagging the nic on here but i have been with them 2 years now and have to say they been ok with me ,the assesors are down to earth blokes ,have not dealt with any of the others so cant comment,you pays your money and takes your chances,

HEY - QUOTE violation in progress!!!!!!!!!

I have legal ownership rights to the phrase "you pays your money you takes your choice"

You are sailing very close to the wind young fellow me laddie

 

[dixon9]

What puzzles me a bit (just an observation) is that the general feeling among sparks seems to be that the public aren´t anywhere near aware enough of Part-P and the importance of this with regard to having domestic work carried out by "regulated" electricians - YET most electricians go with NIC because it´s the body that the public most recognises.....

 

[PAUL M]

HEY - QUOTE violation in progress!!!!!!!!!

I have legal ownership rights to the phrase "you pays your money you takes your choice"

You are sailing very close to the wind young fellow me laddie

whoops---sorry mr shakey

 

[Mr Sparkle]

What puzzles me though is that BSI is hardly mentioned or electricians don´t appear to use them - why is this? Surely BSI and the kitemark would be one great selling point for your company and is widely recognised by the public (even if in Part-P terms they are "equal" to the others).

Agree with this. Anyone have any experience with them?

 

[Spudmiester]

whoops---sorry mr shakey

Actually he said 'you pays your money and takes your chances' not 'choice'

Therfore I recon it is his own phrase !!!!

 

[Shakey]

Actually he said 'you pays your money and takes your chances' not 'choice'

Therfore I recon it is his own phrase !!!!

I know what he said Spud old chum

it was just too close for comfort

 

[PAUL M]

Actually he said 'you pays your money and takes your chances' not 'choice'

Therfore I recon it is his own phrase !!!!

yes spud you are correct sticks 2 fingers up to shakey i will apply for the copyright me thinks.lol

 

[welshgit]

I'm thinking of going with ELECSA as I have heard that they are very good and really competetive with all other Part P'ers.

Also as they re a part of the ECA I hear that this is a real selling point.

Anybody else have anything to add as I would really like to have an informed decision/choice.

 

[davevr606]

All that part-p means is that some suit has come and talked -------s to you on some site and charged you a few hundred £'s for the privilage, some of the lads that have been sacked from our place for doing some unbeliveably dangerous work (ie did'nt bother testing a shower, finds out it has no earth and no rcd on retest, wtf!) and sails into his part-p and the new testing course whatever it is.

 

[PAUL M]

there seems to be a lot of bad feeling coming from the so called approved contractors who incidently got approved by the same suit talking the same bollox as he was talking to a domestic installer half hour before oh and they happen to have been in buisness a bit longer.some of the worst work i have come across as been carried out by approved contractors,while i dont agree with someone calling them self a spark after doing a short course most domestic installers i come across have city & guilds and have been in the game for ages ,and if they didnt have enough knowledge they would not pass the assesment process.you approved contractors are going to have to face the fact that the days of you holding customers to ransom and charging stupid money are gone for good. and yes i am a niceic domestic installer .