Advise please on a new re-wire

[pjmale45]

Hi all, I would appreciate some proffessional advise on a recent re-wire my friend has had. Im not 100% up on regs for domestic property and also sure about workmanship practices but I know this is a bad job. I want to go back to the contractor but Im gathering some 'truths' first before I start. This was a 3 bed house in Birmingham area and cost £4500. Ive added some pics to give you an idea but Im mostly concerned about 1. clipped wiring not covered in protection, 2. the wiring is not channeled its level with plaster so how do you cover it?, 3. isnt the wiring into the consumer unit supposed to be enclosed or glanded to keep the fire aspect safe?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pjmale45]

It's too easy to blame the customer for the race to the bottom, they want value for money, OK that may also be the cheapest price, but then they can't be surprised by what they get, but they should get a decent standard of instal, which I think most on here agree they did not get. but lets look at this another way, £4500.00 minus perhaps £1500.00 for materials, six hour day by £35.00/hour gives us fourteen days, was the electrician on site for fourteen days?

1500 for materials? Nowhere near that, they provided no light fittings and few switches/sockets. Was 3 men on site for 3 days.

 

[Mike Johnson]

If you want to judge if value for money was achieved try pricing up the materials yourself, don't forget to add overheads & profit margin, I am not trying to excuse the shoddy workmanship, but just pointing out materials and overheads are much more expensive now days than twenty years ago when you said you where involved in installations.

 

[pjmale45]

If you want to judge if value for money was achieved try pricing up the materials yourself, don't forget to add overheads & profit margin, I am not trying to excuse the shoddy workmanship, but just pointing out materials and overheads are much more expensive now days than twenty years ago when you said you where involved in installations.

I asked my electrician friend to cost them he said £500 tops?

 

[buzzlightyear]

said £500 tops

3 men working its a company that has done it so they need to make a profit van's insurances plus extras.
[automerge]1584796453[/automerge]
I have just price up for a bungalow 32 points plus extras estimated @ £3 half grand. That working me self.

 

[pjmale45]

3 men working its a company that has done it so they need to make a profit van's insurances plus extras.
[automerge]1584796453[/automerge]
I have just price up for a bungalow 32 points plus extras estimated @ £3 half grand. That working me self.

Im not so much arguing about the cost here, Im weighing the cost against the workmanship. Is that £4500 worth of work? Really? I personaly only pocket £100 a day after tax now I appreciate self employed have many extras so yeah 4.5k I understand AND accept. But for that work? Thats clearly 2 labourers that have done that work not skilled men, the skilled man has done the wiring I guess.

 

[Midwest]

Im not so much arguing about the cost here, Im weighing the cost against the workmanship. Is that £4500 worth of work? Really? I personaly only pocket £100 a day after tax now I appreciate self employed have many extras so yeah 4.5k I understand AND accept. But for that work? Thats clearly 2 labourers that have done that work not skilled men, the skilled man has done the wiring I guess.

What did the written quotation say? I’m starting to think there isn’t one.

 

[pjmale45]

Its all pretty much academic now anyway that I have received all your advise, thanks to all. And end of day regs havent been broken as such so other than what was quoted I guess customer doesnt have much recourse. I think I will end up tyding things up for her as it can not be left like that even just to 'decorate'.
[automerge]1584800674[/automerge]

What did the written quotation say? I’m starting to think there isn’t one.

I believe there was one and Ive yet to see it all, I havent had chance to return to customer yet to get more info as far as paperwork all she said was 'yes it was quoted' and 'yes they have left certificates' so I will check further.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Agreed, and if it was me I would chase the cables deeper and put steel capping on all the cable runs, but then that's me.

 

[pjmale45]

Agreed, and if it was me I would chase the cables deeper and put steel capping on all the cable runs, but then that's me.

Exactly what I will do, I will also box up as much of the loose DB cables as well.

 

[Mike Johnson]

To me the DB cables should all be in trunking.

 

[freddo]

I would certainly be embarrassed to leave the chases and wiring like that. I'm surprised at the amount of 'it's good enough' comments on here. On rewires we use a wall cutter with dust extraction, cutting the chase a little wider than the chisel used to dig the wall out. Then install the cables in oval tube. Capping is fine for new installs as the walls are flat, but when chasing deeper than the plaster as is often required on a rewire we use oval to protect the cables as the back of the chase is often fairly rough. 20mm oval fits nicely into a 20mm box knockout and will allow the cables to be replaced in the future without damaging the plaster again.

I would have expected a bit more effort for the price, especially for the cabling on show by the consumer unit. I would at least be calling them back to chase the cables in deep enough to allow plastering, and to sort the IP rating of the top surface of the consumer unit. If they couldn't be bothered to meet the requirements of the top surface they could have run the cables in either side, the bottom or the back of the consumer unit.

 

[radiohead]

On the plus side they have fitted the best available DB

 

[Ian1981]

Doesn’t look like a Hager CU to me ?

 

[Dustydazzler]

The also fitted it the wrong way up....

 

[buzzlightyear]

I love customers use under stairs has garage in those pics ,some even leave tins of old paints and the odd bikes pic 2 in this post.
[automerge]1584818124[/automerge]

The also fitted it the wrong way up.

?????????