Anyone any experience with The AVC Group.

[6ft2]

Hi I recently did the city and guilds solar pv course with the company i work for (though I bloody paid) and have done a couple of installs , The boss was looking for work and heard about The AVC Group which are wanting subbies to work for them. The work involves fitting inverters wiring up and commissioning Panels are already fitted by roofers, I understand that they want us to complete 2 per day, I Get a flat day rate of £120, today we attended AVC so they could demonstrate to us what they expect of the job, The commissioning and testing and registering the job left me wondering how the hell Im gonna manage the 2 jobs per day.

We had explained to us that the job must be registered on line at the job before we leave, Now I thought The old NICEIC forms were bad but along with all the usual stuff we also have to provide pictures of all the parts of the job which means we need a digital camera and also a laptop to upload them on the job. All this for £120 I told my boss and he argues he is only getting £100 per job and that work is work.


So question is in the heading Anyone Dealing with AVC? and what sort of money should I be looking at to perform these tasks


Funny thing is we also have large contract with Carillion (Eaga) Whose forms arent that bad, but found out today that AVC have contract to do alot of their work too.

 

[SRE]

So the subcontractor is subcontracting to another subbie? A good reason not to have an install by either of these. Who holds the MCS certification and does all that side of it?


2 jobs a day is ridiculous, corners will be cut and safety compromised if your boss is prepared to take the risk for at the most £50 (and that's generous) then he's mad. Think about it - £120 for you + NI contribution, mileage, insurance, tools, office overheads - where's the profit?????

 

[Markc]

Isn't that what 99% of subbie work is? All the graft for sod all?

£120 a day????? I got more than that 10yrs ago.

 

[dansk]

Dude I don't know avc, but I do know you can get more than 120 doing general electrical work.

I suspect if the jobs are close to each other you could wire two a day if the panels a already on the roof, it normally takes me half a day to do the inverter and isolators etc.

Sounds like a rip of mate, and I suspect there making hundreds out of you. Work is work at the end of the day and in these tough times only you know how much you need the work.

 

[SolarCity]

Just remember who is the skilled worker. If the skilled worker isn't getting the lion's share of the money then there is something deperately wrong.

 

[northernsun]

Who is doing the cabling in these jobs? Second fixing and commisioning and testing- yeah, I could probably do 2 a day (though if I'm ever in that position then something has gone wrong).
But doing a decent cable run in a house as well? I take it these would all be "fast as you can external runs"?
I'm with Dansk- work is work and sometimes you have to do it, but it sounds rough to me.

 

[6ft2]

i Have to do all cabling too, all we get is the two ends with plugs from the roof thats it. Im employed but still for 120 a day i work my --- off , may look for something new its frustrating doing all these courses and having the skills yet not the money to show for it .

My company are getting the MCS accreditation in the next week , I've already done a Job for a guy who is setting up a new solar company and he has got the MCS from the Job I did for him ( which i was told by the inspector was the best job he had seen!) on his Mothers house, it seems companies are setting up getting someone to do the initial job so they get the acreditation then subbing out the work which is wrong.

I have also seen in the past couple of years solar jobs which are extremely rough! No Clips on cables in loft cables hanging with connectors joining them out really bad workmanship! could do with getting with a company that actually cares about the workmanship and not just the quick Buck!

 

[Worcester]

I have to do all cabling too, all we get is the two ends with plugs from the roof

Nope, that's the cabling that Northernsun was referring to.

So the work that you're doing is what dansk referred to

I suspect if the jobs are close to each other you could wire two a day if the panels a already on the roof, it normally takes me half a day to do the inverter and isolators etc.

So danks is about right, a good half day's work without tea breaks depending upon the AC side spec is doable. We pay more than that, however, I have very high standards, just kicked off another sparks today for not vacuuming up after his work ...

 

[lee foster]

Hi All , The AVC Group are a Nationwide Aerial & Satellite company as far as i am aware , they carry out the majority of Sky installs throughout the South East of England and recently bought out another large company who had all the Sky installs from Liverpool down to Cornwall.
I recently spoke with one of their employees who said they where starting to install Solar PV and he could transfer from the Aerial side to the PV side , apparantly they will be mounting all the panels and carrying out all the wiring with a Spark following behind to connect and commision.

They will be paid £80 per job per guy ( 2 per team i think) if they need scaffolding!!!! and £100 if they manage to do it from some kind of ladder/platform system the company has found.

Sounds great , not!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dansk]

Hi All , The AVC Group are a Nationwide Aerial & Satellite company as far as i am aware , they carry out the majority of Sky installs throughout the South East of England and recently bought out another large company who had all the Sky installs from Liverpool down to Cornwall.
I recently spoke with one of their employees who said they where starting to install Solar PV and he could transfer from the Aerial side to the PV side , apparantly they will be mounting all the panels and carrying out all the wiring with a Spark following behind to connect and commision.

They will be paid £80 per job per guy ( 2 per team i think) if they need scaffolding!!!! and £100 if they manage to do it from some kind of ladder/platform system the company has found.

Sounds great , not!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG - it didnt take long did it.....................

 

[SRE]

Personally I think scaffolding should be part of the MCS criteria - it not being there gives licence to guys like these to put pressure on to ignore basic H&S guidelines.

 

[SolarCity]

They will be paid £80 per job per guy ( 2 per team i think) if they need scaffolding!!!! and £100 if they manage to do it from some kind of ladder/platform system the company has found.

Sounds great , not!!!!!!!!!!!!

As long as the paperwork is in order, eh?

The standards of PV installs will plunge into the gutter.

 

[solarkid]

STAY AWAY FROM AVC

They talk sh*T
​

I worked for them on the digital switch over in the west midlands area , they say u can earn kinds of money and its rubbish i used to get paid £21 for putting an aerial up and installing a box and sat was £14.23.... They give you a mobile and charge you for it , they take deductions out your wages for stuff you dont even know about .... and they charge you for any damage. The have jobs working direct for them at the moment...
If you dont believe me check out digital spys or type in google search AVC dont pay you.... They change your rates all the time too, and if you cant put the ref in the pda and you phone up the call centre to do it for you dont get paid... Im taking them to an industrial tribunal at the moment , it took them 8 weeks to pay me my final payment and even charge me for tools i didnt have and goods , i got everything signed off when i finished stock and tools but they still make crap up..... Even the CAB say they think there a law to themselves.

JUST STAY AWAY IT SHOULD BE MADE STICKY​

 

[Markc]

As long as the paperwork is in order, eh?

The standards of PV installs will plunge into the gutter.

What like their sky cables BiggsSolar?????????? If that's what they expect then I'm going to get me a very long lens for my camera. Should be VERY easy to show rough installations if they have been doing SKY installations!

 

[1billy wiz]

120 a day is a pathetic sum!!id like to see how these installers are clipping & tidying up after themselfs!! you will prob find others are getting better deals but were people are niave sales people will exploit!!i got offerd 150&200 aday if i could self cert on the mcs! to just do the inverter side. i wouldnt want to work frantically & you need a team of two atleast & the work was in luton which is gonna cost some petrol money. obviously people are doing it but i wouldnt entertain it personally

 

[solarkid]

I had an interview for a job with AVC doing solar, I didnt get it, but wouldnt want it.... but its a joke really , they wanted AM2 sparks... but you didnt need part p or testing inspecting certs... i asked why you didnt need them and some cockey little young kid said you dont need it mate for solar and its covered when your AM2 Spark.... Anyways they give you a laptop give you some training on testing and you send your test result from your laptop to there head office.... The guy who interviewed me said in the furture your team leader will be sent on a course ..... This company is a joke and i feel like shopping them to the MCS and the NIC if it does any good ....

 

[Worcester]

@solarkid, better than that - go to our customers favourite paper, The Daily Mail, it'll have more of an effect!

The big question is though, who are AVC contracted to? I suspect they wont be selling they'll just be installing for a big sales company.

 

[solarkid]

There working for eager who got brought out by carillion plc, There are so doing new builds too for barrets they said and have 30 years worth of contracts when i started the DSO for them, There doing the lot from start to finish. More than likely doing social housing too....

 

[SRE]

There working for eager who got brought out by carillion plc, There are so doing new builds too for barrets they said and have 30 years worth of contracts when i started the DSO for them, There doing the lot from start to finish. More than likely doing social housing too....

Yea, but Eaga do have a reputation for talking out of their bottom to put it politely - and screwing installers their track record on Warm Front speaks for itself. When the launched their free solar panels through Home Sun they boasted 100,000 installations in 3 years but failed miserably with their targets. The LA I used to work for wouldn't let them any where near their social housing projects because the standard of work was so poor.

 

[solarkid]

Yup birds of a feather flock together... There were some good installers at AVC but most were rubbish or high on drugs, they hired anyone and after your two weeks training i had with them they said you were on a rate card not daily rate but if you didnt stay you would have to pay £1500 back for training fees which the first weeks training was rubbish.

Im waiting on MCS response to AVC, they are listed on there site, they gained registration july of this year.

 

[Joe79]

Unless you seriously need work, then stay clear.