ECA membership along side NICEIC approved contractor

[rich.250]

Hi guys,
As above really, am an Approved contractor with the NICEIC and am looking to add ECA approval for commercial work.
Reasoning behind this is I do a lot of church work. They specify ECA or NIC. Thinking if I'm approved by both it would be in my favour.
They do a deemed to satisfy scheme, this is the route of take.
Just wondering if anyone's done the same, and if the ECA's benefits are what they say they are.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SPARTYKUS]

I do work in a church and am in neither of those clubs at the moment.

in fact Im not even religious.

 

[rich.250]

Oh, I do mainly condition reports and then repairs if necessary. I was told by the Church of England that they insist on ECA or NIC.
Says it all really...... Lol

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Oh, I do mainly condition reports and then repairs if necessary. I was told by the Church of England that they insist on ECA or NIC.
Says it all really...... Lol

I'd stick with it then dude.

 

[johnsparks23]

I was led to believe by an ECA registered contractor, you have to pay a % of your annual turnover to them.

 

[SPARTYKUS]

I was led to believe by an ECA registered contractor, you have to pay a % of your annual turnover to them.

Is that a wind up??

 

[UNG]

Oh, I do mainly condition reports and then repairs if necessary. I was told by the Church of England that they insist on ECA or NIC.
Says it all really...... Lol

So why do you need to pay for both you would need many extra hours of work to cover the added subscription costs or your rate will need to be hiked to cover it thus probably losing the work.

 

[Richard Burns]

How much money do you want to waste, is my first thought.

I would expect that ISO9001, 14001, 18001, investors in people, UKAS, etc. would be far more useful in demonstrating to customers your commitment to standards.
Being an ECA member is fine but then spending more on highly specific points in a limited scope operation appears pointless.
However I am speaking from the outside so I could well be incorrect.

 

[telectrix]

why both. that's like being raped by jimmy saville and rolf harris,

 

[johnsparks23]

That's what I was told by a well established contractor. You've got to have it for the big commercial jobs. They needed it for a big RNLI job. Not sure if they won it though.

 

[johnsparks23]

No wind up. Think ECA insure all your installs. A must on the big contracts,

 

[rich.250]

It's £50 a month. As above, I believe it's the insurance that customers want.
Also they say they have a lot of help with business running I.e technical, HR, and I get 45% of training courses with my local training provider.
Good points.... Potentially make my money back. But I do feel like I'm getting mugged...
Hence the question.
Thanks for the help guys

 

[Engineer54]

Of course you're being mugged, the whole industry is being mugged by these outfits in one way or another.... So why can't insurance be provided by the company conducting the work, why does it need to be provided by a Registration body?? Nine times out of ten, it'll be the contractors insurance that will end up paying in the unlikely event of an insurance claim being made.

I don't think we've ever heard of an instance where either NICEIC or ECA have payed out on an insurance dispute. I wonder what sort of games and hoops you'd need go through and how long you would have to wait to get your hands on there, ...or rather their insurers cash?? lol!!

 

[rich.250]

Very true E54.
The business benefits they offer are the main reason I was considering it!
But the FSB is probably a better bet for that at a tenth of the cost.
With all your input I've answered my own question!!
Thanks guys

 

[UNG]

It's £50 a month. As above, I believe it's the insurance that customers want.
Also they say they have a lot of help with business running I.e technical, HR, and I get 45% of training courses with my local training provider.
Good points.... Potentially make my money back. But I do feel like I'm getting mugged...
Hence the question.
Thanks for the help guys

You don't get owt for nowt and if you make your money back I'd be very surprised