Is this a bit of a stitch-up

[Russ9411]

I want same electrical work done, it's not new works just replacement as in I don't want single light pendants in my hallways I want downlighters,a couple surface mounted cables buried and surface mounted sockets moved down and sunk in the wall. The fella is telling me that I need a new whole new fuse box because that's the new regs. I didn't think downlighters had to be RCD protected. This is a picture of my box and I believe that it doesn't need replacing.

 

[elsparko]

not to mention the collecting of materials, sourcing materials, time invested in training, membership fees, cost of van etc

the bigger the workforce the greater the overhead costs will be

it cost me nearly 500 quid to have my immobiliser reset by a mechanic, it was in for 15 minutes, i look at it this way instead of my car being off the road for 2/3 days it was back on the road the same day, at a cost, this car had 19inch break discs though so not many mechs wanted the hassle of something they hadnt worked on before

 

[l4urence]

I think the problem here is the lighting circuits are not RCD protected. There is no free slot to add or move the circuit to be RCD protected. Hence the need to change the board (which is pretty full). The lighting needs to be RCD protected for the new work, although it wasn’t (needed) when installed under previous regs. I think this is where the sparks is going. Another one might just add it to the unprotected existing mcb and it would be cheaper but wrong.

 

[l4urence]

I think the problem here is the lighting circuits are not RCD protected. There is no free slot to add or move the circuit to be RCD protected. Hence the need to change the board (which is pretty full). The lighting needs to be RCD protected for the new work, although it wasn’t (needed) when installed under previous regs. I think this is where the sparks is going. Another one might just add it to the unprotected existing mcb and it would be cheaper but wrong.

 

[Guitarist]

You either trust the opinion of this electrician, or you don't. If you don't, then get a few other quotes.

 

[JK-Electrical]

Some customers are a complete and utter pain the arse who end-up just wasting your precious time. I was recently invited to quote for a job that consisted of carrying-out an EICR and installing smoke/heat alarms in a two-bedroom flat in Glasgow. I visited the property to assess the work and subsequently quoted the customer £125.00 for the EICR and £335.00 for the alarms, both of which I consider to be reasonable, competitive prices.

The customer then tells me that my price for the EICR is "too much", and that they've already had a quotation from someone else for £70.00. She asked me if I would come down £55.00 on my price. I told her that there was absolutely no way that I could compete with such a ridiculously low pocket-money price nor would I even contemplate trying. Perhaps I should have just told her to proceed forth and simulate a sex act with herself.

The alarms that I quoted for were 2 x AICO ei141 and 1 x ei144, all three to be fitted with radio-link bases. A battery-operated CO alarm was also included within my quotation. The customer complained that this price was also "too much" as she already had a quotation for £200.00. At this point, I told her that I was no longer interested in taking-on this job and withdrew my quotation. I have better things to do with my free-time on a Saturday morning than waste an hour-and-a-half of it dealing with miserable, penny-pinching customers who want to hire you because you have a good reputation for quality workmanship, but who don't want to pay commensurate prices.

I wish Megger or Fluke would invent a PAT (Penny-pinching Awkward T**t) detector so I could scan the customer immediately upon meeting them and be able to walk away immediately after the detector has returned a FAIL outcome. I omit Kewtech because even if they were to actually invent such a detector, it probably wouldn't function correctly.

 

[AJshep]

Wow £125 is pretty cheap for a Condition report.

We had a guy advertising in our local paper (about a year ago) charging £150 for a CCU change including upgrading of bonding and testing (he was a 5 week intensive graduate).
I got the pleasure of seeing one of his jobs recently, a heating engineer we work with got a shock disconnecting the Immersion. Mr fast track had got his ring wires crossed with the immersion circuit, amongst other things !

You can't compete with these people, you did the right thing by walking away, it would have annoyed me too !!
Sounds like the customer would have tried something to get money off anyway.

 

[Pete999]

Wow £125 is pretty cheap for a Condition report.

We had a guy advertising in our local paper (about a year ago) charging £150 for a CCU change including upgrading of bonding and testing (he was a 5 week intensive graduate).
I got the pleasure of seeing one of his jobs recently, a heating engineer we work with got a shock disconnecting the Immersion. Mr fast track had got his ring wires crossed with the immersion circuit, amongst other things !

You can't compete with these people, you did the right thing by walking away, it would have annoyed me too !!
Sounds like the customer would have tried something to get money off anyway.

Like it "a 5 week intensive graduate" sounds good, but then?????? makes you wonder when the powers that be in our industry, will ever get the picture ot what is happening, still the brown envelope industry will flourish.

 

[Toneyz]

Like it "a 5 week intensive graduate" sounds good, but then??????

This intensive 5 weeks intensive learning may suit some that can take all the info in but I have to question how much is understood in applying in practice.I would say that for an experienced electrician who needed qualifications to join a cps scheme what is being taught would fall into place in the real world. Qualifications are one thing doing it is another.

 

[JK-Electrical]

Wow £125 is pretty cheap for a Condition report.

I agree. I would charge more if market conditions would so permit, but when you're trying to win work in direct competition with 20 year-old boys who are offering to do EICRs at stupid prices, and who aren't even competent or qualified to be carrying-out EICRs in the first place, then you need to keep your prices realistic otherwise you are going to lose jobs right, left and centre. The domestic market in the Glasgow are is absolutely saturated with such types. Indeed, I lost a local job only this week to someone based in Stirling who is prepared to travel 27 miles to install four sockets in a house in Glasgow for £110. FFS. How do you even begin to compete?

We had a guy advertising in our local paper (about a year ago)charging £150 for a DB or CCU change including upgrading of bonding and testing (he was a 5 week intensive graduate).

WTF? He must be charging an hourly rate of around £5 or £6 an hour.

I got the pleasure of seeing one of his jobs recently, a heating engineer we work with got a shock disconnecting the Immersion. Mr fast track had got his ring wires crossed with the immersion circuit.

I trust that he was reported to whoever you would report such matters to down south. These charlatans need to be identified, reported and, if at all possible, kicked-out of our trade. At the very least, they should be named and shamed. We all make mistakes, but had this clown done the job properly and tested the circuit prior to it being energised he would then have realised his mistake. He evidently didn't carry-out an RFC continuity test at the very least.

You can't compete with these people, you did the right thing by walking away, sounds like the customer would have tried something to get money off anyway

Nope. It just isn't possible to compete with these guys when you're fully-qualified and experienced and they are not. Their stupidity will beat you every time.

Sounds like the customer would have tried something to get money off anyway.

The old "I already have a cheaper quote" chestnut doesn't work with me. If the other guy's quote is so cheap, when why bother obtaining any more? I'm not budging. I submit my price, and that's the end of it. Take it or leave it.

 

[AJshep]

Like it "a 5 week intensive graduate" sounds good, but then?????? makes you wonder when the powers that be in our industry, will ever get the picture ot what is happening, still the brown envelope industry will flourish.

Yep this particular chap was a NICEIC Domestic Installer too.

In my area we have quite a few of these guys. You tend to hear them discussing various problems and faults with each other in the wholesalers.
Some people just seem to wing it, others generally want to do a neat decent job but just lack that technical experience (that bit comes at the customers expense).

Thank God for RCDs

 

[Guitarist]

I often hear these types of conversations in the local Screwfix, and have to keep saying to myself "just keep out of it...."

In my area we have quite a few of these guys. You tend to hear them discussing various problems and faults with each other in the wholesalers.

 

[Judd]

I don't see any need in replacing the DB, is it a starbreaker board? Why not just replace the MCB with an RCBO,
without seeing the job it's hard to gauge on the fairness of the quote given, personally from reading the work i think it seems a bit pricey but each to his own.