My House is Falling Down (C4 last night)

[Octopus]

Who saw Sarah Beeny last night on My House is Falling Down?

Electrics were briefly mentioned and an indication of £4K was given for a rewire of a 3 bed semi - which I thought was quite realistic if its basic fittings and nothing fancy.

Your thoughts......

 

[Paul.M]

I saw the back end of it, they mentioned that the drains are very very important (which they are) and should be looked at straight away but then went on to show a socket with water dripping from the old imperial wires! The short little mention of "oh, and a rewire" poped up as if it was an inconvenience and that they only did it because of the advice from a pro. I think £4k is about right for that area and also the house had floor boards up, plaster off etc so shouldn't take that long for a basic rewire.

 

[Electro-tech]

The only good thing that came out of that was the theory of crackivity.imp:

 

[zedess]

i find it very difficult to watch now, as every deadly, major, life threatening fault which will cost in xs of ten grand...can be fixed.... for fifty quid!

 

[Marvo]

The only good thing that came out of that was the theory of crackivity.imp:

I know I'm probably going to regret asking but what on earth is the 'theory of crackivity'

 

[sjhall]

Depending on area , 4k could easy be slashed in half nearly by the local 5Dw Spark , but yes 4k is a realistic price.Ste

 

[Adam W]

I don't know much about pricing but £4k seems realistic to get the job done properly, and it's nice to hear a TV presenter saying that rather than the usual 'Matt Alright BBC Rogue Traders' telling people CU changes and rewires are an unnecessary ripoff.
The couple were somewhat 'DIYphobic' which is why they hadn't done the guttering, which is what caused the problems in the first place and is what the programme concentrated on - it was stated they needed a rewire which would cost 'around £4k' and left at that with no suggestion that they should have a go themselves; the couple were shown how to level a floor themselves so they could save money to get the rewire done.

 

[sparkysdream]

theory of cracktivity.
if you look at a crack and take a 90degree angle from that crack, it should point to the source of the problem. not always correct but a good indicator of the site of the problem.

 

[Marvo]

theory of cracktivity.
if you look at a crack and take a 90degree angle from that crack, it should point to the source of the problem. not always correct but a good indicator of the site of the problem.

That's quite interesting, I thought the answer might be rude

 

[JamesBrownLive]

Who saw Sarah Beeny last night on My House is Falling Down?

Didn't see old big lungs on telly the other night, but I did have a quick peek at her book on pricing building jobs, when I was last in my local library....

Sarah Beeny's Price the Job: Amazon.co.uk: Sarah Beeny: Books

Believe it or not, it stated that when it comes to electrical work the law changed in 2005 and that you have to use an NICEIC spark.

Que a very under my breath WTF !!

 

[D Skelton]

I absolutely hate this notion that the NIC are the be all and end all of all electrical work. Something needs to be done to stop this, or at the very least, raise awareness that they are after all just a private company, just the same as Napit and Elecsa. I had an argument over the phone with a woman recently when she rang me enquiring about having some work done. She started by asking whether I was NIC registered to which I replied "I am Part P approved". She then asked "Oh... ok... but that is the NICEIC isn't it?". I then gave her the speil about Part P being a building regulation and that to conform to Part P, when carrying out notifiable work, LABC has to be informed or the contractor has to be registered with a government approved scheme. I explained that the NICEIC is one of these government approved schemes and that it is a private company, just the same as Elecsa and Napit. I told her that my business is an Elecsa approved contractor and also explained that none of the companies mentioned are regulatory bodies. After explaining all of this to her, no word of a lie, her reply was "No, you have to be with the NICEIC to do electrical work". Needless to say, I swiftly hung up the phone! I have no will to sit there and argue the ---- with air-headed ignoramuses like this.

 

[JamesBrownLive]

I absolutely hate this notion that the NIC are the be all and end all of all electrical work. Something needs to be done to stop this, or at the very least, raise awareness that they are after all just a private company, just the same as Napit and Elecsa. I had an argument over the phone with a woman recently when she rang me enquiring about having some work done. She started by asking whether I was NIC registered to which I replied "I am Part P approved". She then asked "Oh... ok... but that is the NICEIC isn't it?". I then gave her the speil about Part P being a building regulation and that to conform to Part P, when carrying out notifiable work, LABC has to be informed or the contractor has to be registered with a government approved scheme. I explained that the NICEIC is one of these government approved schemes and that it is a private company, just the same as Elecsa and Napit. I told her that my business is an Elecsa approved contractor and also explained that none of the companies mentioned are regulatory bodies. After explaining all of this to her, no word of a lie, her reply was "No, you have to be with the NICEIC to do electrical work". Needless to say, I swiftly hung up the phone! I have no will to sit there and argue the ---- with air-headed ignoramuses like this.

The other schemes need to put their hands in their pockets and get some serious marketing done.

Give all members a couple of nice big (18" Square) van signs and educate everyone that it is in their own best interest to display them prominently.

The website logos that they supply their members with should link to a website that actually means something to Joe Public, not a top level link that just takes people to their home page. The Elecsa one you have on your site is a good example of this, the landing page is fine for trades people, but Elecsa are missing a trick by not having it take people to a page that specifically, and simply explains about part P.

Until the other schemes 'grow a pair' the situation regarding NICEIC is unlikely to change, and the uninitiated public are going to carry on believing they are the only game in town :-(

 

[D Skelton]

True, very true, although I'd much rather see the government step in with their own scheme, similar to gas safe, bin off all the other schemes and make it illegal to carry out any electrical work without being part of it. It's a shame we're going to have to wait a long long time before that happens though

 

[mayfair]

I can assure you it would have been if Tel had been answering

That's quite interesting, I thought the answer might be rude

 

[JamesBrownLive]

True, very true, although I'd much rather see the government step in with their own scheme, similar to gas safe, bin off all the other schemes and make it illegal to carry out any electrical work without being part of it. It's a shame we're going to have to wait a long long time before that happens though

That and stopping the sale of Cable, CUs, Switches, etc etc to people who are not registered with it.