Occupied rewires

[Ross1]

Hi guys, I would be interested to hear some of your tips on tackling an occupied rewire please!

 

[SPARTYKUS]

It's tricky doing it like that,hats off Stocksie.

One problem with older houses is of course in that case one is working "live" - old days cables ran up the wall randomly anywhere in the room, as varying angles, would be worrying about goinbg through an old 'un!!

Only done one "occupied". Was for a builder and we did it to kill down time, was very complicated (just me, over 2 years!!!). And a right royal pain in the.

Especially enjoyed prreserving the original wooden trunking though, lovely. Had to talk him into it

 

[ayjay]

hi all. ive rewired maybye 100 council houses for new forest district council, all were occupied i used to rewire 2 per week, all flush i never left anyone without power or lights after each days work
first step is straight up into loft rewire the lighting and finish it totally including making good any chases and re-laying the floor boards/ putting the furnature back and cleaning up all the mess
then the immersion then the cooker point ect ect
just do one circuit at a time and reconnect if u cant finish the whole citcuit connect to the existing temporarily
then fit a new board, thats the only time the power is off
just make sure that if a customer has a cat you don,t fit the floorboards back thus trapping the cat under the floor (i did tha a couple of times

 

[Stroppy]

Can you come and rewire my house, please? My cat is really p1ssing me off!!

 

[Stocksie]

Yeah,In an ideal world it would have been good to remove them but it would have meant disturbing the rooms again.

 

[Poptasticdave]

As a rule we will not touch a occupied (only for our very best customers and as a special favour at that !) , the last one we did i paid for the couple that lived there to stay at a local hotel for the duration .
All in all it worked out more efficient and so much less stressful in the end , and they seemed to appreciate it as well .

If you have priced it on a occupied rate , then there should be that much extra in the kitty to do this and when you take in to account the amount it speeds the job up , it can be justified in some case's !



Edit ; Steady boys it ain't that much of a biggie !

WOW! Times have changed! I know it's getting on for a decade since I was a full time spark but in the years I was working as one I'd never heard of anyone ever suggest getting homeowner to move out during a rewire. Not only that, after seeing this thread I asked the three local sparks I know well and all three said "what for?" And made comments to the effect of "my customers would think I'd lost it!"

now please don't all flame me, but I genuinely don't understand why / how the place being occupied is such a big issue, unless the homeowner is disabled or particularly know it all?

<<puts tin hat on and retires to bomb shelter>>

 

[Poptasticdave]

ghay sex

errrr. What's "ghay" sex?????

and does it need building control to be informed?????

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

Just finishing off rewiring 9 bed 3 story stone built house in north Wales, 60 sockets, plenty going on, occupied by family of four with two young kids one of which is home all day, told her that the house had to be put back into a safe condition every night, started on the too floor and worked my way down, when it came to the middle floor where the occupied bedrooms and office were and we had to wire sockets and down stairs lights I told them it would be best to disappear for a week, I had plasterer shadowing me throughout, gave her a schedule of how I intended to do it, told her 20 days work inside , and it took me 21

 

[chronyx]

Especially enjoyed prreserving the original wooden trunking though, lovely. Had to talk him into it

Need pics

 

[Farmelectrics]

We used to sub the occupied rewires out

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Need pics

Hmmmm I'll maybe have to make up with him to get back in the gaff!

 

[wildgoose]

-Prepare them for the inconvenience beforehand - be honest especially with the dust concern.
-Recommend ornaments/valuables are packed into boxes to minimise damage/dust risk.
-Try to do as much as you can on a room before moving to the next one.
-Get them to stay out of the rooms you are working on "it's for their safety"!
-Give the a list of things to be moved every evening ready for you to start in the morning.
-Leave them with temporary power and lighting -always.
-If possible, wire new circuits but leave old stuff in until the switchover. This keeps power-out time to a minimum.

 

[staggie65]

Don't trap the cat. Good advice

 

[SYKRAPS]

I have worked for local authorities in the past and part of the contract is for the tennant to move their belongings and also to remove, roll back or lift floor coverings.

This was due to the claim culture in the area as it "ALWAYS" worked before it was moved, it was surprising how often freezers switched themselves off just before Xmas aswell................

 

[SYKRAPS]

My personal favourite was when I was handed a vets bill because it was my fault that a tennants dog found its was into a skip and ended up with a copper splinter in its paw, told them to pi** off obviously.............