Recent EICR unsatisfactory w/ C2 and FI... advise needed!

[earthtoground]

Hi all, new to this forum and am completely clueless with all things electrical - hoping to get some advise!

My parents received an unsatisfactory EICR on their home recently (it's quite old) and were quoted £3500 upgrading their distribution board to a new metal one with RCBOs. The electrician also wishes to replace one other smaller fuse board in the house as its an old style wylex box and one in the garage to allow for bonding cables to bond the water and gas. He also states there are a number of old cables he needs to trace and rewire.

We were shocked with the quote as they've not had problems since they moved in a few years ago but they're happy to fix what needs to be fixed as they're looking to find tenants for the property. Is £3500 reasonable? Or should I be looking for another company to assess and quote?

 

[littlespark]

There's 10 consumer units there? Cant be all one installation.

Theres 2 meters... Any chance of another photograph showing the incoming cable, service fuse and all this?


£3500 does sound a bit steep...


Edit:
Read the actual report and there are some serious issues, but wondering if a new board at a fraction of the cost would solve a lot of it.
Lead cable to be replaced, fair enough.

Number 13. False socket. One of those hidden safes maybe???


There is nothing stopping you getting another company to quote for the remedial work.

 

[James]

I was thinking that it’s not a bad price but it depends on EXACTLY what is included in the quote.

 

[Dartlec]

Do you have a breakdown of the quote? If it involves combining all of those consumer units into one and a significant bit of rewiring then there is quite a bit of work involved, although that does sound still a little steep. Some areas of the country are significantly more expensive due to supply/demand though.

It would be very overpriced for a simple consumer unit change alone, but this appears to be far from simple, so may well take some days of work.

Do you have a redacted copy of the schedule sheet(s) you could post, which list the consumer units and the circuits on them. That might give us a better idea of the size of the job.

I'd definitely be getting some quotes from other competent electricians for the remedial works necessary though.

Bear in mind, since it's a rental property, that there is no legal requirement to get another EICR done on completion to show satisfactory, so you are not tied to using the same electrician for the work - although it may be that he has the best understanding of what is required.

All you will need to have to prove compliance for rental purposes is the invoices/certificates from the remedial work, to show that it has been carried out.

However, there are sometimes benefits to having a 'clean' EICR to save confusion with tenants/letting agents, so bear that in mind if the price from the first electrician includes reissuing the certificate.

 

[i=p/u]

Price will be different from one man band than to a company... who knows what your dealing with and where your positioned in the universe.

Best advice above is, get quotes for remedials if cant see why it costs this. maybe ask what rewire would cost, weigh it up. At end of day that's what the company wants and feel it is worth, doesnt mean suits you.

New earthing, new fuse boards, 7 smoke detectors and I'm sure plenty of other bits..

Maybe ask @ little spark on the forum , he can turn up on Monday evening , sat morning and after lunch sunday

 

[earthtoground]

Thank you all for the advice! I will definitely ask for a breakdown from the electrician. @Dartlec I've uploaded the redacted EICR to this post - is this helpful at all?

 

[littlespark]

Maybe ask @ little spark on the forum , he can turn up on Monday evening , sat morning and after lunch sunday

Only if i get travelling expenses.

 

[i=p/u]

He definitely could fly you in for two days and back out

 

[Dartlec]

Thank you all for the advice! I will definitely ask for a breakdown from the electrician. @Dartlec I've uploaded the redacted EICR to this post - is this helpful at all?

Yes that's helpful thanks. Will take a longer look later....never seen 9 schedule pages on a domestic EICR before!

Is this one property, or separate flats?

There are some issues with the certificate I can see already, though nothing too serious that suggests it's not genuine. If anything, they seem to have been more generous than many would be on some of the issues, such as no RCD protection.

There are also some key works that are listed that may well explain some of the cost, but may well be worth getting quotes/assessment from others.

The main ones that jump out are:

1. Main water and gas bonding - which may or may not be easy, depending where the gas meter and mains water pipe are
   
   
2. "Rubber" sub main to flat 11C? Is that a separate self contained flat? If so it maybe shouldn't be on this EICR and would be best having one separately, especially if it will be rented.
   
   IF they mean the 50s rubber cabling, then that is likely a problem, and replacing it may well be some of that large cost. Although the Insulation resistance readings suggest there is no breakdown at the moment, it may well do so in the future and would best be replaced now.

It does look like it's organically grown over time and would benefit from a lot of tidying up and combining into one modern consumer unit with RCBO protection. I'd definitely be getting quotes though to judge what the market price of such work is in your area.

 

[Electro-tech]

Is there only one single-phase service supply or is it 3 Phase? As I did spot 2 meters unless one is a secondary check meter.
Initially, I would be concerned as there is a lot of Henley Block connections for C/Unit tails. I think you need to be a bit more specific as to the properties use , I guess flats & at least 3 looking at the photo. You also need to know the maximum demand for each let property as this modern age is now more demanding and I can see the Henley blocks warming up, being a fire potential.

 

[littlespark]

Also noticed they've said estimated age of installation is a mere 20 years.....

I'd double that at least

 

[Electro-tech]

I have had more time to view the report and I would say the test results are incorrect or made up as most entries do not add up. Max Zs values & R1 +R2 entries & measured ZS values less the Ze especially.