should i report this company???

[sima24]

Hi all, long story so i appreciate if anyone makes it to the end
A lad i know and his friend have started working for a local housing association rewiring houses, changing boards etc. At first i was pleased for him as hes a nice guy but soon became clear they were totally incompetant. He had a fault last week and asked me to pop round and help find it, i found it within 5 minutes amd was shocked at the work i seen, to name a few:
- every circuit put on 1 rcd and the other rcd blank
- wrong size shower cable
- cables not in safe zones
- no bonding to water and 6mm to gas
- 2 inch holes around consumer unit top
- no sleeving on switch cables or cpc's
- neutrals stripped so far back about 3 inch of copper showing on lights and sockets
- MAIN FUSE BLOWN AS THEY HAD CONNECTED THE BUSBAR ACROSS MAIN SWITCH L&N RCD L&N PLUS ALL MCBS (and they couldnt understand what they had done wrong)
- smokes 10mm away from light fittings
- no isolation on extractor fans

I was absolutly stunned at this, and the 3 bed rewire had taken nearly 3 weeks.

I was in stiches when he asked me if i could sign it off as neither of them are part p registered.

Obviously they are not up to the job of completing any sort of work to standards but im more concerned with this housing employing them and looking at their work as acceptable! And also breaking the law as these two guys are not part p registered and building control have not been notified of any of their work? Im tempted to report the housing association as the standard of work i have seen in my opinion is going to kill someone sooner or later, either a tenant or one of the "sparkies". What would any of you do?

 

[Marvo]

Can you attach a photo?

 

[markc123]

If you know them, its irrelevent - report them.

Whether anyone will doing anything about it is a different matter, but to cover your back i'd report them personally.

Wonder which muppet is gonna do their cert....david anyone lol?

 

[rattlehead85]

For every one you stop there are dozens of others. TBH even if you reported them i doubt anything will happen. If anything they will be moved onto another job and get somebody just to sign it off for a backhander. It goes on all the time!

 

[decolad69]

I would report them it's one cowboy less!

 

[trev]

The housing association should have their own clerk of works who's responsibility it is to inspect, accept or reject any work carried out. Maybe you should try to find out who that is and speak to him/her to alert them of the standard of the work and the problems with sign off. If there's no joy there then trading standards/LABC will be your next point of contact.
In light of the quality of the work, in your position I'd be rattling cages left right and centre and making sure someone did something even if it means going public on it. I know for a fact that if someone got hurt on a job and I knew how bad and dangerous it was I'd have trouble sleeping for a very long time.

 

[shagbite]

out of interest, what's the wattage of the shower and what size cable has he put in?


and what are his qual's?

 

[rattlehead85]

Clerk of works!!! That's a laugh. 80% of them don't even know what they are looking at themselves and the ones that do tend to be more interested sittin' on their hind in an office exchanging jokes via e-mail to their colleagues sitting opposite them!

 

[polo1]

Have to agree with Trev here. I would be having a word with the Maintenance Manager at the Housing Association. Most of what you have described could lead to serious injury to the occupier if not corrected - I couldn't live with myself if I had that info and did nothing with it.

Regards.

 

[MDJ]

Hi all, long story so i appreciate if anyone makes it to the end
A lad i know and his friend have started working for a local housing association rewiring houses, changing boards etc. At first i was pleased for him as hes a nice guy but soon became clear they were totally incompetant. He had a fault last week and asked me to pop round and help find it, i found it within 5 minutes amd was shocked at the work i seen, to name a few:
- every circuit put on 1 rcd and the other rcd blank
- wrong size shower cable
- cables not in safe zones
- no bonding to water and 6mm to gas
- 2 inch holes around consumer unit top
- no sleeving on switch cables or cpc's
- neutrals stripped so far back about 3 inch of copper showing on lights and sockets
- MAIN FUSE BLOWN AS THEY HAD CONNECTED THE BUSBAR ACROSS MAIN SWITCH L&N RCD L&N PLUS ALL MCBS (and they couldnt understand what they had done wrong)
- smokes 10mm away from light fittings
- no isolation on extractor fans

I was absolutly stunned at this, and the 3 bed rewire had taken nearly 3 weeks.

I was in stiches when he asked me if i could sign it off as neither of them are part p registered.

Obviously they are not up to the job of completing any sort of work to standards but im more concerned with this housing employing them and looking at their work as acceptable! And also breaking the law as these two guys are not part p registered and building control have not been notified of any of their work? Im tempted to report the housing association as the standard of work i have seen in my opinion is going to kill someone sooner or later, either a tenant or one of the "sparkies". What would any of you do?

But did you tell your M8 his work was Crap and your ashamed of him?

 

[trev]

I agree Rattlehead, some are like that but most of the ones I've come across have been pretty clued up but they do tend to rely on the certs handed to them by the qs.

 

[sima24]

Yes i told him exactly what i thought of the work and left him with 2 a4 sheets of paper with things that needed putting right, including a diagram of how the cu should be arranged. Im just more shocked at how the housing company is run if they let jobs get this bad, its all government funded projects which shocks me more that they are not following procedure regarding using a registered sparks or letting building control know. Shower was 10.5kw in 6mm, but run up through the floor boards, over the skirting board into the wall. Of course its playing on my mind and im considering my next steps as im not comfortable with knowing whats going on.

 

[trev]

Sing like a bird mate. I would.

 

[markc123]

Yes i told him exactly what i thought of the work and left him with 2 a4 sheets of paper with things that needed putting right, including a diagram of how the cu should be arranged. Im just more shocked at how the housing company is run if they let jobs get this bad, its all government funded projects which shocks me more that they are not following procedure regarding using a registered sparks or letting building control know. Shower was 10.5kw in 6mm, but run up through the floor boards, over the skirting board into the wall. Of course its playing on my mind and im considering my next steps as im not comfortable with knowing whats going on.

In all fairness buddy you shouldn't be telling them how to do the job properly. Although legally you're probably not allowed to do this seen as though you've not been contracted to do the works, but i'd of probs been tempted to lock the installation off myself.

Definitley needs reporting though. Job sound's a complete mess.

 

[onions1066]

Yes i told him exactly what i thought of the work and left him with 2 a4 sheets of paper with things that needed putting right, including a diagram of how the cu should be arranged. Im just more shocked at how the housing company is run if they let jobs get this bad, itself to all government funded projects which shocks me more that they are not following procedure regarding using a registered sparks or letting building control know. Shower was 10.5kw in 6mm, but run up through the floor boards, over the skirting board into the wall. Of course its playing on my mind and im considering my next steps as im not comfortable with knowing whats going on.

You know this guy I agree you should do something about it but be prepared to lose your friend because you are about to slate him in public and possibly ruin his chances of future work. If i was you I would convince your friend to come clean himself and tell them he's in out of his depth and at least he saves face by fessing up himself, you don't grass him, and the housing association get there chance to put the work right. I've worked for local authority and to be honest the ones I worked for were very tight and clued up so there's a chance they might find it anyway.