This area seems grey, can you are can't you? Part P.

[Old Town Electrics]

Hi guys, its seems everyone has differing opinions on this, including myself. From my research it seems pretty obvious that you can only carry out electrical work on somebodys house if you are part of a part p electrical scheme.
From reading the forums and speaking to local electricians it seems many think its ok to carry out non-notifiable works. A local NICEIC electrician actually told me its fine to do this kind of work.
I'm just confused as from my research it seems all work needs an electrical certificate whether it be major or minor, and to do this properly you really need to test the circuit once completed on all works? Is this just impracticle and actually on most works you just go round add the new socket and move on?
I've noticed that alot of the local electricians aren't registered with anyone so are they all breaking the law? I've spoke to various working electricians who state part P qualified with 17th regs, but when you quiz them they are not registered with anyone. Does this mean that about 50% of electricians are working illegally in the UK? Im guessing that when these non registered electricians do work they don't produce a certificate because this would essentially be providing evidence against themselves that they have done work illegally?
Would love to get to the bottom of this as i'd love to get cracking on some non-notifiable works if it was ok to do so,or is it just a grey area and always will be??

 

[Old Town Electrics]

Thats some great advice though, saves me over £100

 

[telectrix]

they might prefer your fwiend ! @Spoon

 

[Old Town Electrics]

Thanks Spoon, I'm hoping all my customers to be female and fit, although I may not make much money

 

[Spoon]

they might prefer your fwiend ! @Spoon

usually goes that way mate......

 

[Wilko]

Hi OTE,
BS7671 now refers to ordinary, instructed and skilled person (rather than competent term). The skilled person would have been trained, examined and experienced in order to be judged skilled. You can readily find a list of the things needed by the CPS for membership online if you are interested which are a good start. Further, the Electricity at Work regulations requires electricans to be "competent to prevent danger and injury" and this would require a skilled person (as per BS7671 definition).
I know this may hurt, and it's just my view, but if your business partner is not a member of a CPS and holds no electrical qualifications I am not sure they would be judged skilled, so you would not be an instructed person. So I'm not sure you are supervised properly to do electrical work, Part P notifiable or not (who is the QA?). Perhaps I'm wrong, and others will correct me

 

[Old Town Electrics]

Thanks for your input Wilko. I am well aware that this guy (not my business partner) might not be the best person to gain some knowledge off, but at least its a start. I know my way around the 17th regs pretty well already so I will pick up on things that aren't to the books, I also know a fair amount about Part P too, although from my posts you may think otherwise lol. Sadly though, I dont have fully qualified electricians jumping at me from all angles to help out and sometimes you've got to go with whats at hand. Its more the practical side of things I am after and to see what kinda jobs come up. He also has some contacts in the trade which I am hoping to make use of, contacts with letters after there names.
I've checked the definitions though in part 2 and it seems that I must have adequate education, training and practical skills. It is all looking grey after all.

 

[telectrix]

Fear Not. many moons ago, before all this part p crap was even thought about, I did HND Electrical Engineering.
No jobs worth having, and getting sick of sitting at a desk, trying to match the characteristics of the Company's crappy generators to an equally crappy specification from customer, thinking I knew it all, I blagged my way into a job as a service engineer for domestic appliances, TVs, etc. then progressed into intruder and fire alarms, on the way picking up electrical work. I had by this time rewired my dad's house, so the practical side was not to difficult, but my HND, although steeped in electrical theory, did not prepare me for calculations as a spark. took a year or two of study to get up to speed with things like EFLI and volt drop, but I persevered and got there eventually.

 

[richy3333]

@Old Town Electrics post up your location and a forum member might help you?

 

[Old Town Electrics]

I've already given that a go richy333 with no luck. In all honesty though, i'm feeling much more positive about the whole thing than i was this morning. Much like telectrix, ill persevere and get there in the end. I know a lot about starting a business, i've done a fair amount of electrical work in the past on renovations of mine and i'm fairly happy taking in information. Im not gonna rush it though, i've got a fairly flexible business now so I can slowly swap current work hours for electrical work hours.

 

[The Ghost]

The point of CPS schemes is to avoid having to pay local building control charging a (hefty) fee of £250. So you can wire yours or anyones house qualified or not. The rub is if you are not covered by a cps scheme you are required by law to notify building control 48 hours prior to starting work. Who will then inspect the work and charge a fee for that. And they will insist the work complies with BS7671 Building regs and various statutory requirements. It is an offence to start electrical work without notifying building control. This is not my opinion it is the law. When a CPS covered electrician does the work he is warranted to comply by the scheme and building control is notified and a copy of the compliance is sent to the customer, required if selling the house etc. And of course there is no £250 fee which is good for business and the customer.

 

[Midwest]

In my experience (not failing to comply) LBC are reliant on electricians being in a scheme, and are unsure how to deal with non comliances, from those whose intention is just to do a genuine quality job. However, that's no a reason to break a law you know is in place and you would need to consider your liability both from insurance and your customer.

 

[DuaneMHunt1976]

I think that if your electrical friend could do the part p and BS7672 the can join stroma for £288 but you will need insurance and all that

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Hi OTE,
BS7671 now refers to ordinary, instructed and skilled person (rather than competent term). The skilled person would have been trained, examined and experienced in order to be judged skilled. You can readily find a list of the things needed by the CPS for membership online if you are interested which are a good start. Further, the Electricity at Work regulations requires electricans to be "competent to prevent danger and injury" and this would require a skilled person (as per BS7671 definition).
I know this may hurt, and it's just my view, but if your business partner is not a member of a CPS and holds no electrical qualifications I am not sure they would be judged skilled, so you would not be an instructed person. So I'm not sure you are supervised properly to do electrical work, Part P notifiable or not (who is the QA?). Perhaps I'm wrong, and others will correct me

Skilled person (BS7671) = competent person (EAWR) = someone with either the technical knowledge or experience to be aware of the dangers electricity may present.
For example, a cleaner who knows not to plug in a vacuum cleaner with a damaged cable.

 

[Colin33]

Stroma membership for £288. Seems cheap enough, what other ongoing costs are involved here? I've managed without a CPS for years but if costs are really that low now days then I may consider joining...

 

[telectrix]

srtoma are by far the cheapest sscam , but being the new kids on the block, i've heard thast their assessments are more stringent than nic, elecsa etc., where the only criteria are that your cheque clears.