Thoughts?

[lews123]

Hi guys, what's your thoughts? Ripped off or fair price?

Had an inspection report carried out on my electrics as solicitor requested them upon sale of my house and bill has just landed on my door mat for £205.

On the bill it's noted 3 additions as below:

1) fit gromet to metal box (1 x missing)
2) change 2 x mcbs in board
3) fault find ring main (wire loose in bedroom socket)

I wasn't here at the time as I was working away but my mrs said he spent 2 hours here?

 

[Darkwood]

That sounds a reasonable price for what is given on the invoice, 2 hours + travel and parts. TBH its been tested pretty quickly if spec' 2hrs.

Were you given a guideline quote?
How many circuits are in your board?

 

[lews123]

That sounds a reasonable price for what is given on the invoice, 2 hours + travel and parts. TBH its been tested pretty quickly if spec' 2hrs.

Were you given a guideline quote?
How many circuits are in your board?

The guy does live a stones throw across the road.... He originaly verbally quote £50-£60 to test... I haven't yet had a chat with him. 9 circuits on the board

 

[Darkwood]

If he quoted 50-60 quid that sounds a tad on the cheap side tbh as well as time on site he would still have to write it all up .... did he replace the mcb with RCBO's to give rcd protection, these can be quite expensive with some brands, although I would have thought it be an idea to inform you before adding £140 quid to a verbal quote.

 

[SJD]

Only 2 hours seems a trifle short time to test 9 circuits fully/properly (unless they are all very simple circuits such as a cooker circuit, which they are obviously not).

 

[markc123]

as dark wood says slapping 140 onto a verbal is naughty, i'd kick off at that like but... at an internet glance the quote does seem fair, albeit 2hours ? i must be slow doing my EICR's

 

[Leesparkykent]

Tbh I think £205 is fair for the EICR and to rectify the mentioned bits and pieces if the EICR has been carried out properly (which is questionable if he was there only 2hours).

 

[DuaneMHunt1976]

i did think that he should of pointed out the faults (but it should be a Periodic, shouldnt it) ie all you can do is tell them the state of the electricals and what needs to be fixed..

Did he change some of the MCBs, was there any one home to seen him do all this. Is the gromit there!

I was told when i was doing Periodic Testing exam that "In the Real world you would just Note down the faults and put it in your report, then change hats to the guy that fixes them and say how much it would cost"
Lose wire i would just tighten it, the MCB i would be keen to know what he changed and the Grotmit (do make sure they are in place)

 

[Andy78]

I would have charged less but that is not necessarily comparable.
What is comparable is time on site and thoroughness of service. I reckon I would have taken 4-6 hours for a full test and inspection plus fault finding, based on an average 3 bed house.

 

[andyb]

If you only requested a report then he really should not carry out remedials without an order from you.
If you also gave him the go ahead to undertake remedials then you need to ask for a break down as £140/£150 to replace a couple of mcbs & a grommet seems high to me. I know he said that he did a bit of fault finding but as he was on site for only a couple of hours it could only of taken a couple of minutes. Either that or the inspection only took a couple of minutes.

 

[uksparks]

Depending on how many circuits it is, my price usually starts at £100 and goes up to £160 for an EICR, and typically it takes 2 hours to do a more basic EICR with many agreed limitations, and usually around 3.5 hours if they want face plates all removing and checking etc.

Really depends on the property, but £60 is way too cheap.

Plus it usually takes about 30 mins to convery scribbled notes into a presentable document when you get back.

I tested one the other day for a friend.. was 4 circuits, 1 smokes, 1 lights, 1 shower and 1 radial sockets, didn't actually take that long, I dropped a number of the plates off, but then spend an hour afterwards talking.

 

[davesparks]

If he gave you a quote of £60 and you ordered the work based on that then he charged you more without your authorisation then you are right to question it.
Did you receive an invoice for the original quoted price and a separate invoice for the additional work?

 

[Andy78]

Some useful guidance for the OP. An average national price. An EICR is the second item down in the table.

Electricians: how much should you pay? - Which? Local

 

[newtothis]

What's the going rate in your locale ?
£207 with bits sorted seems a good price to me, obviously if he quoted 60 it's a not on.

Some useful guidance for the OP. An average national price. An EICR is the second item down in the table.
Electricians: how much should you pay? - Which? Local

Thanks for sharing that, I found it interesting, it's 2012 so fairly recent.

 

[Darkwood]

I've been wondering if he said £150-to 60 and you may have misheard him... that would fit in with the materials etc and still be a good price.

Even a generous mates rate would be £100 quote.