What am I allowed to do

[Tezzer2022]

Hello,
I’ve started a modest handyman business and have come across some electrical obstacles. Up to now I have outsourced work to my electrician mate, but getting his time is increasingly difficult.
I’m fairly competent in electrics but will not attempt anything through my business.
Does anyone know if there is a de facto list of what the regs will allow a non qualified electrician to carry out. I’m particularly interested in work carried out where there is water I.e kitchens and bathrooms.

 

[Dustydazzler]

 

[DPG]

Do you have a calibrated MFT?

 

[Dustydazzler]

That is the kicker , a competent person could happily wire in a new circuit and it will work fine, but without owning or having access to a MFT they have no way of actually testing the new circuit.
Can you even hire an MFT from one of them tool hire shops ?

 

[davesparks]

Can you even hire an MFT from one of them tool hire shops ?

Yes you can hire test equipment, I use Inlec, who are now part of sunbelt rentals, for this.

 

[loz2754]

I watched this video last week out of curiosity.
For me, the point made at the end is the most important, where he stresses that most DIYers would not have the expensive equipment needed to test the new work being done, nor the knowledge of how to use it and interpret the results.

 

[loz2754]

The wiring regulations require that anyone carrying out electrical work be competent to do so. You would have to some means of proving that competence, especially if something goes badly wrong and you end up in court.

They also require that all electrical work be tested in accordance with the regulations. This requires an understanding of what to test and how to test it, along with the proper test equipment.

 

[davesparks]

I’m fairly competent in electrics but will not attempt anything through my business.

How have you been assessed as fairly competent?

Some people would consider qualification and experience as a means of assessing competence whereas other people deem themselves a competent diyer on the basis that they've done their own electrical work at home and haven't died yet.

 

[Dustydazzler]

I watched this video last week out of curiosity.
For me, the point made at the end is the most important, where he stresses that most DIYers would not have the expensive equipment needed to test the new work being done, nor the knowledge of how to use it and interpret the results.

This is where me thinks the powers in the ivory towers were Wrong with part pee.
DIYErs and Builders and Plumbers should be allowed to do wiring ( they will regardless ) but they must have it tested by a qualified sparks before the job can be declared finished. The sparks isn't offering any form or warranty or guarantee just a test result sheet showing the new install has tested up and results are within the regs.

 

[ferg]

I've spent a fair bit of time of late fixing handyman wiring after EICRs.
Most people think that the work is fine because it works. It's not until a test and inspection is done that some fairly serious issues come to light and the customer is landed with a fairly hefty bill. Not just for my time but also for patching afterwards.
It's unusual for people to deliberately do a bad job it's mostly through not having a good enough knowledge of the regulations and lack of test equipment.
It's fair to say that otherwise happy(ish) customers ended up fairly peed off with said handypersons in the end.
It's probably worth noting, even though some might not admit it, testing at the end of a job finds your own mistakes as well as those made by others. Nobody is perfect, everyone makes mistakes and testing combined with knowledge and experience gives you the best chance of either not making them or finding them before the job is finished.

Something that a lot of us do is ask ourselves if something went wrong at a later date could we be held responsible?
It is rare but injury, death and or damage to property does happen through unintentionally bad workmanship.
For example adding a socket or light fitting to a to a circuit that already has a fault has unintentionally created a potentially dangerous situation or at the very least made it worse. Not a great place to be if things go wrong.

I would advise asking yourself how you have determined that the installation is as safe or safer than it was before you worked on it and how you would prove that at a later date if the worst happened and something went wrong.

 

[Tezzer2022]

How have you been assessed as fairly competent?

Some people would consider qualification and experience as a means of assessing competence whereas other people deem themselves a competent diyer on the basis that they've done their own electrical work at home and haven't died yet.

I agree, competence can be subjective for all.

 

[Taylortwocities]

And remember that some major works are notifiable
these include:

New circuits
Replacement or new consumer units
Electrical work within certain zones (Bathrooms eg)

These are notifiable to the local authority, and you'll need to be a member of NICEIC, etc to make doing those sorts of works viable.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Have a read of this: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a802da7ed915d74e622ceed/BR_PDF_AD_P_2013.pdf and note the changes to legal requirements on page two.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Have a read of this: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a802da7ed915d74e622ceed/BR_PDF_AD_P_2013.pdf and note the changes to legal requirements on page two.

And page 6.

 

[pc1966]

I guess you can break a job down in to these phases:

• Design
• Install
• Test
• Certify (part P stuff)

A competent spark will have the knowledge to do the first three (and of course the test equipment for the 3rd), and those in any of the "competent person" schemes will have an easy route to the 4th. It is worth pointing out you get some very good sparks who are not in the schemes as they don't give them any value for the type of work they do, but domestically for England and Wales it is a pain without it.

For most like-for-like repair/replace jobs it is a whole lot easier and in the realms of good DIY to do it safely, but even then I would always say you need to have some means to do at the very least basic testing to establish it is not broken (e.g. the better socket testers) even if it is not equipment capable of proving it meets the design goals.

A lot of domestic design work can be found in the tables of the standard circuits in the IET on-side guide...except when it is not! And recognising when you are looking at a design outside of your depth of knowledge is not always easy.

I guess the OP should be asking the question of just where they want to go. The obvious first step is to become more of an electrician's mate who does most of the work to buy and install stuff, but has someone qualified who does the design, test, and certification.

A bigger step is to decide if it is worth investing your time and money to get the qualifications and equipment to become a competent spark, even if not your majority of work. If you can see how much work you will get (or are not able to deal with just now) then you can start to see how it compares with gaining qualifications.