what would you generally ask a customer do to prepare for us coming into rewire, i am in the middle of arranging for me to do a rewire the first one i have done on my own, things like moving furniture the kithchen, lifting carpets, laminate flooring ?
G
GLENNSPARK
well...as far as testing is concerned....then a quick Ze is standard...
you need to know how much access you will have....and the price should reflect this as well....
so ...the more crap they shift...the less (slightly) you charge...
make em aware of it...so as an incentive to cart all that junk to the tip
you need to know how much access you will have....and the price should reflect this as well....
so ...the more crap they shift...the less (slightly) you charge...
make em aware of it...so as an incentive to cart all that junk to the tip
Every rewire is different with customers getting involved to different levels.
I have had some that have moved furniture, taken carpets up, had the brews coming all day, and put it all back after I left. I have had others that just go out for the day and leave you to it.
This needs to be discussed at pricing time as it can be a lot more work and easily add a day or two. You also need to set a schedule between you and the customer on occupied rewires, as in which rooms you can have on which days etc. Remember to plan ahead with your wiring so you are not lifting any floor twice for forgotten cables.
I have had some that have moved furniture, taken carpets up, had the brews coming all day, and put it all back after I left. I have had others that just go out for the day and leave you to it.
This needs to be discussed at pricing time as it can be a lot more work and easily add a day or two. You also need to set a schedule between you and the customer on occupied rewires, as in which rooms you can have on which days etc. Remember to plan ahead with your wiring so you are not lifting any floor twice for forgotten cables.
thanks guys I just want tae make sure I am not leaving myself with all the work but not asking the customers to do too much, once you've lifted laminate flooring would you just leave it for them to deal with or would that be down to me ?
uksparks
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The one I am just doing is a lived in rewire, the bloke insists on wanting to watch his tv whilst I'm chasing walls round him... The house is a total tip worse than a hoarder and toy have to wipe your feet on the way out. He had not moved a thing or don't the slightest anything to help. It's a total pain and stupidly I undercharged it, but that's my fault.
My advice would be, if it's got laminate, don't entertain it and just get some other poor sod to do it, secondly get them to move all junk to the middles of the rooms with sufficient space round edge to work and cover there junk.
Oh he loft, don't get me started, if it's boarded, oh god, erm... Try and back out as its a pain as they never go down in the same order if you are like me. This one I'm doing, his daughter was again dresser and there was a load of coated chip board in the loft and I didn't see that there was a load of shampoo spilt on it which I slipped on and nearly went through the ceiling. Get them to move everything out.
Jees, I sound like a right moaning git. The best ones are empty houses with nobody living in it, makes life easier.
My advice would be, if it's got laminate, don't entertain it and just get some other poor sod to do it, secondly get them to move all junk to the middles of the rooms with sufficient space round edge to work and cover there junk.
Oh he loft, don't get me started, if it's boarded, oh god, erm... Try and back out as its a pain as they never go down in the same order if you are like me. This one I'm doing, his daughter was again dresser and there was a load of coated chip board in the loft and I didn't see that there was a load of shampoo spilt on it which I slipped on and nearly went through the ceiling. Get them to move everything out.
Jees, I sound like a right moaning git. The best ones are empty houses with nobody living in it, makes life easier.
G
Guest55
you'd have to be insane to take on any job that involves taking up & re-laying laminate.
i've actually refused jobs that required such , let it be someone elses problem.
Remove ALL belongings from the property, lift all floor coverings & take them off site, remove all fitted units, kitchen, bedroom furniture etc., move out, and not to contact me until I tell them the job is done!
Perhaps why I don't get much domestic, plus the VAT, the VAT is the killer!
N
NJG28
Occupied rewires must be ultimate job from hell ! You need careful wording in a contract covering what supply will be available at night, what IS covered re carpets & furniture moving/replacing & above that = extra cost @ x/hr etc etc
Personally I would be happy to lift a laminate floor "with no guarantee" but leave customer to arrange refit
Not worth your hassle as many are poor diy fit in first place.
Personally I would be happy to lift a laminate floor "with no guarantee" but leave customer to arrange refit
Not worth your hassle as many are poor diy fit in first place.
we just dont undertake occupied rewires, not worth the aggro
how do you properly rewire an already fitted kitchen they want to keep, with tiled walls and make it look any good?, not an easy job
how do you properly rewire an already fitted kitchen they want to keep, with tiled walls and make it look any good?, not an easy job
G
Guest111
I,ve not done many as most of my work was industrial,but if you have to do a live in then they need to empty the loft,move furniture to the centre of the room and go out while you are working.Kids can also be a problem so they need to be out of the way as well,I did one live in and the fifteen yr old son waited till we,d taken the boards up upstairs and then decided to have a bath,knowing full well that we needed access to the bathroom.he was a real pain and ended up finding himself cable tied to a lamppost outside the house,this was unfortunate really as he was unable to run off when his mother returned home and decided to belt him for getting in our way.
M
Motty
When you survey the job check the Incomer and see if it has a DNO Isolator fitted, so the whole CCU and customers side tails can be switched off without tampering with the seals on the head or meter. If not, get customer to phone their supplier and arrange fitting. EDF and EON don't charge for this, British Gas do but its not extortionate, around £60-70. then you can work in safety and without the threat of action by DNO for tampering with thier equipment. Allow a fortnight for this to get done.
R
Rampantchilli
Seriously I don't think I expect the customer to do anything( including making the tea), you discuss at time of quotation, if there's furniture it doesn't matter where it goes it will be in the way. Floor covering, if treated with care will go back down, and laminate floor? Well carefully take it up, explaining before hand that you can't guarantee it will come up without breaking. In all the years I've never expected anyone to do anything more than move the Picasso or cut crystal to a different property.
And I can't remember ever causing upset with a genuine customer, social housing tenants however can be a law unto themselves.
the main thing is to be clear about your skill and profession, " I'm not a carpet fitter love" but ill get them down best I can, or if you truly are shocking at putting them back down, pay for a carpet fitter to relay them, and factor it into you quote, much like you would with plastering if your crap at that.
And I can't remember ever causing upset with a genuine customer, social housing tenants however can be a law unto themselves.
the main thing is to be clear about your skill and profession, " I'm not a carpet fitter love" but ill get them down best I can, or if you truly are shocking at putting them back down, pay for a carpet fitter to relay them, and factor it into you quote, much like you would with plastering if your crap at that.
I've had times where the customer refuses to have upstairs glued laminate taken up, and I've ended up having to cut hatches in the ceilings instead!
As already said, discuss EVERYTHING with the client beforehand and charge accordingly. A 3k rewire in an empty house can easily end up costing 6k by the time you've moved furniture and messed about with repowering rooms each night.
As already said, discuss EVERYTHING with the client beforehand and charge accordingly. A 3k rewire in an empty house can easily end up costing 6k by the time you've moved furniture and messed about with repowering rooms each night.
R
rattlehead85
Did an occupied re-wire a couple of years back where the customer refused access into his bedroom but still wanted the whole place done!! We soon understood why when one day we was up in the loft directly above the said bedroom and all we could hear was moans and groaning going on which explained why strange men were going in and out at all times!
G
GLENNSPARK
well..it was just the other week that we went into this place....the person ordering the work thought we could just add a few points here n there....
so, we went into the cellar...to be confronted with a board to the 16th edition...CED cutout with a Ze of 41 ohms on a TN-S...lovely
less lovely was the cables snaked around various pipework in that cellar and the hoard of joint boxes all over the place...some tucked away..others just hanging down..hmm...
explained to the client after a general lookaround that the best option was to have it all rewired as there were loads of non-conformances everyware...
trust me if i can save an install i will but this one had had it..
the property was unocupied...a good start you thinks right....WRONG!!...caus every room in that house had loads of built up flat pack furniture in it..my solution:
shift it all to the centre of the room and stack/dump/throw it all on top of each other....when it came to the carpet..out came the stanley knife...
there was loads of old laminate floor & lino...we just launched it all out of the window..
the client thought we were going to move furniture from room to room as we went along..
i had other ideas...
so, we went into the cellar...to be confronted with a board to the 16th edition...CED cutout with a Ze of 41 ohms on a TN-S...lovely
less lovely was the cables snaked around various pipework in that cellar and the hoard of joint boxes all over the place...some tucked away..others just hanging down..hmm...
explained to the client after a general lookaround that the best option was to have it all rewired as there were loads of non-conformances everyware...
trust me if i can save an install i will but this one had had it..
the property was unocupied...a good start you thinks right....WRONG!!...caus every room in that house had loads of built up flat pack furniture in it..my solution:
shift it all to the centre of the room and stack/dump/throw it all on top of each other....when it came to the carpet..out came the stanley knife...
there was loads of old laminate floor & lino...we just launched it all out of the window..
the client thought we were going to move furniture from room to room as we went along..
i had other ideas...
I would recommend moving out definitely. It makes it easier for the spark and not such an upheaval for the family. A few years ago I had an extensive extension build which meant we had no kitchen, dining room, bedroom and the original wiring was not compatible with the new stuff, so that meant a rewire and a new boiler. It was supposed to be a 12 week job but turned into 6 months. We came to know every builder by name and they even left shopping lists out when they had run out of biscuits, milk and tea bags! One day I counted 15 men on the job which included plasterer, joiner, brickie, spark, plumber, roofer, pebble-dasher, inspector and his mate... the list was endless. It was a case of getting on with it, trying to keep 4 kids, a dog and a cat out of the way and smile through the whole thing. :17:
R
R G
I carried out rewire after rewire with SEC , its not a nice job but you get used to it , in cases where the customer has gone away it can be good , but from many of these experiences it became a problem , mostly because you come across problems that are not visible when you first looked around . Quite often you have to discuss points as you go along with furniture and decoration and quite often they have requested extra work , you would find this difficult if the customer has gone away , I have ended up discussing many things over the phone , but it is far better if you can show them the problems , as you go along , its not easy dealing with customers especially when they are paying SEC prices , I did that from 1982 right up to 4 years ago and its got harder dealing with the public, one tip is to discuss everything with the customer especially the flooring and decoration whats going to get disturbed and why because they don't have a clue and you need to show them most of the time the difficulties in getting your cables in . All the best
R
R G
I am knackered mate , wish I could have done the same as all you other guys ,but with SEC it was a case of the more you do the more they keep on giving , then I became a subby for them on price work (good money ) but boy it was hard work , the hardest part is working with customers and keeping them happy , but met some nice people, and have more respect for them than SEC , I just got stuck in that position I guess , days became years , knees and back are now knackered , when I started it was lump hammer and Bolster for chasing and each day was an onslaught ,SEC gave you 1.5 hrs per point and the next rewire was already on the schedule. Had some nice lads with me now and again.My advice to any body doing this work is discuss as much as possible with the customer , get them to move their valuables , get them to trust you in their homes if you can , if they do move out then get them to pop in later in the day and show them any problems , do this before you do something that needs their approval. Good Luck
You can work your balls off, have no break each day except 20mins for lunch, treat the customer with honesty and respect, and then what happens after you've finished? Some "friend" who's good with electrics tells them that they've been ripped off!
Sick of it all to be honest.
Sick of it all to be honest.
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