Hi, I had a full rewire done on my property. The electrician I hired came with a glowing recommendation from a family member. However on completing the work and requesting certification for the rewire, the electrician has come up with every excuse under the sun for not providing the paperwork. This is despite the fact that they held themselves out as being Niceic qualified from our initial meeting. As the electrician had gone off the radar, what steps should I take to rectify the situation. I imagine I will have to hire a fully qualified electrician to self certify his work. From a legal route, should I be contacting the police about this apparent fraud. I may also go down the small claims court route, to recover any money spent rectifying his work and getting it self certified. I know the way this electrician has acted is a pet hate to many electricians as he has stolen work from fully qualified electricians. He also tarnishes the industry with his behaviour. Any advice on how I should proceed would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Andrew
Payment isn't an issue. I would happily hard over the outstanding amount on receipt of the certification.
I suspect that the electrician may be moonlighting and that is the reason why all the excuses have come out. Money isn't the issue.
Legally , your responsible to make sure its signed off! its your premis . Lots of sparks wouldnt sign off someone elses work. My suggestion would be to come clean to building control and see what they say.
Andrew, You say you suspect he may be moonlighting.... was the quote in writing via letter headed paper or accounting package email? Just wondering why you suspect this.
The deal wasn't that cheap. He spoke of a need to get into the office to complete the certification paperwork. The fact he couldn't do this at home and his reluctance to do it makes me think that. The quote was by email. He has supposedly done lots of jobs in the area.
Like I said, he was recommended by a family member who listed a number of his friends who had used him. This was the first tradesmen I have ever hired, so however it plays out I learnt a lesson going forward.
Are they listed on the NICEIC website? If yes, then NICEIC can take up the complaint. If no, NICEIC will want to prosecute the electrician for falsely claiming to be a member, misuse of logo, etc etc And they do prosecute http://mylocalelectrician.uk/news/another-contractor-fined-misuse-niceic-logo
All so clever after the event, the fact is, he hasn't signed off, if he wasn't going to sign off then he should have said. You can do all the checking in the world, makes no real difference just down to luck, maybe the guy is just really busy and he's not very good at communicating that or maybe its the op's fault...I don't know. as I said its all down to luck nowadays, very few decent trades about at the moment. 1 thing I would say, never use a friend or friend of the family....
Sounds to me like he was a young employee of a firm doing some work on the side. Perfectly acceptable, but difficult to sign jobs off. Sounds as if he was going to try to put it through as a work job for the cert, but I bet he was hoping paperwork wasn't going to be asked for. This emailed quote, was it just an email? Not an emailed PDF with headed paper etc?
You have mentioned certification. What about notification? Changinf aCU is notifiable work (a LEGAL requirement). I'll bet that you dont have that, either?
There is no reason why your electrician cannot issue an EIC (Electrical Installation Certificate), as you do not have to be a member of any trade body to issue one. All you need to be is 'electrically qualified' complete the work to BS7671. The certification is part of the standard and should be consider part of the job. As others have said you may have a problem with notifying the work to building control. If you are in Herts then message me and I may be able to advise.
...Not pertinent to this thread, but... Me and the gang used to like it when we had stayover jobs at Tesco HQ in Welwyn. In the evening we'd drink at The Cock, Welwyn, Herts. Great name and address for a pub!!
I used to live near Ewell, Surrey. The local pub was the Organ Inn. It changed its name to the Organ & Dragon. Just found it's being demolished to make way for a Lidl. Is that progress??
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