DIY Electrical Work: An Expert’s Opinion

The link between Part P certification for a building and lower fire insurance premiums has yet to be tested rigorously. It has to come, surely?

Yes, anytime soon...

I don't like the way they belittle the ability of people, they seem to ignore that many thousands of qualified electricians, such as Mr. Pennington (a certified "reality giver"), own a home too.

They assume everyone is going to do a lousy job; and to force your need of them, for economical reasons, refuse to certify your own installation.

How many times have you found that you would have done a far better job yourself than the "specialist" you hired ?.

Conceated, shameless and real sons of a butch is what they are. They only give a bad name to the profession.

WALOOB.
I despair of more and more regulation and certification.
I have yet to see a certificate that proved anything or saved anyone from anything. There was some muppet in a local newspaper who thought that a certiface showing his house wiring was up to standard would have prevented a lightning strike.
I can see it now the bolt comes hutling twards the property but veers off at the last moment when it sees the certificate taped to the chimney.
I don't want to pay third parties to tell me what I already know.
We'll need a certificate of authorisation to break wind soon.

This all supposes that the tradesmen who are authorised as 'competent' are actually competent and won't make mistakes which is of course highly unlikely.
Del
(I'll bet the Comet, and the Titanic had reams of Certificates, as did the Herald of Free Enterprize :( )

It's all a conspiracy between the labor unions and government to exercise control over the sheep. They try to do the same thing in this country (U.S.) and Obama is the guy to do it.

'....However, should you need to safely certificate the work in accordance with....'

..

Further proof that 'any noun can be verbed'.

...

....but should it?

Indeed,
Should you need to certify the work...
There is a perfectly good verb already without creating new ones.
Del
(some say I should be certified:) )

Oh no. Not him again...

A guy down the road from me was a gas fitter (fully qualified). He used to pay a load of money every year to get his 'ticket'.
How come on the day he retires and doesn't pay for a ticket he's suddenly considered incompetent?
Ah yes, I see, it's a way of getting money out of the pockets of people who actually do stuff into the pockets of a load of beurocrats who don't know a gas fitting from a cows ar$e
Del
(for those who are uncertain, the smell is slightly different, but you probably need to go on a training course and get a certicate to be able to tell for sure)

beurocrats burocrats

cows cow's

burocrats bureaucrats

Well, NO, they actually are BOTH gas fittings. And the scent added to the gas supply here in the US is sometimes worse than that from the cow.... oh, wait, is THAT what you meant by "the smell is slightly different"? Oh, sorry, I misunderstood at first.

Um...With all due respect.....I'm not sure I want to know how they found out what a cows fart smells like. TO know the difference.

I guess it is different in the USA. You purchase a permit and the government inspector comes out to the job site to make sure the work was done correctly. But, that is on major work and new construction. I don't know anyone that has a light switch inspected by the government after replacing it. I am not an electrician but I can do quite a bit. I repaired a ceiling fan that was installed by a professional. He did not secure the wires properly and one of them had its insulation rubbed off by the fan rotor inside the decorative cover. No house fire but it was definitely not done correctly. The building I work in was wired by licensed contractors when it was constructed. And it had to pass "inspection". Several places have been discovered where the wiring was done incorrectly. Our electricians always treat a wire as if it is hot even when it checks out to not be energized. Good thing.

As for the increased regulations, I have long thought that the government will start requiring permits to be shown when purchasing materials that exceed a preset dollar limit or specific items such as breaker boxes from the home improvement stores.

Agree, on everything; but you should have kept that last thought to yourself, now that you said it, it may eventually come true. Edit your comment and erase that part !.

Well! THAT would be sticking your head in the sand. And all I ever got from that was a kick in the butt, and sand in my hair.

And the inevitable happened anyway!

I was going to do some plumbing in my shack, a few years ago but was trying to get a few details figured out because I could not get any advice from a plumber. So I called a building inspector. He came out, looked around and mumbled a couple of things then said, "We aren't allowed to give advice--I'm sure if you hired a plumber it would pass inspection." To me, that about says it all. Wiring or plumbing.

Now I'm faced with having to clean up my wiring mess in the basement so I can sell--eventually. The only alternative to hiring it out, it seems to me, is to have an inspection done prior to. Maybe I can get some code pointers indirectly if they give me a detailed flunk report. By the way, I did all the plumbing, both input and output, except for the side connection. The second time I did it with Pex, the miracle solution. I wish they'd come up with a Pex style wiring process. Then most of the electricians would have to get a job where they have to think.

I have the same problem with another post I have running on here about a eyewash station and OSHA regulations. The OSHA guy could not answer my question. He had to refer me to the safety advisor. The OSHA guy could come in and inspect the shop but if he did and found a problem he would have to fine us. The advisor can do the same inspection but no fines. We just have to fix anything he finds.

Maybe USB's will advance to house hold current and take out the guess work. Plug and Play. No worries about ground, neutral common, hot, 110, 208, 220, 460, 50HZ, 60HZ, single or 3 phase. Before someone jumps in here, yes I know some machines such as welders are capable of doing some of this already. But I was referring to house hold electrical.

Electrical work as performed by a licensed electrician is far from being rocket science I am not an electrician , but I know enough to wire up my owner built house. I studied the codes, got my permits, did the electrical work and had it inspected. It passed without any comments. I do all my own work, piping, ventilation, gas lines without any problems passing. If it can be done, I can learn how to do it. There are many people like me who can do their own work.

Exactly. There is nothing to stop the DIY constructor creating an installation and a separate qualified person inspecting, testing and certificating certifying it. In the UK, the Building Regs people at the Local Authority will want that certificate issued before issuing a completion certificate for notifiable works themselves, and the absence of the completion certificate may obstruct the transfer of title to the freehold of the property further down the line when the prospective purchaser's Conveyancer carries out the procedural searches in pursuit of the change in title. That is what Part P is really all about: stopping coyboys selling dodgy buildings!

Whether a qualified person would issue a quotation to actually do the inspection, testing and certification on an installation that is not his/her own work is a completely different hurdle...

For every person that can the job competently and safely, there are probably three who should have no business even thinking about doing the job themselves. It's the incompetent people that are being targeted. I am glad there are services available to help them.

I strongly disagree with an earlier, utterly ridiculous and paranoid comment about this being a conspiracy. Where's the proof?