Sparky Costs

[Paulh_Boats]

Sparky has quoted me £193 + VAT to inspect and test the whole house and a new 17th dual-RCD consumer unit.

I have negotiated to rewire the non-earthed lighting circuits myself, bring things up to date with the 17th then sparky will test it (yes I am competent). Seems good so far but he wants to charge £40 an hour for additional work - my email reply was "I'm not going to pay £40/hour for basic electrical work in a recession!"

What are reasonable costs for electrical work?

-Paul

[Stuart]

i charge £20 per hour, but I'm commercial.
The lighting circuits are not a fail if there is no earth long as the switch plates or fittings arn't metal (class 1)
but your right its a good idea to upgrading it 
don't forget to mark the switch lives with brown tape and have a IP rated light fitting in the bathroom if you want full marks 

Stuart

[Ted]

Why would there be any "additional work" and why couldn't you do that yourself as well?  Is he expecting to have to rectify your mistakes (what mistakes)?

But £25/30 an hour would be the rate around here. Depends on how long he has to travel to/from you as well.

[tim_h]

Are you saying he will supply and fit a new 17th edition compliant consumer unit in the cost of £193 + vat? Or is he just inspecting and testing the new unit?
It sounds very cheap for a new board and test, but pricey if he's just testing.
Hourly rate of £40/h is expensive (we charge £27), is he hoping to offer the cheap board as a "loss leader", then find lots of faults to make up the extra hours? Don't forget he won't sign off the installation until he is happy with it!

By the way, what recession? Were snowed under!

[tim_h]

But £25/30 an hour would be the rate around here. Depends on how long he has to travel to/from you as well.

How would the distance travelled affect the hourly rate for extra work?

[Ted]

I'm assuming he isn't charging for 'travel time' on a per hour or mileage basis and, therefore, it affects the overhead cost for the job.

[Paulh_Boats]

All,

Since my Dad died his house has been empty and we are modernising it to rent out - hence I want everything up to date with the 17th and as compliant and safe as possible (PIR etc). My background is an electronics degree combined with an aircraft electronics apprenticeship 1977-81.

I had a good chat with sparky (Mr Electric) and convinced him of my abilities - he has approved all my design changes (twin+earth lighting, gas bonding (NEVER done since built in 1932!), Wylex 17th dual RCD consumer unit, IP lighting for bathroom, interlinked mains smoke alarms, removing Dad's "creative" spurs and adding that silly sticker for non-hamonised wiring!). It was rewired in the 60s so its all PVC.

When I have done the above I'll leave the floorboards up (whilst installing central heating at the same time) so he can inspect the cables. I also want to trace all the cables myself just to be sure where they go.

He is happy to inspect and test (for £193 + VAT) and is probably quoting for any additional work should anything be "unsatisfactory" - however since he will be already on site I think £20 an hour for additional work to pass the PIR is fair. Having said that I'll do my best to make it perfect before he does the PIR so I don't think additional work will be needed.

cheers
-Paul

[Stuart]

Mr Electric is a rather dodgy franchise, I've fixed a few things there minions have done.
One boss looked at the setup and said there was virtually no margin in it. (maybe its to be made up in extras??)
the wylex boards are on special all the time at Newey and Eyre i got a 10 way for 55.78 ex vat a few months back.
Stuart

Edit, might be about time to put my prices up too 

[Amy]

If he cant be straight with you tell him to get stuffed.
This country is full of jerks who think its funny to play games. If everyone told them where to go, they would be out of work.

[Paulh_Boats]

Mr Electric is a rather dodgy franchise, I've fixed a few things there minions have done.
One boss looked at the setup and said there was virtually no margin in it. (maybe its to be made up in extras??)
the wylex boards are on special all the time at Newey and Eyre i got a 10 way for 55.78 ex vat a few months back.
Stuart

Thanks Stuart for the advice about Mr Electric - I guess it all depends on who has the local franchise.

Ok then, is anybody interested in doing an inspection and test in Gloucestershire? I'll work closely with you to make sure everything is up to spec and do a pre-check on each circuit with my multimeter. Floorboards will be up for a good visual and there will be as much tea, coffee and biscuits as you want 

cheers
Paul

[tony.]

 I dont see £40 being excessive.

remember he is paying tax on it, and covering all his overheads, insurances fuel costs etc etc.

 
ask him if their are any limitations in his PIR and what % of testing he will be doing.

GN3 i think recommends 10%, so 10% of a small house is a doddle, especially when you pick the easy circuits like cooker etc all radial easy to test.

Tony

[spluger]

let me know who you use please Paul

I've built my own extension and am slowly rewiring the house


I'm 17th ed and part P qualified  but not on any recognised scheme so cant sing my own work

still that's the way of the world

PS am in glos area

David

[Stuart]

if he's changing the DB he should test 100% of circuits.

Spluger, you could do a DPIR for it.... after all who's to say when that new DB was installed 

Stuart

[Baz]

40 an hour! when I worked in the defence industry the MOD controlled costs with a simple and proven system. Costs allowed were calculated as actual wage packet for the engineer plus 80% to cover overheads. Those overheads included NI, pension, premises with 24/7 guards, canteen staff, librarians, personnel dept, training, and serious test equipment like drive in test chambers, network analysers costing 200k not a not a little 1k insulation tester.
does a sparky have overheads like this . No. Just a van and tester so about 15k to amortise over 5 years. It is not rocket science so average national wage should be considered good so #15 all up is ok, #20 doing nicely. #40 equates to about 50 grand a year after tax wow. Why did I wste my time getting a degree to become an electronics enigineer who is deemed incapable of wiring 3 wires into a socket.

[Paulh_Boats]

40 an hour! when I worked in the defence industry the MOD controlled costs with a simple and proven system. Costs allowed were calculated as actual wage packet for the engineer plus 80% to cover overheads. Those overheads included NI, pension, premises with 24/7 guards, canteen staff, librarians, personnel dept, training, and serious test equipment like drive in test chambers, network analysers costing 200k not a not a little 1k insulation tester.
does a sparky have overheads like this . No. Just a van and tester so about 15k to amortise over 5 years. It is not rocket science so average national wage should be considered good so #15 all up is ok, #20 doing nicely. #40 equates to about 50 grand a year after tax wow. Why did I wste my time getting a degree to become an electronics enigineer who is deemed incapable of wiring 3 wires into a socket.

Baz - I'm with you on this one!   I worked damned hard in my apprenticeship and final year to get a first in electronics, spent many years in simulation, test and verification of complex electronic microchips controlling test equipment worth several million dollars...and now I can't test a fridge plug    

But the glass is always half full - I can see a nice little earner for an early retirement job  

I emailed the guy and his honest reply was its the hassle and time factor of fixing PIR niggles that puts him off - so maybe I can strike a deal with him and fix the niggles myself in parallel with his testing.

-Paul