Is this legal?

[tfin]

Evening all.

There's a bowling alley in my town who are well known for being "thrifty" with their cash.

I came across a facebook post from them regarding some refurbishment work they were doing. The post essentially said that they were looking looking for local tradesman to be involved in the refurbishment looking for competent carpenters, plumbers and electricians who have Electrical Installation Certificates (EICs) and to email their CVs.

Now I'm just about still an apprentice with little experience of domestic/commercial, who's still getting to grips with the legal side of things but I'm pretty sure an EIC isn't even a qualification.

It sounds to me like they cant be bothered getting a legit contractor in and would rather just pay anyone to do the work. Fair enough if it's your own house, but a business doing work on a commercial premises?

I'm not looking to point fingers or snitch on anyone, I'm just genuinely curious to see if is this legal?

Cheers.

 

[Darkwood]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Adam W]

I wouldn't expect someone who runs a bowling alley to know much about electrical qualifications. I assume what they mean is they want the work doing and to have a certificate to show for it.

There was a bar round where I grew up that used to do the same - if they wanted a slightly different look they'd get a chippy, tiler, plumber or whoever, maybe get some of the bar staff to have a go at painting, and hope everything fitted together and looked OK.
It didn't.

 

[boffy35]

Hi tfin,

The owner has a legal obligation to ensure that his commercial premise is safe.

Hiring local tradesmen to complete a refurbishment is not illegal, and in fact is how most of us get work. You may also find that some tradesmen will be offended that you view them as not "legit contractor". I am assuming you suggest that the owner should offer the entire project to one contractor, as opposed to managing multiple tradesmen himself? I can't see why this is a problem, it sometimes looks cheaper to do this, but in the long run usually works out more expensive in time and money than using a single contractor to manage, but that is not illegal, his premise, his money, his time.

To satisfy local building control, or his insurers, he may need to produce an EIC for electrical work, hence his request for one. There is nothing stopping you getting in touch with him and recommending he change his request to include NICEIC membership etc etc if you feel strongly about it