Stroma Certification Scheme Time to join Stroma?

[Octopus]

So I went to Elex @ Sandown Park this morning. Apart from replacing some tools, and sitting through Tony Cables "waffle" on the changes in the regs (fire proof CU's ARE going to make life interesting), I made the point of speaking to Napit and Stroma (I'm with Elecsa so there's no point in talking to them or the NICEIC.

Joining Stroma will cost £288 inc VAT which is about £200 savings PLUS they don't charge any more for "warranty" on notified jobs.

Me thinks I'll be cancelling my direct debit for Elecsa after Xmas.

 

[telectrix]

stroma might just make the big 3 sit up and take notice of the fact that they've been ripping sparks off for years. it's about time they had a kick up the arse. from a couple of comments from HHD on this forum, the stroma assessment is quite thorough and may stop some of the chancers gaining accreditation. some niceic and elecsa reg. installers work is diabolical.

 

[Octopus]

stroma might just make the big 3 sit up and take notice of the fact that they've been ripping sparks off for years. it's about time they had a kick up the arse. from a couple of comments from HHD on this forum, the stroma assessment is quite thorough and may stop some of the chancers gaining accreditation. some niceic and elecsa reg. installers work is diabolical.

The "entry" requirements, apart from the qualifications are installation of a minimum of 2 new circuits-- none of this minor works or CU changes but they can be in your own home. I endeavour to use a WIP extension or rewire each year so the assessor can see the cable runs etc, so I don't anticipate any issues.

I asked them how many sparks they have on their books and they claim about 2000

 

[ImpededLoop]

I'm also thinking about changing from Elecsa to Stroma. It's a way of reducing Certsure's dominance but still being able to notify domestic work.

 

[SPARTYKUS]

My cheque cleared months ago. Assessment december 9th. Like you say mr M £200 is £200. Thats a free brand new drill :49:

 

[Octopus]

My cheque cleared months ago. Assessment december 9th. Like you say mr M £200 is £200. Thats a free brand new drill :49:

Which I bought this morning!

 

[Paul P]

Joining Stroma will cost £288 inc VAT which is about £200 savings PLUS they don't charge any more for "warranty" on notified jobs.

to be fair I can't see how they can do membership for that price, half a day for a sparks to inspect your work plus there admin costs.

Assuming the inspection is included.

 

[Octopus]

to be fair I can't see how they can do membership for that price, half a day for a sparks to inspect your work plus there admin costs.

Assuming the inspection is included.

That figure, I was assured, was the total outlay to join up!

 

[tazz]

I`m now thinking of starting my own scam ....Tazz Approval ltd...This is becoming a money making market..we need one standard to get this industry back to a trusted level

 

[Guest77]

to be fair I can't see how they can do membership for that price, half a day for a sparks to inspect your work plus there admin costs.

Assuming the inspection is included.

You get what you pay for.

 

[7029 dave]

Go it alone.

 

[Jay Sparks]

Go it alone.

Thats what I did for a while, until I stopped being self employed. I had enough of paying a lot of money just to notify a job in a dwelling, especially when I could do the same job in a commercial premises and it didn't need notifying. Its Blinking ridiculous!!!

Jay

 

[Richard Burns]

I spoke to Stroma at Elex and asked why they were the best, their answer was, "we are the cheapest".
Apparently they are UKAS accredited which was a key point Certsure were unhappy about, about other schemes.
For that price they were initially losing money but as the economies of scale mount up they are now in profit on this side of the business (CPS).
They also promised that the costs would not keep edging up each year as with the other schemes.
From my point of view the purpose of the schemes is to pass a piece of paper to my customers and building control to say I have complied with the building regulations and this paid for by the notification cost for each job.
They have no other purpose in my eyes and I feel that even £288 is very expensive for providing a service that I pay for on each job.
I could not charge £288 for a half days non manual, non technical work.

Let us see how they turn out in reality.

 

[Octopus]

You get what you pay for.

the way I look at is that with Elecsa I can notify for about £480

with Stroma I can notify for £288

Elecsa do nothing for me (or you)

simples

 

[Silly Sausage]

to be fair I can't see how they can do membership for that price, half a day for a sparks to inspect your work plus there admin costs.

Assuming the inspection is included.

Who cares?

NICEIC (and a lot of their members) have been proven to be a joke by the countless tales told on this here forum.
Even if Stroma turn out to be as equally as bad, you're getting your notifiable work for half the price.
Anything that helps to cripple the NICEIC should only be encouraged!

 

[Engineer54]

Who cares?

NICEIC (and a lot of their members) have been proven to be a joke by the countless tales told on this here forum.
Even if Stroma turn out to be as equally as bad, you're getting your notifiable work for half the price.
Anything that helps to cripple the NICEIC should only be encouraged!

The trouble is, it has a pretty firm stranglehold on the industry, brainwashing those in other industries and professions, that know no very little different, that the NICEIC is holy word in any and all forms of electrical recognition/registration. Almost to the point where they are actually believing it themselves!! lol!!

 

[Guest77]

the way I look at is that with Elecsa I can notify for about £480

with Stroma I can notify for £288

Elecsa do nothing for me (or you)

simples

I totally agree Clive, honestly 100%, that said a lot of local authorities insist on NICEIC, if you want to move into the public sector and grow your business then you either join them or watch other companies with the logo on their vans do the work, if like yourself you have other work and are happy doing non public sector works and getting onto arcitech's lists etc then I agree go with the cheapest, you do get what you pay for though, 288 notes isn't much at all for what your supposed to get from them, hense the word Scam.

 

[ImpededLoop]

True, but if you ever want to move from Stroma to NICEIC approved, I'm sure they will welcome you with open arms (so long as you've signed the cheque!).

 

[a1colly]

Joined storma 5 weeks ago, the best inspection I've ever had. Actually wanted to see my design calcs and circuit diagram before the site inspection and some real in-depth questioning on my knowledge not like the other three that I've been with.

 

[Guest77]

True, but if you ever want to move from Stroma to NICEIC approved, I'm sure they will welcome you with open arms (so long as you've signed the cheque!).

Of course, no one would argue that, but you need to be in the NICEIC for Glos city council who maintain domestic properties, that would be to someones advantage should they wish to work with public sector moneys.