Dan, if you read through my post (#53), you will see what most sparks gripes are with Part P. Engineer54 has expanded on that and sums the Part P argument up very well in post #56. Other than that, I think we have all made our points known about what we think of Part P in general and specifically what we think of the requirement under Part P to be 'regulated' by private, money grabbing, scumbag scam schemes.
Back on topic, in response to your argument regarding the difference between Approved Contractors and Domestic Installers, the NIC are fully entitled to make up off the top of their heads whatever terms or phrases they want to describe their electricians. My point is simply that no matter which way you look at it,
they are all made up terms! These terms belong to the NIC and are used by only the NIC. Under Part P of the Building Regulations, (forgetting that you can go to LABC direct), to carry out most types of electrical work in a dwelling you have to be
approved for self certification by a government recognised self certification scheme. This means that whatever scam scheme you're with whether it be the NIC, Elecsa, NAPIT, Stroma, Corgi, BSI etc... you are approved to self certify. Even if the NIC have branded you a domestic installer, whether you or they like it or not, legally speaking you are still
approved by the NIC for carrying out self certification under Part P.
This is where my argument comes in. If the NIC want to make up terms for their sparks, that's their perogative, however I'm with Elecsa and I'm approved by them to self certify work in domestic dwellings, what I don't want is Elecsa telling my customers that I'm a 'Domestic Installer', because all that says to them is that I only carry out work in the domestic sector. This is one of the reasons I left the NIC because I begrudged having to fork out more money to be labelled by them as 'Approved' even though I was anyway! and as I said, I carry out work in other sectors so I didn't want to be described as just a domestic spark. Up until now with Elecsa, this has never been the case, because I like to believe that Elecsa know that they have no place whatsoever to be implying what sector an electrician is competent to work in. They know that the scope of Part P does not extend past domestic work, hence why I say again, you are either approved to self certify, or you are not, it's that simple.
The NIC it seems has now taken control of this Electrical Safety Register and is now branding electricians
approved by another scheme as 'Domestic Installers'. This is in my opinion absolutely disgusting and for me typifies exactly what the NIC are about; Representing themselves as if they are the sole regulator in the electrical industry. Whether the NIC are good at marketing or not, I did not join Elecsa to be 'regulated' and have made up terms attributed to my business by the NIC!
You wonder if electricians that join other bodies do so because it's the path of least resistance? Well for me, I hate all the scam schemes with every single fiber of my body! I just hate Elecsa a little less than I hate the NIC! For me, it's moral issue, it's got nothing to do with my level of experience, my amount of qualifications, or a lack of funds to pay the extra dosh for 'Approved Contractor' status.
You make the point that I should take option 3 and rejoin the NIC as an approved contractor, well this is all well and good but what happens if all Elecsa sparks did this because of the NICs behaviour? What if all Elecsa sparks joined 'the enemy' because we all had a 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' approach? Well that monopoly you worry about the NIC gaining might just start to become a reality! It's lose - lose for both us as Elecsa approved contractos and Elecsa themselves. If they dont sort this out, they lose their customers to the NIC, and we as electricians are stuck with the NIC and their inevitable monopoly driven price hikes!
BTW Dan, my bold font and exclamation marks don't mean I'm shouting at you, I'm just very angry at both Elecsa and the NIC and also very passionate about this subject