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Just spent two hours on a bank holiday going through work with a client and what they require, after explaining the benifits of not altering the existing cables to sockets on 3 bedrooms as they are not in a ring and are mainly made up of radials and spurs in my thinking it would be far easier to rewire as the cables are apx 50yrs old and who knows how many joints are hidden until i start works, this is removing sockets, adding new ones and altering positions of existing and the cost would not be much different but they would benifit having a new circuit without still having a years old cable (apx 60's)that may cause problems later.
That took some convincing that i know what i'm talking about.

So then my attention is to the mains position, under the stairs. I then notice every wall and ceiling of the cupboard is clad with asbestos. This is a 1930's house btw so no chance of anything other than the nasty stuff and looked added for fireproofing as was converted into flats about early sixties. Now when i explain that i'm unable to disturb or move any of this until it is professionally removed you would think i just took a dump in his lounge.
Then it was why has no one else mentioned about this before, my reply was no one has had to work under the stairs before so they would not have seen it.

Now if it was me that was making money out of the removal i could justify him thinking i'm taking him to the cleaners but he thinks i'm making a meal out of the job because i will not cut some out and just get the job done. Even after explaining it is the law and you have to concider your and my health over this.
Honestly, some people need to open their eyes that not all of us are out to rip them off and we do sometimes know what we are talking about to save them moneyand not cutting corners on possible health risks.
Holding back from telling him about the new board and earthing till the quote as I don't think he could take any more news and my cool was about to be lost, I don't expect to get the job now after I was the sacrifial lamb in explaining issues around his alterations and to be honest i don't mind not getting the job with the attitude i was getting, so good luck who gets that job.
What a waste of time on a bank holiday.

Rant over.
 
At least his supply would be OK if the house burnt down.(as long as it wasn't initiated in the mains cupboard, that is)
 
Well I went for a walk up the malverns with my kids.

It was a pleasure not to have to speak to any customers.

Mind you the wife got annoying after a while.
 
I thought that if asbestos was found, there is a legal duty to report its presence? Not sure who to, HSE maybe?

If it were me, I'd not bother wasting my time with a quote. I'd tell him that I'm not prepared to quote untill the asbestos has been dealt with.
 
Should of just put a heavy price in so you wouldn't get the job there's easier ways to get your money specially with that asbestos

Was thinking of that but does not give me or the trade a good rep and work is hard enough out there, mud tends to stick and word gets around. From his reactions I tend to guess whatever price I put in it would be too much.

- - - Updated - - -

Dave down the pub will do the lot for £50 so don't worry mate :)

You betcha..;)
 
Lucky you spotted it, i heard of a case where a national company with blue vans, you know who, who recieved a large decontamination clean up bill, when they disturbed some in a customers home.
Apparently the house was riddled with it. The customer was well aware of this and was just waiting for the opportunity to present itself.
They had to pay for the lot to be removed from the house. You have been warned.
 
i'll do it! 50 years of benson & hedges finest virginia, who cares about a bit of asbestos. ? :-------:
 
Nothing wrong with finding asbestos and still a lot of it in use. As long as you don't remove it from the premises or work with it then you are not doing anything illegal in a domestic environment.
Obviously, you were right not to start drilling it though, as this is classed as working with it, obviously.
 
Please look up “White Asbestos Cement Board”! 1930’s domestic that is what it will be.
 
TBH when you find the stuff in old situ you tend not to worry what type the suff is and leave it alone.
seeing the raw stuff that was commonly used just knowing the age and likely places helps to keep out of trouble.
I'm luck to be fairly clued working with older sparks and builders and picked up pointers over the years but alot are not.
There are many awareness courses out there but they tend to come down on the list of cool certs to have ATM.
The amount of people coming in the trade and rushing through training without a full lengh apprentiship which is where you pick up all this type of info from others is worrying as I'm sure they have heard of the stuff but would they recognise it?
Its like white dog poo, some have heard of it but never seen it unless your of a certain age ;)
 
TBH when you find the stuff in old situ you tend not to worry what type the suff is and leave it alone.
seeing the raw stuff that was commonly used just knowing the age and likely places helps to keep out of trouble.
I'm luck to be fairly clued working with older sparks and builders and picked up pointers over the years but alot are not.
There are many awareness courses out there but they tend to come down on the list of cool certs to have ATM.
The amount of people coming in the trade and rushing through training without a full lengh apprentiship which is where you pick up all this type of info from others is worrying as I'm sure they have heard of the stuff but would they recognise it?
Its like white dog poo, some have heard of it but never seen it unless your of a certain age ;)

Totally agree mate. "I was in IT 6 weeks ago" is really scary in an industry which requires experience.
 

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