sanity check for electrical services

[Travis Baldwin]

Hello all, first post but have enjoyed the forum for a while..

I am in Bristol and recently had an electrician do some work on my house - I want to sanity check the way this guy operated.

He did some tasks satisfactorily: Changed a room to a ring circuit, hooked up a second light switch for overheads, sorted out undercabinet lighting. Was about 2 man-days. For this he charged me £ 1300. Is that a reasonable amount.. £80ish/hr?

Second question: there was a wall switch PIR in the hallway he had a look at (was previously installed and stopped working during construction). He said it was wired all wrong, the earth was being used as the negative, and it was super dangerous. He took the PIR off the wall, and left the wires hanging out the wall with waygo connectors on the ends, then left it like that. Is that allowed?! I've been scared to do anything with it.

The last question: he said my fusebox was not up to regulation, after he had done all the work (ring circuit, etc). Said it would be a days worth of work and should be done, due to reg changes. I did not catch exactly what he said was needed but when I bought my house in 2011, this was not flagged as an issue. Is this typical? and if yes, what's a days work roughly go for with an electrician?

Thank you in advance!

Travis

 

[westward10]

Yes the PIR was wired incorrectly but super dangerous probably not, removing it and fitting unenclosed Wago connectors has left it more dangerous than it was in the first place.
There is no requirement to upgrade your consumer unit so it meets current Regulations however a picture of it can help us to advise.

 

[Spoon]

He did some tasks satisfactorily: Changed a room to a ring circuit, hooked up a second light switch for overheads, sorted out undercabinet lighting. Was about 2 man-days. For this he charged me £ 1300. Is that a reasonable amount.. £80ish/hr?

This I'm curious about.
Why was the room circuit changed to a ring?
£1300 seems a lot to me. Where the undercabinet lights gold or something.

One important question is: Did you get a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate for the work done.

 

[telectrix]

i smell rip off. 2 days about £500 - £600. add materials used, probably about £100 -150. does this spark drive a Transit or a Porsche?

 

[scootknew]

unless the room he changed to a ring probalby lift up floor boards raggle walls, run new wiring back to fusebox . maybe its a 5 bed house ---- knows. etc make wiring good and everything that goes with it. that mite have been the bulk of the cost. leaving exposed wagos not good unless the house is derelict or no one living there atm or power been isolated etc. fusebox cant commect unless see what it looks like , if added new ring will be on rcd side . if no rcd somtimes its more economical to replace full board. as usual 2 sides to every storey. if thought the price was off should get a couple more quotes no harm done.

 

[Travis Baldwin]

Yes the PIR was wired incorrectly but super dangerous probably not, removing it and fitting unenclosed Wago connectors has left it more dangerous than it was in the first place.
There is no requirement to upgrade your consumer unit so it meets current Regulations however a picture of it can help us to advise.

Sorry for the slow response.. forum notification updates were off

I thought it felt more dangerous too. Is this allowed by all the guilds and organizations electricians belong to?

I'll try to send a pic of the Consumer Unit. I wish Í had asked more questions when he was through..

 

[Travis Baldwin]

He did some tasks satisfactorily: Changed a room to a ring circuit, hooked up a second light switch for overheads, sorted out undercabinet lighting. Was about 2 man-days. For this he charged me £ 1300. Is that a reasonable amount.. £80ish/hr?

This I'm curious about.
Why was the room circuit changed to a ring?
£1300 seems a lot to me. Where the undercabinet lights gold or something.

One important question is: Did you get a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate for the work done.

Sorry for the slow response.. forum notification updates were off

----

Why a ring?

So there was a lot of kit plugged into the sockets in the room.. When I looked under the floorboards, the wire supplying the room had apparently gotten quite hot and had melted into the styrofoam insulation under my floor

I am not sure if ring was required, but it seemed like the room was in-adequately supplied. What do you think?

----

Re 1300... It felt like a lot too!

I want to challenge this bill to be honest.

----

Was I supposed to get a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate? is this something I should request?

Can you explain more?

 

[Travis Baldwin]

i smell rip off. 2 days about £500 - £600. add materials used, probably about £100 -150. does this spark drive a Transit or a Porsche?

Sorry for the slow response.. forum notification updates were off

----

I feel super ripped off. The contractor who organized the work said it was GBP 1300 and he paid the spark.

The contractor DEFINITELY was taking the ---- on several amounts he tried to charge, so I don't really believe him

Trying to navigate what to do now.

----

The spark left and said that my consumer box was not up to regulations and he wasn't even supposed to work on the house without having had upgraded it. I wonder if there's any leverage I have with that fact (if it's true)

Also, the fact that this guy who has to take multiple tests every year to be certified has left dangerous wires just hanging out of my wall ... a total sloppy mess.

Do you think I have leverage here?

 

[Travis Baldwin]

unless the room he changed to a ring probalby lift up floor boards raggle walls, run new wiring back to fusebox . maybe its a 5 bed house ---- knows. etc make wiring good and everything that goes with it. that mite have been the bulk of the cost. leaving exposed wagos not good unless the house is derelict or no one living there atm or power been isolated etc. fusebox cant commect unless see what it looks like , if added new ring will be on rcd side . if no rcd somtimes its more economical to replace full board. as usual 2 sides to every storey. if thought the price was off should get a couple more quotes no harm done.

Sorry for the slow response.. forum notification updates were off

Thanks for the reply

----

He may have lifted a board or two. he did not cut walls. he did run wires back to fusebox through 1 room.

It's not a five bedroom.. he went from a living room (the new ring circuit room) through a hallway to the box.

----

house is not derelict and I was living there. I thought WTF is this guy doing, he left the wall socket in worse shape than when he arrived.

Is this allowed for a certified electrician spark?

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I'm going to take pics of the consumer box.. maybe you guys can give your thoughts on it.

 

[DPG]

You should definitely have got a certificate for the work he has done.