Whats your thoughts on this

[pirate]

and why pay £300k for ----?
(He added, as an afterthought)

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Just a thought...if a L comes adrift when you take the socket off...that backbox might be live...but if the guys fitting them have only ever encountered plastic, drywall back-boxes, they may not realise the consequences...and if so, they have no place wiring them in, in the first place...in which case, they have clearly had insufficient training.
Mr New House Owner might indeed fit shiny chrome faceplates, and assume the existing chocblock CPC termination was all that was required...
Bloody new-builds...well, you all know I hate 'em!
Plus, it isn't difficult to get 4 CPCs in the earth block thingy, or crimp them...
but then, I am not an electrician, so will put my hard hat on...

There looks like only the one CPC.

 

[Squid]

and why pay £300k for ****?
(He added, as an afterthought)

Thats for cheap sh!te........

 

[westward10]

Won’t be that hard to push when the alternative is paying for someone to go round and check every light switch and make good any damage to the finished decoration.

Or pay a competent person in the first place, mistakes should be rectified.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Or pay a competent person in the first place, mistakes should be rectified.

Unfortunately, it seems to be becoming the norm to employ unqualified workers for most of a job and finish off with a couple of qualified.

 

[Intoelectrics]

Glad everyone is in agreement.
Like i say every switch is like this. Reckon Its done because they have trouble putting 3 or 4 Cpcs into the earth terminal of the KO box, a fly lead would obviously waste valuable time...
Thing is all the time the plastic screw caps are on it compiles even though its dogs mess !

Edit....
I forgot to add, every switch has decorators chaulk round it too.
Walls are just taped, jointed, and painted.
Cheap as chips.

Part of the problem is that the prices & time scales to do these houses is so tight that every opportunity to cut corners is taken. The caulk round the accessories is probably not the electrical contractors fault. Everybody is on a tight schedule and adopt the attitude "its not my problem".
Regardless, it is a poor job done by the sparky, so no excuse there!

Another thing I like to do on metal back boxes is fold back flat the redundant accessory fixing lugs. I have often found these to have nicked or pinched cables, especially if its a bit busy behind the accessory.

 

[Intoelectrics]

I like to line up the fixing screws either vertical or horizontal, but that's because I'm a bit ---- when it comes to the aesthetics. Also you know if somebody else has been messing after you have fixed it back

 

[Deleted member 26818]

I like to line up the fixing screws either vertical or horizontal, but that's because I'm a bit ---- when it comes to the aesthetics. Also you know if somebody else has been messing after you have fixed it back

Has to be vertical.

 

[Midwest]

also the wall should have been painted before the face plates had been attached, paint on the face plate nasty paint lines going around the aperture.
.

Think you'll find that most developers want the painters & decorators into the building as the last working trade. Stops the grubby hand marks & screwdriver marks from an uncaring electrical bod etc.

 

[Midwest]

Im hope your right.
I was told this by an NIC inspector in February (i know, i know) it came up as it was around that time that i noticed click started providing the caps on their accessories.
.

The plastic caps (hate em) are to stop you ---- arsehols taking hours lining up the screw slots on the fixing screws, in a vary OCD type way.

 

[Squid]

Think you'll find that most developers want the painters & decorators into the building as the last working trade. Stops the grubby hand marks & screwdriver marks from an uncaring electrical bod etc.

The details are in the contract as everything is at a price the sparks screwed the faceplates to the backbox its not the painters job to remove and bag them up and the sparks went do it as they won't be paid, its shocking at the bodges that these new builds have and I really do feel sorry for the buyers as they will be fobbed off by the developers and fIIcked over.

 

[Midwest]

The details are in the contract as everything is at a price the sparks screwed the faceplates to the backbox its not the painters job to remove and bag them up and the sparks went do it as they won't be paid, its shocking at the bodges that these new builds have and I really do feel sorry for the buyers as they will be fobbed off by the developers and fIIcked over.

I have you know, don't you know, some business prefer the method of caulking & painting after the fitment of faceplates.

 

[Toneyz]

Fitting those caps had nothing to do with incorrect connection of the cpcs. It does not give the excuse of not earthing the box.

Exactly Westward.

 

[pirate]

It is completely normal for new-builds to be rushed as the completion date approaches...the builders are under pressure from the banks...if you study the sales contracts/missives you can easily see how biased the deal is towards the builder...this is not an excuse for crap work, just a reason. Builders charge what is an exorbitant price for what are often pretty crap houses, and there has to be some sympathy for those who work for them because if they don't quote low they don't get the job. That's a sad but unavoidable situation. It would be great to take the view that you will only do the very best job...but if you have no work, you have no income.
However, if you are skilled, you are probably fast too...but if you are that skilled, you shouldn't have to compromise on quality or price...it's just another example of the money-men ruling the roost.
Pre-financial crisis times, so many people bought plots and had kit houses erected, thus having control over the work-flow and quality, whether they did it themselves or had trusted tradesmen on hand to do the work to a good standard. Sadly, post 2008, the banks (again) effectively stopped lending for self-builds. That meant that those who could, with maybe 3 self-builds, get themselves a quality home mortgage free, were no longer able to do so, and, with the pressure on finding a home, fell prey to the poor quality mass-produced housing market...and that trend does not look like ending soon.
What is increasingly worrying is that corners are being cut not just on inessential areas like painting and plastering, but on major areas of safety like electrical installations. I have seen so many examples of dreadful workmanship ( I am not an electrician, as you know, but glaringly obvious practices abound) that it leads me to believe that if an amateur like me can see these problems, they must be very poor indeed. Shiny kitchens and bathrooms sell houses...shoddy electrics can kill.
The powers that be listen to the builders' lobby, not to the consumer...thus we have an erosion of standards...toilets off kitchens without an intervening air space, CUs in cloakrooms mounted high up above the WC, and an insistence on disabled access to every house which often leads to a ludicrous entrance when that type of access should be provided by the builder as and when required, and by the local authority when a second or subsequent owner shows reasonable need...but the local authorities are only interested in garnering more council tax and sell the planning permission for so-called plannng gain which is usually so badly managed that the benefit to the public is next to worthless.
So, as my rant reaches an end (or a pause!) we have banks/LAs/builders all forming a barrier to good workmanship, thus conspiring to produce poor quality homes at inflated prices.
I won't list any more grievances at this time, but just suggest that if the LAs insisted that the mainstream mass house builders had to meet the same quality that they insist retirement home builders like McCarthy and Stone achieve, there might finally be a market for all you quality electricians out there. (They're not faultless either, before you protest!)

Oh, and the screw-slots should be horizontal!

 

[Squid]

I have you know, don't you know, some business prefer the method of caulking & painting after the fitment of faceplates.

I would not accept that, if the plasterer is top notch and the fitting fit to purpose then it all should fit flush using caulk is just for filling in the cracks after substandard work has been completed, painting should be done before plates are fitted.

If you accept this standard of work then God knows where you lot work or who for as it is truly an eyeopener at what you accept as the norm, maybe in the past I have worked at higher end jobs or just take pride in my work.

 

[Squid]

Oh, and the screw-slots should be horizontal!

You are just looking for trouble tonight, hang on of to the off licence to get some beers and order an Indian,

Everyone has choices if you are told to cut corners then you are as guilty as everyone else, I have looked enough people in the eye and told them to stick it when it was "suggested" that I screw the system, it just looks like a lot of people have lost their moral compass and I tell you one thing karma is a bitch when it returns to bite you in the arse.

 

[Toneyz]

Part of the problem is that the prices & time scales to do these houses is so tight that every opportunity to cut corners is taken

Inserting the CPC into a terminal block rather than the box terminal doesn't save any time. What it tells me that whoever is doing the install is not competent We all know why we earth the box with the CPC they don't they seen to be oblivious to what they are doing just putting the cables in the terminals they have been told to but don't know why. As for the chalking in of the switch, this makes it difficult
to inspect and non-assessable without damage to the decoration. The screw caps are just for ascetics.

 

[Squid]

midwest would you agree to do a substandard job because of cost restraints or some arsehole told you to do it to earn a few extra £'s, or would you allow work like that to be carried out at your house? I have never ever heard of caulk being use around faceplates to "tidy" them up.

Some people really must have low standards of workmanship and the acceptance of bodges no wonder the trade is going downhill.

 

[KEV 1 N]

I’m just amazed the box is fixed with two screws!

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Vertical so water and dust slides off.