www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

If I want a builder, first place was local pub, and ask people if the know a good builder, then look him up, if he was a member of get a trades person or similar, that rings alarm bells, if he is any good he is not likely to need anything like check a trade, but he may need to be a member of a proper trade organisation.

The same is true with electricians, he may be a member of IET or other trade organisation, but not anything like check a trade.

I have passed my C&G 2391, which shows I know how to inspect and test, the court case of Emma Shaw pointed out that you should not ask unqualified people to do work which requires qualifications for, but it was the foreman who asked him to do the work who was found guilty, not the electricians mate for doing the work, seemed wrong to me, but that's how the court found.

Someone-Else wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 11:29 pm None of the above. Qualifications are just pieces of paper at the end of the day.

Assume it's not an electrician you need, how would you find a good ................

So, assuming I understand this correctly. Checking an electrician has qualifications and registered to CPS etc are all well and good, but the best way to check how good an electrician is, is to look at their online reviews (e.g. Checkatrader, Google, MyBuilder) or ask to speak to recent previous clients they've done jobs for. (obviously, the amount of checks is proportional to the size of the job). Get a few different quotes, and anyone who is significantly cheaper than the others then this might be a red flag.

Sound like a sensible approach for finding an electrician?

I get about 90% of my work through word of Mount recommendation.

rapidnailer07 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:37 amSo, assuming I understand this correctly.

Your assumption is correct. (Apart from Checkatrader)

Someone-Else wrote: ↑Wed Sep 08, 2021 10:33 am Your assumption is correct. (Apart from Checkatrader)

Eeeeek, what is wrong with checkatrader? I've used that a few times and thought it was fairly reliable. What are good websites to trust for independent reviews? I prefer websites that allow customers to leave reviews without any kind of filtering process. So Google Maps, TrustPilot are more normal go to resources. Are the reviews on MyBuilder any good?

Decent electrician relying on word of mouth works great for the electrician. However, this doesn't help the decent customer who is looking for a decent electrician. I haven't had much luck getting recommendations from people for good trades people. I've had plenty of people say things like "I used an electrician, they were okay but they weren't great. I couldn't say I can recommend them"

rapidnailer07 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:10 pmwhat is wrong with checkatrader?

Ask your favourite search engine.

How do you suppose review sites make money? The tradespeople pay to be on the site.
Does the review site guarantee the trades persons work? No. see above

Someone-Else wrote: ↑Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:45 pm Ask your favourite search engine.

How do you suppose review sites make money? The tradespeople pay to be on the site.
Does the review site guarantee the trades persons work? No. see above

Yeah I understand what you're saying but preventing fake reviews is pretty hard. You could limit people who can leave reviews by a site like MyBuilder but doesn't stop people posting tiny fake jobs to then leave fake reviews. Fake reviews tend to be quite short without any kind of detail. And if the site supports it, then the account leaving the review might only have that one review. These are pretty obvious red flags to a fake review. I tend to give far more weight on long length reviews with detail (whether they are positive or negative) and accounts that have a bit of a history or leaving at least a few big long reviews. Those I think probably not fake as paying for fake reviews like that is very expensive. But even a massive company like Amazon have issues with fake reviews.

The thing to remember about check a trade is that they never have poor feedback on their site

That under mines their whole business imho

Neelix wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:14 pmThe thing to remember about check a trade is that they never have poor feedback on their site

That will be because they do not allow/publish posts that are negative towards the trades person, after all it is the trades person who is paying to advertise on the site. Oh, did I say advertise? naughty me, I clearly meant list.

Someone-Else wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:37 pm

Neelix wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:14 pmThe thing to remember about check a trade is that they never have poor feedback on their site

That will be because they do not allow/publish posts that are negative towards the trades person, after all it is the trades person who is paying to advertise on the site. Oh, did I say advertise? naughty me, I clearly meant list.

100% agree

Tripadvisor allows negative reviews

As I said how can you trust a site where there is no negative feedback

rapidnailer07 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:37 am

Someone-Else wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 11:29 pm None of the above. Qualifications are just pieces of paper at the end of the day.

Assume it's not an electrician you need, how would you find a good ................

So, assuming I understand this correctly. Checking an electrician has qualifications and registered to CPS etc are all well and good, but the best way to check how good an electrician is, is to look at their online reviews (e.g. Checkatrader, Google, MyBuilder) or ask to speak to recent previous clients they've done jobs for. (obviously, the amount of checks is proportional to the size of the job). Get a few different quotes, and anyone who is significantly cheaper than the others then this might be a red flag.

Sound like a sensible approach for finding an electrician?

Personally if a member of Checkatreader, or MyBuilder it rings alarm bells, why would a good tradesman need to use them? Personally recommendation is best, and when I moved so knew no tradesmen I used the local pub, could use church hall, or any other group, I now volunteer for a heritage railway, and I ask other volunteers, other option is ask in trade whole sale outlets. i.e. some one not being paid to say how good they are.

I have been an industrial and commercial electrician most of my life, I have taken loads of exams, and my highest is level 5, i.e. a degree, I worked on some really complex jobs, and before 2004 I would from time to time work on domestic, but the Part P regulations mean either I need to pay a scheme provider an annual fee, or I need to pay the LABC in Wales £100 plus vat to register the work.

It's not worth my while to pay either, so I simply don't do domestic any more. Even for my mothers house I got a firm who were members of a scheme to do the work, just not worth the hassle getting it registered, I did it once, and the problem was until accepted can't turn the power on, at least in theory, unless classed as emergency work.

It is nothing to do with skill, it is down to doing enough to be worth becoming a member of a scheme.

The odd thing is I can do electrical installation condition reports, (EICR) I have the C&G 2391 but even if I didn't I could still do an EICR, I would be daft to do one without professional indemnity insurance, but I still could, all it says I must be a “qualified person” means a person competent to undertake the inspection and testing required under regulation 3(1) and any further investigative or remedial work in accordance with the electrical safety standards;

If I miss some thing dangerous I could be taken to court, however all electrical installations are potentially dangerous, I clearly must point out faults, but unlike a car MOT, I can decide to code all faults as C2 or all faults as C3 there is no law to say how I should code, there are codes of practice, but at end of the day it is up to me. In fact I don't need to award codes, it can be simple written report.

I started my working life as a mechanic, I moved to electrics before my apprenticeship was up, so went to collage to do electrical course and exams, but before the MOT came out every vehicle serviced would also have a safety check done, in the same way as we now do an EICR, however when the MOT came out we were issued with a book that gave the tolerances permitted, 1/16" play at top of wheel with a 1" king pin for example, and when taking the wagon to the test station if questioned the dial gauge would come out.

There was a little lee way, but most was fixed with the new law, but this is not the case with the new landlord law, one electrician will consider no RCD as a fail, and another will pass it. And the BS 7671 book says what date designs must comply with each edition, so if I had started an electrical job in 2017 and finished in 2021 it is still inspected and tested using BS7671:2008 as that was current edition when designed. Although a home is likely built in months, things like Sizewell 'B' power station took well over 10 years from design stage to being completed, and we did not have to return and update things as the regulations changed during the building.

Some qualifications over time I have needed to take an upgraded version, seem to remember C&G 2381 was 16th edition and C&G 2382 was 17th edition, but inspection and testing C&G 2391 did not change. It does seem strange you can take the book into the exam with the 17th edition, and it was counted as level 3, but not with 2391 also level 3 but a much harder exam which included a practical.