Cost of electrician sign-off for DIY re-wiring
James - 5/1/14 at 12:38 PM
Greetings all,
Happy New Year.
Just starting to re-wire my house (new consumer unit and everything on from there).
Obviously I need to get it signed off by someone Part P.
The electrician (father of a friend of mine) I've spoken to has suggested:
" With regards to payment, I thought something like £550 to advise, connect consumer unit and test, add £30 per hour for any fault finding,
add £30 per ring circuit, add £40 per additional site visit ( up to 1 hour onsite). ( initial visit, board install and test already
included), add £?? for sundries / stock from van if needed
I assume you are connecting lights and sockets etc ( ask for demo/ training before attempting as cables are often cut too short or poorly
organised)"
This seems a little steep and I was wondering what others have paid for this?
I'm fairly competent with this and won't really need any of the 'extras' he mentions- so it'll be £550. Obviously don't
want to cause offence with a friend though! 
Thanks to the government for adding this little bureaucracy to our lives!!! 
Thanks all,
James
AndyW - 5/1/14 at 01:10 PM
I learnt the hard way. Never, ever rely on friends, fathers of friends, mates down the road. Just get a local registered electrician in and get it
done properly.
I had my house re-wired by a "friend". Lets say if I ever see him again I will probably get arrested.
I paid this friend to do the job and was told it was done. What electrician would put in a new consumer unit, re-wire all rings etc, and forget to put
in a feed to the cooker and most of all NO EARTHS ON WATER OR GAS PIPES
Paid about £400 to get it signed off once I paid an additional several hundred to have the earths put in and system tested.
So in my experience it cost about £500 all in to test fully and sign off properly.
Good luck
Slimy38 - 5/1/14 at 01:39 PM
It cost me £100 to have a self installed shower checked over and signed off. That was maybe 90 minutes of work, including the final connection and
adding the earth straps (something I knowingly hadn't done as I don't know the current requirements). So I could quite easily see that
multiplied up to about £500 for a full system.
cliftyhanger - 5/1/14 at 02:19 PM
I am paying £400 to an electrian. That includes a visit to check the first fix, wire in a supplied CU which he wasn't best pleased with as it is
all rcbo's and they make space tight, a periodic inspection on the old circuits and a completion certificate for the extension (3 rings, 2
lighting circuits and a shower, cooker and garage supply but that is being left unconnected....)
All in all a good deal I reckon.
However, I half regret not paying him to do the whole job. He reckons 2.5k would have done the lot. Not convinced, every socket/switch is £50 and I
have loads. Then again, I reckon materials cost a few job these days. Difficult.
Btw several recommended sparkys were just not interested, one wanted £600 to test and certify.
As a thought, you could be naughty, do it all and then get a periodic report done. Not the same as a completion certificate but is a full safety
check.
Ben_Copeland - 5/1/14 at 02:55 PM
Check with your Building Regs department, I'm building a garage and above extension to the house. If i want to self install the wiring its £200
for them to check it and sign it off. Thats 2 visits, after 1st fix and the after 2nd fix. They didnt tell me there was anymore costs involved in
that apart from my time and materials.
twybrow - 5/1/14 at 03:00 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Ben_Copeland
Check with your Building Regs department, I'm building a garage and above extension to the house. If i want to self install the wiring its £200
for them to check it and sign it off. Thats 2 visits, after 1st fix and the after 2nd fix. They didnt tell me there was anymore costs involved in
that apart from my time and materials.
I paid £75 for my local building control to inspect, test and sign off a complete rewire if my house. It took about a hours, so very good value imho.
JoelP - 5/1/14 at 08:21 PM
Is he fitting the consumer unit or just testing and certifying? 550 is well over the top either way. My mate does consumer unit swaps for 250, which
is harder than a new install and involves the same testing.
One alternative is to hire or buy your own tester and just do the testing yourself, and not certify the job. You really don't need to. And whilst
I know that will wind up the hoop-jumpers amongst us, they don't ask or check, and it really makes no difference when you sell the house.
paulf - 5/1/14 at 09:38 PM
Thats how I interpret all these new rules and regs, if you can competently do the job I dont see why it should be of any concern to the
authority's what you do in your own property, I can understand an electrician having to prove that it is done to the correct speck and supply
test certificates.It just seems like another way of scamming money from home owners by government regulation.
The only way I can see any problems would be an insurance claim caused by something that wasn't done correctly or someone being awkward and
wanting a certificate when you come to sell, but that would be unlikely unless things look dodgy with the install.
Paul
quote:
Originally posted by JoelP
Is he fitting the consumer unit or just testing and certifying? 550 is well over the top either way. My mate does consumer unit swaps for 250, which
is harder than a new install and involves the same testing.
One alternative is to hire or buy your own tester and just do the testing yourself, and not certify the job. You really don't need to. And whilst
I know that will wind up the hoop-jumpers amongst us, they don't ask or check, and it really makes no difference when you sell the house.
daniel mason - 5/1/14 at 09:47 PM
theres no way building control can test a house,and no way anyone could do it in an hour if they hadn't installed it! or even if they had for
that matter.
building control usually only care about fans and smoke alarms.
Smokey mow - 5/1/14 at 11:04 PM
quote:
Originally posted by daniel mason
theres no way building control can test a house
They do in these parts and for the the prices quoted above, the work will typically be checked by the councils own electrician's rather than the
building control surveyor.
It must be born in mind though that the building control fee only covers the testing and certification of the installaton, and doesn't include
for the fixing and rectifying of any potential faults or errors which may be found on the installation, these will be for the installer to put
right.
[Edited on 5/1/14 by Smokey mow]
BenB - 6/1/14 at 07:40 AM
How long are you planning on living there? Getting it signed off it really only an issue when you come to sell. I'm working on the principle that
that's going to be about 20 years by which time I might want to change it all again anyway!
whitestu - 6/1/14 at 08:02 AM
Regardless of any hoop jumping a house installation needs to be properly tested. I'm a qualified electrician but wouldn't wire my house or
anybody else's without doing the right tests. They aren't difficult - the only issue is with doing it yourself is that decent testing kit
isn't cheap, though buying Chinese kit / second hand stuff can keep the cost down, though all testers should be calibrated and have a current
certificate.
The bottom line is that you need to do the job competently and nobody can be sure that is the case without proper testing.
Stu
samjc - 6/1/14 at 08:58 AM
Stu is your best bet for advice as im a trainee sparky and people i have worked eith have charged £400-500 for tests and certification but the big
question is for them is how well do you know regs and terminating cables as not to offend but once was on a simple "check and test job" and
2days later it was past after ALOT of work due to brickys doing first fix and owner wiring in fittings and fixtures. I dont fault you with usual
rewire costing upwards from £1700 but the test is very important and from a sparkys view it needs to cover their time and patients with any nastys
that arise as well as their cost towards their kit and maintaining these ie calibration. But i rabbit on sorry. My opinion is £400 would be a good
price if you can get them to check once first fix is done before you connect all socket so you dont need to pull any cables after terminating and get
quotes from several reliable firms.
Are you doing the earth bonding ?
twybrow - 6/1/14 at 11:11 AM
Talk to building control! They do do this service, and as said above it is done by the councils own sparky. Ours visited twice to advise us on what he
wanted to see, and the second time was to inspect and test the installation. I tried contacting many sparkys and none of them would consider testing
and signing off someone elses work. The council was our only good and proved to be a great choice.
daniel mason - 6/1/14 at 10:29 PM
id love to see a copy of their test sheets?
and i wouldnt sign anything off without a thorough test/inspection and certainly no human can do this in 1 hour!
Smokey mow - 6/1/14 at 11:44 PM
quote:
Originally posted by daniel mason
id love to see a copy of their test sheets?
and i wouldnt sign anything off without a thorough test/inspection and certainly no human can do this in 1 hour!
they're there for a lot
more than an hour for a full rewire !!!
For avoidance of any doubt I work in Building Control. the fee of £179 we charge includes for a first fix inspection followed by a full inspection
and test of the completed installation. Test certification is fully in accordance with the requirements of BS7671 and this is done by qualified
electricians.
We charge the same fee regardless of whether it is a full rewire or a single new circuit. On some jos we operate at a loss whist on others there is
profit. Overall however it averages out.
daniel mason - 7/1/14 at 12:00 AM
so the £75 for a full test/inspection and signing off in an hour post was a bit mis-leading then?
id have thought the £179 a relatively cheap fee but more realistic and i appreciate it will even itself out with the single circuit/minor works
sheets!
Smokey mow - 7/1/14 at 07:37 AM
quote:
Originally posted by daniel mason
so the £75 for a full test/inspection and signing off in an hour post was a bit mis-leading then?
id have thought the £179 a relatively cheap fee but more realistic and i appreciate it will even itself out with the single circuit/minor works
sheets!
£75 does sound cheep but then each Local Authority sets there own fees regionally, so if in their case they have a greater proportion of minor works
then it may well be correct.
It must also be borne in mind that Local Authority Building Control is required by statute to be cost neutral and non proffit making, so in our case
£179 would be approximately 5hours of our time, for an authorty with a lower hourly rate this would be even longer 
[Edited on 7/1/14 by Smokey mow]
twybrow - 7/1/14 at 09:47 AM
quote:
Originally posted by daniel mason
so the £75 for a full test/inspection and signing off in an hour post was a bit mis-leading then?
id have thought the £179 a relatively cheap fee but more realistic and i appreciate it will even itself out with the single circuit/minor works
sheets!
Sorry Daniel - please reread my post and you can clearly see I made a typo.... I meant to say 4-6 hours not "a hours". I am surprised you
have latched onto that so securely, as it does not say 1 hour!
It was £75 with our council - but this varies from council to council. I have the full test sheets somewhere, but seeing as my father in law is a
sparky (but not to the 17th edition, and not part-P) he went through the tests with council sparky, and was very happy with the thoroughness of the
process.
mangogrooveworkshop - 9/1/14 at 10:18 PM
I charge 300 for this service. If I find the installs good it won't rise above 300.
If its a bad install a price will be negotiated for rectification
Hope that helps you.
Ps set up an account with a good electrical supplier and don't by the fake stuff off ebay ……. breakers with a switch and fuse in it and cable
thats covered in recycled flipflop rubber