Do you need emergency electrical repairs? Are you extending or renovating your home? If you’re looking for an electrician who can work on your home and achieve legally-required standards, check the Competent Persons Register. This was set up by the UK government to allow businesses and individuals to certify that their work confirms with Building Regulations, such as Part P.
All electrical work in households and other domestic properties is covered by Building Regulations and should comply with British Standards for Electrical Safety (BS7671). When your work has been completed, regardless of the scope of the work, your electrician should provide you with an electrical installation certificate that confirms the project conformed with Building Regulations.
Keep your electrical safety certificates safe, as you may need to show them to the local authority or refer to them should you sell or rent your property.
Once you have selected an electrician, you should consider these points to ensure that the work is completed to your satisfaction.
- Decide on the scope of the job first. If you decide to make changes to a job half-way through, you should expect your bill to rise significantly and the completion date of the project to be delayed.
- Ask the electrician how long they expect the work to take, and get this confirmed in writing. Ask them to sign it, and sign it yourself. This will give you some protection if the work is delayed or if the electrician turns out to be a rogue trader.
- Once you have agreed on an acceptable schedule, agree on payment terms. This will ensure you do not end up with a bill you have no hope of paying. The electrician may ask you to pay for parts up-front.
- If you need to make any changes to the project, then get these confirmed and get your quote revised before you agree to go ahead with these alterations.
- Be wary when paying in cash – it can make it impossible to keep track of your budget or how much you have paid. Make sure you ask for receipts and invoices – these will protect you should things go wrong.
- Don’t sit on your hands if you have any concerns or problems – bring these up immediately. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, of course – allow the electrician or their managers to put things right.
- If your problems have still not been resolved, then contact the Competent Person Scheme operator. If you are still not satisfied, or if the electrician is not a competent person, seek help from Citizens Advice.
Our home emergency protection plans can cover you!
Take out home emergency cover with 247 Home Rescue and whenever an electrical emergency arises, we will send a competent and qualified electrician to your home within 24 hours! If there are any problems, don’t worry – just give us a call and we’ll be happy to do all we can to resolve them.
Don’t attempt to make any changes to your electricals if you are unsure or not confident. Some electrical work in the home requires compliance with Part P building control and needs to be done in accordance with BS7671 wiring regulations. Don’t forget – electricity is VERY dangerous and can kill you.
Instead, call 24|7 Home Rescue on 0345 3192 247 and we can help. Our technical teams will run through some very simple troubleshooting with you over the phone to see if your problem can be resolved easily and if not, they will book one of our qualified and highly knowledgeable Part P certified engineers to get you back up and running as soon as possible.
247 Home Rescue accepts no liability for any injuries or damages you sustain following the advice on this website. If in doubt, seek professional assistance.
