Incompetent or Dis-Interested Sparks of Today.

Agreed.

One such enquiry I got.

I was recommended by a landlord I had worked on several properties for over the years.

1/ Basically this Landlord B rang me an said Landlord A had given my name and contact details - OK.

2/ I need a consumer unit change at a property because I am moving a tenant in the property in 10 days - Oh.

3/ I do not want to pay silly money!

4/ I know for a fact that the consumer unit can be bought from B & Q for about £50.

5/ I happen to know it takes 45 minutes to change a consumer unit because I have seen that done!

Of course my first instinct was to think "Oh get lost you twit" but stronger words.

I gave advice - some insp & testing is appropriate, maybe a Periodic/EICR first.

Remedials might need undertaking first - Often is the case.

Consumer units for such cost more than £50.

Works will be certified and registered (Part P) upon completion.

If you ask any electrician to commit to attending to do the work within such a timescale you might wonder why they could attend so rapidly.

for 30+ years my standard answer has been - lead time for commencement of such planned jobs is often around 3 to 4 weeks, but again often it can be double that figure. My maximum lead time has been 13 weeks pretty constant for about 18 months a while back but is currently approx 5 weeks. 

His reply was "Ho, I really want you to do this job and if you can complete it with 14 days from now then you can have it!".

I politely declined.

I have had a few such as " I have booked a week off work next week I want you to come and fit an electric shower" .

Well it's been approved. Only 100k signatures required, I wish them good luck.

It is not clear what he means by "qualified electricians" which will make it tricky to see what he means - if he means "only member of a part P scheme"  I'd be vehemently opposed, as there is plenty of work that is not domestic, if it meant some thing like pass the city and guilds regs exam, then maybe.

Then there is what to cover - use of extension  leads, or fitting a plug, or just fixed wiring ?

It is not well defined.
Parallels with gas work are not always helpful, as the law requires businesses to be registered with gas safe, and everyone to be competent even if unpaid , which is not quite the same. (and then has  to have exceptions for things like coupling up calor gas cylinders and hoses despite that being the most common and high risk activity.)

Other folk have tried and failed with similar petitions

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/616284  rejected.

Still it is doing better than one about allowing sparks to pull DNO fuses

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/575110 not enough signatures.

Mike.

I think a lot of trades are very choosy about which jobs they quote for or accept. They decide whether the job is profitable and worth their while or not. This applies to all trades and not just sparks. My neighbour recently asked around 4 carpenters for quotes to build a set of wardrobes for her. Not a single one turned up...

In the past I had about 3 gas safe guys out to fix my boiler. All three went away and promised a quote but not one came back to me even after countless attempts to contact them to chase.  I've also had friends endlessly chasing builders for quotes for work needed that never materialise....

In fact the only one I can rely on is my car mechanic... 

So from a personal perspective I think it's always been a 'thing' and nothing new. 

Lisa Miles said:

In the past I had about 3 gas safe guys out to fix my boiler. All three went away and promised a quote but not one came back to me even after countless attempts to contact them to chase. 

Hi Lisa, did you ask for a quote up front? Or did they advertise "free quotes"? 

I don't advertise, and a site visit to diagnose a fault is chargeable time in my opinion. Also giving a quote implies that you are guaranteeing that the boiler will be fixed after you leave, which may not be the case. Isolation valves spring leaks, you get the boiler working and another fault appears etc.

Some manufacturers guarantee a set (expensive) price to fix one of their boilers, but they can afford to do that, and have the parts at cost.

it is understandable that people want to know how much it is likely to cost, so they can compare with the cost of replacement

I have heard of people charging for their time to look at a job, then "refunding" this cost if they get the job after quoting, although not for boiler repairs.

OlympusMons I had a combi boiler and suddenly I had no hot water. I think it was a fault with the heat exchanger but not being gas safe myself, I was reluctant to mess with it. I had fixed a few things myself though such as swapping out the main circuit board and sorting out a faulty flow switch. I called the first guy and asked him to come out to take a look and quote me for a fix. He came out, took a look and promised to get back to me with a quote. After a week of chasing and leaving messages on his answerphone I gave up and called out another. Again exactly the same experience so called out yet another a week later and the same again. After a month of having no hot water (thank God we have showers at the Stevenage office!) and let down by three tradesmen I finally made contact with a guy through a friend who came out, told me that the heat exchanger needed replacing but as it was not an easy job and the part is expensive, it would be more economical to swap out the entire boiler. Gave me a quote on the spot and got the job on the spot. He came back three days later (had to order the new boiler and wait for it to come in) and fitted it for me. Made a fantastic job so much so that I when I moved house, I called him out to inspect the boiler there to ensure it was in good working order. Fantastic guy and I've passed his name on to countless friends and contacts since and they've all been really happy with his service. 

I recently visited a customer at her home to investigate an R.C.D. tripping. The problem turned out to be burnt crumbs in a toaster shorting to earth.

Whilst there I was asked to visited her cafe, where I had done work before. Her partner wanted a double socket changed as one switch was not working correctly. I said that I could do it there and then, it would take about 10 to 15 minutes. There were just two customers in the cafe as it was late afternoon. My offer was declined. I was asked to call back another day before 8.00 a.m. or after 4.00 p.m. I have had other work on and have not been able to return. I have had two phone calls from them about this matter. They should have used me when I offered to do the job before. They are now seeking another sparks to change a double 13 Amp. socket. Sometimes people are their own worst enemies.

Z.

I was recommended by a plumber friend of mine to the owner of the business premises. My friend did work there and was paid promptly.

I am beginning to think that the gods are with me.

Would others have noticed an unvented hot water heater in the kitchen at the business premises that has a pressure relief valve on top but no pipework to the outside?

Would others have noticed 13 Amp sockets wired in flex? Would others have picked up the fact that an 8kW electric shower was supplied in 2.5mmT&E cable and had no local isolator/functional switch?

Yep the gods are with me.......one day when I arrived at the premises to start work I could smell gas. I could not identify its source. But after a while I concluded that it was coming from inside my work vehicle. Immediately after I drove a few yards to park up in the road, but I found that the driver's window would not close and stayed half open. Was this the gods forcing a necessary ventilation of my vehicle. The gas must have been coming from a leaking Gaz canister or a lost blow lamp.

When I had finished work and entered the vehicle to drive home the window mysteriously started to operate normally again.

Z.

Having met tens of thousand over my career, the poor outweigh the good by a large amount, I'd say 80/20 split IMO.

Who to blame? no-one, everyone, nobody, everybody. sad state of affairs is the industry is not regulated, its has been debated for decades about deskilling of the trade to reduce the last of the trades, and I mean since the 1914 era..

IMO the industry needs a form of LTP and a very hard word with itself as those who have presumed authority have helped contribute to the mess, maybe knowingly, maybe not, those in the trade who saw the mess have circumnaviagted it and loads couldn't care less. Some worship gold, some do not. 

For me caring is the most important quality for an electrican. I introduced a LtP and it caused chaos for a year of so at least. but it did force a training and skills gap conversation, has it fixed all issues, No. Behaviours, Skills attitudes, agendas, eduaction level, knowledge, training, limitations (ability to say no and know your limits) family status, mental and physical health, ever changing qualifiaction landscape, CPS schemes, Unions, uneduacted clients, consultanst assisting in race to bottom to ensure market share, cut and paste culture, poor designers, assumption and perceptions not being relaity, the issues are endless.

I for one support the call for the title to be protected under law and an independant regulator who aiuthorise and licence electricians. 

Just my own personal view. 

The thing is, you need to fit in.

Whatever you bring to the table.

Electrician is a very broad term.

Know your limitations.

Embrace the skills you have.

Enjoy learning from those who offer.

Like any trade its about learning, 

Problem is that knowledge is passed down and if we have no avenue for that knowledge other than NIC NAPIT and the like then we all doomed.

IET are far better than both those organisations.

I trust they can perform.