[Closed] EICR Tests - thoughts?

The buyer on our house paid for one £180 for a three bed semi.

They were here a couple of hours, tested every circuit and every room. I assume they are testing the earthing, resistance of wiring, circuit breaker trip speed and rating of circuit breakers and looking at the rating of the cable they can see.

The only thing they noted on my house was the consumer unit is not metal so not to current regs, no surprise as its ten years old and the regs were different.

I never bothered with a test when buying the place as I knew it had new consumer unit just before...

The circuit breakers can go faulty.... unnoticeably by taking longer than supposed to to trip... the test should find those.

It all depends on the house. Has it has a check in recent history or a new consumer unit fitted recently i.e. ten years? If theres no documents, but the consumer unit is fairly modern I'd be suspicious who done it and get a check.

If the consumer unit is old then I'd be fitting a new one anyway so any checks will be done then.

Remember also that any number of horrors may be hidden... without rewiring you aren't going to find them.

As above, if the consumer unit is old and/or lacking RCD protection then skip the EICR and go straight to CU replacement. The tests will all get run either way. That’s what I did.

If you’re talking about an EICR ahead of purchasing, not something I’ve ever considered. I might inspect the system to get an idea of age, look for the colour coding of the cable to determine if it’s due a rewire. If it’s borderline an EICR might be a smart investment.

I've manage to get a quote for the test at £160 so seems much more reasonable. I wasn't aware about the wiring, sounds good to get the test.

I charge £25 per circuit on an EICR so £400 could be a decent price if there’s a lot of circuits, and the person doing it for £160 might not be doing a proper job due to under pricing so you’ll have a useless bit of paper. I work on it taking 30 minutes/circuit which gives time to take off most accessories for visual inspection.

Whoever you use, ask what limitations they are working to, this will give you an idea what sort of job they’re gonna do

I had 2 eicrs done on rental flats, 192 quid each incl vat. Before buying another I would get an eicr done before committing to purchase, seems a good way of getting an elec report for a fixed price.

good to know markspark,

is not a standardised test? similar to a MOT? I presume there is a opportunity to miss things, if done to quickly, but wouldn't the test be incomplete, if rushed?

is not a standardised test? similar to a MOT? I presume there is a opportunity to miss things, if done to quickly, but wouldn’t the test be incomplete, if rushed?

Not all MOT's are performed to the same standard! Theoretically they are but the reality is they are not.

I would have one done when buying a property if I was unsure of the state of the electrics

Perhaps I'm a little out of the ordinary, but I review a lot of EICR's, and I'd estimate at least 50% of them are not worth the paper they are written on.
I work for a Social Housing Provider, and we have our own Staff, and outside Contractors doing these reports.
Our own Staff do a pretty good job overall, they do miss things, and their knowledge in some areas isnt great, but , generally, if they say it is safe, then it usually is.
As for outside Contractors, I'd say only 20% of the reports have any relationship to what the actual installation report should be. this is mainly as they are paid poorly, have no immediate supervision,have little practical knowledge and get paid by how many reports they do. One has told me he has to do 3 houses a day. Thats do-able, but a bit rushed. Householders have told me that the person was in the house for 40 minutes,and didnt even go upstairs. So they are cutting, large, corners.

If you have one done, make sure it is from a reputable, recommended Company/Electrician. I'd tend to go to a local one-man electrician, as he has no one else to blame for mistakes.

Can anyone also tell me if electrical work done at the same time as a extension would be signed off via building control?

Inspected and passed by Building Control? Then probably not.
The Councils Building Control Dept. can do the inspections, testing and paperwork for Part P of the Building Regs, but it is usually more cost effective to get an Electrician who is 'Part P' registered to do the work.
However, there may be no need to involve building control when doing the electrics, if there are no new circuits, and no electricity in special locations (bathrooms in England, kitchens and bathroom in Wales, no idea about Scotland).
If there are new circuits, then the electrician should have completed the 'Part P' self certification forms online, and the Householder will get an A4 'certificate' saying what has been done, and that it complies with the Building Regs. They should also be given an Electrical Installation Certificate, or a Minor Works form for the work done. This is filled in by the Electrician. This should be given whether the work is notifiable or not.

It is still common for a builder to get his mate in to do the electrical work, and the mate will do a decent job, but not having any trade association membership, or insurance for the work carried out, will not want to leave a paperwork trail, by leaving a Installation Certificate. IIRC, it is the Houseowner who needs to inform the Council of any notifiable work. The Council will only prosecute the electrician if he/she has done shoddy work.

I worked at a large restaurant a few years ago, the guy doing the electrics was a total cowboy, and I really could not understand why he kept being employed by the Owner. It turned out the Owner wanted the cheapest job doing, and this bloke was so poor, that he coudlnt charge much for the mess he was making.

I own an inspection and testing company and a good EICR is worth the cost, problem is finding an electrician that can do a good one. We see plenty of them that say new CU required, no reason why and no regulation number referred too. That’s because there is no reg for it. Lots of other recommendations like this. We struggle to get staff that can do a proper report and I see reports done by others. Try and get a word of mouth recommendation. One of the professional bodies out there states it should take a day, half a day for an average 3 bed house is doable. Any quicker and I’d doubt how good the report was. I’d also like to see explanations to recommendations rather than x needs replacing etc.