Discuss Callout charges & work carried out couple of days later in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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Hey
I let out my flat to help with the mortgage costs and I live with my parents.
Flat let via fully managed letting agents.
My question,

Electrician went out to reports of fault with economy 7 heater that is 2.5 yrs old
and additional earth bonding required due to new regulations as existing meter stopped working new one installed
and the man from th meter co told the tenant re new regulations. Though the flat got an electrical certificate a year ago
and another not required for 4 years I thought get it done.

Anyway. Elec went out on the understanding its 60 quid call out and will inc a so-called straight forward repair.

He diagnosed a switch fault on the Economy 7 and earth wire needed a few foot run. We agreed a fixed price of 180 quid.
He went out again a couple of days later and then switch costs between 10 and 20 quid depends where you but it from. The wire and clams possibly 10 quid at most.

I was charged 180 pound plus 60 = 240. As we have nothing in writing I've paid.

The flat is in Dartford/Kent.

Do you think he is being unfair or is 240 a reasonable charge or should it been 180 as a second visit is usually needed for parts like that and we told him re Economy 7 heater and the brand and the model number before he went.

Thanks
 
180 for the initial call out, agreed.
Call outs tend to be at a higher rate as they could be outside normal hours, or he’s come off another planned job to repair yours.

the return visit sounds reasonable at 60, to cover his time, materials etc.
 
I am not aware of any new regulations in the last 12 months that require additional earth bonding to be installed.

Be sure to get a certificate for the work that has been done.
 
180 for the initial call out, agreed.
Call outs tend to be at a higher rate as they could be outside normal hours, or he’s come off another planned job to repair yours.

the return visit sounds reasonable at 60, to cover his time, materials etc.
think it was other way round, £60 for original call-out then £180 for parts and labour to fix. say he'charges £50/hour, that wouls suggest it took him 3 hours to fit a switch and a few feet of pretty wire. I'd have thoutht no more than 1 hour, and i thought I was slow.
 
Thanks all. I will seek a minor works certificate.
Re the new law, please see below. It's only applicable when you go to renew your rental electrical certificate
but as the tenant was moaning and I want to to sleep well at night just in case but was within the law not to have it done as yet. It was not an emergency call and I thought it was agreed that the total cost was 180 as some here have stated I too though at the very max three hours work picking up switch and they must have the lenth of wire and clamp.
Thanks
 
Re new regs cant find anything other than all landlords, letting agents need a cert from 2021.
It was to do with the earth bonding - but was passed as good in Oct 2017.

Question. If you needed to do two visits both on non urgent, first having been told re earth bonding and heating rad problem, most likely you won't have the parts for the rad especially a switch. They are on the net from 7 quid to about 17 quid. You then go back two days later and replace the switch and new length of straightforward earth bonding - would you charge 240 for the above?

Thanks
 
bit less pricey up here, but if it were me, I'd charge £50 for initial call-out, then on revisit, £35/hour +materials used. total cost about £150 tops.
 
Blimey I have got to increase my prices. I got called by someone on a sunday who was having a new kitchen installed and plasterer was there plastering walls and ceiling and her electrician had missed the extractor hood isolator and wiring. Now bearing in mind it was a 45 min drive there and same back, the wall needed chasing one cooker switch moved to fit extractor isolator and still keep clear gap around hob. I told her it would be £150 all in. As I’m not doing the kitchen and it wasn’t my mistake and it was a Sunday and her electrician couldn’t be bothered to go back till the following week, she said oh I’m only prepared to pay you £60. I kindly said that’s fine I’ll save my diesel and my 2 1/2hrs for somebody who really needs it.
 
Sounds like you agreed a price of £180 for the work done, so that's that.
However, it seems he's added that initial call out £60 to it, where you thought it was an all in price. I don't blame you for thinking that.
By the way, is he VAT registered and, if so, did he include it.
 
Dartford is in my patch and to be honest I'd not have the front to charge that, but then I may well be underselling myself.

The "earthing requirement" sounds slightly fishy to be honest. Meter installers are generally in my experience not electricians and don't even work to the regs that we do (though he could have been moonlighting).

So either the last EICR was incorrect (possible), or someone has misunderstood earth bonding requirements.

It's not entirely clear which switch you are talking about, so hard to pass judgement on the amount of work involved - some supposedly simple jobs can take a good while - and if it was out of hours then some companies will charge a lot more - but I'd not expect the landlords I work for to be prepared to pay anything like that for what you've described.

I've built up a reputation with them so that they now trust that I won't overcharge them, though I make sure to give them ballpark figures for anything in advance. I don't think most of them would continue to use me if I started charging the price you paid to be honest.
 
Re new regs cant find anything other than all landlords, letting agents need a cert from 2021.
It was to do with the earth bonding - but was passed as good in Oct 2017.

Question. If you needed to do two visits both on non urgent, first having been told re earth bonding and heating rad problem, most likely you won't have the parts for the rad especially a switch. They are on the net from 7 quid to about 17 quid. You then go back two days later and replace the switch and new length of straightforward earth bonding - would you charge 240 for the above?

Thanks
Earth bonding requirements haven't changed since 2017 - other than to possibly relax them slighty if the water incoming or gas is plastic. It's possible that it was missed on the previous EICR - and once you were made aware of it then it would be your responsibility to upgrade it maintain a safe installation. That's always been a legal requirement for landlords.

But in that case you might want to reconsider who does your EICR next time....
 
Many thanks to everyone, very appreciated.
The switch is the on/off switch on a Dimplex storage heater.

I will have a chat with the letting agent as it was all very quick got caught on the hop and the 180 not agreed in writing beforehand. I thought 180 was slightly steep but reasonable and most of you guys have agreed with that. A total of 240 quid minus 25 for materials max and they are local, 210 quid for 2 works work, top, very top 3 hours including the initial visit, equating to 215 qid dived by 3 = 71.60 an hour. That is a lot.
Next time, i will get it in writing. He still owes me the invoice and minor works certificate for the new piece or rerouting the piece of earth bonding.

I'm not sure if he is vat rated or not.

I used another electrician for the certificate and hob installation he lived in Dartford as well and he was very reasonable but now vAT registered and was very busy at the time

The call out was not urgent as electrician was advised and he went out a couple of days later.
Thanks again
 
Btw re earth-bonding, the letting agent sent me a link can't find it googled and like all stated here there does not appear to be a new ref. I have note the requirements of who needs one has changed.
I was stuck as when the electric meter replacement opened his mouth to the tenant, I guess they had it in their minds that something needed to be done and the coincidence that a two and half year old 650 quid heater switch goes funny just drives the tenant into thinking the earthing needs to looked at.
Thanks again
 
Btw re earth-bonding, the letting agent sent me a link can't find it googled and like all stated here there does not appear to be a new ref. I have note the requirements of who needs one has changed.
I was stuck as when the electric meter replacement opened his mouth to the tenant, I guess they had it in their minds that something needed to be done and the coincidence that a two and half year old 650 quid heater switch goes funny just drives the tenant into thinking the earthing needs to looked at.
Thanks again
Yes it's not always easy in such circumstances.

And storage heaters can be a pain when they play up (though the ones of that era are very basic engineering so not too much that can go wrong) but there are 1000s of flats in Dartford and surrounding that have them - some nasty surprises for landlords waiting if they ever need to renew them...
 
Yes, as I said the replacement coast of one large one 600+ - when these tenants move our we are changing the all to something basic/simple electric heaters wall mounted - can't recall their names but one of my friends put them in her flat they look smart, relatively economical and a lot cheaper than the storage heaters.
 
Change them to lot20 certified panel heaters. You can go Rionte look good but expensive to buy compared to other makes. Haverland are good, heatstore are a bit cheaper. Get ones with open window function it senses temperature changes and if it suspects a window is open it reduces its heat output or can turn off heater saving money. Some are smarter in that they will come on earlier to heat the room so desired temperature is reached at the time set rather than just starting to heat the room at the time set. So if you set the time at 7am and the temperature to 20c the room will be 20c at 7am rather than just coming on at 7am.
 
Thanks Sparkingmad. As you may know I'm renting out my flat for quiet a few years I think to help pay the mortgage. If I was living in it I'd look at something like that bust as they say, less is more especially in a rental as less to go wrong. So any simple heaters, relatively cost effective like the ones you said, for a duble bedroom, sing bedroom, large hall, large living room and larger than average bathroom. I'm looking at simple, realtively cheap, relaible and sturdy as sadly, most renters do not look after stuff as if it is your own.
Thanks.
 
So if you set the time at 7am and the temperature to 20c the room will be 20c at 7am rather than just coming on at 7am.

unless some muppet has left the window open.
 

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