Discuss EICR for less than £100? in the Periodic Inspection Reporting & Certification area at ElectriciansForums.net

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Quoted a landlord £100 for one today on a small flat, thought I was being a bit cheap but he's got a few he wants me to do over the next few months. Got the work but he said it's a bit more than he usually pays which took me by surprise as I genuinely think that's cheap and can't believe anyone would charge less than that. Would be interested to know how many out there are doing them for less.
 
I suspect anyone doing it for much less than that is not doing a useful EICR to be honest, more of a drive by visual inspection (which has its place to pick out obvious errors but is not an EICR). There are also the ones who quote high on remedial works and see the EICR as a loss leader

I've seen numerous references on here and youtubeland to perfectly servicable consumer units being C2'd because they are plastic or don't have RCD protection on every circuit.

I mostly end up at £140 as a starting point, with warning that it may go up if it takes longer, and the landlords I work with seem to accept that. Even a relatively recently built flat will usually take 3-4 hours on site and another hour finishing the certificate.
 
A full blown eicr which included dropping off 90% of accessories fronts , going in the loft to check cables / joints, a full test on every circuit amd then typing up a certificate is a full days work.

poking your head through the door , doing a quick loop test on a few sockets and then scribbling out a Certs in the van Is about 2 hours work

not every eicr is equal, so it’s impossible to compare prices with the Other bloke...

but a good starting point is £25 per circuit
 
Depends on the scope of the site, for example four circuits would be a basic layout with cooker and immersion being single point with the other two power and lighting. Obviously the two single point circuits require little imagination so £100 is probably feasible assuming the multiple outlet circuits prove none too testing. Nevertheless £100 is low.
 
Got the work but he said it's a bit more than he usually pays which took me by surprise as I genuinely think that's cheap and can't believe anyone would charge less than that.

Did he produce invoices to back that up?
If he could get them at £100 why would he suddenly pay more.
Is the £100 Guy too busy or put his / her prices up.

He may have had them at that price but can't get them now as whoever did them realised they weren't making money.
Or he may have said that as a threat to you not to put your prices up for the next ones.

Customers don't always tell the truth, in fact like the general public, they may even lie sometimes.
 
I can’t do even simple ones for £100, but I do know a guy that’s run off his feet at “£99” for the mental rental EICRs. I think he’s LIMing lots (probably with LL agreement) so it’s less than 2 hours all up.

I may have misunderstood the process, but it seems the sometimes necessary scope flexibility of LIM may turn out to be a C2 defect in the rentally required EICR as it can be cynically applied as a cost cutting strategy.
 
EICRs can cover a wide range of inspection thoroughness, which is one of the reasons that just plucking them off the shelf for the new regulations could lead to problems imo.

It's probably better than them creating a whole new form for the situation, but they should have provided clearer guidance as to what level of minimum inspection is acceptable.

I found this ESF article recently, which is the first time I've seen guidance for what an EICR for rented domestic accomodation should be and suggests the sample size for close inspection at:

2 light fittings per lighting circuit
2 switches per lighting circuit
2 sockets per circuit
1 accessory per radial circuit

It states that there should be "little need" to limit anything on inspection and testing, although there are reasonable ones imo, like limited IR testing L-N where loads cannot be easily removed (24 LED downlights or USB sockets for example).

I'm also having to adjust the way I do some of my EICRs in the current situation, since the tenant is often working from home and therefore sockets have to be off for the least possible time during a suitable break.
 
I think Dartlec is right... alot of guys pricing them as 'loss-leaders'. It doesn't take much to make it up on the remedial works. I think this may be the way of the future.
 
I can’t do even simple ones for £100, but I do know a guy that’s run off his feet at “£99” for the mental rental EICRs. I think he’s LIMing lots (probably with LL agreement) so it’s less than 2 hours all up.

I may have misunderstood the process, but it seems the sometimes necessary scope flexibility of LIM may turn out to be a C2 defect in the rentally required EICR as it can be cynically applied as a cost cutting strategy.
I've got the feeling we've been down this kind of discussion before, but to restate my position, for which I was well and truly slated, I carry out a Test and inspection for 85.00...on the average house of takes me about 4 hours in site and about 1.5 hours writing up the very . I can only repeat that some of the prices quoted in this site are ,in my humble opinion, sky high and totally unachievable in most areas outside the stockbrokers belt .
 
I carry out a Test and inspection for 85.00...on the average house of takes me about 4 hours in site and about 1.5 hours writing up the very . I can only repeat that some of the prices quoted in this site are
all wells doing them for that price is it a 100% or 55 % of the testing taking of every switch & sockets knowing what lies behind them .
 
I've got the feeling we've been down this kind of discussion before, but to restate my position, for which I was well and truly slated, I carry out a Test and inspection for 85.00...on the average house of takes me about 4 hours in site and about 1.5 hours writing up the very . I can only repeat that some of the prices quoted in this site are ,in my humble opinion, sky high and totally unachievable in most areas outside the stockbrokers belt .

I think you'll get slated again.

So £85 covers,
Time travelling to / from site.
Cost of buying / maintaining and fuelling a vehicle
Cost of buying / maintaining and calibrating an MFT and other test instruments and tools.
Cost of Liability insurance / cover for personal sickness / loss of earnings etc.
And more...
 
all wells doing them for that price is it a 100% or 55 %

I think you'll get slated again.

So £85 covers,
Time travelling to / from site.
Cost of buying / maintaining and fuelling a vehicle
Cost of buying / maintaining and calibrating an MFT and other test instruments and tools.
Cost of Liability insurance / cover for personal sickness / loss of earnings etc.
And more...
Yes it's all been said before but it's what people will pay in this neck of the woods...it's what s on offer so I take it.
 
Price probably is less the key factor than time taken - it's whether a useful or meaningful test has been carried out.

I imagine there could be people who do them for free for certain people as a charity case, but would take the time to do a proper report, while there might be people who charge £250 because the client expects that, and carry out no testing at all.

I don't see how it's possible to do an appropriate EICR in less than 2-3 hours in even perfect circumstances (unless it's a 4 fuse Wylex board with 1 socket per room perhaps).
 
Yes it's all been said before but it's what people will pay in this neck of the woods...it's what s on offer so I take it.

They'd pay more if professionals weren't so keen to sell their services at a very low price, in order to undercut each other.

If you're a landlord who is legally obligated to obtain such a report, you wont get one for £85 if the lowest offer from any local spark is £200, £300 or £500.
 
They'd pay more if professionals weren't so keen to sell their services at a very low price, in order to undercut each other.

If you're a landlord who is legally obligated to obtain such a report, you wont get one for £85 if the lowest offer from any local spark is £200, £300 or £500.
IMHO... the issue is that there's no control over the quality of an EICR. If all EICRs were required by law to be of a certain standard and that standard was policed, then you wouldn't have the proliferation of cheap ones that we currently see.

Yes, you'll always have the guys that'll do them as a 'loss-leader'... but that's fine if they are of a high enough standard.
 
Had some guys leave,for loads of cash,doing Eicr,they needed to do 2 a day,& the remedials.
Criminal,how on earth are you gonna to do that.
One a day,certify,no problem.
 
Quoted a regular client for 140 for one today, which I think is reasonably for the size. They replied to say they'd had another quote for 80. I just told them I can't compete with that and couldn't help but say how cheap that is. Naughty of me but it's so incredibly frustrating.
 

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