Electrical Installation Licence

jowniofownio212 · Sep 28, 2011

Hi Everyone

New to the forum. Not sure where to post this really but here goes:

I am looking to some day go self employed as a domestic electrician and dont know where to start with regards to licencing or courses. I have heard so many different things and its just confusing.

Currently, I work as a maintenance electrician and have the following certificates:

NVQ 3 Engineering Maintenance (Electrical)
17th Edition
HNC Electrical and electronic engineering
NVQ 2 Performing Engineering Operations (with units in electrical testing etc)

What is the easiest way I can become an electrician who can do odd jobs in peoples houses to start with and hopefully end up leaving my current job to continue this bigger scale?

I have been told I need to do NVQ 3 in electrical installaion to get my JIB licence? But this takes 2 years and I think I have done most the units involved.

Also, I have been told, all I need to legally do, is get the part p certificate and inspection and testing certificate and that is all I need?

Any advice?

Thanks

Jon

telectrix · Sep 28, 2011

not quite. with the quals. you already have, as long as you are competent, you can start right away. however, a good deal of domestic work falls under part p, and the easiest way to comply would be to join elecsa, napit, or niceic. you do not need a part p qualification as such. i suggest yo contact elecsa and napit and take it from there.

Rockingit · Sep 28, 2011

telectrix said:
not quite. with the quals. you already have, as long as you are competent, you can start right away. however, a good deal of domestic work falls under part p, and the easiest way to comply would be to join elecsa, napit, or niceic. you do not need a part p qualification as such. i suggest yo contact elecsa and napit and take it from there.

Agreed. Just out of interest, does anyone have an idea as to the MINIMUM quals needed to get through Part P approval?? I don't, by the way.

Octopus · Sep 28, 2011

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm but my Elecsa assessor said to me on Monday that he couldn't believe how many new people are joining schemes and he was wondering about "saturation".

Maybe you should google the competent persons scheme, enter your post code and see how "crowded" your area is at the moment.

spark 68 · Sep 28, 2011

Agreed. Just out of interest, does anyone have an idea as to the MINIMUM quals needed to get through Part P approval?? I don't, by the way.

At the moment just BS7671:2008, but this is about to change next year, requiring a NVQ LV3 as well as BS7671 (2011)

jowniofownio212 · Sep 28, 2011

Thanks for the info mate. Just gave them a call at ELECSA and they said the following which I can sort of understand, correct me if I am wrong:

With the certificates I currently have, I can be assessed by ELECSA and be awarded the Part P and be able to carry out any work on houses without any more electrical courses needing to be done. This is classed as an electrical licence and I can work under it as long as I inform the buildings council?? of any work being done and needs renewing every year.

So if this is true, why is it JIB say I need to do NVQ3 in electrical installation then work for someone for 2 years doing testing and then apply for inspection and testing licence and then apply for full electricians licence?

Cheers

spark 68 · Sep 28, 2011

The JIB have different (more advanced requirements) criteria, and if you do search on here a lot of proper sparks look down on a DI, for the reasons of such low entry to the part Pee scams,

Being a DI does not make a sparky per se, as there are 5 Day wonder courses, and how can you become an Electrician in 5 days ?, and yes Iam a DI (though not a 5DW).

telectrix · Sep 28, 2011

the JIB card is more often asked for on site work. not necessary for domestic. as regards elecsa, they are telling you rightly. you pay them the fee each year. you notify them for each job, and they, in turn, notify building control.

telectrix · Sep 28, 2011

the JIB card is more often asked for on site work. not necessary for domestic. as regards elecsa, they are telling you rightly. you pay them the fee each year. you notify them for each job, and they, in turn, notify building control.

jowniofownio212 · Sep 28, 2011

Ok

Thanks for advice. Is ELECSA the best to go through? Also, if I was to do it now and be assessed before the new rule where you need NVQ3, do I have the renew and repay every year or could I have years off? Or would that meen I would need re assessing and then need the NVQ 3?

Cheers

spark 68 · Sep 28, 2011

Also, if I was to do it now and be assessed before the new rule where you need NVQ3, do I have the renew and repay every year or could I have years off? Or would that meen I would need re assessing and then need the NVQ 3?

That's about the size of it, if you qualified now you would have to keep up your subs. or require Lv 3 the next time you applied

As to whether or not ELECSA (there are others) is the best or not depends on what you want to do, as if you are anticipating a lot of council etc. work, they may 'prefer' NICEIC, but the choice is yours at the end of the day.

Rockingit · Sep 28, 2011

In fairness, I think a lot of the 'blame' has to rest with the big 3 as far as DI and part P is concerned. Something needed to be done, fair enough, but NICEIC, The ECA and Napit were all too keen to see commercial opportunity rather than quality, jumped in way too quick and showed their hands too low. So it opened the door for all the 6 Week Wonder courses to be able to say 'do this, do that and you'll be a sparky'.

It's a bit like the PIR schemes that seem to be appearing, too. I have my 2391, it went into detailed theoretical and practical probing of my ability to test and examine. I'm perfectly entitled to inspect and test anyway under BS7671 (C&G 2382) without anything else.... so why would I want to spend another £400 or so a year??

jowniofownio212 · Sep 30, 2011

Hi

Thanks for all the advice. I am going to start looking into going down this route before January as the laws chage then suposably.

Does anyone know how true this chance of needing NVQ 3 in elec installation in 2012 is? As NICEIC have not heard anything about it and I would rather not rush? Who do I need to speek to to verify this for sure?

As there are a number of assessing bodies (NICEIC, ELECSA etc), who would you recomend going with? ELECSA charge less per year and less per house worked on??

Also, I will need insurance, who do you use?

Thanks

jowniofownio212 · Oct 6, 2011

Any answers to my above questions?

Mainly with assesing body to go with? and this roumer on needing NVQ3 in installation from jan 2012 to get part p?

Cheers

mogga · Oct 6, 2011

jowniofownio212 said:
Hi

Thanks for all the advice. I am going to start looking into going down this route before January as the laws chage then suposably.

Does anyone know how true this chance of needing NVQ 3 in elec installation in 2012 is? As NICEIC have not heard anything about it and I would rather not rush? Who do I need to speek to to verify this for sure?

As there are a number of assessing bodies (NICEIC, ELECSA etc), who would you recomend going with? ELECSA charge less per year and less per house worked on??

Also, I will need insurance, who do you use?

Thanks

What "Laws" are changing???

SPARTYKUS · Oct 6, 2011

Well, for One, the entire laws of Physics appear to have changed, or so the keyboardist from D:ream tells me.

jowniofownio212 · Oct 6, 2011

mogga said:
What "Laws" are changing???

I have heard from ELECSA that in 2012, you will need an NVQ3 in elec installation to go on the Part P scheme. But NICEIC have not heard of this before?? Im not sure what to believe and as I dont have the NVQ3 in installation, would I need to get it all sorted before January?

Cheers

Richard Burns · Oct 6, 2011

I have only heard of the NVQ3 requirement on this forum; but this would close out the chance to register for many people (some would say justifiably) and I cannot see the scheme providers doing this as they would lose a lot of income!
There are five main scheme providers:
Elecsa - I am with them and they provide a good technical service are cheaper than NICEIC and are part of the electrical contractors association. As they say a service for electricians.
Napit - generally seem OK from what I hear require their internal 2391 (or C&G 2391) within 12 months.
NICEIC - most frequently referred to / required by insurance companies and councils and best recognised generally, but do think they rule the world, more expensive than ELECSA, more stringent requirements.
BSI - valid scheme but I know nothing about them
BRE - valid scheme but I know nothing about them

there has also been some discussion of Stroma a new player but they seem somewhat disorganised at the moment, though cheap.
I would go with ELECSA (as I did) but it is entirely your choice. Have a look at their websites and assess their requirements and costs.

If you are doing just installation then you will need public liability insurance at a min of £2m, sometimes £5m for some work.

If you are doing PIRs as well then you will need professional indemnity insurance.

There are may companies providing these services just look for tradesman insurance on google.
Should be roughly £80-120 each depending on your cover and business size.

Big n Daft · Oct 6, 2011

Why do you want to get into domestic work?
Constant money chasing, people being precious about their property, internet expertsm, constantly having to work around bodge jobs with the customer not wanting them put right and trying any stroke they can to get some money knocked off the price. You will learn after a while not to trust the general public and traet them with contemp.
Stay in maintenance for gods sake man.

GLENNSPARK · Oct 6, 2011

I have rung elecsa in the past few days and there is indeed a new requirement for part p coming in as of january so anyone wishing to join any of these scheme providers should get there fees in no later than mid december as it takes their admin time to register you for a site visit......