Discuss Is this ok..... in the Electrical Wiring, Theories and Regulations area at ElectriciansForums.net

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M

matdom

Hello everyone...

I am new to the forum so please be gentle :)

A neighbour of mine would like to add electricity to their shed and summer house, shed for a fridge/freezer and summer house for laptop charger, phone charger etc etc, so nothing really heavy.
She had an electrician in to have a look at what she wants doing and he has told her he needs £400 worth of bits...So he seems like a bad one from the off.
I have suggested she can do what I have drawn in the diagram below.....this is how I would do it providing the supplying circuit was ok to load with this, maybe the kitchen ring is not a great idea but I believe she has a plug socket on an upstairs bedroom wall that is accesable.
Could anyone advise me if this is all correct, it might just give her a bit more knowledge when it comes to her telling the next sparky what she wants. I reckon around £100 parts if she buys them her self and maybe a tad more if the sparky supplies as he will quite rightly add a small mark-up.



Is this ok..... LIZ Garden[1].JPG - EletriciansForums.net
Thanks in advance.
 
I suspect the Sparky probably said about £400 all in which, without seeing the job first hand, could be about right. Plus there might be upgrades to the house to do first.

Too many variables, not enough info.
 
Rather than go with one spark why not get several quotes and go from there. Any genuine spark will fully understand any apprehension the customer has and will prove to be very helpful.

Also this work is notifiable and will cost you a lot more to DIY.

Please have a trawl through the forums and see how many DIY'ers think they're been ripped off then look at it from our side, tools, insurance, scheme membership, training, running costs etc it all adds up.

Remember cheapest isn't best, buy cheap buy twice.

If you let us know your location I'm sure a forum member would be happy to advise face to face and let your neighbour make an informed decision from there.
 
Well she is sure he said £400 for just parts...£400 all in sounds better but apparently that's not what he said.
I have this (almost) set-up in my house (like it when I moved in)
Could you tell me why this is not the correct way of doing it....
If the ring in the house is ok to supply this....
And the load in shed,summer house and pond is not going anywhere near 3KW...
Why would this be a problem....
Consumer unit is at front of house so would be a lot of extra work to run cable through or round house.
So this really is the easiest way of doing it if it's allowed.
The RCD/FCU in the house can replace that socket on the ring if that makes things any better....

Thanks for replys so far.
 
OP - as others have said, there really are too many variables to give specific advice other than to get a few more quotes. Depending on what the job needs it's not very hard to get to £400, especially when armoured cable is involved.
 
you sound a nightmare of a neighbour hahahah.. always easier said than done, but best advice is get few quotes and see what matches up and makes sense
 
Matdom.....with the load you have put down,including a fridge freezer,I would be reluctant to run that off a 13a FCU. These things have a habit of escalating...."Oh,I just want a socket and a light"....next thing there's a heater and a greenhouse going in as well.
While there is nothing wrong with what you propose as it stands,I would want a dedicated supply from the CU to ensure you dont lose the freezer if the 13a FCU gets overloaded,and to allow for the inevitable escalation of load.
Perhaps the electrician who quoted is thinking along similar lines......
Sadly for us there are many people who expect us to work for naff all,
 
Do it right, do it once.

Just done a job which all in all was 2 IP rated sockets, a double socket and light inside a little shed.

All in it came to just over 800 quid, but everything was done 100% correct. Long garden so all cable selected for volt drop etc.

The lady was at first a little speachless when i quoted, but the after explaining why, she said fair enough, i can understand why now.

She now knows that when she decides to plug in a patio heater and what ever else, all will be working as it should and no fuses/breakers tripping.
 
OH and whats wrong with marking up materials OP! It makes it sound like its only the humble spark that does this.

Do you really think when or if you take you motor into a garage they only charge parts out at their trade price?
 
OH and whats wrong with marking up materials OP! It makes it sound like its only the humble spark that does this.

Do you really think when or if you take you motor into a garage they only charge parts out at their trade price?

Quote from the OP: "
if the sparky supplies as he will quite rightly add a small mark-up."​


My understanding from that is he clearly does NOT see anything wrong with marking up materials.
 
Maybe, but what makes me chuckle is for a job like that, the materials needed, a most sparks would get them less than joe public, so even with mark up you'd be paying the same.
 
All valid points of course.....Well apart from me being an awkward neighbour????
She came to me asking what I had in my shed (electrically) so I explained and showed her and her basic question was why can she not have something like that....I never said it was Ideal, but of course as with most things now her choice is going to be driven by cost.
All that is going to be on the load is 2 lights, a chest freezer, summer house sockets are for phone/laptop chargers etc...if she decides to plug heaters, kettles etc etc into it then she is going to have the problem of the fuse constantly blowing....I understand this but telling someone that it's going to cost a shed (no punn intended) loads more so that if she decides to ever install a hobby lathe, heater, hydropnics then she is covered, is pointless.
We arn't talking about good practice from an electricians point of view we are talking about a job that does what it needs to do on a tight budget and obviously being within the law...Which I'm sure this does...far from ideal granted... but ok...yes I think so.
I also understand the costings involved in being an electrcian nowadays and would not expect this to be a ten quid job, but even to do it from the consumer unit would not cost £400 IN BITS, even with a sparky's mark-up Which yes for the record I think is fine :)
 
£100 materials might not be enough and in regards to mark up I think you are looking at it wrong, you are assuming that she can buy then for the same price as an electrician can which is wrong.

For example for B&Q have 25m of 3core 2.5 SWA for £45

I can get 25m of the same for £16 then I add my 15% mark up so you pay £18.40

So before you have considered the fact that if it is supplied by the spark you get the right thing 1st time, have a warranty in most cases and you don't have to pick it up etc you have also saved £26.60 in the process.
 
Hi matdom, was your neighbour provided with a written quotation?

£400 is an easy amount to get to when doing the job correctly and using quality items. Not many reputable sparks will fit naff items as they do not want to be returning to jobs replacing faulty items.

As mentioned, please post your area and I'm sure a member will happily attend to provide a quote.

:thumbsup
 
Forgive me if I am being cynical and wrong

I reckon the price was given,the op thinks he can do it cheaper,being unsure,he has come here for confirmation of the design

He may have no competent person requirements to fulfill,no insurances and other business costs to consider,he has based the cost on what a non business person sees as the total cost of a job
 
Last edited:
Forgive me if I am being cynical and wrong

I reckon the price was given,the op thinks he can do it cheaper,being unsure,he has come here for confirmation of the design

He may have no competent person requirements to fulfill,no insurances and other business costs to consider,he has based the cost on what a non business person sees as the total cost of a job
He is totally out of order and should be left to his thoughts on his own project

What a terrible Forum this is.......Why is everyone so negative..
I'm not doing this at all, Was a simple question...thought forums were to help people out.
How am I being out of order by asking a question, if you don't want to answer it, then why bother writing back at all?????
 

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